354 Comments
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Bless you, Robert Hubbell, for ranting against the evil headlines of Wa Po and NYT.I have been waiting for this explosion for months. I want to hear it from the rooftops:the Press is wrong, broken, biased, or mad! Thank the goddess for the Jennifer Rubins in the crowd but way too many people who ought to know better are failing democracy in a bitter way. Bravo, Robert!

Expand full comment

Perfectly said!!! TY!

Expand full comment

Maybe they'll give you an op ed.

To contact the Editorial Page editor, email editorial@nytimes.com. To report a factual error in a news article, email corrections@nytimes.com

https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014809107-New-York-Times-Opinion-Guest-Essays#:~:text=To%20contact%20the%20Editorial%20Page,email%20corrections%40nytimes.com.

I sent them your rant!

Expand full comment

I sent it to one of the influential Board members

Expand full comment

Good luck I've been emailing the letters to the editor, the journalists, the editors, the editorial board and AG Sulzberger for 3 months about the papers bias. Haven't heard a word. I hope they respond.

Expand full comment

Of course you haven’t, and you won’t. They are determined to destroy our democracy.

Expand full comment

I'm not sure they want to destroy democracy in America. I think they believe they're reporting "news". Sadly they have become the tools of people who might be fine without democracy.

Expand full comment

As did I.

Dear sirs and madams,

Why does it appear so many times that your headline editor is a Russian Bot? The forwarded Substack by the eminent Robert Hubble should give you pause, and hopefully you might reflect upon what your commitment to our Constitution and the democracy we love means to yourselves.

Sincerely,

Ransom W. Rideout Jr.

Altadena,CA

A paid subscriber

Expand full comment

Well done!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Patricia. We all should forward Robert's whole Substack rant to as many news papers as we can. Some Assistnt Editor somewhere just might get it.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Daniel, I didn't have this handy and now I do. I will send rant as well!

Gee, I love this community!

Expand full comment

I find it's worse with regional papers. A LOT worse.

Expand full comment

Now THAT'S the way. Robert wrote it perfectly. I certainly can't come up with a bettrr letter.

Expand full comment

Go, Daniel!

Expand full comment

Thanks, Daniel. I appreciate the information. I'm going to give it a try.

Expand full comment

Great! I hope they read it. I hope they read my own comment too.

Expand full comment

Thank you Daniel for posting this info....

Expand full comment

Well said. There appears to be no rationale for how the papers are covering President Biden versus Trump. It is maddening and thank goodness we have Robert’s newsletter to read to help ground us somewhat.

Expand full comment

I agree! Because they are failing business entities which are losing readers, they unleash untrue and manipulative information in order to get someone(s) to click, and they then publish MORE garbage, rinse, repeat it, etc.

Expand full comment

I am afraid you are correct Kathleen. It is unfortunate that we have to put up with the falsely editorialized news.

Expand full comment

I was going to post my own APPLAUSE!!! APPLAUSE!!!! APPLAUSE!!!! for your well-deserved rant, Robert, but I will simply add my kudos to this awesome comment from Jim and the others. Bless you, dear friend and fearless leader!

Expand full comment

Do you have an alternative suggestion re fairer newspapers in the USA?

Expand full comment

Thank you for “telling it like it is.” Our news media are letting us down big time. I wonder what Herr Trump and/or his acolytes are paying them to continue this war against democracy and Joe Biden.

Expand full comment

Sir~media malpractice is why I became a subscriber to your newsletter. I canceled my personal subscriptions to the NYT and Wapo last year for this very reason (sadly, I still subscribe through my business for the work I do). The good news is that it really does appear that more and more of the thinking electorate has developed a similar disgust/distrust, which has motivated them to do the work they need to educate themselves. But that will never be reported either. Nor will the nature of pro-democracy voters--we do not drive around with Biden flags on our cars or scream at the top of our lungs--we work studiously and collectively and quietly, getting the job of democracy done.

Thank you for your newsletter. Even the rants.

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Especially the rants.

