January 28, 20196 yr Members I’m starting a thread for news on mounting media layoffs as well as criticism of the media and journalism. Stuff that doesn’t necessarily or directly touch on politics. Dire warnings after BuzzFeed laid off 15 percent of their workforce:
February 26Feb 26 Members A good thread on the odious Alex Thompson, who finally got the book deal this week the 'boring' Biden era denied him. The only solace I have is knowing he will someday be out on his ass and out of favor again. Today's horrific Bezos news at the Post I will leave for someone else to cover. I can only stomach so much in one day, and I have very limited mental bandwith for our current shitshow. ... a Biden staffer, but not inner circle. Met him for coffee once, and all he could talk about was how giddy he was that he had come up with the title "Old Yeller" for a hit piece about Biden's temper. His obsession with Hunter & Jill, and his lens on the family as a sort... — Dan Cluchey (@dancluchey) February 26, 2025 ... responded, with no detectable sense of shame, that it didn't "generate clicks." I left with the sense that the entire appeal of journalism, for him, was the chance to do gossip and Mean-Girls-esque burn-book snark. It was revolting. I didn't anticipate at that time... — Dan Cluchey (@dancluchey) February 26, 2025 ... the full MAGA turn that would come, but I'm not surprised in retrospect. I've never encountered someone so obsessed or steeped in personal loathing as he was re: Biden — including Biden's actual political opponents!— Dan Cluchey (@dancluchey) February 26, 2025
February 26Feb 26 Members screengrab of memo from Bezos https://x.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1894760153813275124 Jeff Stein @JStein_WaPo Massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post’s opinion section today - makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will be quitting immediately and letting you know https://bsky.app/profile/davidmaraniss.bsky.social/post/3lj3o3ozerc2df One pernicious step after another, Bezos encroached on the Post editorial policy. Today he seized it fully. The old Washington Post is gone. I'll never write for it again as long as he's the owner. — David Maraniss (@davidmaraniss.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 7:13 AM Edited February 26Feb 26 by janea4old
February 28Feb 28 Members Astead takes another break from soccerposting for well, this: Someday he will be exiled to the political ash heap with the rest of the usual Bernie or Death suspects (because that's what he is; Astead used to hammer on about the 2020 primaries and was ranting again in a rare non-soccerpost last night about 'party elites' and online libs not understanding the candidate people want). Assuming we all live to see such a time, I can't wait.
March 1Mar 1 Members @Vee Thompson was also trying to play "gotcha" with some of the "centrist" Democratic accounts who had criticized him by showing them his book. I'm sure everyone is in awe of a book 3 people will buy. Astead is giddily retweeting the time Trump tweeted him years ago, Conor Sen is fuming over a centrist account pointing out that no one gives a [!@#$%^&*] (beyond the same Beltway figures on Twitter) about the book or his claim that Democrats are in the same place Republicans were after the Iraq War failures, etc. These people did so much to get Trump back in office and will do anything to avoid talking about the atrocities they have created.
March 1Mar 1 Members https://bsky.app/profile/propublica.org/post/3ljd3iamzc22g ProPublica identified 95 Facebook pages that regularly post made-up headlines designed to draw engagement — and, often, stoke political divisions. The pages, most of which are managed by people overseas, have a total of more than 7.7M followers. By @craigsilverman.bsky.social [image or embed] — ProPublica (@propublica.org) March 1, 2025 at 6:01 AM ProPublica identified 95 Facebook pages that regularly post made-up headlines designed to draw engagement — and, often, stoke political divisions. The pages, most of which are managed by people overseas, have a total of more than 7.7M followers. As Facebook Abandons Fact-Checking, It's Also Offering Bonuses for Viral Content https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-meta-abandons-fact-checking-boosts-viral-content Edited March 1Mar 1 by janea4old
March 9Mar 9 Members “Area merchants uniformly like the concept of what the mafia set out to do—provide protection from unexpected disasters—but have been frustrated by the threats of broken kneecaps and the expensive bribes.” [image or embed] — Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 3:58 PM
March 12Mar 12 Members In Ruth Marcus' new column for The New Yorker in which she unveils the Washington Post column that was rejected and led to her resignation, she points out that the paper's media critic Erik Wemple also had a piece disagreeing with Bezos' new opinion mandate nixed. www.newyorker.com/news/essay/w...[image or embed]— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 5:26 AM
March 12Mar 12 Members 2 hours ago, Vee said: Here's a link for same NewYorker piece, for anyone hit by a registration/paywall thing: https://archive.is/DIdSn
April 3Apr 3 Members i missed the news back in january that the ny times editorial page is cleaning house. here’s a free link to pamela paul’s farewell column. i always found her an insightful voice of reason i will miss. apparently, charles blow’s recent departure was part of the shakeup, as well. pamela paul’s farewell column
April 28Apr 28 Members 55 minutes ago, Vee said: I was just coming in here to comment on this. These are some scary times with all these networks selling their souls for not only money but to appease a fascist. May this come back to bite every CEO that bowed down to him in the arse.
May 4May 4 Members Screengrab of real headline from May 1, 2025 Article (not that you'd want to read it, just proof that it unfortunately exists) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/style/trump-style-100-days.html non-paywall copy: https://archive.is/ICe7U
May 6May 6 Members You forgot to mention she resigned in protest in January after you killed her cartoon about your plutocrat owner. [image or embed] — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 12:47 PM
May 7May 7 Members Ben Collins, CEO of the company that owns The Onion, says they don't use A.I. We don't use AI. One time AI unknowingly showed up in one of our stock photos we used and people correctly yelled at us until we took it down and figured out how it happened. We employ human artists who breathe and eat and make stuff with their corporeal limbs and brains. — Tim Onion (@bencollins.bsky.social) May 7, 2025 at 9:25 AM Edited May 7May 7 by janea4old
I’m starting a thread for news on mounting media layoffs as well as criticism of the media and journalism. Stuff that doesn’t necessarily or directly touch on politics.
Dire warnings after BuzzFeed laid off 15 percent of their workforce: