This is a dumb story. If you subscribe to the ridiculous notion that Trump is a would-be autocrat out to destroy democracy, then you obviously won't like a publication that doesn't share your TDS and instead aims for balance.
Spot-on analysis. And it's not just the stances of the "Free" Press's writers that give away their bias, it's their snarkiness. I recently saw a headline that read something like "Farewell to the Woke Pope." What else would an actual practitioner of Jesus' teachings be if not awakened?
I think they do an awfully good job of pissing people off on both sides. To me that’s the mark of a news organization that’s doing something right. All you cancelers are clearly attached to your echo chambers and only want to hear what reinforces your preconceived world views. If you’re reading sources that never piss you off you should be more worried about your own unchallenged bias.
This is so absolutely true. I subscribed to the Free Press, then cancelled after a few months, my subscription runs out in November. They print a lot of outright garbage. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Today they covered a story about a woman filmed calling a child a N-G-R, and how she got rich off it, and why . . . wait for it, it's a backlash to woke politics. No, these are just racists who now feel free to be public about it and brag about it. They print weird articles on history - why the current trade war is like the Opium Wars - completely incoherent. And the comments? A MAGA fest. This is not an independent outlet at all. The Free Press kind of sucks.
As a (paying) member of The Free Press, which has been admirably good at pissing me off from both sides, I have indeed been disillusioned by the amount of "Right-side" vitriol in the comments. But the comments here are pretty, pretty similar; just "Left-side". *sigh* So even though it's tempting, I try to treat the comments like reviews of my own work -- Don't read 'em!
In other words, you don't like The Free Press because it provides information with which you don't agree. Boo hoo.
What you're missing is that, for quite some time, thoughtful conservatives have clamored for coverage of events and issues as seen through the lens of our world view. The Free Press is, minimally, striving to restore some sanity to the public commons. If you didn't feel like you had cornered the market on truth, justice, etc., you wouldn't be so upset, despite the fact that there are many, many thoughtful Americans who think you are completely, utterly full of shit. If Democrats hadn't gone so wholly insane doing things like installing Joe Biden as President and plainly lying to our faces for years about his senility, among a great number of nearly as-appalling charades (prosecutions of Trump, COVID response, etc. & ad nauseam) you MIGHT get some sympathy. But you won't, even from us thoughtful conservatives who might be a bit unsettled and wary of what's happening now (not accounting for the fact, either, that we cannot believe a single word that is uttered by the left about anything Trump has done or said, because even where there is a written record and/or transcript we can review, you fuck that up, as well. Misinterpreting, misconstruing, MISREPRESENTING. It's like he has rendered you senseless.
Trump is no God, and he's many not-so-flattering things. But he is the main thing stopping you, and despite your mocking derision of anti-"wokeism" as a rightist fever dream, we don't need yet another example of the left telling us not to believe our lying eyes, when we can all see perfectly well what the left's intentions are and how you go about achieving them. That DJT is your main antagonist, and that he's beating your ass up and down, makes him a God-send for us. We'll put up with his pecadillos (to an extent) and certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, because we are certain that the road you had us on is the quickest and most direct one to national ruin. But you guys keep it up, please.
And I'll take my leave of you with this one little thought: if the Democrats hadn't done everything in their power, often blatantly corruptly so, to kill Donald Trump's political career, he would be gone right now: out of office, laboring to remain relevant, look like he's in control, and in the public eye, and probably not looking too good doing it, either (his vanity is confounding). But no - you Dems had to screw up sooo badly, failing through your bullshit machinations to bring him down (after cheating him out of office), that you hardened him even more. AND, you discredited yourselves in the process! A two-fer! He has every reason to come after you - turn about is fair play. And don't flatter yourselves thinkng that your "concerns" are "America's" (get over yourselves). We've heard this type of thing before (pretty much whenever a Republican is in office), and we're not buying it. To paraphrase the immortal bard, Nelson Muntz, Tough shit, Democratniks. Now is your time to cry. You no longer determine what we hear and see.
Hail to The Free Press, jail for the rest! (hey, now THAT's a catchy slogan).
Nearly every FP post over the last week has been critical of Trump administration. What change of direction do you want from this org? It doesn't speak with a singular voice.
