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1/ Part of what's so frustrating about the collapse of standards in progressive media is the death of left-of-center watchdogs. The FP story I've been complaining about for days now would have been prime fodder for CJR back in the day. In 2020, there is no chance in hell CJR will
2/ critique an article that takes the 'right' stance on a controversial social-justice issue, no matter how bad it is. In fact, on this issue CJR has published misinformation of its own, including the claim that it is a 'myth' that young people receive GD https://www.cjr.org/analysis/trans-nonbinary-subjects-tips.php
3/treatment prematurely (in fact we have basically no data on this, but certainly enough anecdotal accounts and reporting to know it's not a *myth*). This leaves us in a situation where the only people acting as watchdogs against left-wing misinformation are either conservatives
4/ or 'contrarian' liberals (stupid label), and then progressives can say, self-assuredly, "Well, it's only conservatives and contrarian liberals -- who we all know are really, deep down, bigots -- who are complaining, so there's no problem here." A downward cycle commences with
5/ more and more garbage published, fewer and fewer safeguards, increasingly intense echo chambers, and less and less of a chance of any issue being understood through anything but the most hyperpartisan lens. It's a shame and I'm pretty disconsolate about it at this point.
6/ Oh and not meaning to pick on CJR, even if they are the most obvious candidate for something like this. Suffice it to say outlets like TNR, Slate, and The Atlantic would have in the past been more likely to step up on something like this, but these days are, respectively,
7/ absolutely not going to, absolutely not going to, and probably not going to.
