Thanks for posting this, The Contrarian. It's ridiculous that news agencies don't even fact check the most predictable, most obvious lies! Folks - send me links to media failures you see, for the podcast and newsletter, over at https://theystandcorrected.substack.com Thanks.
The problem is twofold. First, for the past 20-25 years the MSM has been far more concerned with clicks and profits than journalism. Second, these talk shows like "This Week" want their guests to come back (so they look fair and balanced), so they won't fact check them. Do you think Mike Wallace, Huntley and Brinkley or Walter Cronkite would ever have the Felon or his sycophants on their news hours or 60 Minutes. Mike Wallace would be confronting them every day with their lies. Today's "journalists" believe one has to present "both sides" of any issue, even when there is only one side of an issue ("there were good people, on both sides").
Excellent post! It is the responsibility of mainstream media to fact check any and all claims by anyone, be it 'pub or 'Dem. They need to do their jobs.
David pepper the voting rights advocate suggests not continuing any interviews past a lie. Once they lie about something, insist that they correct the error! If they won't do it, which of course they won't, then shut down the interview. Why continue?
Oh yeah. News executives know me well by now! Also, I have sources inside big news agencies. They send me stuff their agencies are doing, because their bosses won't listen. But it will take critical mass for the executives to care. If we can build up They Stand Corrected into a juggernaut, those executives won't have a choice.
A poster by Sally Claire on Substack would be an excellent talking point to distribute to all: "Dear Mainstream Media: If someone says it's raining & another person says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out the fucking window and find out which is true."
I write to NPR on a very regular basis (weekly or so?) to make the point that any journalist has to start from the assumption, in 2025, that any member of this administration will lie when they speak. We've known this about T**** and his team (?) for ten years (was it 30,000 lies during T**** 1.0?), and yet, major journalists still do not get it. I have zero training in journalism, but I recognize fact from fiction, and I have a whole lot of training in how to think critically. We need our journalists to write as if the fate of democracy in the U.S. and the free world depend on it, because they do.
When any person has a track record of lying so much, don't carry them live. Record them, and share relevant remarks with fact checks. This isn't complicated. It's about *truth.*
I don't warch any of the interview shows on the networks, especially on Sunday mornings when I meet with an international group of highly educated, informed Rational Thinkers who talk about important topics of the day. It is the highlight of my week.
Until reading this, I was unaware that the hosts of the shows allow the guests to just spout lies without challenge. I expect that with FOX, but had hoped that MSM was more even-handed. Thank you for enlightening me! 😡
Please keep doing what you're doing because it matters. Eventually, as Trump statements make less and less sense compared to what we see around us, more people will seek out sane information.
Trouble is the administration they are reporting on is one big lie…. So it is hard to get to the truth ahead of time or at the time. They can only get to the truth when it is too late.
That's exactly why I have not owned a television for the past eight years. It is also the reason why I cancelled my subscription to The Washington Post in October 2024 and I no longer read ANY main stream or legacy media.
Good call on the cancellation! No one should be spending their hard earned $ on news agencies that are failing to do the job. FWIW, I've taught my paid subscribers how to access lots of top news agencies for free, legally, with no paywalls, so you can still see articles. https://theystandcorrected.substack.com/p/a-free-legal-way-to-access-virtually
Don't get me wrong, I really liked The Washington Post," the way their online presence is set up and everything. I had been unhappy with its "both sides" reporting for a while. "Both sides" reporting really turned out to be many more pictures and stories of the orange felon and his mob than the entire Biden administration! I finally cancelled my subscription because of Bezos' and his British Murdoch acolyte's refusal to endorse Kamala Harris.
In order for me the ever subscribe to The Washington Post again, two things have to happen: the British Murdoch acolyte has to be replaced by an American (possibly a return of Sally Buzbee) AND Bezos needs to sell the paper to someone who won't bend the knee to the orange felon - OR STOP INFLUENCING THE REPORTING like he did the first few years he owned it.
