Reliable Journalism from the Left
In honor of Lewis Wallace, the transgender reporter from “Marketplace” who was fired for questioning the possibility of journalistic “objectivity” in the age of Trump, I wanted to make this post citing the many openly progressive journalists (considered “left” and “partisan”) who have often been much more reliable than most of the “objective”“liberal” media journalists over the last couple of decades. The fact that most of these progressive journalists work for non-profit means that they don’t have to attract viewers, and therefore are able to be more critical of those in power and offer more depth in reporting (interviews from protestors on the ground, for example). These journalists openly criticized the Iraq War from the beginning, warned of Trump from the early days of the primary, supported Bernie Sanders from the get go.
This list is not definitive, and offers an introduction to people who have been working as journalists for many years (many starting in print). I would be thrilled if anyone wanted to add other sources you have found useful to this list (there are, for example, many amazing documentary filmmakers now who are basically working as the investigative journalists--Laura Poitras being the most obvious example). If you’re looking for some good progressives to follow, these are some recommendations from Allison (I do not speak for my co-editors here):
--Democracy Now, a daily news program with journalist Amy Goodman available online video and audio; offers headlines and substantial interviews that are global in perspective. DN often has the best investigative reporters from the Times and the Post as well as the left press. DN broke the Dakota Access Pipeline protests nationally by broadcasting from the site early on. If you only have an hour or half an hour a day for news, this is the best single progressive program. https://www.democracynow.org/
--The Intercept, an online investigative magazine founded by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill and others, originally to provide an outlet for Edward Snowden’s revelations (Greenwald and Poitras broke the Snowden story). https://theintercept.com/. There’s also a podcast: https://theintercept.com/podcasts/.Greenwald has a twitter where he retweets useful stuff, but he also responds directly to critics, so it can be a combative place. @ggreenwald
--The Nation: longstanding reliable weekly reporting on national issues; in-depth journalism and commentary. Print copy or online. John Nichols does national political reporting that is particularly trenchant. @nicholsuprising
--Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone. Great criticism of runaway capitalism in the U.S. and its effect on the poor. See his book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. @mtaibbi
--Seymour Hersh anywhere. The old guard of investigative journalists focusing on politics and national security matters, he takes the long view. Very well sourced. Often writes for the New Yorker and the London Review of Books. Interviewed in the first episode of The Intercept.
Again, this is a start--please add or comment!
