The thing that's kept me sane these past few months is thinking about how democracy movements elsewhere have defeated authoritarians and demagogues. Journalists have been a key part of those movements. We need to learn from them. https://www.motherjones.com/media/2020/10/the-chaos-is-the-point/

Much of US journalism has spent the past century building a culture that prohibits exactly that. I respect what Marty Baron's "we're not at war, we're at work" aims to do. But it's not sufficient at a time when war on the press, on democracy, has indeed been declared.

But there is also, in this country, a rich culture of another kind of journalism. It's distinct from advocacy journalism (itself a rich and important tradition). @ManoliaLive describes it really well: https://www.motherjones.com/media/2020/10/the-chaos-is-the-point/

Traditionalists have looked down their nose at this kind of journalism—"stories with a purpose," in Manolia's words—while also recruiting its talent and chasing its stories. Fine. But when the purpose is to save the foundations of democracy, that becomes hollow and dangerous.

And it literally enables and reinforces propaganda, as this study of the press's role in enabling Trump as a "superspreader" of lies shows.

Thank you to @Eugene_Robinson and @MichaelSteele for a television moment that crystallized all this for me.

So instead of "we're not at war, we're at work," journalists, how about "when we're at work, we're in the fight." Democracy and truth are worth fighting for, and so many have gone before and shown us the way.

Last but important bit: At Mother Jones, we can be at work and in the fight because we're not dependent on investors or advertisers. Our work happens ONLY because of support from readers. If you can pitch in to help it keep going, we would be so grateful. https://secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/7LIGHTB/src/7AHST04%7CPAHST04