I Just Can’t Quit You, Sarah Palin

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This is, I kid you not, a screen shot from the front page of the Washington Post. In case you missed it, Sarah Palin made a mistake in a Twitter post Sunday night, using the word “refudiate” instead of “repudiate.”

I repeat: this is front page news. In the Washington Post. I’m reminded of Ari Melber’s piece last week about Palin’s “Mama Grizzlies” video, which, it turns out, only 2% of her Facebook fans watched. Where did the rest of its 368,000 views come from? Links from the traditional media, it turns out:

It’s quite a feat. Palin blasts the “lamestream” media while claiming to commune directly with her base, which draws extensive media coverage for an effort that actually reaches a tiny number of people. Without the media assist, though, Palin would just be sitting on a Facebook page with 2 percent participation and a YouTube video with niche numbers….Some reporters are catching on. “I hope we don’t hear from Sarah Palin about media bias anymore,” Chuck Todd recently said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, “because it is amazing the ability this woman has to get media attention with as little as she does, whether it’s a Twitter or a Facebook update.”

In fairness to the Post, Palin’s miscue was a huge Twitter sensation among lefties last night. I swear, I think about 50% of the posts in my Twitter feed for a two or three hour period last night were lame jokes about “refudiate.” And in further fairness, as long as Palin seemingly has make-or-break endorsement power in Republican campaigns and remains a possible presidential candidate, they have to cover her. But isn’t it about time to limit that coverage to actual newsworthy events? If she gives a major speech on the future of national security in a multipolar world, fine. Cover away. But a mistake in a Twitter post? Maybe think twice about that.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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