- Journalists Take The Heat: Most Americans Don't Trust Them To Do The Right Thing
by
Ray Schultz
(Publishing Insider on
02/15/2026)
Also important to note that "Perception of Bias: A related part of the analysis found that 58% of Americans believe most journalists are biased."
I imagine if they perceive bias, that's going to affect trust. And others (both sides) felt there is too much selective reporting.
- Why Bad Bunny Review Was Bad 'TV Blog'
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
02/11/2026)
There have been plenty of latino performers in the past at halftime during the SuperBowl.
I personally question wny you and Adam follow the race card/angle when there should be none. "Make the Super Bowl even more relevant to segments of the American culture that historically have been underrepresented."
Who is underrepresented? 24% of the NFL consists of white players, 56% black, and the rest mixed or other races. That's basically the opposite of the general population. Why does the superbowl halftime need to be agenda driven?
It's almost an even split of men and women who watch the SuperBowl and roughly 10% are under age 18.
Seems like everyone has a different opinion on who the halftime show is supposed to entertain, but according to Seth Dudowsky from the NFL who leads the music initiative, they choose artists who offer "Cultural Relevance, Broad Appeal, Performance Value, and aClean Track Record."
Did the NFL follow its own rules for the halftime performer? Bad Bunny's audience certainly does not tick the "Broad Appeal" box based on his social following and those who buy his music, but it ticks everything else. Is that good enough? I guess it was good enough for the NFL.
- Why Bad Bunny Was Bad TV
by
Adam Buckman
(TVBlog on
02/11/2026)
What's pathetic is that Adam is making this about race and it has nothing to do with race. There have been LOTS of latina/latino halftime performers that Americans enjoyed watching.
The issue is that Bad Bunny has a history of bashing the U.S. He's very outspoken about Puerto Rico not becoming a U.S. state and he stated in an interview with Variety that he did not schedule any U.S. stops in his current world tour because he felt the U.S. was "unecessary" to his success and out of protest to ICE.
Also, "American Idiot" by Green Day is an anthem bashing cable TV news and reality TV - it's not a bash against the U.S. populace.
So Bad Bunny has basically been outspoken against the U.S. for almost a decade. Trying to make this about race, and especially not understanding what the song American Idiot represents, just illustrates, as usual, how out of touch MP staff is with viewer behavior.
- Democracy Abhors A Vacuum, Here's An Attempt To Fill It
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
02/06/2026)
It's interesting that your staff keeps bringing up how much money Bezos has. Like floating a dying news organization doesn't matter because he "can afford" to lose money. The Graham family specificially stated that a major reason for selling the WP is because layoffs were unavoidable and they didn't know how to best navigate the digital landscape. I'm curious what solutions the staff at WashPo have presented to Bezos to turn things around?
And for specificity, the fact checking database was dismantled in 2021 because we all know Uncle Joe and his fellow democrats never tell a lie.
Obama also mocked Trump publicly saying he'd never be POTUS. Funny how that worked out.
Both parties lie constantly. Bezos floating the Washington Post doesn't change that.
- Shriveling 'Washington Post' Cuts Nearly A Third Of Staff
by
Ray Schultz
(Publishing Insider on
02/05/2026)
I've been in the media industry for 30 years. I've been laid off 4 times due to mergers and aquisitions and incompetent management. Not once did anyone ever come into my office, hug me, tell me how wonderful I am, and take me to lunch first.
I didn't expect them to. It's business.
Bezos' fortune has nothing to do with it. He's not running a charity and if these journalists were so awesome, then why does their readership continue to decline? The Washington Post is also not the only newspaper that has struggled to remain relevant.
You have to ask yourself why so many independent journalists are able to build their own, profitable platforms, but a brand like the Washington Post can't seem to figure it out.
Layoffs in this business are nothing new and Bezos didn't become rich buying companies that continually lose $100 million a year. This "venerable institution" had declining revenue for 7 years straight before Bezos bought it with personal funds. If you look at the bumps and declines in traffic, it has everything to do wtih politics and nothing to do with news reporting.
Remind yourself that Graham family feared that if they stayed in control, they would eventually have to cut the newsroom so deeply to stay profitable that the paper would lose its journalistic soul. They chose to sell to Bezos who promised to fund the mission without the immediate pressure of quarterly earnings.
Like him or hate him, WAPO has fared better and longer under Bezos than it would have under the Graham family. These jobs would have been axed a long time ago.
- What Authoritarianism Gets Wrong
by
Gord Hotchkiss
(Media Insider on
01/27/2026)
I have no idea why this is in Media Insider, but it's interesting how often MP staff will post a commentary without waiting for additional information.