Expand full comment

Yours are getting pretty good too.

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

"-we do not drive around with Biden flags on our cars or scream at the top of our lungs--we work studiously and collectively and quietly, getting the job of democracy done."

Just like Biden does.

Expand full comment

A "truth-bumpy" observation. I love it.

Expand full comment

Rag-tag Resistance.

Expand full comment

We all need to rant it out.

Expand full comment

Thank you for your righteous rant Robert! It infuriating and frightening how the media is covering our wonderful president vs a criminal/rapist/hitler wannabe. I wish you were in the major media editorial pages every week!

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

This IS the article I have wanted to see. Thank you for sharing what so many of us feel about the anti Biden media messages. The headline should have been as you stated it: Biden. Crushed. It. And yes, everyone also follow Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium. Yes

Expand full comment

Robert, you are a gifted writer and principled and insightful thought leader. This posting is especially brilliant.

Expand full comment

Nothing like a rant with back up. Just what The NY Times deserves. Washington Post, too.

Expand full comment
Feb 5·edited Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Robert E. Hubbell goes off the rails about the media's misappropriated representation of President Biden's victory in South Carolina. His rants about two of the most prestigious journals of record reflect the liberals tendency to insist on truth and transparency. By suggesting that independent journals be consistent in their reporting defies logic, further incites a deep sense of disenfranchisement of those on the left of the political spectrum and, most vitally, alienates the so-called "swing voters" who Biden needs to win reelection. Hubbell is tenacious, revealing his rejection of biases and opinions based upon legitimate assumptions, expectations, and inference. He also demeans those journalists authoring these articles, men and women of distinction, who have earned the right to be presumptive, misleading and inaccurate. Read Hubbell at you own risk of becoming educated, balanced, fair minded, mature, practical and, dare I say, intellectually refined. LOL

Expand full comment

Took me a couple minutes to detect that tongue firmly planted in your cheek, sir, but I'm proud to say I finally spotted it!

Expand full comment

Sarcasm doesn’t play well in print. People don’t always read things till the end. They grab lines here and there and can easily misinterpret comments to be for the wrong side. Not the side the comment is trying to facetiously support.

Expand full comment

Me, too!

Expand full comment

Bravo

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

I find it very interesting to see a media group which has been called part of the liberal agenda doing this type of reporting. It has gotten under my skin just like it has yours and I just can find a justification for its existence. I agree media can't be a cheerleader for any candidate, but it sure looks like it is helping Trump and not Biden. All we want is to report the facts and South Carolina was a fantastic victory and showed support in all areas. Give President his due when it is justified and don't lessen its value in your reporting. The economy is the best it has ever been and is performing better than any other economy by a long distance. By all standards this should be a huge win for any President and should be lauded and not lessened by what might happen in the future or what was wrong in the past with inflation being the focus and although it is not totally out of play it has been reduced by these economic policies and should be praised. Focus on Corporations who are still gouging the public with high margins and bragging about how well they were able to obtain additional profits by growing margins at the cost of the public though higher prices. All of us must call out the media and let them know we think focus on the real progress made in the last 3 plus years and the chaos of the previous four.

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

More than fifty years ago, high school American history textbooks explained the failure of pollsters to predict the Roosevelt victory in the 1936 election. Pollsters relied on landline telephone inquiries. Only rich people had a landline in 1936. This type of difficulty is thoroughly understood. Now some folks exploit it in order to generate misinformation. So why do people fall for it? Or pretend to fall for it?

Expand full comment

The only people who use landlines are old people who mostly listen to Faux Snooze, quelle surprise that NBC would get the results they did. (I admit I use a landline because I can make long-distance calls for interviews for my books without burning up minutes since I really do have "unlimited service" that way) The NYT of the Pentagon Papers is long gone.

