Deadlines and disappointments

When trusted news media breaks your heart

I’ve read a newspaper nearly every day of my life since I was five years old.

I may be a big ole bleeding heart liberal, but that local paper I read in those early years was published by none other than Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the most conservative publishers on the planet.

Since then, I’ve become a devoted reader of so many papers, depending on where I was living or visiting at the time. Indeed, my list reads like a travelogue.

The Pittsburgh Press and Post-Gazette, the Akron Beacon Journal. The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times. Chicago’s Tribune and Sun-Times. The Denver Post. Just to name a few.

I was so proud in 2005 when several of my feature articles were published in the Wisconsin State Journal, and I wrote a number of features for them before I moved away in 2008.

Photo credit: Lisa Fotios

I still believe in journalism and the power of journalists, but some of my old friends, and some of the biggest newspapers in the country, have let me down, and let their readers down.

This post might sound like sour grapes in an echo chamber. But I never expect any editor or writer to agree with me or share my viewpoint. What I do expect is a writer who will make readers think, challenge their preconceptions and above all, make a compelling argument.

Sadly, I feel so many publications are failing miserably at that - especially the compelling argument piece.

The editorial pages of the Post-Gazette, once a shining beacon of a newspaper, has become a chaotic and unchecked mess under editor Brandon McGinley.

McGinley ascended to the editor’s spot several years ago, and garnered kudos and even a Pulitzer nomination for editorial writing.

But I’ve found his recent work to be filled with declarative statements, without a strong argument to prove his point(s). Many of his editorials are little more than a free commercial for his conservative Catholic viewpoints.

McGinley sharpened his editorial pencil at Catholic publications, so those declarative statements would perhaps make complete sense to readers of those publications. But at a paper with a wider readership, it’s jarring to read, especially for those of us who don’t share his worldview.

One recent opinion piece - where he decided that the only thing in a century of Jimmy Carter’s worth writing about was the fact that he was wrongity wrong wrong for liking John Lennon’s Imagine - was a nadir of terribleness.

A few months back, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both announced their refusal to endorse a candidate for the 2024 presidential race, though the editorial board of both papers clearly supported Vice President Kamala Harris.

It was clear that both were attempting to curry favor with Trump - but at the cost of readers’ respect and trust.

I read several compelling essays and posts from journalists, friends, and people who I admire, encouraging readers not to cancel subscriptions to the Post, Los Angeles Times and other papers.

I understood the points they made and why. But in the end, I did cancel our subscriptions to those two publications.

I felt canceling them was the only way to register my voice and my disgust at their choices.

I know my choice will impact journalists at those publications, too. That pains me. Right now, I don’t know a better way to make my voice heard.

I still crave the experience of reading a newspaper cover to cover, but so many of those old dependables have become uncertain unreliables.

And it’s not just newspapers. CBS News, the house that Murrow built, is playing ball with the Trump administration, possibly paying a fine for….commercials about an interview with Kamala Harris? Never mind the journalism, CBS wants the FCC to OK their upcoming business deal, so they’ll cut a check and bow to the emperor to make it happen.

It feels petty for me to even debate some of these points right now - when our legacy media is struggling to stay afloat, when we’re in the midst of chaos brought on by Trump and Elon Musk.

But it’s disheartening that so many news platforms have proved, when push comes to shove, to be untrustworthy, and beholden not to their readers but only to the bottom line.