Another big name is leaving The Washington Post.

Jennifer Rubin, an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and a prolific, strongly opinionated and well-respected columnist, is leaving the paper. She is teaming up with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen to launch a new publication on Substack called The Contrarian.

Rubin told CNN’s Brian Stelter that she resigned because “the Post, along with most mainstream news outlets, has failed spectacularly at a moment that we most need a robust, aggressive free press. I fear that things are going from bad to worse at The Post.”

About her new project, Rubin told Stelter, “Our goal is to combat, with every fiber of our being, the authoritarian threat that we face.”

In her first piece for the new site — “I Have Resigned from The Washington Post, effective today” — Rubin wrote, “Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy — Donald Trump — at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive.”

The tagline of the new site is “Not Owned By Anyone.” Rubin writes it “will offer daily columns, weekly features, podcasts and social media from me and fellow pro-democracy contrarians, many of whom have decamped from corporate media, others who were never a part of it. I am launching this endeavor with my cofounder, Norm Eisen. Founding contributors will include Joyce Vance, Andy Borowitz, Laurence Tribe, Katie Phang, George Conway, Olivia Julianna, Harry Litman (who recently resigned from the LA Times for reasons similar to mine for leaving the Post), and Asha Rangappa, among many other brilliant voices. We will provide fearless and distinctive reported opinion and cultural commentary without phony balance, euphemisms or gamified political punditry.”

Rubin, a Post columnist since 2010, had considered herself a conservative until 2020 when she wrote, “Let’s be honest: There is no conservative movement or party today. There is a Republican Party thoroughly infused with racism and intellectually corrupted by right-wing nationalism.”

As mentioned, Rubin has been a fierce critic of Trump, and now is just as critical as media leaders who have, in her words, bent their knees to Trump. She wrote in her resignation column, “The Post’s downfall is hardly unique. ABC, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and corporate-owned cable TV networks (which have scrambled to enlist Trump-friendly voices) are catering to powerful interests, and have profound corporate conflicts. Instead of guarding their independence, they join financial leaders, politicians and other public figures currying favor with Trump and his orbit. Through classic anticipatory obedience—a dangerous but all too familiar pattern—they normalize the authoritarian menace. If Trump has taken ‘attacks on the press to an entirely new level, softening the ground for an erosion of robust press freedom,’ as The Post reported, it is because he finds insufficient resistance. Instead, owners whose outlets he targets quite literally rewarded him.”

Meanwhile, back at the Post …

Rubin is just the latest high-profile staffer to leave the paper.

Semafor’s Max Tani reports that Washington Post editor Matt Murray sent a lengthy email to staff on Monday with the subject line “The Future.”

Murray wrote, “We are clearly in a period of significant change, and it is certain to be uncomfortable at times. It can be especially hard to see valued colleagues leave.”

Murray mentioned the challenges that newsrooms everywhere are facing and wrote, “Yet the Post has evolved throughout its history to meet the moment and is doing so again.”

Murray wrote a bunch, so check out the link in this item to read it in full.

Oh, one more (positive) Post item

Here’s some good news for the Post. Talented staffer Philip Bump announced on Threads that he is moving from the news desk to the opinion section and expressed his confidence in the paper.

He wrote, “I’ll just say that I had the opportunity to go elsewhere but still believe strongly in what The Post does and is. I believe in institutions. I accepted this new position in part because, well, I know The Post and its people better than many of its critics. It’s my small vote of confidence in the paper and the Opinion section. And I hope that, in this new role, I can help restore similar confidence among others.”

Five times a week

(Courtesy: MSNBC)

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is returning to the anchor chair five nights a week. For a while, anyway.

You might recall that in 2022, Maddow took a step back from her weeknight 9 p.m. Eastern show. Instead of appearing five nights a week, Maddow appeared just on Monday nights while she concentrated on other projects, including podcasts, books and documentaries. And she still hosted MSNBC’s special coverage of big events, such as debates and elections.

But starting with next Monday’s Inauguration Day, Maddow will return to anchor five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. That will take the show through the end of April.

Alex Wagner, who had been hosting Tuesday through Friday, will do reporting from around the country on the impact of Trump’s early promises and policies on the electorate for “Trumpland: The First 100 Days.” That reporting will appear across various MSNBC platforms and shows.