Expand full comment

Your generality is off base. Landlines through cable are still very common as it is much cheaper than cell phones, especially for long distance calls and for "home" business. But your point is well taken because very few people will be picking up the phone anymore for pollsters. (I even finally got my 90+ yo mother to stop answering unknown callers) Spectrum at least makes it very easy to block unknown callers and pollsters are labeled as "Spam" as well. So the people answering a landline phone are a very select group and obviously susceptible to leading questioning. :-(

Expand full comment
Feb 5·edited Feb 5

I have only had a cell phone for years and am fine. I never ever answer unless I know who it is. If it's important, they'll leave a message. Otherwise, don't bother me. I was the same way with my land line.. So I wonder if the people who do answer unknown callers have commonalities that bias the phone polls?

Expand full comment

unlimited service is a good reason. I use it for long calls as well.

Expand full comment

“The only people who use landlines are old people who mostly listen to Faux Snooze …” –

My wife and I qualify as old people. We keep the landline because Verizon packages it with TV and additional “goodies” that we find useful. We don’t turn on “Faux Snooze” unless we tap the wrong keys on our remotes.

Expand full comment

Which makes you the same kind of Aulds as me, which means you are often puzzled by how many boomers turned out to be idiots. :-)

Expand full comment

I also have a landline.

Expand full comment

I’m not *entirely* puzzled. Check out H.L. Mencken’s writings and his concept of the Boobocracy (judging from your Comment, TC, maybe you already have).

Expand full comment

I have. Unfortunately, further reading about him reveals that he was in ther 20s-30s writing against democracy and in favor of Mussolini's fascism. When you put it in that context, you suddenly see what he was writing with a very different meaning.

Expand full comment

Mencken’s writings about ‘boobocracy’ can be treated on their own terms, rather than assuming that they are motivated by fascistic beliefs. As such, they represent penetrating and uncomplimentary critiques of American political culture (albeit stated in extremely tendentious, caricaturing language).

Expand full comment

I do a lot of phone banking aimed at informing people of legislative changes for mail-in ballots.Some have landlines and many live alone, are disabled or don’t drive. They are also lonely and easily exploitable. My elderly dad , when he lived alone, only had a landline and I could not convince him to let it go to voice mail. For him, it was a connection…a human voice. When he moved in with us, he could not understand why we almost never picked up the phone.📞

Expand full comment

Don't forget we are now have 2 generations of young people (and immigrants) with limited familiarity landlines and I guarantee 99% of them have no knowledge of what you just wrote! Those textbooks are long gone. Word is starting to get out about manipulated and bad polling but we need a lot more info about it flooding the airways and media in general!!

Expand full comment

People want to believe what they want to believe

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Robert. Your rant was so cathartic. Thank you. We cannot rely on the Media to share the true support for Biden.

So, I'm on a mission to amplify Biden's messaging and create a buzz for the 2024 election. It’s up to us to BE the Biden Headline you wish to see in the world.

Join the Biden T-Shirt Blitz for 2024 – Urgent Call to Action

Here's the plan: Wear a Biden T-shirt on EVERY grocery run until November 5, 2024.

Goal:

1. Make fellow Biden supporters feel "not alone."

2. Spark curiosity – just a few Biden shirts in a store can make someone wonder, “what’s going on here?” opening them to Biden's message.

Why grocery stores? It's a media strategy for maximum impact.

Now, the urgency: Super Bowl shoppers can give this movement a concentrated boost. I'm reaching out to Democrat volunteer groups to spread this message to their followers ASAP.

Join the Biden T-Shirt Blitz while shopping for Super Bowl snacks and let's turn grocery stores into a sea of support for Biden!

Your sharing THIS would mean the world. Copy/paste into emails. Share as a Substack Note. Help me reach beyond the comments.

I wish I could say “Go Lions!” But… since Travis Kelce is probably a Biden fan (or else Taylor Swift would dump him)… Go Chiefs!

Lastly, if this feels like off-topic spam, I apologize, but to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And EVERY time I read about the failings of the media or the lack of enthusiasm for

Biden, I think “Wear a Biden Tshirt grocery shopping!” I just do. Every time.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks. Can you edit / add to your post with suggested links?

