So I lurk a lot, both keep sane during the week, and to pick up some story ideas. I wanted to make this post a while ago and chickened out, but seeing that post about Maddow fawning over Biden's new dog made me want to try with this account again.

US media is absolutely a big-L Liberal institution. But you'd be surprised how many socialists, or socdems at least, write for smaller and mid-size newsrooms. So AMA about trying to be a reporter with leftist views in a decidedly anti-left racket, or about the inner workings of American news outlets that aren't CNN, MSNBC or Fox.

  • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    You've got it reversed, at least in my experience. A lot of stories start more radical or at least more pointed initially, then get defanged and liberalified by editors. Editors are the middle managers of any newsroom. They're the ones who get pressured to tow the company line. And if you have a reporter who isn't willing to play ball with the editor's - and thus the publisher's - decisions, you just get fired. I've been fired for that before.

    • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      In what sense do they even give you the choice to not play ball with the editors? It would seem like once you hand the story off to an editor they would do what they want and publish it however it is.

      • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It depends on the editor really, and how big the newsroom is and if its a union shop or not. In some situations you can haggle about what you want to keep or even just straight up demand it if you've got some other reporters to back you up. But that's rare. Most of the time you're at their good graces about what ends up in front of people's eyes, and all you can really say is pretty please, don't gut my article sir.

      • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Once wrote an article about a guy who got charged with assaulting a cop because as he was getting arrested on a DUI he accidentally stepped on the cop's foot. What I wrote wasn't flattering to the cop, who has a history of complaints against him. My language about "John Doe getting criminal battery for scuffing a cop's kicks" got changed to "local man was given a criminal battery charge on top of his DUI charge after police reported he tried to stomp on their feet."