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Betsy Reed on Covering Trump and the ‘Normalization of Extremism’

Columbia Journalism Review · Ivan L. Nagy · last updated

This fall, as publicly funded media was hollowed out by budget cuts, billionaire owners bowed to political pressure, and many reporters disappeared from the Pentagon, Guardian US announced an expansion of its newsroom and launched its first-ever major US marketing campaign. Titled “The Whole Picture,” the campaign highlights The Guardian’s independence and global perspective in contrast to the declining capacity of the US press.

Guardian US editor in chief Betsy Reed, who previously led The Nation and The Intercept, told me the American outpost of the storied British newspaper is uniquely positioned to cover this extraordinary period in US history, when politics has come detached from social norms and too many media outlets have become bystanders to the erosion of democracy. 

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