Expand full comment

Happy to, Robert! 💙 For speedy 2-day shipping I found this on Amazon for $17.11: 👕 https://a.co/d/62FDktL 💙 They sell sweatshirts too for DEMS in cold swing states. I’m looking at you, MI, WI, & PA. 👕 🛒

Also, for the rest of the year I LOVE this 👕 design that is all about Dems, not Biden specifically (JUST AS GOOD at the ballot box and grocery store!) “DEMS MAKE LIFE BETTER” tshirt: https://www.indivisiblemarin.org/dems-make-life-better-t-shirt 💙🇺🇸

And I like this small biz on Etsy for $25 Biden’s shirt. Ask about speedy delivery. 🚚 https://www.etsy.com/listing/857835907/

Expand full comment

I got my T-shirt yesterday, but being in New Hampshire even in the grocery store it’s going to be covered up with a jacket for another month or two at least. But I agree we’ve got to find ways to get out the message since we can’t rely on the media. Any other suggestions folks as to what we can do?

Expand full comment

🧢🛒

Expand full comment

Hi Lorna, this link sells Biden Sweatshirts: 💙 https://a.co/d/5yxYrNJ 💙 for DEMS in cold states. 🥶 🇺🇸

Expand full comment

Similar problem here, even in Southern California. But I have discovered long underwear! Try it in New Hampshire!

Expand full comment

I wear layers with tshirt on top.

Expand full comment

Hi Lorna, this link sells Biden Sweatshirts: 💙 https://a.co/d/5yxYrNJ 💙 for DEMS in cold states. 🥶 🇺🇸

Expand full comment

I live in floriduh and I actually worry at being shot especially since anyone can carry a gun.

Expand full comment

👕🛒

Expand full comment

I cancelled my NYT subscription a while back with no regrets. Thank you for reminding me what a good decision that was.

Expand full comment

I canceled my NYT subscription last year for this very reason. I resubscribed in December because they had the four dollar a month for three months deal just to see if their coverage had become anymore even. Well, apparently it has not and so I’m gonna be canceling today and I’m going to site this very article as my reason.

Thank you for the rant., Robert. We are all feeling it!

Now, other than my treasured list of sub stack writers, can anyone recommend a decent, unbiased news source? How about The Guardian?

Expand full comment
Feb 5·edited Feb 5

I've been reading Reuters a lot lately for straight news. I do like The Guardian and BBC News provides good info.

Expand full comment

I believe 1440 is supposed to be unbiased.

Expand full comment

I plan to cancel my NYT subscription today. I’ve had it with them. (...& Hooray for Taylor Swift last night at the Grammy Awards!)

Expand full comment

And I hope she enjoys the "sure thing, Biden-arranged" CHIEFS win on Sunday!!

Go Taylor Swift!

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Robert -- I estimate I have been reading Today's Edition for something like 4 or 5 years. I am superbly confident that I have never read anything you've written that was less needy of an apology at its conclusion than today's post (or rant as you call it). You are right on target, and I can't tell you how good it made me feel to read it. And you put in words an intuition I have had for some time, namely the fact that the polls are skewed by the zone flooding of the Baloney polls coming from Trump-a-phants or worse -- Moscow maybe? I would be delighted if you established an editorial policy of one such rant per week for those of us who need a regular rant. Thanks again.

Expand full comment

YES - I’m completely in agreement with you about the legacy media, especially NYTimes. I wrote a letter to the editor every day this past week (WaPo too) - many more were warranted. Please everyone- flood them with feedback! At some point they must listen.

Expand full comment

Yes! the NYTimes is infuriating -I have written them to say I do not need to see the former indicted one's picture on my screen everyday and it as if Biden does not exist. I encourage all my friends to write as well and either unsubscribe or at least threaten to unsubscribe. I got a long form response that tRump must be covered as he is newsworthy. The daily picture and lack of coverage of Biden and his amazing successes were not addressed. It deserves your rant and more from readers. Thank you as always for expressing the rage and despair along with hope everyday.

