Matt Taibbi

Taibbi argues that news outlets now commonly make mistakes without corrections or consequences.

“Now it's become incredibly common for newspapers to make mistakes and either not own up to it at all, not issue a correction”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 33:32

Taibbi cites Rolling Stone's UVA story as a cautionary tale about editors trusting reporters without verification.

“It was a mistake to just simply trust the reporter absent some kind of verification”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 38:03

Taibbi recounts that activists gained leverage over newsroom language, starting with requirements to say 'undocumented' instead of 'illegal'.

“I remember the first time that it came up in a fact-checking meeting that we had to use the term undocumented instead of illegal”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 19:09

Taibbi argues, based on his reporting on Eric Garner, that police and prison abolition appeal mainly to elites rather than the poor.

“who think that police abolition is this idea that's going to be universally embraced by the poor, or prison abolition for that matter”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 12:02

Taibbi predicts that the general electorate will rebuke the new DSA candidates once exposed to them.

“I think the people are, there's going to be a rebuke there, but it'll be interesting to see how the party reacts to that”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 8:49

Taibbi argues that support for Israel has become disqualifying in Democratic primaries and is a major factor in DSA success.

“If you haven't taken a stance on it, if you're a supporter of Israel, you're really not electable anymore in the Democratic Party”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 7:20

Taibbi worries that commentators are arguing for punishing conduct that does not meet the definition of a crime.

“Yes, this probably doesn't fit the technical definition of a crime, but crime isn't enough. We need to go farther”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 22:44

Taibbi notes that a decision not to indict was already made based on Jane Doe's own statements at the time.

“There's already been a decision not to indict in this case based on some concrete statements that Jane Doe made at the time”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 10:05

Taibbi recalls that Rolling Stone made costly journalistic mistakes by embracing an accuser's story in a similar case.

“But we made some journalistic mistakes, frankly, in the reporting of that story that ended up being very, very costly”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 15:56

Taibbi says most reporters wrongly believe they are legally barred from naming accusers in such cases.

“a significant majority of reporters now actually think that they're illegally obligated not to print the names of the people involved in these cases”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 10:39

Taibbi praises Michael Tracey as the kind of adversarial journalist the profession needs.

“They should be pains in the ass, who are not afraid to offend absolutely everybody, including their own friends”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 51:05

Taibbi argues the lack of moral and spiritual grounding among young people is a sociocultural rather than political problem.

“And it's not really a political issue. It's a sociocultural issue”

The Megyn Kelly Show: How the Media Shapes the Cornell Lie, with Matt Taibbi, and the Harms of "White Guilt," with Eli and Shelby Steele | Ep. 1414 (Oct 8, 2026) · Listen from 27:13

Taibbi argues that Democrats at the hearing prioritized messaging over basic human decency toward grieving families.

“They have decided that certain messaging imperatives are more important than seeming human at times”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 49:21

Taibbi argues that no competent journalist would publish based on a single unnamed source who did not even assert the claim.

“You would never, ever go to print with one unnamed source where the source doesn't even tell you what you're asserting”

The Megyn Kelly Show: NPR's Embarrassing Excuse, Another Socialist Victory, and Smug Serena Williams, with Matt Taibbi and Rob Finnerty | Ep. 1351 (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 27:42