With the holidays past us, we can start getting back into the regular grind of things, and the new year is starting off already in fourth gear. Big stories erupted and overlapped this week and the press was expectantly hysterical in the coverage.

Wildfires, D.C. machinations, and a jarring decision by Facebook had the press spinning in circles and resorting to the very type of skewed coverage that has been driving people away. It has been a sign that the coming year may not yield the needed significant changes from the press. More of the same means more content for this column, so let’s get to it in this new year.

           THE CONTENDERS

THE WASHINGTON POST  The year began with melodrama as one of the paper’s political cartoonists, Ann Telnaes, had a toon spiked because it portrayed publisher Jeff Bezos bowing to Donald Trump. Jen Rubin applauded the cartoonist for quitting the accursed paper, even as Rubin remains on the payroll. Columnist Phil Bump defended the incompetent Democrat leadership in California by blaming the fumbling response to the wildfire outbreaks on climate change. The outlet announced a new round of layoffs, dumping another four percent of its workforce.   

Jeff Bezos never wanted this cartoon to become public.

He killed it, and as a result, pulitzer prize editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit.

Make sure everyone sees this cartoon. pic.twitter.com/hrvdGeowGO

— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) January 4, 2025

AXIOS  The outlet was particularly outraged about the Facebook fact-checker purge. The site produced a number of posts dismayed by the decision, including one from the founders, where they managed to lie about the grooming gangs story in Britain. The outlet also pretended the Democrats had never contested a presidential election result.

POLITICO  The site began by blaming the fires on a partisan problem, and then in trademark fashion, they went the “pounce” route, claiming Republicans “Unleash on California Democrats” regarding the wildfires. The site was upset that Trump will NOT be spending taxpayer money on the inaugural celebration.

MSNBC  Brandy Zadrozny suggests that removing fact-checkers will lead to genocide. The imbalanced Joy Reid invited on the fired Mehdi Hasan to discuss Trump going to war against Panama and complaining that Elon Musk opposed pedophile gangs in Britain. Jen Psaki looked at the wildfires and came to the conclusion that the problem is Trump and Elon Musk. Symone Sanders was back to insisting that Joe Biden is sharp as a laser. With the completely damning video of LA Mayor Karen Bass ignoring a series of questions from a Sky News reporter, one MSNBC report only played the initial question being asked, then cut away to a later press conference.

     THE WINNER

CNN

On the anniversary of January 6, CNN proves that the press treats this as a national holiday, complete with obsessive coverage. Their desperation was quickly overturned by their own polling guru, as Harry Enten came on to show that the vast majority of the public does not harbor any passion for J6 hysteria. 

Dana Bash desperately tried to say that Trump was not ruling out any scenario after he was posed a leading question, which to Bash means he’s about to invade Panama, Greenland, and Canada.

Brian Stelter was particularly incensed by the Facebook/fact-checking divorce. He spent days venting on the issue over a series of threads. In one instance, he sold the concept that some media outlets survive on the revenues from silencing voices through their corrections. 

In another post, he expressed his dismay that this decision would lead to (GASP) conservatives expressing their opinions!

Hang it in the NEWSEUM… pic.twitter.com/k6Xk5n0aiB

— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) January 9, 2025