In an interview with USA Today’s Gary Levin, Maddow said the request to return five nights a week came from MSNBC president Rashida Jones, but Maddow added Wagner “has been itching to get out there in the country and to cover what’s coming and the impact of what Trump is going to do in the second term on the ground, from a front-line perspective.”

However, Maddow returning to five nights a week should help boost ratings. According to Levin’s story, Maddow’s Monday audience (2.3 million viewers in 2024) is significantly larger than Wagner’s (1.3 million).

So, could Maddow end up sticking around after 100 days, or is the April 30 date a hard stop?

She told Levin, “That is a hard stop. When Rashida asked me to do this, that was the discussion. That’s what Alex wants, too. The thing about the 9 p.m. chair is that it’s really a full-time job and with what Alex is planning on doing — field reporting across the country and I think potentially overseas — and doing that while I’m holding the seat for her for 100 days, that’s a good horizon for us, but on April 30 we will go back to our existing schedule.”

Kara Swisher goes off on Zuckerberg

I’ve been writing this newsletter for six years and I consume tons of media. I’ve written this before, and I will repeat it again: There are few people in journalism more in tune with what’s going on than veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher.

She is super well-connected and knows the tech industry as well as anyone, including the powerful heads of the various platforms. That includes Mark Zuckerberg. And in her latest “Pivot” podcast, Swisher absolutely blasted Zuckerberg over his decision to end Meta’s fact-checking program.

Swisher said the decision was made entirely because of self-interest and how it affects his business. She then went … off:

This is what I’ve told you he’s like. I wrote a piece in The New York Times where I was like, ‘This guy is the most dangerous person on the planet.’ He has amplified and weaponized everything, and then he doesn’t want to take responsibility.

Let me tell you, I’ve talked to a lot of people inside Facebook and Meta. They are sick to their stomach, Mark, just so you know. … So many people called me this past week. The first person who was this first PR person was like, we got to get off Threads now. I’ve had so many calls. ‘Sick to their stomach’ seems to do it, and they should be sick to their stomach because you are a sad and shameless weathervane. In four more years, if the Democrats take over, you’re going to shift again because that’s what you do. You have no values whatsoever.

I thought Will Oremus did a great piece in The Washington Post, of all places. He goes, ‘Mark Zuckerberg cited a cultural tipping point to justify dumping fact checks and relaxing hate speech rules. Meta ending fact checks in the U.S. made headlines, but the real ballgame here is a broader repudiation of the idea that a company is responsible for bad stuff on its platform.

As Zuckerberg puts it, ‘bad stuff.’ Mark, you don’t — ‘bad stuff.’ What, he thinks he’s going to stub a toe.

These people, you put people in danger. ‘The company never really wanted that responsibility and Trump’s election allows them to shrug it off.’ They never wanted to.

There’s much more to what Swisher said. Mediaite’s Alex Griffing has more details on Swisher’s comments, or check out the podcast for yourself.

Speaking of Zuckerberg

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, shown here last July. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week, talking about his decision to end Meta’s fact-checking program.

During the three-hour interview, Zuckerberg complained about censorship, claiming the Biden administration threatened repercussions if Meta didn’t take down certain posts surrounding COVID-19. He then said Meta went too far in complying with the various requests. Axios’ Angrej Singh added that Zuckerberg felt that “he and others at the company wrongly bought into the idea — which he said the traditional media had been pushing — that misinformation spreading on social media swung the 2016 election to Donald Trump.”

But in a piece for The Verge, Elizabeth Lopatto wrote, “I’ll spare you the experience of listening to one of the richest men in the world whine and just tell you straight out: Mark Zuckerberg’s interview on The Joe Rogan Experience is full of lies.”

Lopatto added, “The problem wasn’t that the fact-checking was bad; it was that conservatives are more likely to share misinformation and get fact-checked, as some research has shown. That means conservatives are also more likely to be moderated. In this sense, perhaps it wasn’t Facebook’s fact-checking systems that had a liberal bias, but reality. Well, Zuckerberg’s out of the business of reality now.”

Spain’s comments

Veteran sports broadcaster and podcaster Sarah Spain, best known for her work with ESPN and espnW, had some surprising comments in an interview with Michael Grant for Awful Announcing.

Spain was asked what she thought about ESPN planning to cancel the daily debate show “Around the Horn” later this year.

