“Not the odds, but the stakes.”

November 17, 2023

          Journalism professor Jay Rosen of NYU has been urging news media organizations across the nation to adopt the following mantra for their 2024 coverage:

“Not the odds, but the stakes.”

          As reported Oliver Darcy in CNN’s Reliable Sources,

[P]rofessor Jay Rosen has evangelized across the news industry over the last several months. With less than a year until the 2024 elections, Rosen has been imploring newsrooms to organize their campaign coverage around the enormous stakes of the presidential contest — not the horse race.

          As CNN correctly notes, the root cause of “horse race” journalism is laziness (and a desire to increase revenue):

[S]ounding the alarm on Trump's disturbing conduct is more difficult than engaging in horse race coverage. Focusing on the polls can help news organizations dodge thorny issues, such as Trump's use of vile rhetoric. That allows them, perhaps, to avoid the perception among some in the public that they're unfairly biased.

         “Not the odds, but the stakes for US democracy.” We should extend that concept to nearly every objection, rationalization, or firmly held belief for not supporting Joe Biden in 2024. Not Biden’s age, but the stakes. Not inflation, but the stakes. Not disagreements over Israel, but the stakes. Not anger over Biden’s inability to implement the full progressive agenda, but the stakes.

          Not the odds, but the stakes. Repeat often, hold the press accountable, and hold one another accountable. The stakes are set, the odds are not. We can change the odds through hard work and constancy! Stay the course!

Washington Post breaks the barrier on reporting the carnage of gun violence.

          There has been a perennial debate in the news media over showing the actual human carnage caused by assault rifles. Today, the Washington Post decided the failure to show the horrific reality of gun deaths was concealing the destructive power of assault rifles. The Post published a page-one article with an editorial explanation for its decision and plenty of warning before showing the carnage. The article is here, accessible to all: Washington Post, Terror on Repeat.

          Do not feel compelled to view the article. The images are disturbing, even though they do not show dead bodies directly. (Some pictures include body bags.) They show copious amounts of blood, hundreds of bullet holes and shell casings in schools and churches, and heartbreaking artifacts of children and adults whose daily lives were cut short in an instant.

          The Post is trying to change the paradigm for reporting on violent gun deaths. Its decision will be praised and condemned, emulated and mocked, embraced and rejected. Most difficult conversations begin and end with hard truths. The Post has started the conversation with hard truths. It is up to us to keep that conversation going until we reach the end.  

Who is “tougher” on China: Biden or Trump?

          In the weird world of MAGA false machismo, Trump is praised for being a “tough guy.” In fact, he grovels before murderous strongmen and petty tyrants alike. A fundamental falsehood in the MAGA playbook for idolizing Trump is that he is “tough on China” while Joe Biden is not. Wrong!

          President Biden just met with China’s President Xi at the APEC conference in San Francisco. At the end of Biden’s press conference at APEC, a reporter asked President Biden if he stood by his statement from two years prior that Xi is a dictator.

          Republicans Against Trump posted the following, which succinctly states the difference between Biden’s response to the above question and Trump's statements about President Xi:

At the end of his meeting with the Chinese dictator, President Biden was asked if he still considers Xi a "dictator." Biden said: "Well, look, he is." Now recall what Trump said on Xi: "He runs 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Smart, brilliant, everything perfect. There’s nobody in Hollywood like this guy.

Gag orders, violence inspired by hate speech, and antisemitism.

          Three stories on the danger of hate speech on social media intersected in Thursday’s news.

          A New York appellate judge temporarily suspended the gag order issued by Judge Engoron against Trump and his lawyers. The gag order prohibited Trump and his lawyers from making comments about court personnel and their family members. The appellate judge suspended the gag order until November 27, when a three-judge panel will consider the request for the stay. See NBC News, Appeals court temporarily lifts Trump gag order in civil fraud case (nbcnews.com)

          Per NBC,

[Judge] David Friedman said he was granting an interim stay on the gag order given the “constitutional and statutory rights at issue.”

          During the hearing on the request for the stay, Judge Friedman wondered aloud who should be liable if a statement “goes viral” and someone else acts on that statement.

          Judge Friedman may get a concrete answer to his hypothetical. Immediately after Judge Friedman lifted the gag order, Trump attacked Judge Engoron’s clerk by name on his vanity social media platform. See ABC News, Trump fraud trial: With gag order lifted, Trump blasts judge's clerk online.

          Judge Friedman should have considered a verdict that was reached on Thursday in a courtroom in San Francisco. There, a jury convicted the man inspired by online conspiracy theories to attempt to kidnap Nancy Pelosi. The former Speaker was not home, so the defendant assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, hitting him in the head with a hammer and fracturing his skull. See CBS News, David DePape found guilty of federal charges in Paul Pelosi assault.

          What will it take for judges like David Friedman to understand that attacking court personnel by name, posting their pictures, and publishing their home addresses is not “protected” free speech? Friedman has a history of granting favorable emergency relief to Trump, only to be overturned when his order was reviewed by a panel of NY appellate judges.

          Judge Friedman draped his ruling in the garment of the First Amendment, but he has effectively declared “open season” on Judge Engoron and his clerk. That may not be what Friedman intended, but he is a fool to believe otherwise. Just ask Trump, who took the opening granted by Friedman and ran with it.

          All of which brings us to the wave of antisemitism washing over America after a terrorist attack by Hamas inflicted the largest single-day death toll for Jews since the Holocaust.

