New publication The Contrarian: Not Owned by Anybody

They've got a great list of contributors

May they never lose sight of the mission.

🤮

Bezos wants The Washington Post to appeal to “all of America”

R3 Hasn’t he read USA Today?

I like Jennifer Rubin; thanks for whoever posted. I'm totally signing up for this!

I'm unimpressed with the name. I associate contrarians with lightweight thinkers who go against the grain because they think it makes them look edgy. The Douglas Murray types.

Good name, opposing, rejecting popular opinion. No sane washing the orange clown or his minions. Good luck to them.

Thank you OP. I canceled my subscription to the post and the writer I miss most is Jennifer Rubin. This is great news.

[quote]I associate contrarians with lightweight thinkers who go against the grain because they think it makes them look edgy

Well, you associate wrong then, don't you?

ElderLez, I canceled mine too, I’m definitely going to subscribe to the Contrarian. Corporate media is destroying journalism, we need to support real journalists now more than ever. And I know the Washington Post has real journalists, but they are not free to practice their profession. While I feel bad for them, I’m not going to spend my money supporting a system that is rotten.

A problem with “Contrarian” is that at least half of the country agrees with them. They’re not out on a limb in terms of their view of MAGA. The Bulwark has a much better name.

You can also support The Guardian. Already a fully-fledged news service with full editorial freedom.

Yes, the op ed writers can be a bit strident, but they won't be bending the knee to Trump.

I agree about the gut reaction to the term The Contrarian - because yes, there are too many people who have made a name for themselves for just being a contrarian even though they really don't believe that take themselves and just want to seem smart and independent thinkers.

However, I think in this case, it's being contrarian to the mainstream media mess that's been created, where they go soft on Republicans and Trumpers because of 'access' - they literally soft-pedal because otherwise Republicans will block people from going on the shows.

Republicans have played the mainstream media - they want to have a Republican response, even though it's lies - so that creates a false narrative and a well 50 percent feel this way and 50 percent feels the other way. It's like when they have global warming deniers on - it gives them the appearance of having 50% of the viewpoint, when it's less than 1% of scientists.

So if they're being contrarian to the old rules of mainstream media that has become so imbalanced and afraid of saying anything or calling out lies - then I'm all on board for this. But I don't think it's going to be a large audience unfortunately. Very hard to compete against the $$$ and huge global media. But maybe this will help steer things - just like Fox News has the past 30 years.

MSNBC prime time does not give airtime to MAGA, except for Ari who pushes back when they (rarely) appear. I’m not sure if it’s by choice or the MAGAs simply refuse to interact with them.

I can’t watch CNN political coverage these days because in an effort to appear balanced they give airtime to Trumpists who lie and distort and spout the party line, and then things degenerate into shouting matches. Not for me.

Tried to read some of this stuff and it’s all substack articles that you gave to subscribe to.

Every author has a different substack that you have to pay for separately.

I thought it was a news website that you could pay then read what you wanted. I don’t want to subscribe to a bunch of substack newsletters and pay for each one separately.

Get it together, people

I paid $70 for a years subscription to all the articles. Do better R15.

That’s not true, r15.

No. Sorry. Sick of signing up for numerous accounts, numerous passwords and giving away my info.

What I read was nothing more than the pearl clutching and the “somebody do something!!1!!” Howling from the last Dump reign of terror.

Until one of these people comes up either a solid plan (date/time to roll guillotines, for example), I don’t want to hear it.

It’s just more screaming “do something” to people who are unable to DO anything.

^not the intended audience

Subscribed.

I gave up on NTY, The Post, LA Times a couple of years ago.

I discovered The Bulwark about a year ago and that's my go to these days. What I love about it is that it will always hold the left accountable, but in good faith ways. I don't need "the left is always correct" reporting. But I also don't need Bill Maher "both sides suck equally or nearly equally" either. They don't suck equally. At all.

And because many on there are ex conservatives, I feel they have their finger on the pulse as to what makes the right tick more than I can truly understand on my own. Which I very much appreciate.

I hope The Contrarian is as good as I hope it to be.

Oh, I also hate the title, but I can get past that. Because, you know, I am not a contrarian.

I subscribed because I saw some indications that there will be more to it than just another platform for MSNBC's roster of professional guest "analysts" (although a number of them are present). And because I think Jen Rubin deserves props and support for giving up a comfortable perch. But to date the organization that looks ready to replicate the actual service that the tainted newspapers provided -- not the fucking opinion pages but the reporting -- is ProPublica. And to some extent Talking Points Memo, which also has a subscription model. The staff is small but good and they do break stories occasionally.

Rumblings that Phil Rucker is also leaving.

Great admirer of Rubin. I cancelled The Post after the endorsement scandal but my subscription was annual, so my fury softened. But the cartoon fiasco and the departure of Rubin, Josh Dawsey and some others solidified my resolve. Shame. I found WP so grounded compared to the NYT.

This is my morning news site.

No breaking news, but news plus commentary.

On the weekends, they answer political questions and there are word games with headlines on Friday.

An enjoyable site.

Substacks? Multiple Substacks you have to subscribe to? Or an App? To hear that Trump is a bad man? In 1980 when Reagan was elected, progressives acted to successfully oppose him trying to bring back the draft and start a Viet Nam style war in Latin America.

Instead of this we're supposed to say, "Trump Bad!" for four years.

R25, you do have the option of clicking the link above and finding out what it is. The base content is free. It's not "multiple substacks" -- R15 is wrong about that. (Its home page does include a "recommendations" bar that takes you to other people's substacks, but that's common this site.) It's an online publication that uses the Substack platform.