We have become an authoritarian state, and our top newsrooms are in denial

[LymphocyteLover]

Important piece from Dan Froomkin

The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state.
At some point, the evidence becomes overwhelming — and we have reached that point. The frog in the metaphorical pot of water has boiled to death.

Armed soldiers patrol the streets of the nation’s capital, with more cities apparently to come. Immigrants who have done nobody any harm are abducted and disappeared by masked agents. The state is seizing stakes of national companies. Election integrity is under attack. Political opponents are targeted with criminal probes. Federal judges’ orders are ignored. Educational institutions are extorted into obedience. Key functions of the government are politicized and degraded. Expertise and science are devalued. Trump speaks of serving an unconstitutional third term. Media organizations are paying tribute to the ruler.

Most significantly, perhaps, there are no guardrails anymore. No one inside the executive branch will tell Trump no. No one in in the ruling party in Congress will tell him no. The right-wing majority of the Supreme Court won’t tell him no.

And our dominant media institutions won’t call him out. Rather, they obscure reality under a haze of incremental stories, each one presented as if what is going on is fairly normal. As if it’s just politics. Every outrage is just one more thing Trump has done, rather than the ever-mounting evidence of a corrupt dictatorship. The coverage is a play-by-play as the burners click upward, rather than a check to see if the frog is still alive, which it is not.

https://presswatchers.org/2025/08/we-have-become-an-authoritarian-state-and-our-top-newsrooms-are-in-denial/

[Irish_Dem]

1. The media is NOT in denial. They are the propaganda arm for the fascist regime.

We are the ones in denial if we think there is still such a thing as a free press.

[BoRaGard]

2. MSM - complicit corporations (r)

suck

[gab13by13]

4. Who was it again who signed

The Telecommunications Act into law?

[Layzeebeaver]

15. 1996 - Bill Clinton.

Same as the new boss.

[Just Jerome]

19. The best

republican president ever.

[Wednesdays]

22. Yes, Bill Clinton.

That damn fascist.

[Hornedfrog2000]

8. State media

Most of the media in this country.

[edhopper]

9. Yes

they are a platform for this Administration.

[annabanana]

13. CorpoMedia IS compromised.

NBC, ABC & CBS are all just "loss-leaders" for massive corporations, which are owned by the richest of the rich. Corporations, BY LAW, have to prioritize the pocketbooks of their shareholders. There is ZERO incentive to "speak truth to power."
Journalism, as understood by the founders cannot be practiced in that environment.

[LymphocyteLover]

25. the bosses, yes... but reporters are all corrupt? or they are all being repressed?

[Irish_Dem]

35. Doesn't matter, the result is the same.

[LymphocyteLover]

36. I think it does matter if we ever want to try to fix the MSM ... my feeling is it's less reporters

than the editors and higher ups, though most reporters haven't exactly covered themselves in glory either. They need to maintain their almighty access, is the usual explanation.

Still it's the big picture that most media outlets are falling down on.

[Irish_Dem]

38. "Maintaining access" is just a lie.

Reporters don't need access to report on the reality we see every day in plain sight.

[LymphocyteLover]

41. 100%

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. ...

[Javaman]

37. yup, they are owned by the billionaires who directly are benefiting from the orange assholes bullshit. nt

[gab13by13]

3. Several months ago,

many people here were screaming an alarm that we were on the verge of a dictatorship, and many of us were called "doom and gloomers.

Congressional Democrats are the minority, I get it, but they can sway pubic opinion, including swaying Magat public opinion.

Hold an event and invite the victims of Maxwell/Epstein who want to participate, invite the families of victims, invite the lawyers for the victims, invite the prosecutors of Epstein/Maxwell. (c'mon Comey you can come too)

Don't tell me the MSM won't cover that event, the victims deserve and demand an event like this happen or Epstein Gate will fade away.

The monster Maxwell is living in a country club for crying out loud. Did the head of the federal bureau of prisons ever give the reasons for moving her?

Do something besides sending stern letters, the letters were necessary but let's follow up on them.

It will take a public event like this to take back the narrative and show the victims, show the country, that the Democratic party is fighting to expose the Epstein/Maxwell sex trafficking while the Republican has become the party that protects pedophiles.

This is what I call Democrats fighting. I will donate money to an event like this if you need it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

26. Yes there is SO MUCH MORE that Elected Democrats could be doing. Be creative!!!

I fear the old guard who live in a Washington bubble, are either shell shocked, or just too stuck in their ways to even move. Or approve any out-of-the-box ideas. They are crouched down in a state of paralysis until the 2026 mid-terms where they think a blue wave will make them relevant again. And they can continue to pretend its all just simple politics. Schumer can get back to his bicycle gym routine next to his Republican buddies and work his magic.

