Courage has a way of empowering others to also stand up and say “Enough!” This week, two other long-time Washington Post journalism professionals — Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen — also resigned from the Post to form their own independent journalism channel, The Contrarian. The irony here is that Rubin is known as a conservative voice. If she is horrified by what conservatism has become under the influence of MAGAlomaniacs, perhaps the rest of us should be concerned as well.
In her introductory post, Rubin wrote,
Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy — Donald Trump — at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive.
The decay and compromised principles of corporate and billionaire-owned media underscore the urgent need for alternatives. Americans are eager for innovative and independent journalism that offers lively, unflinching coverage free from cant, conflicts of interest and moral equivocation. Which is why I am so thrilled to simultaneously announce this new outlet, The Contrarian: Not Owned by Anybody.
Also, Ann Telnaes, who was a political cartoonist for the Washington Post for 16 years, had one of her cartoons rejected recently; she decided enough was enough. She quit to pursue her own idea of what journalism should look like by creating her own media channel on Substack. As she explained in her first post:
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.
MSNBC is stepping up to the plate, as well, putting Rachel Maddow back on with a daily show for the first 100 days of the Trump tenure.