Category: Local News

What I learned about suspended Spokane editor Rob Curley when I reported on him years ago

You may have seen the disturbing news that Rob Curley, executive editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, has been placed on administrative leave.

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Amaris Castillo reports for Poynter Online that publisher William “Stacey” Cowles cited “several personnel complaints,” and that the newsroom union has voted no confidence in Curley’s leadership. It appears that a dispute over coverage of the recent Spokane fires led to what has been described as “a verbal confrontation.” Here’s the statement from The Spokesman-Review.

I have a bit of insight into Curley, having reported on him for my 2018 book, “The Return of the Moguls,” when he was editor of the Orange County Register. Curley was cordial and engaging, but he would not give me an on-the-record interview during my visit in March 2015.

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A hoped-for deal between NJ Spotlight News and Montclair State comes to fruition

The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University.

There’s good news to report about the future of NJ Spotlight News, a 16-year-old website that covers politics and public policy in New Jersey. We learned in June that NJ PBS, the public television network that partners with Spotlight, would be moving to Montclair State University because of federal and state budget cuts totaling some $2.25 million a year. Previously NJ PBS had been a subsidiary of WNET, the New York public media giant. (You can find a lot more details here.)

At the time, it seemed likely that Spotlight would wind up at Montclair State as well, but the details had not been worked out. Finally, last Friday, Montclair State announced that an agreement had been reached with WNET, which had owned Spotlight since 2019.

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Talking about local news, media habits and AI on the Mass. Municipal Association’s podcast, ‘The 351’

I  had a chance to talk about the state of local news in Massachusetts on “The 351” podcast, joined by my fellow Northeastern j-school alum Karen Bordeleau, executive editor of The New Bedford Light. Our hosts were Adam Chapdelaine and John Ouellette of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. Here’s the blurb:

Local journalism has long been one of the pillars of healthy communities — informing residents, holding public officials accountable, and helping people understand the decisions that shape their daily lives. But as local newspapers continue to shrink or disappear, what does that mean for municipalities, and for democracy itself? In this episode, Dan Kennedy, journalism professor at Northeastern University and media commentator, and Karen Bordeleau, executive editor of The New Bedford Light, explore the decline of local news in Massachusetts, the rise of nonprofit journalism, and how changing media habits, social media, and AI are reshaping the information landscape. The conversation also examines why strong relationships between municipal leaders and local reporters matter more than ever.

I hope you’ll have a chance to listen in. You can click here or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Former New Hampshire newspaper publisher Jay Lucas pleads guilty to securities fraud

Civil War memorial and City Hall in Claremont, N.H. Photo (cc) 2019 by Djmaschek.

The strange saga of erstwhile newspaper publisher Jay Lucas has come to an end. The owner of the now-defunct Eagle Times of Claremont, New Hampshire, who is also a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, pleaded guilty to securities fraud last Friday in New York, according to Todd Bookman of New Hampshire Public Radio.

Lucas, 71, could be sentenced to as much as 65 years in prison and $5 million in fines. “I knew at the time it was wrong and a huge mistake and a crime,” Lucas told the judge, according to Bookman. “I deeply regret my conduct and I’m sorry for what I have done.”

Lucas purchased the Eagle Times in 2022. As Damien Fisher wrote for inDepthNH, Lucas said he would “would focus on positive, uplifting stories.” Fisher added:

Lucas didn’t mention that he bought the paper with other people’s money, as alleged. Instead, he presented it as part of his Sunshine Initiative, a vaguely defined venture to revitalize the local area through happiness.

Lucas allegedly took millions from people to be invested in startup health and wellness companies. But the investment money he took instead went to pay alimony, rent, fund his purchase of the Eagle Times, and hire political consultants.

Lucas shut down the Eagle Times in 2025 after failing to make payroll. The Granite Eagle, a digital publication that Lucas helped found, continued to publish without his involvement, but it doesn’t appear to have covered local news and has not posted any new content since last December.

The Eagle, later the Eagle Times, had been a star-crossed publication for many years. It was purchased in 1946 by John McLane Clark, a former editorial writer for The Washington Post who’d lost out in a bid to buy the Union and the Leader in Manchester; instead, those papers fell into the hands of the notorious right-wing hate-monger and pedophile William Loeb.

Clark died in 1950, drowning while canoeing in Sugar River, according to Steve Taylor of The Valley News in nearby Lebanon, New Hampshire. The Eagle Times closed in 2009, but was revived at some point by an out-of-state chain.

Earlier coverage:

A contrite Platner strategist makes an important point about politics and the decline of local news

James Stewart in the 1939 movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Now he tells us. In a recent podcast with Ezra Klein of The New York Times, former Graham Platner political strategist Morris Katz admits the obvious: that it shouldn’t have taken a credible accusation of rape to force Platner out of the race. Katz says:

In hindsight, knowing what we know now, the Reddit posts alone probably should have been enough — or should have been enough. The tattoo should have been enough. The initial New York Times story on troubling behavior should have been enough.

That being said, it appears that Maine Democrats have settled on a strong alternative in Troy Jackson, who is leading the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, in some polls. (By the way: Another former Platner consultant, Daniel Moraff, also faces accusations of sexual assault, reports progressive independent journalist Marisa Kabas. What a train wreck.)

