The news media trade publication Editor & Publisher has republished a letter to readers from Chris Quinn, the editor of Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, about press restrictions imposed by supporters of Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance. Quinn’s letter originally appeared Aug. 20, but with the campaign for the midterm elections down to their final …
A bill that could force Google and Facebook to fork over billions of dollars to local news outlets has lurched back to life. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, or JCPA, would allow publishers to negotiate as a bloc with the two giant tech platforms, something that would normally be prohibited because of antitrust concerns. …
Continue reading Congress is talking once again about making Google and Facebook pay for news
The Washington Post today has an excerpt from Dana Milbank’s new book, “The Deconstructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crackup of the Republican Party.” Here’s a free link so you can read the whole thing. Milbank offers some pretty bracing stuff. For instance: Admittedly, I’m partisan — not for Democrats but for democrats. Republicans have become an …
Continue reading Newt Gingrich and the Republican Party’s devolution into white supremacy
Three quick thoughts on Thursday’s hearing by the Jan. 6 commission. • I know a lot of people on my side of the ideological divide who give Mike Pence little credit for his actions during the attempted violent coup. I disagree. Look, he’s a religious-right Republican who was attached to Donald Trump at the hip …
Continue reading The day after: Pence’s integrity, Cheney’s revenge and Cipollone’s weakness
Update: CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale reports that faculty and students would not be required to answer the survey, although colleges and universities will be required to administer it. There isn’t a high-ranking elected official in the country today who embraces repression more than Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. DeSantis, a Republican who’s positioning himself to …
Continue reading Ron DeSantis, public education and the authoritarian impulse
Ever since Rudy Giuliani took the podium at the 2016 Republican National Convention and started screaming incoherently, I’ve wondered: What happened? Of course, he’s only gotten worse since then, devolving into Donald Trump’s ultimate toady. In Sunday’s New York Times, Andrew Kirtzman traces Giuliani’s fall (free link) to his failed 2008 presidential campaign, a failure …
Yes, I read The New York Times’ massive deep dive into Tucker Carlson, whose Fox News program was dubbed — accurately — as “what may be the most racist show in the history of cable news.” Something as lengthy and detailed as this defies summary. If you don’t have the time or the inclination to …
Continue reading The Times’ Tucker Carlson series is a triumph of explanatory journalism
On the latest “Beat the Press” podcast, we talk about Putin’s media pals in the U.S.; TikTok influencers getting the White House treatment; right-wing lies and libel; that New York Times editorial on free speech; and media outlets that adopt the language of advocacy. Plus our Rants & Raves. Hosted, as always, by Emily Rooney, …
Continue reading ‘Beat the Press’ takes on Putin’s U.S. media enablers
Previously published at GBH News. Madison Cawthorn didn’t get the memo. Sometime in early March, the extremist Republican congressman from North Carolina decided to go off on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug,” Cawthorn told supporters. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been …
Continue reading Republicans have a Putin problem — and the media need to stop glossing over it
Previously published at GBH News. To the extent that fading right-wing icon Sarah Palin had any strategy in pursuing her deeply flawed libel suit against The New York Times, it was this: to force a reconsideration of protections for the press that had stood for nearly 60 years, thus exacting vengeance against her tormenters in …
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