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After the 2016 election, I sent private notes to a bunch of journalists/writers whose work helped me get through it all. While this one isn't over yet, I figured I'd do it again, this time in public. So a thread of praise and thanks.
First of all, to my colleagues at @NPR, every one of whom is driven by a mission to inform, not ratings or, God knows, profits. Everybody makes fun of them for being so calm and neutral, but as many of you found out last night: calm and neutral ain't so bad, is it?
The WH correspondents at the @nytimes and @washingtonpost, who accomplished the remarkable feat of writing the Secret Inside History as it happened, in face of much grief from their subject and, occasionally, their audiences.
@Fahrenthold and his WP team, and the investigative team at the @NYTimes who uncovered the President's financial dealings -- including, finally, his tax returns! -- despite a huge amount of obstacles thrown in their way.
Similarly, the news staff of the @WSJ, who broke major stories about the President (including the whole Stormy Daniels saga) dealing not only with the usual obstacles but the clear preferences of the paper's ownership.
The Video Investigations team at the @NYtimes, who did amazing things with (duh) video, and @mikiebarb and his colleagues at the Daily, who did the same with audio.
People made fun of the "voters in diners" genre, but @AsteadWesley, @itscaitlinhd, and @mccrummenWaPo
among many others, wrote powerful stories of real people dealing with the real consequences of politics.
among many others, wrote powerful stories of real people dealing with the real consequences of politics.
On Cable News, @brianstelter took a media-commentary gig and became an advocate for decency and honesty, and @JakeTapper lived up to his 2016 cri de coeur: "This is not about being anti-Trump or pro-Trump, this is about being pro-Truth."
There are lots of smart cable commentators and hosts, including @KatyTurNBC and @JoyAnnReid but @chrislhayes has a particular gift for stepping back and seeing the larger picture, which I appreciate.
@nhannahjones and @AnandWrites did the remarkable in their chosen areas (race and economics): they changed the entire grounds of debate, as evidenced by how much the other side organized to push back.
Both @TheAtlantic and @NewYorker have done amazing work, but I want to single out the investigative work by @JaneMayerNYer and the powerfully written analyses by @AdamSerwer, who's saw what was coming because he knows what happened before.
@ezraklein's work has been most useful to me in explaining the inexplicable, with major contributions from @michelleinbklyn and @jbouie.
In my field: @StephenAtHome for delivering his humor from a place of decency, @iamjohnoliver for trusting the audience to be as smart as he is, @sarahcpr for simply seeing the absurd right in front of us, @RandyRainbow for SINGING, and @petridishes, the best satirist in America.
There are lots more, people whose work I appreciated at the time but, being old, can't remember right now, and hundreds and hundreds of local reporters who don't often get any credit but whose work remains essential. Thanks to everybody who got up every day and told the truth.
I've already starting thinking of people I should have included, and will drop them in from time to time: first up, @ddale8, who went from Canadian foreign correspondent to superstar simply because he had the sense to call a lie a lie.
Another! Proud to say I was a early adopter of @jonathanvswan. Back when people were still making fun of @axios for the whole "Smart brevity!" thing, I noticed he was getting scoop after scoop, and they all proved true.
People are responding with their nominees which is great. Please continue.
