Anyone who’s followed Dan Rather’s personal Facebook account knows that he’s quick to speak his mind on matters of both government policy and journalistic integrity. Now, after a turbulent eleven days into Donald Trump’s presidency, he’s compelled to meet a bigger demand for his sensibilities.
So he’s created News and Guts, a Facebook page that serves as a hand-curated feed of news stories reported responsibly and fairly that he feels both important enough and suitable enough to share. The page bears the same name as Rather’s media production company, which was also created to promote stories and issues evenly and fairly in a time when such avenues appear to be in short supply.
Given several of the publications Rather draws from (The Washington Post and The New York Times especially) it’s unlikely News and Guts will have much crossover appeal to Republicans and conservatives, but short of that ability, it may keep people of all affiliations from falling prey to sharing the same type of biased reports that many have taken each other to task over.
The page’s description reads:
Dan Rather has created a media company that promotes his vision of real journalism, news of integrity and as he would say a “play no favorites, pull no punches” brand of reporting. News with guts. In these turbulent times, we seek nothing more than the truth.
News and Guts might not be the salvation that many hope for, but it does serve as a mechanism to vet news stories by a lauded and career reporter, which is more than can be said of many (most?) other stories that populate Facebook newsfeeds in these times.
Judging by its quick adoption by many (933,000 since its recent launch), people are hungry for news they can trust, even if it’s not news they like.