Why do journalists waste their time? The liars can’t even keep their lies straight. One liar tells their lie and then the next MAGA comes along and tells a completely different lie. Let ‘em all talk to each other on their brain dead s*t shows. Cover and report the truth. For instance, if you look out the window and it is raining, then report that it is raining. Do you really need some MAGA liar telling you it is not raining and there is no climate change? Really? Hey A. Blue. Hope you don’t need FEMA. So sorry if you do. That orange man in the White House is so evil and stupid.
They need to get in the game or get out of the business. Sadly, I think disinformation and keeping the population as stupid as possible is the business now.
I noticed this trend at least 10 years ago when commentators would just nod their heads and then at the end, thank their guest without a single challenge to all the lying dribble they had just spouted. Apparently yelling at my television didn’t help. It has become quite the trend, and it has contributed greatly to misinformation and the rise of Trump and brazen lying by his cronies. Give me The Daily Show, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers any day of the week (if only they aired seven days a week).
Chuck Todd (former NBC News anchor) explained why this is. Unless you give the big-name guests softball questions, and let them get away with whatever they say (avoiding the question, misleading answers, flat-out lies, ..), they won't come back on your program so nobody will watch it and sponsors will go away and the program will go off the air.
Absolutely right! If I wanted to listen to propaganda, I’d be tuning to Fox “News”…. All of the major networks have now lost me as a viewer. If I cannot expect them to correct the lies in real time, why on earth would I waste my time watching? I’ll get my news elsewhere.
Thanks for posting this, The Contrarian. It's ridiculous that news agencies don't even fact check the most predictable, most obvious lies! Folks - send me links to media failures you see, for the podcast and newsletter, over at https://theystandcorrected.substack.com Thanks.
I’ve tuned out of most media but I did just subscribe to They Stand Corrected.
Thank you! And I hear you. That makes sense!
The problem is twofold. First, for the past 20-25 years the MSM has been far more concerned with clicks and profits than journalism. Second, these talk shows like "This Week" want their guests to come back (so they look fair and balanced), so they won't fact check them. Do you think Mike Wallace, Huntley and Brinkley or Walter Cronkite would ever have the Felon or his sycophants on their news hours or 60 Minutes. Mike Wallace would be confronting them every day with their lies. Today's "journalists" believe one has to present "both sides" of any issue, even when there is only one side of an issue ("there were good people, on both sides").
Yup. They treat their shows as "open mic nights" instead of doing the basics of journalism! https://theystandcorrected.substack.com/p/its-time-to-end-news-open-mic-nights
The felon wouldn't have lasted 60 *seconds* with David Brinkley and others like him.
"And now, down in Alabama, where George Wallace is running as a liberal...
if you can believe that..."
--Brinkley on live TV during the 1982 midterm elections.
Excellent post! It is the responsibility of mainstream media to fact check any and all claims by anyone, be it 'pub or 'Dem. They need to do their jobs.
Exactly.
David pepper the voting rights advocate suggests not continuing any interviews past a lie. Once they lie about something, insist that they correct the error! If they won't do it, which of course they won't, then shut down the interview. Why continue?
“Those guests will absolutely, definitely lie.”
And…..that’s the Truth!
It’s just poor…..and lazy……journalism.
Yup! It's non-journalism. It's the opposite.
Have you contacted/called/written to all the media outlets with your fact checking suggestions?
Oh yeah. News executives know me well by now! Also, I have sources inside big news agencies. They send me stuff their agencies are doing, because their bosses won't listen. But it will take critical mass for the executives to care. If we can build up They Stand Corrected into a juggernaut, those executives won't have a choice.
A poster by Sally Claire on Substack would be an excellent talking point to distribute to all: "Dear Mainstream Media: If someone says it's raining & another person says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out the fucking window and find out which is true."
I write to NPR on a very regular basis (weekly or so?) to make the point that any journalist has to start from the assumption, in 2025, that any member of this administration will lie when they speak. We've known this about T**** and his team (?) for ten years (was it 30,000 lies during T**** 1.0?), and yet, major journalists still do not get it. I have zero training in journalism, but I recognize fact from fiction, and I have a whole lot of training in how to think critically. We need our journalists to write as if the fate of democracy in the U.S. and the free world depend on it, because they do.
