Peter Schweizer on Broken Media: ‘I Finally Cancelled My Subscription to the NYT After 25 Years’

On the latest episode of the Drill Down podcast, co-hosts Schweizer and Eric Eggers are joined by Michele Tafoya of Sunday and Monday Night Football fame to dig into the decaying state of journalism, and the struggle to get a straight story in the age of “opinion journalism” —where everyone has an opinion and politics plays a role in nearly every story.

The more I read, the more I realize that politics has seeped into journalism,” says Tafoya, host of the hit podcast Sideline Sanity, where she leverages three decades of sportscasting experience to offer a fresh take on politics and current issues.

“When people realize that a publication can influence a group of people, they think ‘Wow, let’s influence them to our way of thinking,’” Tafoya says. “It’s all so agenda-driven. They can’t even mask it anymore. Now when I pick up a newspaper or magazine, I have to ask, ‘Where is this writer coming from? How should I interpret any publication and get to the truth?’”

Eggers agrees, adding that social media has impacted journalism and reporting for the worse.

Schweizer notes that the former giants of the mainstream media, outlets such as the New York Times, which declared itself part of the “resistance” to the Trump presidency, have become avowed political advocates. “I finally cancelled my subscription to the New York Times after 25 years,” he says.

Schweizer also notes that, increasingly, there are important alternatives to the MSM, such as the growing platform for independent journalism, Substack.

“I do think the growth in Substack is interesting,” Tafoya agrees. “I’ve always said ‘more speech, not less.’ I do think more voices are better; I do think all these outlets are better…the toothpaste is so far out of the tube on this [mainstream] opinion journalism, I don’t think we can ever get it back in.”

Listen to Schweizer, Eggers, and Tafoya provide insider insights on the media, opinion journalism, and Michele’s experience working on a campaign in Minnesota.