Bravo. The Free Press is a farce of hypocrisy and a joke of honest inquiry. They’re pro Zionist identity politics, happy to cancel pro Palestinian voices, worried about the “authoritarianism” of wearing masks during a novel virus pandemic but will happily turn a blind eye to the government disappearing people off the street for expression criticism of Israel because they’re complete jokes filled with deeply unserious people like Batya, the most one-note pundit whose note is always wrong, and Islamophobic frothing genocidal maniacs like Douglas Murray.
Agree completely with this piece and am thrilled someone actually wrote it, but I feel like I should link Patterico's take on the Balko/Hughes argument, because 1) I find it convincing, and 2) out of concern that maybe anyone like me who doesn't think Balko's a straight shooter (FTR, I don't trust Hughes either) might dismiss this article on that grounds.
Thanks for this. I'm a subscriber to the FP but can't foresee renewing under Trump. My gut had told me they'd shifted their coverage and were no longer interested in speaking "truth to power", and then they hired Batya Ungar-Sargon and I thought, what is the point? As you point out there's been a shift lately, but it still isn't covering the worst of Trump 2.0 with the same energy as it did the previous administration.
Same. I am fine with a diversity of opinions. I learned from TFP and their podcast. but now that they have Ungar full time on board added to people like Rupa Subramanya, I’m not paying anymore. I don’t need to hear the crazies, I log on Twitter for that. That makes them lose even more credibility in my opinion.
It’s notable that the audience of the FP seems to go nuts anytime something mildly anti Trump is written. They lost me during election season..a bunch of the smarter, critical of woke left seemed to decide Trump was no biggie all at once. It was simply terrible analysis and judgement to come to that conclusion. If that’s the critical thinking you are bringing to the table, no thanks.
This is a dumb story. If you subscribe to the ridiculous notion that Trump is a would-be autocrat out to destroy democracy, then you obviously won't like a publication that doesn't share your TDS and instead aims for balance.
Spot-on analysis. And it's not just the stances of the "Free" Press's writers that give away their bias, it's their snarkiness. I recently saw a headline that read something like "Farewell to the Woke Pope." What else would an actual practitioner of Jesus' teachings be if not awakened?
I think they do an awfully good job of pissing people off on both sides. To me that’s the mark of a news organization that’s doing something right. All you cancelers are clearly attached to your echo chambers and only want to hear what reinforces your preconceived world views. If you’re reading sources that never piss you off you should be more worried about your own unchallenged bias.
((Echo o o…))
This is so absolutely true. I subscribed to the Free Press, then cancelled after a few months, my subscription runs out in November. They print a lot of outright garbage. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Today they covered a story about a woman filmed calling a child a N-G-R, and how she got rich off it, and why . . . wait for it, it's a backlash to woke politics. No, these are just racists who now feel free to be public about it and brag about it. They print weird articles on history - why the current trade war is like the Opium Wars - completely incoherent. And the comments? A MAGA fest. This is not an independent outlet at all. The Free Press kind of sucks.
Deranged unhinged analysis of self-contradicting sentences strewn through window blinds of envy.
As a (paying) member of The Free Press, which has been admirably good at pissing me off from both sides, I have indeed been disillusioned by the amount of "Right-side" vitriol in the comments. But the comments here are pretty, pretty similar; just "Left-side". *sigh* So even though it's tempting, I try to treat the comments like reviews of my own work -- Don't read 'em!
In other words, you don't like The Free Press because it provides information with which you don't agree. Boo hoo.
What you're missing is that, for quite some time, thoughtful conservatives have clamored for coverage of events and issues as seen through the lens of our world view. The Free Press is, minimally, striving to restore some sanity to the public commons. If you didn't feel like you had cornered the market on truth, justice, etc., you wouldn't be so upset, despite the fact that there are many, many thoughtful Americans who think you are completely, utterly full of shit. If Democrats hadn't gone so wholly insane doing things like installing Joe Biden as President and plainly lying to our faces for years about his senility, among a great number of nearly as-appalling charades (prosecutions of Trump, COVID response, etc. & ad nauseam) you MIGHT get some sympathy. But you won't, even from us thoughtful conservatives who might be a bit unsettled and wary of what's happening now (not accounting for the fact, either, that we cannot believe a single word that is uttered by the left about anything Trump has done or said, because even where there is a written record and/or transcript we can review, you fuck that up, as well. Misinterpreting, misconstruing, MISREPRESENTING. It's like he has rendered you senseless.
