Fifteen days into the federal government shutdown, the country’s biggest newspapers — The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal — didn’t run a single story about it in their Wednesday print editions.
The silence from legacy outlets underscores a deeper reality: almost nobody outside Washington seems to care. While hundreds of thousands of federal employees remain furloughed or working without pay, the shutdown has largely vanished from front pages and airwaves. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Everyday Americans Say They’re Done With Democrats’ Shutdown In New White House Video)
“Here’s a telling sign of where we are,” political analyst Brendan Buck observed. “On day 15, there are zero stories about the government shutdown in both the print NYT and print WSJ.”
Here’s a telling sign of where we are: On day 15, there are zero stories about the government shutdown in both the print NYT and print WSJ.
— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) October 15, 2025
Senators have already rejected multiple funding measures and are expected to vote again Wednesday, according to CBS News. The repeated failures haven’t sparked much outrage — or coverage — a sharp contrast to shutdowns past when the national press tracked every twist.
Even wire services like Reuters and the Associated Press have relegated the story to lower positions on their front pages how little political or public pressure lawmakers feel to end the stalemate.
If the front pages are any measure of national attention, the shutdown’s biggest story might be that it’s no longer a story at all.
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