Bari Weiss Is The Symptom | Defector

""My general view here," the CBS News editor-in-chief wrote in a memo before shelving the now-infamous 60 Minutes report on El Salvador's CECOT concentration camp, "is that we do our viewers the best service by presenting them with the full context they need to assess the story. In other words, I believe we need to do more reporting here." Expediency, personal prerogative, servility to power, all smuggled under the cover of journalistic scruple:"

"Right this moment, in newsrooms all across the country, there are untold Bari Weisses preaching the doctrines of high journalism while quietly going about the work of making the actual journalism suck. They are softening claims, torturing the prose within an inch of its life, deferring to the cops, abetting a fascist incursion, introducing epistemic uncertainty where there is none, publishing Dylan Byers. If challenged on any of it, they will protest that they are merely upholding a standard,"

Prestige newsrooms contain editors who prioritize caution, expediency, and deference to power while claiming journalistic scruple. Such editors delay or shelve reporting, demand more context, and introduce epistemic uncertainty that weakens clear claims. This behavior softens language, sidelines reporters—particularly from marginalized communities—and undermines coverage of issues like genocide, racial justice, and gendered violence. The result is diluted, compromised journalism that protects institutions and amplifies established voices while stifling urgent critiques. Public trust and accountability suffer when proceduralism becomes a cover for avoiding difficult truths and abetting power. Journalistic standards must be applied to serve truth and marginalized communities rather than to shield authority.

Read at Defector