This has to be an incomparably tough time for the journalists of the Post, but the event at the center of these tough times makes this with saying:
Nah, y’all are at war now.
Nah, y’all are at war now.
Same for the NYT: in a real sense — nonpartisan, but still real — the forces the administration represents see you as the opposition, whether you accept that perception or not.
I don’t say this as a Democrat, or as a liberal in the partisan sense. I say this as someone committed to the liberal (to use that in the nonpartisan sense) project of inquiry — the centuries-long tradition in which journalists do their best to establish the facts …
… and then report them.
I’ve written about how the American right, in its rejection of those values, has determined to co-opt or undermine any sources of authority that challenge its own: the press, the judiciary, science, academia.
What the Khashoggi murder reveals …
I’ve written about how the American right, in its rejection of those values, has determined to co-opt or undermine any sources of authority that challenge its own: the press, the judiciary, science, academia.
What the Khashoggi murder reveals …
… is the degree to which that course has put the American right in common cause with forces overseas far more transparent in their rejection of liberal inquiry — and cavalier in their attitude toward journalists’ lives.
And so the administration’s flip refusal to care about the murder of a journalist at the hands of a regime that rejects liberal inquiry …
… has to be seen against the backdrop of challenges to the bodily safety of journalists in other places where — to use the unfortunate name that’s the best we have — the international nationalism has gone on the march. npr.org/2018/10/11/656…
(See also, e.g. …) reuters.com/article/us-mya…
For decades, we in the U.S. have gotten away with assuming commitment to liberal inquiry to be a shared value — a part of the nation’s firmament, as readily assumed as the air we breathe.
Trump’s response to Khashoggi’s murder — post facto complicity in it, if we’re candid …
Trump’s response to Khashoggi’s murder — post facto complicity in it, if we’re candid …
… makes a rude point of the fact that nobody can assume that anymore. foxbusiness.com/politics/trump…
In an environment in which America’s protection abroad for liberal inquiry can’t be assumed, those values – respect for the pursuit of facts, or for the benefits of an informed public – won’t defend themselves. It’s up to news organizations …
… to recognize that — and to navigate the business, in an environment where the liberal values that make the work of journalism possible can’t be assumed, of drawing lines against the use of their platforms …
… to advance an illiberal agenda that would put liberal inquiry on the margins — or frustrate it altogether.
I’m sure our top news organizations are up to the ta— … oh. Oh no.
Whatever excuse Trump settles on for doing business as usual with Saudi, though, this month’s events show the work of journalism to be deeply embattled — whether organizations such as the Post want that or not.
I can just leave this here.