Yup. And in the past, news agencies have waffled on whether to carry Trump live. In general, just don't! I pieced through examples in Episode 20: https://joshlevs.com/episode-20-ending-open-mic-nights/
(here it is on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-20-ending-open-mic-nights/id1739637144?i=1000666073549)
When any person has a track record of lying so much, don't carry them live. Record them, and share relevant remarks with fact checks. This isn't complicated. It's about *truth.*
...... and the Washington Post is still wondering why I cancelled my subscription .....
Memo to the Washington Post - Duhh!!
I don't warch any of the interview shows on the networks, especially on Sunday mornings when I meet with an international group of highly educated, informed Rational Thinkers who talk about important topics of the day. It is the highlight of my week.
Until reading this, I was unaware that the hosts of the shows allow the guests to just spout lies without challenge. I expect that with FOX, but had hoped that MSM was more even-handed. Thank you for enlightening me! 😡
Please keep doing what you're doing because it matters. Eventually, as Trump statements make less and less sense compared to what we see around us, more people will seek out sane information.
Thanks you. Fingers crossed!
Yes every week there are more lies and then we find out he actually carried them out of not. It would be nice to have facts checked .
Yes! Exactly. On They Stand Corrected, I've discussed how journalists should take a three-word oath: Report only truth.
That would change everything.
Trouble is the administration they are reporting on is one big lie…. So it is hard to get to the truth ahead of time or at the time. They can only get to the truth when it is too late.
That's exactly why I have not owned a television for the past eight years. It is also the reason why I cancelled my subscription to The Washington Post in October 2024 and I no longer read ANY main stream or legacy media.
Good call on the cancellation! No one should be spending their hard earned $ on news agencies that are failing to do the job. FWIW, I've taught my paid subscribers how to access lots of top news agencies for free, legally, with no paywalls, so you can still see articles. https://theystandcorrected.substack.com/p/a-free-legal-way-to-access-virtually
Don't get me wrong, I really liked The Washington Post," the way their online presence is set up and everything. I had been unhappy with its "both sides" reporting for a while. "Both sides" reporting really turned out to be many more pictures and stories of the orange felon and his mob than the entire Biden administration! I finally cancelled my subscription because of Bezos' and his British Murdoch acolyte's refusal to endorse Kamala Harris.
In order for me the ever subscribe to The Washington Post again, two things have to happen: the British Murdoch acolyte has to be replaced by an American (possibly a return of Sally Buzbee) AND Bezos needs to sell the paper to someone who won't bend the knee to the orange felon - OR STOP INFLUENCING THE REPORTING like he did the first few years he owned it.
Why do journalists waste their time? The liars can’t even keep their lies straight. One liar tells their lie and then the next MAGA comes along and tells a completely different lie. Let ‘em all talk to each other on their brain dead s*t shows. Cover and report the truth. For instance, if you look out the window and it is raining, then report that it is raining. Do you really need some MAGA liar telling you it is not raining and there is no climate change? Really? Hey A. Blue. Hope you don’t need FEMA. So sorry if you do. That orange man in the White House is so evil and stupid.
They need to get in the game or get out of the business. Sadly, I think disinformation and keeping the population as stupid as possible is the business now.
Agreed that the only good reason to be in journalism is to want to ensure that people get the truth!
I noticed this trend at least 10 years ago when commentators would just nod their heads and then at the end, thank their guest without a single challenge to all the lying dribble they had just spouted. Apparently yelling at my television didn’t help. It has become quite the trend, and it has contributed greatly to misinformation and the rise of Trump and brazen lying by his cronies. Give me The Daily Show, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers any day of the week (if only they aired seven days a week).
Chuck Todd (former NBC News anchor) explained why this is. Unless you give the big-name guests softball questions, and let them get away with whatever they say (avoiding the question, misleading answers, flat-out lies, ..), they won't come back on your program so nobody will watch it and sponsors will go away and the program will go off the air.
https://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2014/12/chuck-todd-accidentally-tells-truth
??? He's still alive!
Absolutely right! If I wanted to listen to propaganda, I’d be tuning to Fox “News”…. All of the major networks have now lost me as a viewer. If I cannot expect them to correct the lies in real time, why on earth would I waste my time watching? I’ll get my news elsewhere.
I agree! That’s why we are here.