I like Subgraph. I know a lot of people like Qubes (I have no opinions about it, but the people I know who like it are quite smart). I don't think I know anyone who recommends Tails.

But none of these are reasonable suggestions for journalists and activists. We're not talking about people who are running conspiracies and can organize their working lives around opsec. You can barely get these people to the point where they aren't blindly clicking on attachments (and the attachments they open need to open in office software that is compatible with their existing workflows). They're simply not going to use Linux on their desktops.

This is why security people like phones so much: they run secure operating systems that laypeople have accepted and can work with.