commentary September 25, 2023 6 toxic attitudes that could kill democracy One of our best qualities as Americans is optimism. One of our worst qualities is complacency. With right-wing extremism on the rise, our democracy is under grievous threat, and we’ve got to get our thinking right to protect it.
commentary September 18, 2023 A new idea in political interviews: Ban the liars The problem is that news organizations, especially TV networks, think they need politicians more than the politicians need them. I don’t believe this is true, but the networks seem to think so. That’s why they treat liars so kindly – so that they keep coming on the air.
commentary September 12, 2023 The Republican trick to spin straw into gold Right-wing disinformation has created a captive audience utterly distrustful of legitimate journalism. Yet if the mainstream media don’t fight back – if they’re not advocating for the truth as passionately as the right wing is advocating for lies – how can we expect the American public to arrive at the truth?
commentary September 5, 2023 The New York Times Has a Serious Headline Problem Sometimes a misguided headline in the Times reflects the misguided text underneath it. But as the “partisan politics” headline shows, even when the Times gets serious about right-wing extremism, its headlines often do not.
commentary August 29, 2023 Unprecedented Times: Here’s How 7 Gen-Zers Feel about the Upcoming 2024 Election From coast to coast and everywhere in between, the 2023 class of interns at COURIER grew up facing a unique political environment in their respective home states. But despite these different experiences, there are two themes every intern could agree on ahead of the 2024 Presidential election: hope and a desire for change.
commentary August 28, 2023 When News Outlets Hand Megaphones to Menaces News organizations need to start showing more responsibility. When they amplify liars and promoters of violence, they legitimize them. And they delegitimize themselves at the same time.
commentary August 21, 2023 12 Ways the Republican Party Became This Radicalized It’s a mistake to think Donald Trump turned the Republican Party into the dangerous anti-democratic movement it is today. The GOP’s descent into fascism was a lengthy process that was well underway when Trump was a young man in the 1970s helping his father discriminate against Black apartment seekers.
press releases August 16, 2023 Courier Launches New Digital-First Bilingual Newsroom in Nevada COURIER Newsroom, a pro-democracy digital news network founded to combat disinformation and strengthen democracy, is announcing the launch of a newsroom in Nevada, its ninth newsroom nationally. The Nevadan - El Nevadense will be a completely bilingual English-Spanish outlet.
in the news August 16, 2023 AXIOS AXIOS: Courier Newsroom plots expansion ahead of 2024 election Courier Newsroom, a local news group with a progressive perspective, is launching a new newsroom in Nevada Tuesday, and it's planning to launch two more newsrooms in Texas and New Hampshire in the coming months, said its publisher Tara McGowan.
commentary August 14, 2023 When someone tells you they’re fascist, believe them. Right-wing rhetoric seems to get more radical and outrageous all the time. Americans can be forgiven if they sometimes wonder: “Did they really say that? Maybe it’s made up. No one would really say that, would they?” Well, here are quotes that they really, really said.
commentary August 7, 2023 The News Media’s State of Denial Was PBS trying to suggest that Trump really, really, really meant it? Was it trying to come across as super-fair to Trump? Certainly, journalists should let someone deny a charge when they report that someone is accused of it. But why tart up the denial with an adverb that adds heft to their denial?
commentary August 4, 2023 Democracy is on the ballot every single day There’s a contemporary view that we shouldn’t describe people as “bad” but instead should describe them as “people who make bad choices.” As we approach an election in 15 months that may well decide whether authoritarianism snuffs out American democracy, let’s look at the choices people are facing and the bad choices they’re often making.