Trump is no God, and he's many not-so-flattering things. But he is the main thing stopping you, and despite your mocking derision of anti-"wokeism" as a rightist fever dream, we don't need yet another example of the left telling us not to believe our lying eyes, when we can all see perfectly well what the left's intentions are and how you go about achieving them. That DJT is your main antagonist, and that he's beating your ass up and down, makes him a God-send for us. We'll put up with his pecadillos (to an extent) and certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, because we are certain that the road you had us on is the quickest and most direct one to national ruin. But you guys keep it up, please.
And I'll take my leave of you with this one little thought: if the Democrats hadn't done everything in their power, often blatantly corruptly so, to kill Donald Trump's political career, he would be gone right now: out of office, laboring to remain relevant, look like he's in control, and in the public eye, and probably not looking too good doing it, either (his vanity is confounding). But no - you Dems had to screw up sooo badly, failing through your bullshit machinations to bring him down (after cheating him out of office), that you hardened him even more. AND, you discredited yourselves in the process! A two-fer! He has every reason to come after you - turn about is fair play. And don't flatter yourselves thinkng that your "concerns" are "America's" (get over yourselves). We've heard this type of thing before (pretty much whenever a Republican is in office), and we're not buying it. To paraphrase the immortal bard, Nelson Muntz, Tough shit, Democratniks. Now is your time to cry. You no longer determine what we hear and see.
Hail to The Free Press, jail for the rest! (hey, now THAT's a catchy slogan).
The Free Press editors just published a piece that polled seven legal experts on whether Trump is violating the law, and despite their varied political viewpoints, it was unanimous that Trump was violating the law. This seems a bit hysterical. The FP published a variety of viewpoints. https://open.substack.com/pub/bariweiss/p/is-donald-trump-breaking-the-law?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=15yy0
LOL! Yes. I heard. https://x.com/shikhadalmia/status/1914376046742573082
Nearly every FP post over the last week has been critical of Trump administration. What change of direction do you want from this org? It doesn't speak with a singular voice.
Bravo. The Free Press is a farce of hypocrisy and a joke of honest inquiry. They’re pro Zionist identity politics, happy to cancel pro Palestinian voices, worried about the “authoritarianism” of wearing masks during a novel virus pandemic but will happily turn a blind eye to the government disappearing people off the street for expression criticism of Israel because they’re complete jokes filled with deeply unserious people like Batya, the most one-note pundit whose note is always wrong, and Islamophobic frothing genocidal maniacs like Douglas Murray.
I always say that the Free Press is for people who think they're too smart for Fox News, but would really like to watch Fox News
Is it possible to comment without paying? Just trying
Agree completely with this piece and am thrilled someone actually wrote it, but I feel like I should link Patterico's take on the Balko/Hughes argument, because 1) I find it convincing, and 2) out of concern that maybe anyone like me who doesn't think Balko's a straight shooter (FTR, I don't trust Hughes either) might dismiss this article on that grounds.
https://open.substack.com/pub/patterico/p/so-youre-saying-radley-balkos-distortion?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2l8m9
Thanks for this. I'm a subscriber to the FP but can't foresee renewing under Trump. My gut had told me they'd shifted their coverage and were no longer interested in speaking "truth to power", and then they hired Batya Ungar-Sargon and I thought, what is the point? As you point out there's been a shift lately, but it still isn't covering the worst of Trump 2.0 with the same energy as it did the previous administration.
Same. I am fine with a diversity of opinions. I learned from TFP and their podcast. but now that they have Ungar full time on board added to people like Rupa Subramanya, I’m not paying anymore. I don’t need to hear the crazies, I log on Twitter for that. That makes them lose even more credibility in my opinion.
It’s notable that the audience of the FP seems to go nuts anytime something mildly anti Trump is written. They lost me during election season..a bunch of the smarter, critical of woke left seemed to decide Trump was no biggie all at once. It was simply terrible analysis and judgement to come to that conclusion. If that’s the critical thinking you are bringing to the table, no thanks.
It is interesting how the term contrarian became as a camouflage for "I am a far-right"
"Ideology Over Truth"??
Ideologies enslave the mind, so few of us realize that.