The National Trust for Local News sheds papers in Colorado, while a former Maine Trust exec re-emerges

At CCM headquarters in Englewood, Colo. Photo (cc) 2021 by Dan Kennedy.

The National Trust for Local News is shedding papers in Colorado, while in Maine a former top executive with the Trust is taking on a new role. The Trust, a nonprofit that buys newspapers to save them from falling into the hands of corporate ownership, has some 50 titles in Colorado, Maine and Georgia.

I’ll deal with Colorado first. The Trust made its debut in the spring of 2021 when it purchased Colorado Community Media, a chain of 24 weekly and monthly newspapers in the Denver area. The Colorado Sun, a digital startup based in Denver, was brought in to help run the papers and was given an ownership stake. Ellen Clegg and I wrote about all that in our book, “What Works in Community News.”

A lot has happened since then, including the Sun’s decision to unwind its relationship with the papers. Now CCM is breaking up, with 21 publications in the Denver metropolitan area being transfered to Times Media Group, a Tempe, Arizona-based chain whose owner has ties to Colorado. Seven other papers will be retained by the National Trust.

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Northeastern’s Carlene Hempel and Harrison Zuritsky tell us about the Flint Unfiltered project

The Flint Unfiltered team. From left: Claire Adner, Emily Niedermeyer, Alaa Al Ramahi, Professor Carlene Hempel, Steph Conquest-Ware, Mary Raines Alexander, Alexa Coultoff, Harrison Zuritsky and Asher Ben-Dashan.

On the new “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Carlene Hempel and Harrison Zuritsky. Our colleague Carlene, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, recently led a reporting trip to Flint, Michigan. Harrison and other students produced a stunning internet magazine called Flint Unfiltered that takes a deep dive into the causes and effects of Flint’s economic downturn and toxic water crisis.

Since 2009, Carlene has been leading students on reporting trips, where they work as part of a traveling press corps. She has taken groups to many countries, including Egypt, Syria, Cuba and Panama. Harrison, a second-year student with concentrations in journalism and data science, joined her on the Flint trip.

Click on image to access the digital magazine.

Like so many at Northeastern, Carlene has a background that includes academic achievement as well as wide-ranging professional experience. She has been a professor for 20 years and holds a Ph.D. from Northeastern. She started her career reporting for The Middlesex News in Framingham, Massachusetts, now the MetroWest Daily News, and The Boston Globe. She then moved to North Carolina, where she worked for MSNBC and The News & Observer of Raleigh.

I’ve got a Quick Take from Maine. Reade Brower, the former owner of the Portland Press Herald, is going to have three of his weekly papers printed at the Press Herald’s facility in South Portland, giving a boost to the National Trust for Local News, the nonprofit that now owns the Press Herald and several other Maine papers. Brower’s also followed through on a plan to open a café at one of his weeklies, the Midcoast Villager, in a unique effort to boost civic engagement.

Ellen weighs in on a new study of local news by Professor Joshua Darr of Syracuse University, a friend of the pod. Darr teamed up with three other researchers to do a meta analysis of surveys on media trust. They made a number of findings, but the headline is that Americans trust local newsrooms more than national news outlets. This is especially true if the local news outlet has the actual name of the community in its title. But there’s a downside: that automatic trust also allows pink slime sites to take hold.

You can listen to our conversation here, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcast app.

A New England Muzzle Award for Stephen Miller, who enabled Rümeysa Öztürk’s arrest for writing an op-ed

Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller. Photo (cc) by Gage Skidmore.

The assault on freedom of expression being waged by the Trump White House is so wide-ranging that it’s hard to know where to begin. From threats against universities to bogus lawsuits targeting news organizations, it is clear that President Trump and his thuggish allies want to silence criticism and force civil society to cower in fear.

But there is one action in particular that stands out for its cruelty as well as its blatant disregard for the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and of the press. And that’s the arrest and detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, who, at long last, was freed over the weekend. It also happens to have played out in New England, from her Soviet-style snatch-and-grab by black-clad ICE goons on the Tufts campus, where she’s a Ph.D. student, to her release at the hands of a federal judge in Vermont.

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The anti-First Amendment intent of the government’s actions was underscored by U.S. District Judge William Sessions III in Burlington, Vermont, who said that he could find no reason for detaining Öztürk other than her co-authoring an op-ed piece in The Tufts Daily that was critical of Israel and sympathetic to the pro-Palestinian cause.

“That literally is the case. There is no evidence here … absent consideration of the op-ed,” Sessions said, according to an account by Liz Crampton and Kyle Cheney in Politico. “Her continued detention cannot stand.”

Which is why this whole sordid affair is worthy of a New England Muzzle Award. In fact, it may be the most worthy Muzzle since I started handing them out at The Boston Phoenix 27 years ago.

