Public Trust

President Trump announced on Saturday that an American military strike, coordinated with Israel, had killed the longtime leader of Iran — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. When I heard that news, I called my uncle because he, like my father, were born in Iran, before the revolution in 1979. When that happened, they, so many Iranians, fled. And now, five decades later, another revolution seemed at hand. Get...

Federal Communication Commission Chairman Brendan Carr likes to say more people trust gas station sushi than news media. I looked into it. There’s some information he leaves out of the equation. Let me know what you think: AziPaybarah@Gmail.com. Get full access to Azi Paybarah at azipaybarah.substack.com/subscribe

Which headline on Friday does the best job clearly communicating what may happen in just a few days: The New York Times : “President Acknowledges That He Is Weighing Limited Strike on Iran”; The Wall Street Journal : “The U.S. Military Hardware Pouring Into the Middle East”; The Washington Post : “Trump appears ready to attack Iran as U.S. strike force takes shape.” If you said the Washington Post...

Today I and more than 300 journalists were “impacted,” as The Washington Post’s top editor put it. The other way to say it is: I was laid off. I’m using that word on purpose—because words matter. Direct language forces clarity about responsibility and consequences. And right now, clarity has never been more important. I’m not going to pretend this feels good. It doesn’t. But I also know my worst d...