Thanks, The Contrarian. I'm loving this audience -- so many people who genuinely care about truth.👊 This was a tricky one to write, because theystandcorrected.substack.com is not about me; it's about media failures. But after 20 years in big news agencies, I know what it will take: a platform that exposes the specific, systemic problems, and a nation that demands those problems be fixed!
I enjoy reading your pieces. I watch Face the Nation on CBS and This Week on ABC and wanted to leave them a message about how they don't fact check their guests, either live or after the interview as you noted in one of your pieces, leaving the viewer to believe the nonsense that was spewed. I was able to leave my comment with ABC, but sadly not with CBS. One, it was hard to find where to submit a comment, but when I finally did find it ... Two, I could not submit it. It kept bouncing me out. I thought it was character limited (even though it didn't say so) so I kept trimming my comment. If you have a method to drop them a comment, I would be appreciative.
You email whatever addresses you find publicly, and -- important -- be sure cc me at the special address for They Stand Corrected that I listed in this column (TSC@joshlevs.com). That goes to a separate mailbox I have access to. It's *only* for cc'ing me on messages to news agencies.
I can then share your message with lots of people at each news agency, either via forward or bcc. I have tons of email addresses, but don't list them publicly.
Thank you Josh, you are truly doing the “Founder’s” work as they no longer can. It would be fascinating to see a critique by Alexander Hamilton or even James Madison on this administration much less the “opinions” of this Supreme Court. I’m certain that they would see every problem they envisioned and attempted to prevent coming to pass. Corporate/mainstream media could have prevented all of this if they were responsible and patriotic organizations, but they care only for money, just like Trump. I pray that you, The Contrarian, and the Bulwark can turn this around.
Ben Franklin had a famous quote-- when he left the Constitutional Convention, a woman shouted to him something to the effect of "Professor Franklin, what have you given us"
To which Franklin replied "a republic--- if you can keep it".
We did a pretty good job for around 200 years, but of late we've grown complacent.
Ambassador Franklin (and his esteemed peers) gave us a constitutional federation of colonies that they chose to call a republic run by white European descendants of wealth based on monarchy. Great Britain still ain’t quite right based on this noblesse oblige. I think this is an incredible opportunity to define what a democratic republic truly is, ironically, on the verge of a bicentennial democracy celebrated by no one except America. To quote my least favorite person in the universe - “fight, fight, fight!”
I’m not certain I buy your opinion that Franklin and the other founding fathers based our republic on the British monarchy. I think any study of the Federalist Papers, much less the Constitution itself would strongly suggest otherwise. Did it have flaws? Absolutely! Why do you think we had a Civil War and Jim Crow laws and Red Line districts? Ensuring life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL citizens is a constant battle because there will always be cheaters, power mongers, and corrupt politicians like Trump. We have come a long way since 1776, but, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. It’s funny that Donald Trump coined the phrase during his treasonous attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, but his words hold true for our current state. We are going to have to fight like hell against this horrible administration and its followers or we are not going to have OUR country anymore!!
I read you. If you were a white woman, a black man or a black woman you might see that Franklin’s peccadillo dandiness in France, Jefferson’s perversion everywhere and the rest of American history has exceedingly unsavory aspects. Currently we are backsliding in my opinion. There is nothing that justifies the behaviour of Leonard leotardo and the fascist federalist society. The mayhem of these maga contingents, if it weren’t so lethal, would be comical. I fully expect to see leon mush literally gnawing the flesh off of the orange man whose gunshot ear miraculously has no defect. Maybe mush will start his cannibalism with the ear. There’s a reason Godzilla and King Kong get in a fight - monsters are monsters. There’s no rationalizing or trying to make sense of these morons. I listen to very smart historians who think Jefferson is an idiot. Just sayin’. And if Jefferson is an idiot, then the orange turd and anything that supports him is dumber than doo doo.
Is there a way you or The Contrarian can provide a listing of the feedback emails on a page that we all can access easily? Anything that helps save time and searching allows us to take action more quickly. Just a thought.
That makes sense! I hear you. I only share publicly the feedback emails that networks list publicly. Let me see if I can assemble a list like that. Great thinking!
Thank you. I think boutique media need to take advantage of rising democracy stars. When I do watch big media (I don’t do cable), I mute commercials and read or listen to boutique. That means the billions of dollars of ad campaigning are not heard by me and I live in the Philly feed although I reside in DE. My point is, give democracy an advertisement platform. My thirty something nephew mentioned you the other day. Then, voìla, here you appear in my contrarian feed. I never know how to handle these coincidences, except that, job well done. It must have meant something that our stars collide.