But who should be the winner? My choice is Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and the dark lord of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Over the years, Miller has made his hatred for non-white immigrants clear, and though he generally directs his rhetoric at those who are undocumented, his overall contempt for people who don’t look like him permeates the Trump gang, starting at the very orange-hued top.

For example, here’s something that Miller wrote about Muslims for his high-school newspaper, according to a profile by William D. Cohan for Vanity Fair:

Blaming America for the problems of countries whose citizens would rather spend time sewing blankets to cover women’s faces than improving the quality of life is utterly ludicrous.

And in a speech to his high-school classmates, Miller once said: “I will say and I will do things that no one else in their right mind would do.”

Now, is it fair to cite things that Miller wrote and said in high school to build a case against him today? In his case, the answer is yes, because he devolved into exactly the sort of adult that he said he would nearly a quarter of a century ago. I mean, if you want something recent, he called for the suspension of habeas corpus — a basic protection against false imprisonment guaranteed not just by the Constitution but by Magna Carta — on Friday, as Steve Vladeck writes in his newsletter, One First.

ICE goons grab Rümeysa Öztürk near Tufts.

As for Öztürk, her ordeal is not over yet. A Turkish citizen, she was attending Tufts legally on a student visa. That visa was revoked by the State Department on the grounds that her activism could create a “hostile environment for Jewish students” and that she might support “a designated terrorist organization,” according to an account by Rodrique Ngowi and Claire Rush in The Associated Press. But the State Department’s own case cites nothing except the op-ed, which merely argues that the university administration should uphold resolutions passed by the faculty senate.

In other words, Öztürk could still be deported for nothing more than expressing her views, which the First Amendment protects for anyone in the United States, regardless of immigration status. That would be an outrage, and if the Trump administration can find a judge who’s willing to go along, a second Muzzle Award might be looming on the horizon.

But at least Öztürk is free to defend herself, no longer locked up in a Louisiana detention facility, where she reportedly experienced multiple asthma attacks without access to her medication.

Sadly for all of us, it’s Miller Time. We can only hope that his day of reckoning is coming soon.

The pope’s family ties to an infamous Supreme Court decision — and to its eventual embrace of racial justice

When I learned that Pope Leo XIV is the descendant of Black Creoles from New Orleans, my thoughts turned to Homer Plessy, the New Orleans native who was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896.

The pope does not appear to be Black, but neither did Plessy, which is one of the keys to understanding the challenge he made to the racist Southern power structure of the late 19th century. In fact, it is fair to say that if Robert Francis Prevost could be transported back in time, he, too, would have been thrown out of a whites-only railroad car had he announced, as Plessy did, that he was part Black.

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Which is why we could regard Leo as the first pope in modern times who’s a person of color. (There may have been three Black popes during the early centuries of the Catholic Church.)

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court found that a Louisiana law segregating public accommodations was constitutional despite the plain wording of the 14th Amendment, which says in part:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

According to Biography.com, Plessy, a shoemaker, considered himself one-eighth Black and could pass for white. In 1892, he challenged a state law passed two years earlier by purchasing a first-class railroad ticket, taking a seat in the whites-only section and then telling the conductor that he was part Black. He was thrown off the train, jailed and released the next day on $500 bond.

Plessy sued, appealed his conviction , arguing that his rights under the 13th (which outlawed slavery) and 14th Amendments had been violated, and his case eventually wended its way to the Supreme Court. Interestingly enough, the railroad company took Plessy’s side because it didn’t want to incur the additional expense of adding cars in order to enforce segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson was the source of the infamous “separate but equal” ruling. The majority decision, written by Justice Henry Billings Brown, took the absurd view that just because public facilities are segregated doesn’t mean that whites and Blacks were being treated unequally. Brown wrote:

We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.

The decision, though, prompted an eloquent and far-reaching dissent by Justice John Marshall Harlan, who pointed out the ridiculous nature of the majority’s position. His dissent is worth reading in full, but here’s the heart of it:

It was said in argument that the statute of Louisiana does not discriminate against either race, but prescribes a rule applicable alike to white and colored citizens. But this argument does not meet the difficulty. Everyone knows that the statute in question had its origin in the purpose not so much to exclude white persons from railroad cars occupied by blacks as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons.

Justice Harlan eventually prevailed, with the Supreme Court citing the 14th Amendment in striking down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and reversing Plessy v. Ferguson.

Thus it can be said that Pope Leo’s family has ties to the 20th century’s most important step forward for racial justice in the United States. Today, of course, brings its own challenges. In the early days of his papacy, Leo shows every sign of being a voice for moral clarity in his home country and across the world.

Congratulations to NABJ Hall of Fame inductees Callie Crossley and Greg Moore

Congratulations to the new inductees to the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame — and especially Callie Crossley and Greg Moore.

Callie is an old friend from “Beat the Press” days on GBH-TV as well as a regular guest speaker in my opinion journalism class. She was also a guest on our podcast, “What Works: The Future of Local News,” to talk about her GBH Radio program, “Under the Radar with Callie Crossley,” and her radio essays.

