I launched Media Nation in 2005. If you count two predecessor blogs that I wrote solo and for The Boston Phoenix dating back to 2001, then Media Nation is among the oldest such projects in the country. It was also part of a dying breed until the past few years, when the rise of newsletters — blogs by another name — gave an enormous boost to independent media reporting and commentary.
Over the years, I’ve made several changes, and I’m planning to reposition Media Nation again in 2026. I had considered a hard reset but decided instead on a change of emphasis, which I can ignore as the news and my interests dictate.
First, I hope to cut way back on politically oriented media commentary. Nothing drives clicks like a post slamming Donald Trump, or slamming some failure in the way the media are covering him. But you can get that anywhere. My goal is write fewer such posts in favor of solutions to the local news crisis (my research specialty, after all); Boston- and New England-oriented media news (note to Boston Globe staffers: Keep those internal memos coming!); and music, books and whatever quirky stuff catches my eye.
Second, I plan to write less frequently. Counting this post, I wrote 306 blog posts in 2025, which adds up to nearly six per week. When I started doing this, I never intended to write so often. A lot of that comes from feeling like I’m obliged to write about every major news development that’s at the intersection of media and politics. As I said, I’m going to cut back on that. I think that two or three posts per week, more or less, is the right number, and I’m going to try not to feel guilty if I write only once. In exchange, I’ll aim to lean into substance and topics that you won’t find elsewhere.
Third, the collapse of social media led me to write a number of multi-item posts so that I could post short updates and observations as I used to do on Twitter. With the rise of Bluesky, I don’t feel like I need to do that. Bluesky is tiny, but that’s OK; you can use it without joining. I’ve embedded my Bluesky feed in the right-hand rail on Media Nation, which is easy to access if you’re reading on a laptop. On a phone, just scroll all the way down. You can also follow my feed without actually registering for Bluesky by clicking here — although if you do register, you can follow other worthwhile feeds as well.
Finally, a note about commenting: I have not changed my policy. You can still post comments here. But if you look at my revised policy, you’ll see that I’m emphasizing Facebook as the place where the deepest, most interesting conversations are taking place. For some reason, people are much more likely to weigh in on Facebook about something I’ve written than they are here. So why scream into the void? I post links to all of my Media Nation content on my public (that is, we don’t need to be “friends”) Facebook feed, which you can access here.
And if you’d like to support my work for just $6 a month, you can do so by visiting my Patreon. You’ll receive a weekly newsletter with exclusive commentary, a roundup of the week’s posts, photography and music. Media Nation itself will remain free.
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I’ve only recently signed on and supported, and come to look forward to, so rather disheartened to hear of the changes, but given the overall explanation, I pretty much get it. Since Oct. 7th, I’ve become more and more interested in the media – the quality of their coverage, their biases, their ownership, their financial sustainability – so with a focus on those issues I’ll still look forward.
Less politics? Well, I’ve come to hold your views as among the better ones to pay attention to, but your call as to how much you wish to carry on with.
A personal quirk, I don’t “do” social media, not interested in validating Zuckerberg, and have no idea about Bluesky. Okay, call me a Luddite, but I’m content with the “traditional” newsletter form.
With all that, fingers crossed that 2025 will be “a very good year,” a la Sinatra.