The Only Remarkable Thing About Beto O'Rourke Is How Much the Media Love Him
No, Beto O'Rourke isn't "shaking up" the Senate race in Texas.
Media
Last Column From Khashoggi Warns About State-Spread Fake News. Americans Should Take Note: Reason Roundup
Plus: Rep. Amash moves to limit weapons sales to Saudis while evangelical leaders defend them.
Trump Seems More Skeptical of Elizabeth Warren's Ancestry Test Than of Saudi Innocence in Death of Jamal Khashoggi: Reason Roundup
Plus: HHS proposes new drug-ad disclosures.
Writer Stephen Elliott Sues Over 'Shitty Media Men' Spreadsheet: Reason Roundup
Plus: libertarian accounts purged from Facebook?
Authenticity and Truth in the #MeToo Era
You'll never know for sure what's in someone else's heart. But forgiveness can be as much about what we owe ourselves as what someone else deserves.
The Confidence-Man
Friday A/V Club: Long before "fake news" was a cliché, Alan Abel was both inserting and exposing fakery in the news.
Newly Released Eric Holder Memo: Feds Can Use FISA to Spy on Journalists
And the guidelines for spying on journalists may be even looser under Trump.
Beware the Press's Self-Serving Calls to Regulate Social Media
Demands for government oversight hide opportunism amid rhetoric about safety.
Law & Order: Hate Crimes Is a Bad Idea Built on Worse Statistics
But if the show must exist, I have some ripped-from-the-headlines ideas for upcoming plots.
Trump Slams Anonymous Sources, Promotes Story Based on Anonymous Sources
A little consistency would be nice.
Trump Doesn't Like What People See When They Search 'Trump News'
Threatened regulations on "fake news" would be an attack on press freedom
Why the Press Conflates Prostitution with Sex Trafficking—and Why That's a Threat To Free Speech: Podcast
Elizabeth Nolan Brown exposes the flimsy case against the alt-weekly pioneers accused of facilitating sex trafficking through Backpage.com.
15 Times Trump Hit a 'Turning Point' Before Yesterday's Cohen Revelations
It's the beginning of the end, again.
Sarah Jeong Probably Doesn't Hate White People, But Mocking Them Is an Easy Way to Prove You're Woke
The left doesn't believe racism against white people is possible.
Meet Bari Weiss, the Conservative New York Times Columnist Who Is Pro-Choice: Podcast
She's pro-Israel, #NeverTrumper who has chronicled (and criticized) the "intellectual Dark Web." Prefabricated ideological boxes need not apply.
The Nation Apologies for Publishing an 'Ableist' Poem
"Caused harm to members of several communities"
Appeals Court Orders Broward County Sheriff to Release School Shooting Footage
Many believe the footage will show what sheriffs were doing outside during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.
Florida Officials and Media Fight Over Parkland Shooting Footage
The media sues for video that may show what Broward County Sheriff's deputies were doing during the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Stormy Daniels Strips for Me and a Roomful of Journalists
...and reminds everyone that sometimes a strip show is just a strip show.
Trump Blasts Anonymous Sources, Was Himself One for Years
The president's "anonymous source schtick is complete BS," says Charles Gasparino.
Europe Delays Plan to Destroy the Internet With Terrible Copyright Enforcement Proposal
Lawmakers resist plan that would likely lead to widespread censorship of online media sharing.
After a Year Stuck in Jail, Reality Winner to Accept Plea Deal for Leaking NSA Report on Russian Election Meddling
Our terrible federal espionage laws won't let her argue the leak served the public's interest.
Trump Continues Obama's Pursuit of Leakers by Snooping on Media Contacts
Former Senate Intel Committee staffer charged with lying about relationships with reporters covering Carter Page investigation.
Scott Pruitt Kicks Himself in His Own Ass, Again
EPA head bars reporters from 'unfriendly' media from public meeting on pollution
9 Times John McCain Slams Conservative Media in New Book
One reason the national political press has almost always liked the Arizona maverick? He shares their disdain for the conservative media bubble.
Top LGBT Magazine Invokes 'HerStory' Covering Gina Haspel's Swearing In and Gets Smacked Down
Many aren't willing to ignore her ties to torture just because of her sex.
Do You Hear "All Immigrants Are Animals" or "MS-13 Are Animals"?
Forget Yanni vs. Laurel. Donald Trump's latest controversy gets at the heart of what divides us.
The 'Intellectual Dark Web' Is Just Rehashing Old P.C. Controversies in New Media
The leading figures of the "Intellectual Dark Web" are incredibly popular. So why do they still feel so aggrieved?
Jake Tapper on The Hellfire Club, Donald Trump's Big Lies, and D.C.'s 'Bullshit Waterfall'
The CNN host and best-selling novelist comes clean about his politics, why Hillary Clinton lost, and how his training in alternative media gives him a leg up.
Why America Distrusts 'the Media' and What to Do About It
For starters, don't describe the audience as incest survivors.
Let's See More Michelle Wolf-Style Nastiness in Political Journalism
Wolf's White House-focused hostility was a hell of a lot healthier than the smug chumminess that usually prevails at the annual journalist gathering.
Trump Will Resign by the End of the Year, Right?
Each false "resignation" headline slowly further erodes the credibility of a press that functions both as Trump's opposition and his foil.
Politics Is Not Pretty: Podcast
Reason editors rate the White House Correspondents Dinner, Trump's nuclear politics, the optics of political summits, and the resuscitation of Zora Neale Hurston.
Joy Reid Blames Mystery Hackers for the Anti-Gay Stuff on Her Old Blog
The MSNBC host kind of sucked on gay issues 10 years ago. So did most Democratic moderates.
Before People Fretted About Fake Videos, People Fretted About Fake Photographs
Do deepfakes really represent "the collapse of reality"?
Americans Can't Stand Each Other, So Let's Stop Forcing Our Preferences on One Another
If you want to avoid conflict among hostile groups, decentralize power-preferably to individuals.
How to Sniff Out Fake News
You don't need (and definitely do not want) the government to serve as a lie detector.
Newspapers Care Much More About Bashing Sinclair Than Criticizing an Unconstitutional Attack on Free Speech
5 editorials call for the federal government to thwart Sinclair's expansion efforts in wake of creepy promo video; meanwhile you can count the number of anti-FOSTA eds on one finger
Liberals Finally Find Some Media Bias They Dislike
The freakout over the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
5 Things Everyone's Getting Wrong About Sinclair Broadcast Group
The company that brought you that wince-inducing "fake news" promo is not a "monopoly," and cracking down on it will not defend the free press.
When an Echo Chamber Gets Worked Up About Echo Chambers
Researchers cast more doubt on the "filter bubble" narrative.
Farewell to Nicholas von Hoffman, the Newsman Who Got Fired for Comparing Nixon to a Dead Mouse
Friday A/V Club: Columnist, broadcaster, and critic of concentrated power
The New York Times Is Now a Nazi Paper. Wait, What?
If everything problematic is evil, silencing and punishing everything problematic becomes a social necessity.
Conservatism's Not-So-'Secret' Society of Opportunistic Hacks
From Ron Johnson to Fox News and beyond, Team Red has replaced skeptical scrutiny of Obama-era executive branch activity with dimwitted counterpunching for Trump.
