"Worry more about being called biased than about being accurate. Do all of this, consistently, for years, and you will be surprised when the things people warned you about come to pass. The surprise is built into the methodology.

There’s a cost to this."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #BothSides #media #journalists
/16

"Political journalism has developed a set of practices that make surprise the default response to predictable events. Treat every denial as meaningful. Frame every warning from advocacy groups as partisan overreach. Insist on a both-sides structure even when one side is lying."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #BothSides #media #journalists
/15

"We are now one year into Donald Trump’s second term, and something strange is happening in political media. A lot of people who spent years insisting that the so-called 'alarmists' were being hysterical have started, tentatively, to admit that maybe they got it wrong. …

At a certain point, you have to ask what it would take to not be surprised."

~ Parker Molloy

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #BothSides #media #journalists
/14

readtpa.com/p/this-is-literall…

This is Literally the Job

Political journalists need to stop pretending they don't know what Republicans are going to do.

^{Parker Molloy (The Present Age)}

"Trump’s cowardly enablers are largely responsible for the abyss America has plunged into."

~ Paul Krugman

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #BothSides #media #journalists #Democrats #Republicans
/13

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how…

How Canada Became an Enemy

It’s not about trade, it’s about ego

^{Paul Krugman}

"They were chastised by a mushy mainstream that prized decorum over diagnosis and tone over truth."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/10

(continued from /8)

"not only by MAGA true believers, but by those in positions of power in media, politics, and business who congratulated themselves on being sober-minded and pragmatic. Too many who understood what was coming were labeled hysterical. Alarmist. Radical. Unserious. They were told to calm down. To respect norms that were already being shredded."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/9

"When the history of this age is written, there will be no shortage of evidence about what went wrong. There will be no plausible claim of ignorance. ...

Looking more closely, those who look back will find something else that demands explanation. They will see that the people who most clearly recognized the danger were often dismissed and ignored —" (continued)

~ Elliot Kirschner

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/8

elliotkirschner.substack.com/p…

We Knew This Would Happen

But those warnings were ignored

^{Elliot Kirschner (Through the Fog, by Elliot Kirschner)}

"As journalists, we must remember that our responsibility is not to present both sides evenly; it is to make a determination about the facts that helps audiences understand a chaotic world."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/7

"I argued after the shooting of Renee Good that nothing makes people lose trust in news organizations as much as when they’ve seen something with their own eyes — and then see news coverage that doesn’t comport with what they themselves experienced.

And I think that will be even more true with the Pretti killing."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #NewYorkTimes #journalists #BothSides
/5

"And then you could sense a countervailing tide, presumably directed by more senior leaders, of coverage mired in both-sidesism and weasel words, carefully measured so as to not 'take sides' even when one side was the truth and the other was lies."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #NewYorkTimes #journalists #BothSides
/4

"It was particularly fascinating to watch the New York Times, where you could see bursts of bold, direct, honest coverage of what reporters had seen with their own eyes.

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #NewYorkTimes #journalists #BothSides
/3

"All you have to do is watch the videos to know that’s true. There is no good-faith debate about the facts. ...

If you were watching the news coverage in real time, like I was, you could see the lies working. Some news organizations simply resorted to stenography. Some contrasted the administration account with the videos, but left it at that."

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/2

"It’s been incredibly sad to see my beloved news industry struggle so publicly with whether and how to tell the truth about the wanton, brutal killing of Alex Pretti -- someone who did absolutely nothing wrong –- at the hands of the masked federal agents terrorizing his city."

~ Dan Froomkin

#AlexPretti #Trump #MaskedThugs #murder #execution #media #journalists #BothSides
/1

criticalread.substack.com/p/mo…

Moments of bravery and cowardice in the news coverage of Alex Pretti’s killing

Truth-telling is hard when your bosses are bootlickers

^{Dan Froomkin (Press Watch)}