1 hour ago Why I am proud to be a part of the Guardian | Margaret Sullivan

I’ve found that many people I speak with trust the Guardian’s independent, mission-driven coverage of the news The Guardian has no billionaire or big corporate owner: funded by readers, our fierce independence is guaranteed. Please help us reach our year-end fundraising goalOn election day last month, I spent some time interviewing poll workers in New York City.When I introduced myself to one, I told her that I write a column for the Guardian and her immediate reply was “thank you”. I was a little taken aback: people don’t normally react that way to journalists. Trust in the news media is low, and Donald Trump’s unfair cries of “fake news” and his efforts to depict journalists as “enemies of the people” have taken their toll. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago The White House’s new media ‘bias’ tracker is a desperate gimmick | Margaret Sullivan

The site isn’t exposing misleading reporting – it’s revealing the bubble Trump increasingly inhabitsDonald Trump has used the mainstream press as a punching bag for many years, but in recent weeks his jabs have become even more frequent – and more ill-tempered.He threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn last month over the editing of a documentary that aired more than a year ago. He called one White House reporter “piggy”, and told another – the well-regarded Mary Bruce of ABC News – that she was a “terrible person and a terrible reporter”. He called a New York Times reporter “ugly, both inside and out”.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago After a career as an environment writer, here’s what I have learned

Paul Brown looks back at his career reporting on the climate crisis, failed summit and nuclear power – and how to do it wellPaul Brown was the Guardian’s environment correspondent from 1989 until 2005 and has written many columns since. He submitted his last column last week after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. From his hospital bed in Luton, Paul offers his reflections on 45 years writing for the Guardian.We, in the climate business, all owe a great deal to Mrs Margaret Thatcher. Her politics were anathema to me and to many Guardian readers. But she prided herself on being a scientist before she was a politician. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘I have watched politicians failing yet and yet again’: lessons from a life as an environment writer

Paul Brown looks back at his career reporting on the climate crisis, failed summit and nuclear power – and how to do it wellPaul Brown was the Guardian’s environment correspondent from 1989 until 2005 and has written many columns since. He submitted his last column last week after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. From his hospital bed in Luton, Paul offers his reflections on 45 years writing for the Guardian.We, in the climate business, all owe a great deal to Mrs Margaret Thatcher. Her politics were anathema to me and to many Guardian readers. But she prided herself on being a scientist before she was a politician. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Telling a reporter ‘quiet, piggy’ was shocking – even for Trump | Margaret Sullivan

We’re supposed to be used to this by now, but getting used to it is dangerous. Her colleagues should have spoken upCatherine Lucey, who covers the White House for Bloomberg News, was doing what reporters are supposed to do: asking germane questions.Her query to Donald Trump a few days ago during a “gaggle” aboard Air Force 1 was reasonable as it had to do with the release of the Epstein files, certainly a subject of great public interest. Why had the Trump been stonewalling, she asked, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files”.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Hilary Mantel story imagining Margaret Thatcher’s assassination to be staged in Liverpool

Short story set in 1983, and published a year after the former prime minister’s death, considers ‘what happens when people feel they don’t have a voice’ says director John YoungHilary Mantel’s controversial story imagining the murder of Margaret Thatcher in the summer of 1983 is to be staged next year in Liverpool.The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher – August 6th 1983 was published in the Guardian in 2014 and gave the title to Mantel’s collection of short stories that year. In the tale, a woman opens the front door of her flat in a “genteel corner” of Windsor expecting a plumber yet finds a gunman entering. He is intent on using her home’s vantage point to take aim at the then prime minister, who is having an eye operation at a nearby private hospital. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The BBC’s editing error was serious, but the response is way out of proportion | Margaret Sullivan

The broadcaster should not cave to Trump’s demandsYou can’t be in the news business and avoid mistakes. That’s why responsible media organizations correct their errors and acknowledge them to the public. It’s why newsroom leaders take steps, internally, to repair broken processes. It’s why they sometimes go so far as to apologize or take stories down.Some mistakes, of course, are worse than others. A misspelled name is one thing. Sustained coverage that is misleading or false is quite another. And there are plenty of gradations between those two poles.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Politics