Q: Do you keep up with all of these?
No. I look at them (sometimes just squint at the headlines) when I want news.
Q: Why so much Substack?
It's a currently-good place [1] to read journalists-on-their-own. The subscription process, with or without paying, is clear.
Q: What about major media outlets? or whatever they're called nowadays
There aren't "two sides" if one side has no interested in governing, observing the law, telling the truth. (Except Project 2025 was truthful. But other than that.) [2].
Local
Portland Mercury Free, donations.
Willamette Week, Free, donations.
Stacey Abrams (a category unto herself)
Assembly Required (on YouTube)
Substack
These writers send newsletters via email. Let me know if you'd like to forward me a sample of any of these.
Popular Information, Judd Legum and team
Subscription. They cover stories that no one else will, then the "major outlets" pick them up. They have just launched Musk Watch, currently open/free.
Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson
Subscription. Most people know her by now; she started via email in 2019. An historian who offers terrific analysis of current events, in an historical context. Deep critique written with steely elegance - almost every day. (Now and then she posts a picture taken near her house in Maine, often taken by her husband Buddy Poland, a lobsterman.)
Who's with me? - W. Kamau Bell
Some content free, subscribers get to Zoom with him. The most recent free piece is "Am I Gonna Have To Write About Nazis Every Week?" As a reply to the Substack CEO [1.5] pointing to a Musk rant as "free speech," Bell just wrote:
"I live in America. This land is stolen from Indigenous people. My ancestors were considered property. Our economy requires undocumented labor to keep prices down, yet the leaders of our economy demonize undocumented people. If I get caught in the hypocrisy of the powers that be in this country, then I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. I have to figure out how to navigate this system the best I can, given the skills and avenues presented before me. If Substack throttles my work or edits it, then I will move somewhere else, as I did with Facebook years ago."
Your Local Epidemiologist, Katelyn Jetelina and team.
Donations, plans to be free always. "This publication exists for one reason—to provide an independent source of health information that helps people make evidence-based decisions." And it's extremely readable, with great charts.
American Crisis, Margaret Sullivan
Subscription with some free content. "...a community-supported project where I explore how journalism can help save democracy. Please consider joining us!"
Title of the most recent issue: "We need righteous indignation and truth-telling, not complacency.
The tone, in media and politics, is far too restrained for our current emergency."
The Cycle, Rachel Bitecofer
Subscription with some free content. "...we’re three weeks in and have already entered the 'constitutional crisis' phase of things."
Rachel also shares guest essays such as Emily Galvin-Almanza's "How to be Sand in the Gears of Tyranny."
Michael Moore, Michael Moore
Free, subscription required to comment.
"In order to have a troll-free, hate-free comments section — and because if there’s one thing I know about my crazy haters, they would rather spend an eternity in hell with Marjorie Taylor Greene than send me $5 if forced to become a paid subscriber — my Comments section here on my Substack is limited to paid subscribers. But, not to worry — anyone can send me their comments, opinions and thoughts by writing to me at [email protected]. I read every one of them, though obviously I can’t respond to all. The solution here is not optimal but it has worked and my Comments section has become a great meeting place for people wanting to discuss the ideas and issues I raise here. There is debate and disagreement, but it is refreshing to have it done with respect and civility, unfettered by the stench of bigotry and Q-anon insanity."
Not-on-Substack
Most of these folks will send you email at no charge.
The Daily Meditations, from Center for Action and Contemplation
Free to read on their website, and you can have them delivered via email. Here's a timely one from February 4th, Prophetic Leadership.
"The Daily Meditations are email reflections featuring Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) faculty, as well as guest teachers and authors, reflecting on the wisdom and practices of the Christian contemplative tradition. We hope these meditations will help deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world."
Inside Climate News
Donations. "Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet."
Democracy Now, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and team
Donations. "... produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Our reporting includes breaking daily news headlines and in-depth interviews with people on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues. They broadcast around the world and provide transcripts."
The Kyiv Independent
They have a Patreon, and options to support them directly on their website. "Help us make it through whatever comes next."
"The Kyiv Independent was born out of a fight for freedom of speech. It was co-founded by a group of journalists who were fired from the Kyiv Post, then a prominent newspaper, as the owner attempted to take the newsroom under control and end its critical coverage of Ukrainian authorities."
truthout
(Donations) "Truthout works to spark action by revealing systemic social, racial, economic and environmental injustice and providing a platform for progressive and transformative ideas, through in-depth investigative reporting and critical analysis. With a powerful, independent voice, we spur transformations in consciousness and inspire both policy change and direct action. For more on our editorial approach, please read “Remaking Media in the Pursuit of Justice” and “A Call to the Media: Let’s Go Beyond ‘Preserving Democracy.’”
the issue, Umair Haque
Subscription, with some free content. Once an eminent economist, and the brain behind "Meaningful Brands," Umair is now a lone prophet and a tough read. (I've written about him before.) His free Medium articles are still interesting, but now out of date, because his stuff is super-current. I can stand to read about 1 in 4; here's the most recent one I've read, from Feb 4th:
An Emergency Update About What to Do Right Now
National Public Radio and Oregon Public Radio.
Combined support from the government and "people like you." They had to become a little more both-sides-y during the first Trump term. But they did it transparently..
The Guardian U.S.
Donations (which they suggest via popups)
Russell Vought: Trump appointee who wants federal workers to be ‘in trauma’
The New Yorker. Subscription.
The Atlantic. Subscription.
Daily Kos, "News you can do something about."
Donations. If you create a (free) login you can post yourself [3], vote, comment. Can be a bit of a leftie echo chamber, but has good breaking news, mostly by amateurs, but has some permanent staff.
"I’m absolutely terrified" Musk is breaking Treasury's payment system
[1] At one point Medium was a great place to publish one's own journalism. (I put some essays there, without attempting to plug into the economy of it. Free-to-read links, embarrassingly dated content.) But management kept changing the rules, reducing payments, algorithming. Ultimately the only people making money on Medium were people writing about how to make money on Medium. Still good for self-expression, meeting new readers, sending them to your places.
[1.5] Grrr see above - I'm excited about Substack's easy subscription interface, but this CEO statement is concerning, apparently I haven't been paying enough attention.
[2] I still sometimes play Spelling Bee at the NYT games, and WaPo has a terrific (somewhat political) advice columnist in Carolyn Hax. As for the rest of those papers' content, it was like being in an abusive relationship: I kept hoping they'd change.
[3] My name there is priz of chillon. "Named in honor of a Byron poem about a guy who was imprisoned next to his brothers. They died and he sat beside their bodies, brooding. OK, whining. Some of these chains are in my own mind. Others are real." In other words, brace for anonymous whining.
I wrote my first posting in 2017. Everything in it was factually true but instead of surfing the situation as I did in my real life, I whined for effect. The fire, Val and I losing our jobs and going to food pantries, why/how I pay taxes even though it's hard, how I'm angry when my taxes are wasted. And now it's all happening again, but on fascist meth.
Recent Comments