The mainstream media are highly predictable. They make sense if you remember that they are both lazy and spineless simultaneously. They care only about clicks and viewers, and not about doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Jefferson famously said "If given the choice between government without newspapers or newspapers without government I would gladly choose the latter" But Jefferson didn't live in the modern era. He'd probably say something different today, even though I still doubt he'd choose the former.
Sad MSNBC "Morning Joe" flew down to Mar-A-Lago to bend the knee --100 days of re-branding their show is watching junior high journalism. Theater & books seems their safe place???
I haven't seen. Listeners have sent me other stuff from MSNBC, but nothing recent from Morning Joe. If you see something to alert me to, use one of the two methods I discuss in the column! Thanks much.
My concerns recently have to do with what I assume are editorial decisions Re: prominent (or not) placement of articles. Right now, for example, at WaPo BIDEN’s dementia is front & center, — certainly a recent but historical thing — while unwarranted numbers of NOAA’s critical mission employees being sacked just prior to hurricane season (which will likely entail loss of life, homes & work) is considerably lower ranked.
This, and the seeming ongoing timidity of writers — I have a feeling they’re pulling their punches or their work is being edited — ie they are being stifled. This, against the backdrop of constantly seeing Trump’s ghastly rhetoric spewed & lies sanewashed or given ‘bothsides’ treatment. One wonders if some of these media magnates are almost being held hostage. They have so much more to lose than mere reader-commenters, yes, more skin in the game & can’t afford to fail, economically, socially & politically.
One just has a feeling that if the great newsmen of old were here … wouldn’t they be calling a spade a spade? Or am I dreaming in technicolor there, and wd their voices seem just as faint as any amid today’s din of never ending outrages?
‘It is the best of times and the worst of times’ perhaps. We have every conceivable modern tool for collecting & disseminating the news — but news that too often belies the civilizational progress we thought we had attained. (Sorry, I’m blathering here now!)
Thanks, The Contrarian. I'm loving this audience -- so many people who genuinely care about truth.👊 This was a tricky one to write, because theystandcorrected.substack.com is not about me; it's about media failures. But after 20 years in big news agencies, I know what it will take: a platform that exposes the specific, systemic problems, and a nation that demands those problems be fixed!
I enjoy reading your pieces. I watch Face the Nation on CBS and This Week on ABC and wanted to leave them a message about how they don't fact check their guests, either live or after the interview as you noted in one of your pieces, leaving the viewer to believe the nonsense that was spewed. I was able to leave my comment with ABC, but sadly not with CBS. One, it was hard to find where to submit a comment, but when I finally did find it ... Two, I could not submit it. It kept bouncing me out. I thought it was character limited (even though it didn't say so) so I kept trimming my comment. If you have a method to drop them a comment, I would be appreciative.
Thanks! And sure. Here's how I do it.
You email whatever addresses you find publicly, and -- important -- be sure cc me at the special address for They Stand Corrected that I listed in this column (TSC@joshlevs.com). That goes to a separate mailbox I have access to. It's *only* for cc'ing me on messages to news agencies.
I can then share your message with lots of people at each news agency, either via forward or bcc. I have tons of email addresses, but don't list them publicly.
Try facethenation@cbsnews.com and news.tips@abc.com, which are listed publicly, and cc me at that address above.
Sound good?
Thank you Josh, you are truly doing the “Founder’s” work as they no longer can. It would be fascinating to see a critique by Alexander Hamilton or even James Madison on this administration much less the “opinions” of this Supreme Court. I’m certain that they would see every problem they envisioned and attempted to prevent coming to pass. Corporate/mainstream media could have prevented all of this if they were responsible and patriotic organizations, but they care only for money, just like Trump. I pray that you, The Contrarian, and the Bulwark can turn this around.
Ben Franklin had a famous quote-- when he left the Constitutional Convention, a woman shouted to him something to the effect of "Professor Franklin, what have you given us"
To which Franklin replied "a republic--- if you can keep it".
We did a pretty good job for around 200 years, but of late we've grown complacent.
Ambassador Franklin (and his esteemed peers) gave us a constitutional federation of colonies that they chose to call a republic run by white European descendants of wealth based on monarchy. Great Britain still ain’t quite right based on this noblesse oblige. I think this is an incredible opportunity to define what a democratic republic truly is, ironically, on the verge of a bicentennial democracy celebrated by no one except America. To quote my least favorite person in the universe - “fight, fight, fight!”