These are not "protection patrols" and they are not peaceful protestors. They are agitators who put the public at large in danger when they block the roads and impede their fellow citizens from going about their business.
CBS News has confirmed that Alex Pretti was caught on camera, with his pistol in his waistband, one week earlier spitting on federal agents and damaging federal vehicles as they attempt to drive away. He wasn't there to document. He was there to provoke and impede. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-alex-pretti-scuffle-federal-agents-minneapolis-11-days-before-his-death/
Renee Good was parked parallel in the middle of the street for almost four minutes on an icy day forcing fellow citizens to navigate around her vehicle.
Neither she nor Alex deserved to die, and when people claim the agents are not trained, they are correct. The agents were trained to deal with illegal criminals. The agents were never trained to deal with their fellow citizens physically trying to obstruct them and assault them.
The reason the country is split on this is because legacy media only shows what they want to show to push a narrative. Social media affords everyone to see with their own eyes and judge.
These deportation arrests are happening all over America without incident. But let's just ignore that Minneapolis' governor and the city's mayor is actively encouraging their consitutents to "fight" and to "resist" and that rhetoric like ghestapo and Nazis doesn't play a role in this irresponsible behavior.
You have a right to peacefully protest. You do not have the right to block traffic or put your hands on a federal agent and it seems like only the consitituents in Minneapolis don't understand this. The government doesn't send 10 agents to arrest your gardener.
The tactics of deporting people hasn't changed under Trump. The politics of a lunatic fringe and an irresponsible legacy media and local politicans have changed and are being allowed to promote falsehoods and hate. Fortunately or unfortunately, as time passes, more video and facts present themselves to allow all of us to see the lies or incomplete reporting legacy news outlets disribute.
- No View Vs. AI Overviews: Google Announces An Opt-Out Policy
by
Ray Schultz
(Publishing Insider on
01/28/2026)
It would be great if consumers/viewers/subscribers could opt out of seeing AI generated content too.
- Shy Of DEI: Media Firms Follow Trump's Dictums On Hiring, Report Alleges
by
Ray Schultz
(Publishing Insider on
01/21/2026)
The implementation of diversity and inclusion is still very much in practice. The overt promotion of "DEI" and practice of equity are two totally different things.
I've looked at government job openings and I've looked at job openings across a multitude of industries - including the media industry.
The promotion may be focused on merit and achievement, but the guidlines for hiring is anti-discriminatory.
5 USC § 2301 (Merit System Principles) U.S. Government:"All employees and applicants for employment should receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of personnel management without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or handicapping condition ." 5 USC § 2302 (Prohibited Personnel Practices):This law explicitly makes it illegal for any federal official to discriminate for or against any employee or applicant on the basis of protected classes (race, color, religion, sex, etc.)
Just because companies are not promoting DEI does not mean they are not practiciing DEI. Many companies still promote "a work environment that embraces diversity and inclusion" in job applications.
You can't be upset at one administration for not promoting it and forcing it on corporate America, but never seemed to be upset when the previous administration was strong arming corporate America to promote it. This was/is very much a political effort. The general public wasn't screaing at corporate America to include equity in its hiring practices.
- The Boy Who Prompted Wolf
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
01/16/2026)
These "altered images" you refer to was typically standard stuff for print - make sure the lighting is good or alter the exposure or contrast to show more of what was actually there. The closest I'd argue would be airbrushing. I worked at an agency at the beginning of my career and once the shots were chosen by the art director, out went the negatives so they could air brush wrinkles and imperfections so models would look 10 years younger with perfect skin and no blemishes. Personally, I'd consider airbrushing a bit closer to altering images for affect than anything.
AI is a completely fabricated image or video. They're not comparable. It's fabricating something out of thin air which, in too many cases, is being presented as real.
Finally, congrats on meeting the Big Guy - I'm sure it will be a memory that will not soon fade.
BTW, did you ask him to guest-pen a future RW&B blog? I'm sure it would be good for clicks :)
- Can MTV Make A Comeback... With 'Digitally Curated' Music?
by
Wayne Friedman
(TV Watch on
01/13/2026)
I wonder if Freston spent an hour with YouTube Music, Spotify, or Pandora.
What about presenting the music contextually -- in terms of "focus," "workout," "dinner" and "sleep" specific areas? Perhaps we can think of MTV as an AI-helped digital streamer curating and personalizing music.
These already exist on those platforms, and I'm a big fan of YT Music recommendations based on context or genre or activity. Celebrity playlists and community playlists have existed on these platforms for...ever!
Seems like MTV is still a victim of it's past mistakes and woefully behind in its approach.