January 27, 2016

Fox News Needs to Show Some Spine

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Gabriel Sherman reports on Donald Trump’s declaration that he won’t participate in the Fox debate on Thursday:

Yuck. Fox’s written statement is suitably firm: “Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly.” But if Ailes and Hannity are really calling Trump to beg him to reconsider—which, admittedly, we have only Trump’s word for—it suggests that Trump is winning. They should knock it off. Let him go sulk in his tent.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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