Has the Mainstream Media Failed Us?
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Q&A
/ February 5, 2026
Has the Mainstream Media Failed Us?
Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid discuss independent media’s role in an increasingly undemocratic world.
Laura Flanders
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Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid(Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images for SiruisXM; Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
Journalism is at an inflection point. At this year’s Golden Globe Awards, host Nikki Glaser called CBS a purveyor of excrement after that network shelved a 60 Minutes rreport on torture in ICE detention at the behest of its new editor in chief. CBS is now an official laughing stock, and that’s just one example. Under a hail of lawsuits, firings, new hires, and mercenary mergers, so-called mainstream media is in shambles. Then there’s the morass that is the social-media world. If democracy continues to depend on voters being able to know what’s going on and distinguish the truth from flat-out lies, the journalists’ job is as important as ever, but massively changed. Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid embody both the doggedness and often the delight in doing journalism differently in this wildly chaotic, deadly, dangerous time. Obeidallah is a writer, lawyer, award-winning comedian, and the host of Sirius XM Radio’s national daily program The Dean Obeidallah Show. Reid is a best-selling American author, journalist, and the host of The Joy Reid Show, formerly national correspondent for MSNBC, now MS NOW, and host of the Emmy-nominated, two-time NAACP Award-winning nightly program, The ReidOut.
—Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders: What’s on the top of your mind and your heart as we begin this conversation?
Dean Obeidallah: It has to do with the ICE officer killing Renee Good. The response of this administration is unlike anything I’ve seen. Laura, there was not even any hint of compassion that an American had been killed. They began calling her a terrorist within hours. Something that you would expect to see maybe in a Middle East regime when they’re killing protesters, calling them terrorists or foreign agitators. It was happening in America. And now what’s the response of the Trump administration? To send more troops. Like the Iraq War surge, now there’s surging in Minnesota, because, on some level—and I’ve been saying this for over a year on my show—we’re at war.
Joy Reid: Think about the terminology we would use if this were a foreign country. The mainstream media, as much as it has somewhat progressed toward calling what Donald Trump and his regime are doing by the true words that the dictionary would imply, are still not able to see this as a fundamentally undemocratic regime. Seeing this woman …
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
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Current Issue
Q&A
/ February 5, 2026
Has the Mainstream Media Failed Us?
Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid discuss independent media’s role in an increasingly undemocratic world.
Laura Flanders
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid(Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images for SiruisXM; Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
Journalism is at an inflection point. At this year’s Golden Globe Awards, host Nikki Glaser called CBS a purveyor of excrement after that network shelved a 60 Minutes rreport on torture in ICE detention at the behest of its new editor in chief. CBS is now an official laughing stock, and that’s just one example. Under a hail of lawsuits, firings, new hires, and mercenary mergers, so-called mainstream media is in shambles. Then there’s the morass that is the social-media world. If democracy continues to depend on voters being able to know what’s going on and distinguish the truth from flat-out lies, the journalists’ job is as important as ever, but massively changed. Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid embody both the doggedness and often the delight in doing journalism differently in this wildly chaotic, deadly, dangerous time. Obeidallah is a writer, lawyer, award-winning comedian, and the host of Sirius XM Radio’s national daily program The Dean Obeidallah Show. Reid is a best-selling American author, journalist, and the host of The Joy Reid Show, formerly national correspondent for MSNBC, now MS NOW, and host of the Emmy-nominated, two-time NAACP Award-winning nightly program, The ReidOut.
—Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders: What’s on the top of your mind and your heart as we begin this conversation?
Dean Obeidallah: It has to do with the ICE officer killing Renee Good. The response of this administration is unlike anything I’ve seen. Laura, there was not even any hint of compassion that an American had been killed. They began calling her a terrorist within hours. Something that you would expect to see maybe in a Middle East regime when they’re killing protesters, calling them terrorists or foreign agitators. It was happening in America. And now what’s the response of the Trump administration? To send more troops. Like the Iraq War surge, now there’s surging in Minnesota, because, on some level—and I’ve been saying this for over a year on my show—we’re at war.
Joy Reid: Think about the terminology we would use if this were a foreign country. The mainstream media, as much as it has somewhat progressed toward calling what Donald Trump and his regime are doing by the true words that the dictionary would imply, are still not able to see this as a fundamentally undemocratic regime. Seeing this woman …
Has the Mainstream Media Failed Us?
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
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Current Issue
Q&A
/ February 5, 2026
Has the Mainstream Media Failed Us?
Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid discuss independent media’s role in an increasingly undemocratic world.
Laura Flanders
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
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Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid(Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images for SiruisXM; Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
Journalism is at an inflection point. At this year’s Golden Globe Awards, host Nikki Glaser called CBS a purveyor of excrement after that network shelved a 60 Minutes rreport on torture in ICE detention at the behest of its new editor in chief. CBS is now an official laughing stock, and that’s just one example. Under a hail of lawsuits, firings, new hires, and mercenary mergers, so-called mainstream media is in shambles. Then there’s the morass that is the social-media world. If democracy continues to depend on voters being able to know what’s going on and distinguish the truth from flat-out lies, the journalists’ job is as important as ever, but massively changed. Dean Obeidallah and Joy Reid embody both the doggedness and often the delight in doing journalism differently in this wildly chaotic, deadly, dangerous time. Obeidallah is a writer, lawyer, award-winning comedian, and the host of Sirius XM Radio’s national daily program The Dean Obeidallah Show. Reid is a best-selling American author, journalist, and the host of The Joy Reid Show, formerly national correspondent for MSNBC, now MS NOW, and host of the Emmy-nominated, two-time NAACP Award-winning nightly program, The ReidOut.
—Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders: What’s on the top of your mind and your heart as we begin this conversation?
Dean Obeidallah: It has to do with the ICE officer killing Renee Good. The response of this administration is unlike anything I’ve seen. Laura, there was not even any hint of compassion that an American had been killed. They began calling her a terrorist within hours. Something that you would expect to see maybe in a Middle East regime when they’re killing protesters, calling them terrorists or foreign agitators. It was happening in America. And now what’s the response of the Trump administration? To send more troops. Like the Iraq War surge, now there’s surging in Minnesota, because, on some level—and I’ve been saying this for over a year on my show—we’re at war.
Joy Reid: Think about the terminology we would use if this were a foreign country. The mainstream media, as much as it has somewhat progressed toward calling what Donald Trump and his regime are doing by the true words that the dictionary would imply, are still not able to see this as a fundamentally undemocratic regime. Seeing this woman …
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