Count on the media reporters of The New York Times to come oozing to the defense of leftist anchors who've been dismissed (or left in an egotistical huff) now trying to attract an audience on Substack. We're asked to feel sorry for "a handful of cable stars marooned from their mainstream media jobs."
The headline of media reporter Jessica Testa's Monday story set the tone:
The Loosening of American News Anchors
Don Lemon, Joy Reid and Jim Acosta, exiled or extricated from their networks, are now on Substack, trading sleek studios and “pancake makeup” for their living rooms.
Poor Joy Reid is still experiencing the "strange disconnect" of life without a kooky cable platform, and asked "what can I do to contribute to the world?" Testa added: "For now, she has landed on writing about democracy to an audience of about 118,000."
Or you are urged to feel encouraged about Acosta, "whose subscribers surged after he encouraged CNN viewers in his sign-off message to not 'bow down to a tyrant,' now ranks among Substack's top 20 publishers in politics." He had to endure Fox News mocking his house plants.
Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker is quoted as saying "People don’t really care if they’re in a coat and tie on the north lawn of the White House or in an air-conditioned studio in 30 Rock....They just want to hang out and hear from someone they like and trust."
The only quote from a conservative was indirect, borrowing from Megyn Kelly's interview with Times podcaster Lulu Garcia-Navarro, where she said "What's most important in my business now is authenticity."
Katie Couric "has found the accelerated decline of linear television 'at times upsetting,' and complained "'I used to anchor the CBS Evening News and the Today show, and I'm doing Instagram Lives now.' But she boasts her social-media platform is "authenticity on steroids." Authentically leftist.
The funniest omission from this story? Nowhere in this article on Lemon, Reid, Acosta, and Couric are ideological labels -- "liberal," "leftist," or "progressive." It's funnier when they use "conservative," like this:
Mr. Lemon grew his YouTube channel to more than 656,000 subscribers, uploading his own takes, “Lemon drops,” alongside interviews with the conservative podcaster Candace Owens and Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Texas.
This perfectly illustrates the stilted use of labels. "Conservative" pairs with "Democrat," or often with "nonpartisan." My law of labeling is "the epic political battles of our time are waged between the ultraconservatives and the nonpartisans."
PS: This is not atypical for Testa. She wrote an entire piece on March 10 about Michelle Obama's new podcast with her brother Craig and it did not include the words "liberal," "leftist," "progressive," or even "Democrat." It could have been used, as in this passage:
Higher Ground’s podcasts lean toward prestige cultural programming. Previous releases include a limited series about Stevie Wonder, hosted by the New York Times arts critic Wesley Morris; a celebrity interview show about meaningful family recipes, hosted by the journalist Michele Norris; and a series of conversations about American life by Mr. Obama and Bruce Springsteen.
