The editorial section, also called the opinion section, is where editors and contributors with a deep and broad understanding of the latest news offer their analysis of the day's issues. This content is distinct from the fact-based news reporting of the outlet's everyday journalists. Both kinds of content serve the public interest. Journalists report news to inform the public, while editors and opinion writers analyze and explain news, putting facts into a larger context to aid understanding. At the Post, instead of news editors making independent decisions on what to write and the perspectives they should take, Bezos tweeted, 'We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.' While editorial writers and opinion columnists offer their opinions, these views are still expected to be grounded in journalistic principles, building from verifiable facts and comprehensively considering context to offer well-reasoned analysis....
Despite news organizations' pledges to provide fact-based reporting, and ongoing investments to build trust, people across the political spectrum in the U.S. are unconvinced of mainstream media's self-described credibility. The category 'mainstream media' refers to flagship national newspapers like The New York Times, cable news channels like CNN and Fox News and news networks like ABC or NBC and their local affiliates. Despite deepening partisan divides in the U.S, Pew Internet Research has found that this definition is consistent across Republicans and Democrats. Mainstream media's credibility has been diminishing for years. But the trend has attracted renewed attention from news leaders and analysts since the 2024 presidential election, when many outlets again misjudged the electoral chances of President-elect Donald Trump. Since 2014, my academic research has focused on the role of solidarity in journalism that represents marginalized communities ' like people who are homeless, face food insecurity or are the targets of violence. These are groups who cannot simply opt out of the conditions placing their survival and safety at stake....
Legislation that would bar the United States government from spying on journalists'except under rare, specific circumstances'is currently stalled in Congress, despite having passed the House of Representatives with unanimous support nearly one year ago. Now, with only weeks left to legislate, press advocates are urging Senate Democrats to pass the bill, known as the PRESS Act, before the end of the lame-duck session. The bill, also known as the 'Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act,' would broadly prevent federal agencies from using subpoenas and warrants to target journalists and their sources. The protections would cover any information 'obtained or created' while 'engaging in journalism,' and would extend to phone and email records possessed by third-party services, such as Google and Meta. While the PRESS Act famously enjoys strong bipartisan support, the current conditions in the Senate, where the bill now lingers, are less than ideal. Democrats, poised to lose the majority on January 3, are scrambling to accomplish what little they can before ceding control. It remains unclear whether the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who is said to be prioritizing judicial vacancies in the coming weeks, is going to fight to get the PRESS Act a vote before his window expires....
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been very clear about the shape of his revenge against the mainstream media. He's mused, a few times, about throwing reporters in jail if they refuse to leak their sources. He's talked about taking away broadcast licenses of networks he's deemed unfriendly. He's made it clear that he will notice if any member of the press gets too free with their critiques and do his best to get in their way. These last couple of weeks, we've gotten a signal that maybe his threats are having an impact. Both The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times had prepared endorsements of Kamala Harris, and their owners asked them at the last minute not to run them. Media reporters floated the obvious question of whether the owners backed off to appease Trump. In this episode, we talk to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic. This year, The Atlantic made the decision, rare in its history but consistent during the Trump years, to endorse a presidential candidate. (You can read the magazine's endorsement of Kamala Harris here.) Goldberg talks about navigating both pressures from owners and threats from the administration. And we discuss the urgent question of whether the media, pummeled and discredited for years by Trump, is ready for a second Trump administration....