I’m not certain I buy your opinion that Franklin and the other founding fathers based our republic on the British monarchy. I think any study of the Federalist Papers, much less the Constitution itself would strongly suggest otherwise. Did it have flaws? Absolutely! Why do you think we had a Civil War and Jim Crow laws and Red Line districts? Ensuring life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL citizens is a constant battle because there will always be cheaters, power mongers, and corrupt politicians like Trump. We have come a long way since 1776, but, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. It’s funny that Donald Trump coined the phrase during his treasonous attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, but his words hold true for our current state. We are going to have to fight like hell against this horrible administration and its followers or we are not going to have OUR country anymore!!
I read you. If you were a white woman, a black man or a black woman you might see that Franklin’s peccadillo dandiness in France, Jefferson’s perversion everywhere and the rest of American history has exceedingly unsavory aspects. Currently we are backsliding in my opinion. There is nothing that justifies the behaviour of Leonard leotardo and the fascist federalist society. The mayhem of these maga contingents, if it weren’t so lethal, would be comical. I fully expect to see leon mush literally gnawing the flesh off of the orange man whose gunshot ear miraculously has no defect. Maybe mush will start his cannibalism with the ear. There’s a reason Godzilla and King Kong get in a fight - monsters are monsters. There’s no rationalizing or trying to make sense of these morons. I listen to very smart historians who think Jefferson is an idiot. Just sayin’. And if Jefferson is an idiot, then the orange turd and anything that supports him is dumber than doo doo.
Josh,
Is there a way you or The Contrarian can provide a listing of the feedback emails on a page that we all can access easily? Anything that helps save time and searching allows us to take action more quickly. Just a thought.
That makes sense! I hear you. I only share publicly the feedback emails that networks list publicly. Let me see if I can assemble a list like that. Great thinking!
Thank you. I think boutique media need to take advantage of rising democracy stars. When I do watch big media (I don’t do cable), I mute commercials and read or listen to boutique. That means the billions of dollars of ad campaigning are not heard by me and I live in the Philly feed although I reside in DE. My point is, give democracy an advertisement platform. My thirty something nephew mentioned you the other day. Then, voìla, here you appear in my contrarian feed. I never know how to handle these coincidences, except that, job well done. It must have meant something that our stars collide.
Thank you! And tell your nephew to get in touch! theystandcorrected.substack.com
The mainstream media are highly predictable. They make sense if you remember that they are both lazy and spineless simultaneously. They care only about clicks and viewers, and not about doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Jefferson famously said "If given the choice between government without newspapers or newspapers without government I would gladly choose the latter" But Jefferson didn't live in the modern era. He'd probably say something different today, even though I still doubt he'd choose the former.
I hear you! And great quote. https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1289
Sad MSNBC "Morning Joe" flew down to Mar-A-Lago to bend the knee --100 days of re-branding their show is watching junior high journalism. Theater & books seems their safe place???
I haven't seen. Listeners have sent me other stuff from MSNBC, but nothing recent from Morning Joe. If you see something to alert me to, use one of the two methods I discuss in the column! Thanks much.
My concerns recently have to do with what I assume are editorial decisions Re: prominent (or not) placement of articles. Right now, for example, at WaPo BIDEN’s dementia is front & center, — certainly a recent but historical thing — while unwarranted numbers of NOAA’s critical mission employees being sacked just prior to hurricane season (which will likely entail loss of life, homes & work) is considerably lower ranked.
This, and the seeming ongoing timidity of writers — I have a feeling they’re pulling their punches or their work is being edited — ie they are being stifled. This, against the backdrop of constantly seeing Trump’s ghastly rhetoric spewed & lies sanewashed or given ‘bothsides’ treatment. One wonders if some of these media magnates are almost being held hostage. They have so much more to lose than mere reader-commenters, yes, more skin in the game & can’t afford to fail, economically, socially & politically.
One just has a feeling that if the great newsmen of old were here … wouldn’t they be calling a spade a spade? Or am I dreaming in technicolor there, and wd their voices seem just as faint as any amid today’s din of never ending outrages?
‘It is the best of times and the worst of times’ perhaps. We have every conceivable modern tool for collecting & disseminating the news — but news that too often belies the civilizational progress we thought we had attained. (Sorry, I’m blathering here now!)
Good on you, mate & keep up the good work!