“I haven’t been on ‘Around the Horn’ in a year-and-a-half or two years. There was a no-longer-at-the-company executive who didn’t want me to appear on it anymore for reasons never expressed to anyone. But I am very bummed about the show. I think it is unique. I think it’s really smart, really funny. I think it’s different than what’s out there. And it allows for a variety of voices and perspectives. It allows for a ton of different stories and some of the things that aren’t covered everywhere else. Yeah, I think it’s a real bummer and a really dumb move to cancel it.”

OK, a thoughtful perspective on what “Around the Horn” brings to the table, but let’s get back to the first part of her answer. A “no-longer-at-the-company executive” didn’t want her on the show anymore and Spain was never told why?

Hmmm, was the “no-longer-at-the-company executive” a reference to Norby Williamson, the very senior ESPN exec who abruptly parted ways with the company last April?

Whoever it was, you have to wonder why Spain stopped appearing on “Around the Horn.” I thought she was great on that show. She was smart, quick, funny and didn’t hesitate to offer very strong opinions. In other words, everything you would want a panelist to be.

The final interview

(Courtesy: MSNBC)

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell will sit down with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office for Biden’s final interview as president. The exclusive interview is scheduled to air Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern on MSNBC.

MSNBC says Biden will discuss his legacy as he prepares to leave the White House, his five decades of public service, and economic and legislative accomplishments of his presidency.

Remembering a legendary columnist

There was a time — particularly during the 1970s and 1980s — when larger-than-life sports columnists not only commented on sports, but were movers and shakers in their communities. They had massive influence — getting coaches hired and fired, helping to get sports franchises and stadiums built.

That was particularly true in Florida, where you had the Miami Herald’s Edwin Pope, the St. Petersburg Times’ Hubert Mizell and The Tampa Tribune’s Tom McEwen. Included in that list was Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel.

Guest passed away Saturday. He was 82. Guest was the Sentinel’s lead sports columnist from 1973 until his retirement in 2000. In a special piece for the Sentinel, David Whitley wrote, “He didn’t just write about Central Florida sports, he helped shape them.”

In addition to his thousands of columns, Guest was voted Florida Sportswriter of the Year four times and was the author of seven books. Check out Whitley’s tribute for more on Guest’s outstanding and influential career.

Media tidbits

• I wanted to point out a fantastic media story from my Poynter colleague Angela Fu: “A rare newspaper war was brewing in Baltimore. Then a billionaire owner began meddling.” I talked with Angela about her story and will bring you her thoughts in Wednesday’s newsletter.
• CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan with “Soon to be out of a job, Meta’s fact-checkers battle a blaze of wildfire conspiracy theories.”
• How did Craig Melvin’s first day as “Today” show co-host go? Check out the “Today” show’s live blog.
• NBC News has unveiled its White House and Capitol Hill correspondents just ahead of the Trump presidency. Here are the details from The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston.
• The New York Times’ David Enrich and Katie Robertson with “News Outlets Batten Down the Hatches for Trump’s Return.”
• Fox News announced that Will Cain, currently a co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend” will get his own weekday show at 4 p.m. “The Will Cain Show” will replace the show once anchored by Neil Cavuto, who left Fox News last month after two decades at the network.
• Academy Award nominations were supposed to be announced this Friday, but because of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, they have been pushed back to Jan. 23. And it will now be a virtual event with no in-person media coverage.
• Kind of a cute story. Philly native Kylie Kelce, during her husband Jason’s late-night show, shares why Philadelphia fans dislike ESPN announcer Joe Buck. SI.com’s Liam McKeone has more details, including the clip.
• For Awful Announcing, Jessica Kleinschmidt with “From side hustle to central pillar: The sporting evolution of social media.”

Hot type

• The Anchorage Daily News’ Kyle Hopkins, in an article produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, with a powerful story: “The neverending case: How 10 years of delays have prevented a ‘horrendous’ sexual assault allegation from going to trial.”
• From The New Yorker, an excerpt from Susan Morrison’s new book: “Lorne Michaels is the real star of ‘Saturday Night Live.’” Morrison’s book — “Lorne. The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live” — is due out next month.

More resources for journalists

• Transform Local Crime Coverage in your newsroom. Application period ends Jan. 17.
• Cover critical issues surrounding child protection and the foster care system. Apply by Feb. 14.
• Elevate your editing expertise with the Poynter ACES Advanced Certificate. Enroll now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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