          As explained in Business Insider, a user on Twitter called for an end to antisemitism. Then,

[a]nother user on [Twitter] made an antisemitic comment in response to the post, saying that "Jewish communities" had been pushing "hatred against whites." The user said western Jewish people had been supporting "hordes of minorities" flooding their countries — and now had come to the "disturbing realization" that those minorities didn't like them too much.

"You have said the actual truth," Musk wrote in response to the antisemitic post.

          As explained in the Business Insider article, the original post was a version of the “great replacement theory,” which asserts that immigrants and Jews want to “replace” white populations in America and Europe. Musk doubled down on his support for the antisemitic post, claiming that the Anti-Defamation League promotes “anti-white racism”—another dog-whistle for the great replacement theory.

          The episode is not isolated. The day after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Musk told his 160 million followers to follow an antisemitic site for news about Israel’s war on Hamas. See Rolling Stone, Elon Musk Deletes Tweet Telling People to Follow Antisemitic Account.

          Musk’s tweet described above remains posted on Twitter as of Thursday evening. Not to worry, Musk’s hand-picked CEO of Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, assured Americans that Twitter has “zero tolerance” for antisemitism—except (apparently) when it comes from Yaccarino’s boss.

          Twitter is a hellscape of disinformation and hate. But 23% of adult Americans use Twitter, so individuals abandoning the platform is not likely to hurt Twitter significantly. (But removing yourself from the hate and disinformation will improve your quality of life immensely.) The key is to pressure advertisers and investors in every company owned by Musk. He is unfit to be in management, operations, or governance of any American company.

          And yet, all of America’s leading companies advertise with or support Musk’s products. That has to stop. There will undoubtedly be organized boycotts and campaigns emerging over the next few days. Post them in the Comments section or send me an email!

Opportunities for reader engagement:

          Paul Loeb of Guides.vote sent the following offer for free “voter guides” for the 2024 election:

A nonpartisan group that’s very much worth supporting is Guides.vote. The nonpartisan candidate guides they create get reluctant voters to the polls by making clear the differences between candidates and the stakes of showing up (or not). The voter guides are great antidotes to political misinformation, overload, and cynicism. Among youth who didn’t vote in 2022, 53% said it was because they didn’t have enough information or didn’t think their votes mattered. 

Partners distributing the guides range from campus groups to Black Voters Matter, the NAACP, Mi Familia Vota, Nonprofit Vote, Ben & Jerry’s, Center for Common Ground, Common Cause, Headcount, the Lawyer’s Committee, Patagonia, Teen Vogue, Third Act, VoteRiders, the US Vote Foundation, Vote.org, Vote Forward, Working America, and MTV. They’ve distributed over 300,000 guides in just six races this year, and will do guides for 45-72 races in 2024.

Here’s the Executive Summary overview and examples of past voter guides for 2020 Presidential guide and 2023 Virginia Legislative guide, and a donation link to make a c3 contribution.

          And here is another interesting opportunity to hear journalists and authors speak about the 2024 election. Informational only, not a fundraiser. I am promoting because of a direct connection to a reader of this newsletter:

Partners4Democracy is hosting a Special Event on Monday, November 27 at 7:00 PM (EST) featuring a panel of prominent political analysts who will try to make some sense out of what our current situation can tell us about the 2024 election. Mara Liasson, of NPR fame will moderate a discussion among Michelle Cottle of the New York Times, E J Dionne of the Washington Post and Franklin Foer, of the Atlantic and author of The Last Politician, about the Biden Presidency.

Billed as “Trials, Triumphs and Traps”, the discussion will start with the premise that rarely has an incumbent President faced so many unsettling circumstances a year away from the election. What does this portend for a likely Biden-Trump rematch?  And what could happen in the next year that could stir things up even further?  These veteran analysts are as well positioned as any to address these issues and offer their insights.  To join the discussion, REGISTER HERE.

Concluding Thoughts.

          It is always heartening when you ask for help and receive an overwhelming response. As explained in earlier newsletters, some readers could not afford or obtain library access to Heather Cox Richardson’s book, Democracy Awakening. I started a list for readers who wanted to receive a gift copy of the book from other readers.

Nearly 75 readers signed up to receive a gift copy of HCR’s book. And then I asked for volunteers to send copies of the book to readers asking to receive a copy. Nearly 500 readers of this newsletter signed up to send a gift copy of HCR’s book to another reader!

          It is inspiring and uplifting to see such generosity. I sent an email tonight to the 425 readers that I could not match with someone requesting the book. I suggested that they donate a book to their local library, high school or college library, or nearby assisted living facility. A dozen readers have already responded that they will do so!

          It is easy to be cynical during this contentious time in our nation’s history. But you don’t have to dig deep to find that Americans are fundamentally generous and kind. Indeed, all you need do is scratch the surface and you will be surprised by the altruism and decency of most Americans.

          If you requested a book, expect to receive it in the next 7-10 days. Some of you will receive books donated by the publisher (Viking Press) and mailed by Heather’s Herd, which may take a week longer to arrive. But they are on their way!

          During the next week, I will strive to keep the newsletters shorter to give us all some relief from the news over the Thanksgiving holiday (events permitting). I will be in touch on Friday but let me be the first to wish everyone a happy and blessed start to the holiday season.

          Talk to you tomorrow!