I interviewed Greg, who I knew from his years at The Boston Globe, about the Denver media scene for our book, “What Works in Community News.” After leaving the Globe, Greg served as the longtime editor of The Denver Post, moving on in the face of devastating cuts imposed by the paper’s hedge-fund owner. He’s also been on our podcast.

Callie Crossley and me at a speaking event in Wayland in 2024.
Greg Moore in Denver. Photo (cc) 2021 by Dan Kennedy.

Northeastern opinion journalism students take on topics from dementia care to research about news

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One of my favorite classes at Northeastern is a course called POV: The Art and Craft of Opinion Journalism, drawing on my experience at The Boston Phoenix, The Guardian, GBH News and other outlets.

The class, which comprises graduate students and advanced undergrads, covers personal essays, reviews, op-ed-style commentaries, blogging (or, if you prefer, newsletter-writing) and social media. We also have some great guest speakers. The final project consists of a longer piece of enterprise journalism combining research, interviews and a strong point of view.

I’ve put together a presentation of my students’ final projects from the semester that just ended. I’m always interested to see what my students gravitate toward. Here you’ll find stories about dementia care, privacy in gay nightclubs, eating disorders and why news organizations should pay more attention to journalism research.

What you won’t find is much in the way of Trump-related journalism. I’m not surprised. Over the years I’ve learned that our students have broad interests, and that politics is just one of those interests. In any event, these are wonderful, and I hope you might take the time to read a few of them.

Ann Telnaes’ Pulitzer sends a message to Jeff Bezos; plus, Pulitzer notes, and Ezra Klein blurs a line

Ann Telnaes is a worthy recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting and commentary; after all, she previously won in 2001, and she was a finalist in 2022. Her winning portfolio is trademark Telnaes, portraying Donald Trump as a dumpy, orange-faced gnome who somehow manages to be simultaneously menacing and pathetic.

At the same time, I think it’s unavoidable to conclude that the Pulitzer judges, in recognizing Telnaes, were sending a message to Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Telnaes quit in January after opinion editor David Shipley killed a cartoon that made fun of billionaires for sucking up to Donald Trump — including Bezos.

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Shipley later followed Telnaes out the door after Bezos decreed that the Post’s opinion pages would henceforth be dedicated exclusively to “personal liberties and free markets.”

As Poynter media columnist Tom Jones observes, the Pulitzer board took note of Telnaes’ departure earlier this year by hailing her “fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.”

Continue reading “Ann Telnaes’ Pulitzer sends a message to Jeff Bezos; plus, Pulitzer notes, and Ezra Klein blurs a line”

A printing deal in Maine boosts the National Trust; plus, updates on fake news and nonprofit news

The Portland Press Herald’s offices and printing facilities in South Portland, Maine. Photo (cc) 2018 by Molladams.

The National Trust for Local News, which is dealing with a leadership transition (see the last item) and business woes, got some good news recently. Three weekly papers in Maine have reached an agreement to be printed at the Trust’s presses in South Portland.

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According to a story by Cyndi Wood in The Ellsworth American, whose presses will cease operations, the papers will include not just the American but also the Mount Desert Islander and the  Midcoast Villager, which is based in Camden. All three papers are owned by Reade Brower, and therein lies an interesting tale.

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A disturbing profile of John Fetterman’s struggle with mental-health issues

Sen. John Fetterman. Photo (cc) 2022 by the office of Gov. Tom Wolf.

New York magazine has published an incredibly disturbing story (paywalled, but see below) about U.S. Sen John Fetterman, the hoodie-wearing Pennsylvania Democrat who was elected in 2022 while recovering from a serious stroke.

Reporter Ben Terris portrays Fetterman as suffering from what sounds like serious mental-health issues. We knew about his struggles with depression, but this goes much deeper than that, veering into what at times seems like a disconnection from reality, compounded by a refusal to take his medications.

Adding to its power is that much of the story is based on the on-the-record comments of Fetterman’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, as well as a 1,600-word email that Jentleson wrote to Fetterman’s doctor. “I believed in John’s ability to work through struggles that lots of Americans share,” he told Terris. “He’s not locked into a downward trajectory; he could get back in treatment at any time, and for a long time I held out hope that he would. But it’s just been too long now, and things keep getting worse.”

This is an important piece of journalism, but unfortunately it’s locked behind a paywall. So I’m going to tell you something you may or may not know: There’s a service that lets people save paywalled articles at publications they subscribe to so that others can read them for free. It’s at archive.is. You can search by keywords or URL. That’s how I found the Fetterman article.

I’m going to be a hypocrite and tell you that I’m uncomfortable sharing free links from archive.is, but that I’m not adverse at telling you how you can do it yourself. So if you want to read the Fetterman story, you know what to do.