Shame on the Press. Welcome Independent Media.

As someone who spent 30 years in newspaper newsrooms, it both saddens and alarms me to see what’s happening to newspapers. The number of newspapers published in the United States shrinks daily, and the ones that are left are failing miserably to do their job.

I mean “their job” literally. Their duty. The Constitution guarantees freedom to one industry and one industry only: the press (First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting … the press.” ). It was done that way so that it could be the public’s independent watchdog over the government.

Incidentally, when I say press here, I mean newspapers and the wider written-word press, but not the on-air folks. Their news shows may do a good job of covering government, but they are not free from government control. For one thing, they use public airways, which means they must be licensed by the government, which means the government can shut them down any time simply by canceling their licenses.

But that’s not the only way the government can control the radio/television industry. Look at what just happened at CBS.

Skydance wanted to purchase CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and Paramount was eager to sell. But to close the deal they needed Donald Trump’s permission, and to get it Skydance had to promise him it would eliminate all DEI programs and not implement any new ones, and would create a new ombudsman to field complaints of ideological bias in news coverage. The ombudsman would report direct to the company’s president.

Further, Skydance has not denied Trump’s assertions that it agreed to run $20 million worth of public service announcements consistent with his ideological beliefs. Also, although Paramount says its firing of TV star Stephen Colbert had to do with finances, not pressure from Trump, Trump publicly delighted in the firing, and the timing is clearly suspicious. Also, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said Skydance promised to make other “significant changes” in the network (he did not name them). And, finally, Paramount paid Trump $16 million to settle a libel lawsuit that virtually all libel lawyers agree Paramount could have easily won. (Trump claimed CBS News had libeled him by editing an interview with Kamala Harris before airing it.)

Bottom line: Government controls the airwaves, but not the printed word. And that’s why it is both so sad and alarming that today’s newspapers are failing so miserably to do their duty. Robert Hubbell, who writes the Today’s Edition Newsletter, put it best when he wrote: As “the Mad King wades deeper into the swelling surf, commanding the waves to retreat, … legacy media outlets are reporting breathlessly on each dramatic but futile gesture while ignoring the slow but inexorable rising tide.”

Instead of focusing on the real story – Do we have a child seducer in the White House? — they’ve been focusing on Trump’s stupid absurdities, such as his fantasy of adding a ballroom onto the White House.

Often, the press plays down the Epstein scandal on purpose. Billionaires are buying up newspapers and other print media in growing numbers, and they have every reason not to cross him politically.

Some billionaires, like Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg are longtime media moguls who made their fortunes in the news business. Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry. Billionaires own part or all of several of America’s influential national newspapers, including but certainly not limited to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times , in addition to magazines, local papers and online publications.

Trump is making a lot of money for those billionaires, which naturally creates a conflict of interest with their duty to be our watchdogs. Too often, money trumps duty.

But whatever the reason newspapers are failing us, the sad and alarming fact is that they are.

The good news, however, is that the era of independent political writers has dawned, they are succeeding, and they could be our saviors. They… well, let me pause a moment here.

(Insert: I’m about to write about independent political writers, writers of online newsletters. Technically, I am one, but I am not talking about me here. I’m talking about the major leaguers who have millions of subscribers, earn a living at it, and have a real national/international impact. Compared to them I’m a little leaguer who likes to blow off steam by writing, and I appreciate anyone who chooses to read the result. And, I’m free.)

Anyway, independent writers are picking up where the press is failing. Hubbell, for example, recently explained why Trump’s claim that he is “federalizing” the District of Columbia is a sign of weakness and fear, was motivated by racial animus, was factually unnecessary because of record-low crime rates, is proof positive that Trump had the authority to deploy the D.C. National Guard on Jan. 6 without waiting for anyone else to approve or agree — and it was all to distract us from the Epstein scandal.

Hubbell also showed us another important aspect of Trump that the legacy press is missing, one that he said “should have resulted in the invocation of the 25th Amendment by the Cabinet.” Last Monday, he claimed two times – two times! — that he was going to meet with Putin in Russia. They’re meeting in Alaska, which of course is one of our states. Trump also insisted during a phone conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada burned down the White House during the War of 1812. It was the British, of course.

“No doubt,” Hubbell wrote. “The man’s brain has turned to oatmeal.”

(My other favorite independent newsletter writers are Heather Cox Richardson, a historian who keeps us glued to the important events of the day and often adds historical relevance; Joyce Vance, a lawyer who keeps aware of the news’ legal implications; and Jennifer Rubin, who wrote opinion columns for The Washington Post until the billionaire Bezos bought it, but now writes at a Substack named The Contrarian; and others.)

So, if the legacy press is letting Trump off the hotseat, the independent writers are not. They are keeping his feet to the fire, and they are being heard. A recent Gallup poll found his approval rating at an extraordinarily low 37%, and more people disapprove than approve of his handling of the economy, immigration and government efficiency.

Even Vice President J.D. Vance seems to be against him. On Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel a couple of days ago, Vance said: “We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a lot of connections with left-wing politicians and leftwing billionaires. … Democrat billionaires and Democrat political leaders went to Epstein Island all the time. Who knows what they did.”

That sort of thing coming out of the White House can only add fuel to the fire that’s burning to get those Epstein files into the public’s hands. Which must happen if America is to get rid of this Trump monster.

We’re winning, and if each of us continues to do whatever we can, show up at rallies whenever we can, and refuse to give up, we will win.

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