Expand full comment

That is so lame. How does the incoherent, abusive ranting of a disordered personality become more newsworthy than the actual President of the United States? Glad I no longer subscribe.

Expand full comment

Yes.. For some inexplicable reason, the Times seems to have forgotten who the President is. Or maybe they just prefer blustering, insane promters like Trump who get lots of clicks on the Times digital platform..the more clicks the more ad revenue...

I wrote to Sulzberger that if an aliend landed and read the NYTs they would think Trump not Biden was president.😱

Expand full comment

They cannot think that one op-ed in a month about how dangerous Trump is - is enough! I had a false hope that they were changing their tune.

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Thank you so much for the necessary rant! Whenever I see these "polls" I think my head might explode. Then I read this from you, and I am back to living with a non-pressurized head. It is exhausting witnessing the journalistic malpractice of some of our large, and previously well respected, even esteemed papers. This is garbage they are serving on a dirty paper plate.

Expand full comment
Feb 5·edited Feb 5

OK, maybe I'm uninformed or just plain dense. I've always thought that the NYT and WaPo were the cream of the crop among US newspapers. Ideally newspapers are neutral when reporting news, but are free to express their own views through their columnists and the editorial page. I thought the NYT and WaPo were centrist with a left-leaning point of view. Based on the anti-Biden slant/innuendo in their latest articles, it would seem that they are bad-mouthing Biden for reasons known only to them. Is this just click-bait? One thing's for sure: I don't savvy it.

Expand full comment

I think what drives their headlines is clicks. I know that at least sometimes they rotate various headlines and see which drive the most traffic. So to some degree, we are culpable when we click on the most negative ones.

But also, the Post has a new CEO and publisher who has been with Rupert Murdoch his whole career up until now--he was involved in the phone hacking scandal at The News of The World, one of Murdoch's papers, but survived to work for him at WSJ and Fox. So I suspect there it is quite intentional. Really, just compare the two photos that Robert included--the from-below shot of Biden vs Trump in front of the flags? I just don't think that's accidental.

Expand full comment

Let me suggest an additional reason for the Times’s aberrant reporting: pressure from their reporters and staff. Recall that, not too long ago, the Times forced out their Editor-in-Chief largely because of staff pressure.

When the journalistic community discovered that objectivity is an impossible ideal, many of them trashed it, rather than trying soberly to come as close to objectivity as possible. It was more fun that way.

Expand full comment

I've been checking with friends and colleagues about the Times anti-Biden bias for the past few months. Some of these friends know the Times well and one is a good friend of Salzberger. No one I've talked to understands it.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Merrill. Your comment eases things a bit.

Expand full comment

It is a confusing conundrum, this headline business. Those two papers are generally, as you describe, centrist and left-leaning (which is to say objective) but not consistently so enough to avoid the sharp pen of Mr. Hubbell.

Expand full comment

I feel that they are NOT centrist, left-leaning, or objective. AS I said above, at the very least, the NYTimes has been losing readers for years. It's financial and manipulative, in my opinion.

Expand full comment

And I couldn’t agree more. Thank you.

Expand full comment

One’s position on the political spectrum has no relation whatsoever to objectivity.

Expand full comment

Yes, that MUST be the answer. They are losing readers, and are desperate for the clicks! In my opinion!

Expand full comment
Feb 5Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Loved the parody. Both newspapers are past their 'sell by date'. Fortunately Millenials and Zoomers have moved on. Only the diehards still pay attention to what these losers have to say since its directed at Boomers and other old farts. The good news is there will be less and less of them and the NYT and WP haven't yet figured out how to address this fact. Personally, I don't rely on either to understand what is going on in American politics. Like many, I've switched to people like you, Joyce Vance , Robert Reich and several others who are in it for the right reasons.....not to support Sulzberger and Bezos. Oh, and YouTube where I can see interviews with and comment from people I trust. But that's a conversation for another day. Thanks again for the humor .....and the rant.

Expand full comment

This old fart agrees with you!!!!

Expand full comment

“Boomers and other old farts“ –

Thanks for the compliment.

Expand full comment