Like Melania Doc, WaPo Layoffs Are Another Way for Bezos to Suck Up to Trump
The Washington Post’s losses, reportedly as much as $100 million a year, are mere pocket change for Jeff Bezos.
‘We’re Looking to Save News for the Folks in Pittsburgh’:
CounterSpin interview with Jon Schleuss on Pittsburgh paper shutdown
“If you can reduce the amount of news, and the free flow of information, you can reduce democratic rights.”
Setareh Ghandehari on ICE Violence, Jon Schleuss on Pittsburgh Paper Shutdown
The Department of Homeland Security wants us all to think “immigration equals crime.” What happens if we do that? What would happen if we didn’t?
Conde Nast, Paramount Cut Jobs—and Political Dissent
The purge-like firings at Paramount and Conde Nast will have a tremendously negative impact on the already sorry state of political news.
MAGA’s Little Helpers: Sinclair, Nexstar and the Consolidation of Broadcast TV
Sinclair and Nexstar need to stay in Trump’s good graces to ensure FCC approvals. To survive, however, their ABC affiliates need national programming.
Paramount Sells Out Journalism to Secure Purchase by Skydance
The latest moves from CBS’s owners mark the latest seismic shift to the right in the US media landscape.
‘The Current Commercial System Will Always Fail Democracy’:
CounterSpin interview with Victor Pickard on Paramount settlement
“Much of what we’re talking about is really trying to figure out the structures that would allow journalists to be journalists.”
As Trump II Begins, Bezos Swaps Scrutiny for ‘Storytelling’
The new direction sounds like the Foxification of the Washington Post, a move away from any attempt to hold the powerful to account and toward inexpensive clickbait punditry.
Why Didn’t NYT Tell Us What Ben Smith Stood to Gain From His Media Reporting?
Ben Smith’s stake in BuzzFeed may have exceeded $7 million—a strikingly large material interest in a company whose competitors Smith regularly covered.
Dowd’s Newsroom Nostalgia Is Management Propaganda
Maureen Dowd used her column space to attack the New York Times union for pushing for more remote and hybrid work,
‘We Live in a New World Where Accountability Barely Exists’
“If public officials know they’ll never be held accountable, then they never have to actually do anything other than serve the powerful.”
NYT Moves to ‘Stack the Deck of Justice’ Against Its Subscribers
Another company silently snuck a forced arbitration clause into its terms of service—and that company is the New York Times.
‘There’s a Lot of Jubilance and Healing in Reparations’
“Myths of Black inferiority have been baked into our media system and its practices since the very, very beginning.”
Alicia Bell and Collette Watson on Media Reparations
US news media need to not only acknowledge inflicting racist harms, but take seriously the idea of repairing them.
‘When Other People Tell Our Stories, They Get It Wrong and Cause Us Great Harm’
The February 26, 2021, episode of CounterSpin included an archival interview Janine Jackson conducted with Joseph Torres of Free Press about his book News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, originally aired December 23, 2011. This is a lightly edited transcript. Janine Jackson: The Kansas City […]
Fear and Celebration of Substack Are Both Misplaced
Today’s journalism isn’t short on hot takes; its problem is a dearth of full-time foreign correspondents and long-term investigative units.
Writers Leave UAW, but Pledge to Keep Fighting for Freelancers’ Rights
The National Writers Union’s divorce from the UAW raises concerns about how to advance labor rights in the media industry, which is notorious for its reliance on freelancers.
Whose News Literacy?
Fighting “fake news” is not only urgent, it’s also a big business. But are students being taught to think critically? And what kind of news consumers are produced by these courses and tools?
Can Deadspin Live Again as a Worker-Owned Website?
The question about the former Deadspin workers isn’t just what’s next for them; it’s also about what’s next for us, the media consumers who need their voices so badly.
Tech Reporter’s Breaking Stories May Have Cost Him His Job
Three years after tech reporter Christopher Calnan was terminated from the Austin Business Journal, he’s still receiving threats from its parent company for the same reason he was hired and praised for in the first place: his ability to cover breaking news about the powerful Austin-based Dell Technologies Inc.
