A German foundation has said it will no longer be awarding a prize for political thinking to a leading Russian-American journalist after criticizing as “unacceptable” a recent essay by the writer in which they made a comparison between Gaza and a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Texas A&M announces a new journalism dean. She's black and she's qualified— and an alum of the school! Ex-New York Times too.
They announce her appointment in a splashy event.
Dark forces of reaction mobilize.
The offer is watered down to one year, with no tenure. She says no way, and withdraws. National news is made. It's negative. And today, the president of A&M resigns!
"Describing [RFK's] views as ‘controversial,’ I think, is dishonest. They’re not controversial. They’re false. He’s not spreading controversial views, he’s spreading lies. And so the framing matters enormously, and that’s something that I foresee being a huge, huge issue in the 2024 campaign."
Agreed!
Some key distinctions made by journalist Seth Mnookin in this sharp interview. (He wrote a book about the anti-vaccine movement in 2011.)
That's my shortand for the organizing principle we most need from journalists covering the 2024 election. Not who has what chances of winning, but the consequences for our democracy. Not the odds, but the stakes.
Today the New York Times published an example of stakes reporting:
"Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government...."
I'm proud to announce that today the staff of High Country News magazine have launched a union!
We are calling on HCN leadership for voluntary recognition. You can help support us by sharing on socials, following @hcnunion, and signing our letter of support here: https://hcnunion.org/support/
I understand that newspapers need support through subscriptions, but I often worry about about how this makes reliable information a luxury for those with the means to afford it.
Meanwhile misinformation & disinformation are widely accessible & free. #news#journalism
The investigative newsroom I work for, @ProPublica, is raising money right now. We report on abuses of power in the public interest - stories like corruption on the Supreme Court. It was the first outlet to win a Pulitzer for web-first journalism. And if you donate through this link, you'll let our team know that Mastodon is an audience to pay attention to. https://give.propublica.org/give/346528/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=mstdn#journalism#fediverse#mastodon
Update #3: And it broke again 🧐 I have another idea and meanwhile a static copy. No more updates for this post 😉
Hey #Mastodon & #Fediverse, look what I build: It's an updated table of @tchambers list of journalists in here, that stays up-to-date with data on #Followers and when they were last active:
From The Times. I will believe it when I see it. This has gone on too long. I have no respect for much of Assange's behaviour and subsequent stupidity, but this has clearly been a malicious and dangerous prosecution/rendition with dangerous precedents for journalism and freedom of speech.
Yesterday I saw a post on #Threads from a journalist wondering how to do their job without #Twitter. Even to the point they wondered how work was possible without trending topics to look at.
And that’s kinda alarming to be honest. The media has become so dependent on Twitter to find news that they genuinely struggle to find sources and do their job without it.
NPR’s data shows that they lost nothing after being ostracized by the psychotic white billionaire. It counters the idea that leaving Twitter is a loss. Let’s dismiss the idea that we need to be held hostage on any platform.
Read this item from today's Politico. It describes how false equivalency and both-sides-ing are not just a lazy habit in journalism, but a tool of politics that incorporates the bad journalism into party behavior, thus making a mockery of the images of detachment on which the press sells itself.
Pay attention to what's happening in this case: the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just essentially ruled that it's fully legal to jail journalists for reporting leaked information, or any information they obtain from government officials without going through "proper channels."
Several of you have suggested that Canada’s Boadcaster, the CBC, should follow the BBC’s lead and set up its own Mastodon server. To further this idea, I’ve written the following letter to CBC President Catherine Tait.
Feel free to use the letter as a template if you would like to do the same. She does not appear to have a public email address, but you can reach her by using the CBC’s contact form: https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/contact-us #Media#Journalism#BBC#CBC#Mastodon
"Biden has steered the country out of a #recession and #pandemic, gotten through a slew of critical legislation (some bipartisan), avoided a default on the #debt, set the stage for about 14 million new #jobs and overseen a resurgence of manufacturing. Internationally, he has restored the #UnitedStates’ image and solidified and expanded #NATO in defense of #Ukraine.
Award ceremony suspended after writer compares Gaza to Nazi-era Jewish ghettos (www.theguardian.com)
A German foundation has said it will no longer be awarding a prize for political thinking to a leading Russian-American journalist after criticizing as “unacceptable” a recent essay by the writer in which they made a comparison between Gaza and a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.