There are even reports that that old guard wants Democrats to stop talking about Epstein. Focus on the issues. They just don't get it. In today's social media hyped world, that is the door you can open to destabilize the opposition so that THEN you open the window to enlighten folks about the issues that are important to everyone

Make a sensationalist production. What Newsom is doing is great. But why not even more Democrats mocking Trump like that? Trump makes a new headline every day. We should be as well. Cowering in the corner hoping that the election process even is running fairly in 2026 is a fools quest

[NewHendoLib]

5. Our top ratings/entertainment/as rooms? News no more

[orangecrush]

6. The aren't in denial

They are lapdogs.

[J_William_Ryan]

7. And this is nothing new.

The media contributed to the return of the fascist Trump to power – by treating him as a legitimate candidate and failing to denounce him as unfit to hold any public office.

[themaguffin]

10. Not in denial. They are afraid to report it, to call it out...

[Skittles]

34. either way

THEY ARE ENABLERS

[SupportSanity]

11. Isn't the main stream media owned by billionaires?

The same ones that Trump is giving tax breaks to?

And whose side are they on?

[Scalded Nun]

12. I get so sick of all this denialism bullshit. The MSM is complicit. It is actively engaging in treason against the USA.

[annabanana]

14. Dan Froomkin is part of the problem.

He's still writing stern and concerned oped pieces.

[Clouds Passing]

16. The msm is actively complicit. They have been for a long time.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

17. Not denial. They're collaborators!

[Joinfortmill]

18. Thank you for the post.

Some of the responses are disheartening with their nitpicking of one or two words, sometimes very rudely, and often without offering anything constructive beyond howling at the wind.

[marybourg]

21. Not to mention the Dem - bashing

Which violates the T O S of this site.

[relayerbob]

20. You misspelled complicit

[Martin68]

23. As long as the courts are fighting back, we are not an authoritarian country. Don't give up the fight!

[LymphocyteLover]

24. I'm not! But I wish the MSM was on our side!

[Martin68]

45. The Washington Post and NYT have a number of editorialists and columnists that are constantly on our side.

But we can't depend on the media alone.

[ificandream]

29. They are. It's the right-wing mongrels like Fox and the rest of the right-wing trash bags that are killing this country.

The lies told by the traitors at Fox, OSN and the rest are what's hurting America. And despite the social media rants, there are people in the media working very hard to show what Trump is doing. It's there if you take the time to look for it.

I'll take MSNBC, CNN and AP over any of those right-wing dirtbags.

And a word to the wise: Opinion pieces are one person's opinion. They don't represent the whole media, just themselves. That's why for the most part I ignore the pundits. So many of them are in it for themselves and the money. The ones that ask you to subscribe in every other sentence aren't there for you, that's for sure.

[Torchlight]

27. For-profit media has one goal: profit

Anything legal (and a few things that aren't) are fair game in a free market. Carrying water for the Gestapo may not bring a person pride or a sense of accomplishment, but it does get a ton of views in first hour and puts the newest Smart Gegaw 3.1 in our pockets. Priorities, man. Priorities.

Accuracy and objectivity do not require sponsor or commercial breaks, for-profits do.

[ificandream]

28. I say b.s. on this opinion piece. There are people in the media calling him out.

Dan Rather is one. Rachel Maddow is another. So are Chris Hayes and Laurence O'Donnell.

But the real fault here is not the media but the Congress. The fact we don't have majority rule in both houses -- and I go along with others who say Trump messed with the election -- really ties our hands. I'm very glad to see Gavin Newsome throttling Trump -- I hope he runs for president -- but other Democrats are speaking out too.

If you want to blame the media, blame the young, inexperienced members. Their writing and reporting style leaves a lot to be desired. It was much better in the days when I was working at a daily paper (for over 30 years, if you must ask.) The senior members of the media have been through this before with Nixon. What few that are left are speaking out. (Again, Dan Rather.)

And when the election comes around next year, we need everyone to vote against Trump and the Republicans. Don't let them separate us like they did in 2024. And every one of you who stupidly stayed away from the booth in 2024 better get your asses out to vote this time. Especially you younger voters.

The voters are the ones who lost the election, not the media.

[Cheezoholic]

31. Absolutely agree. While sure the alphabet newz isnt doing shit, MSNBC from 4-12 every day is calling it what it is n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. Dan Rather is 93, and was fired in 2006 from a "top newsroom"

Rachel Maddow is a commentator on a cable news channel ("top"? Not really. Or it wouldn't be rebranding as the awful "MS NOW" ), not a reporter (the article does note her saying the right thing - "MSNBC host", as it calls her - and says she's worth watching); so are Hayes and O'Donnell. The article is complaining about "newsrooms" and "news organizations".

[donheld]

32. Are they really in denial or complicit?

They have given him free advertising for many years. They have badgered about President Biden's mental and physical health while ignoring tRump's. The media hasn't stood up to tRump at all.

[diane in sf]

39. MSM serves its oligarch owners.

[LymphocyteLover]

43. seems like that is their main goal though not what the free press was supposed to be about

[Passages]

42. The dangers of corporate media.

[UTUSN]

44. K&R

[SocialDemocrat61]

46. They are not in denial

They are complicit