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Editorials aren’t the only way for local news outlets to engage with their communities

Outside the Seattle Daily Star, c. 1900. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Ken Paulson, the former editor-in-chief of USA Today, has written a lament for the decline of newspaper editorials. Now the director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, Paulson argues in The Conversation that editorials are a key part of civic engagement. He bolsters his case by quoting the renowned Kansas publisher William Allen White:

The editorial is the soul of the newspaper. Maybe the heart and the soul. And on a good newspaper that knows and understands and loves its hometown, or its home country, the editorial is the heart of the town, or nation as well.

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But though Paulson correctly identifies the rise of corporate newspaper ownership as a key factor in the decline of editorials, he misses something less malign and equally important: the rise of nonprofit local news organizations. Under the law, nonprofits can’t endorse political candidates or take positions on ballot questions lest they lose their tax exemption. Although they are free to editorialize on other topics, in practice, the vast majority of nonprofits have eschewed editorials altogether.

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Talking about local news with ‘The Codcast,’ CommonWealth Beacon’s video podcast

I had an opportunity to take part recently in “The Codcast,” a video podcast that’s part of CommonWealth Beacon. The other panelists were Sophie Culpepper, who covers local news for Nieman Lab, and Javier Marin, executive chairman of El Planeta, Boston’s Spanish-language newspaper. Moderating was CommonWealth’s editor, Laura Colarusso.

We had a good conversation that covered some important topics including trust, business models and the possibility of government assistance to local news outlets. At a time when nonprofit news seems to be where the growth is, Marin made some cogent points about why we need a vibrant for-profit news sector as well.

You can watch the video version on YouTube or download the audio wherever you get your podcasts.

The Boston Globe goes all in on covering the fatal ICE shooting in Maine and its aftermath

Protesters outside an ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine. Photo (cc) 2026) by Eesha Pendharkar / Maine Morning Star.

Monday’s fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero at the hands of an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine, is a national story, with The New York Times, NPR, CNN and others all offering plenty of coverage. And as I wrote on Tuesday, the Maine-based media are following this closely as well, especially the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News.

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Today I want to focus on The Boston Globe, which occupies sort of a middle ground — not national, not regional in terms of covering Maine, but nevertheless close enough that Biddeford could be considered an exurb of Boston.

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Emily Sweeney tells us how she uses social video to help The Boston Globe reach new audiences

This video about a break-in at a mansion in Beverly, Mass., helped launch Emily Sweeney to stardom.

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Emily Sweeney of The Boston Globe. As the Globe’s first social video journalist, Emily has broken through the clutter on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram with her Dorchester accent and her collection of track suits. Not to mention her skills as a reporter.

There’s a Northeastern connection as well: Sweeney played on NU’s championship-winning Division 1 women’s ice hockey team.

I’ve got a Quick Take about NJ Spotlight News, a website and a newscast that covers politics and public policy in New Jersey. It’s also featured in our book, “What Works in Community News.” Spotlight was in danger of being seriously downsized after Donald Trump and the Republican Congress zeroed out funding for public media. The state of New Jersey, facing a budget crisis, cut its public media subsidy as well. Now, though, it looks like there’s good news to report.

Ellen’s Quick Take is on a comprehensive investigation into a Trump donor named Tim Barnard. Barnard Construction has received billions in taxpayer dollars to build the border wall in the Southwest. The story was reported by the nonprofit High Country News in Colorado and republished by another nonprofit news site, AZ Luminaria in Arizona. It’s a strong example of how a national story can be localized and, in doing so, pack a real punch.

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

Finally, a programming note: The podcast will be on mute for the summer, returning in late August or September. So behave yourselves.

How a team of Northeastern journalism students covered the aftermath of Hurricane Helene

The Northeastern team behind “Caught in the Current.” Back row from left: Azariah Baker, Beck Orten, Grace Sawin, Hayes Botnick. Middle row from left: Mia Filler, Ali Caudle, Professor Carlene Hempel, Namira Haris, Claire Ogden. Front row from left: Sydney Woogerd, Eva Ciolek Passeri, Valentina Gutierrez.

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Professor Carlene Hempel at Northeastern and her student Sydney Woogerd. This spring, Carlene brought a team of student journalists to Asheville, North Carolina, for a week-long intensive reporting trip that focused on the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The result: a digital multimedia investigation called “Caught in the Current: Helene Recovery in Asheville and Beyond.” Put simply, this is a stunning project, with podcasts, videos, photos and text. There’s a great soundtrack. Please do yourself a favor and spend some time with it.

Carlene has been a journalism professor at Northeastern University for more than 20 years. She specializes in teaching long-form narrative writing as well as creating on-site, pop-up newsrooms domestically and abroad for her courses. Her 2025 reporting class and resulting magazine about the 10-year anniversary of Flint, Michigan’s water crisis won two national reporting awards. 

From Sydney Woogerd’s story “Lost and Found.”

Sydney is studying journalism and international affairs at Northeastern University with a focus on multimedia storytelling. She serves as co-photo director for The Avenue, a student-led fashion publication, where she directs visual strategy and creates editorial content. She has also contributed to The Huntington News and Artistry Magazine as a writer and photographer documenting community stories across Boston. Sydney served as the project’s photo editor.

I’ve got a Quick Take about our recent What Works webinar on “Audience, AI and Events” for local-news publishers, journalists and volunteers. If you missed it, you can watch the videos here.

Ellen shares five lessons learned from watching how the projects that were subjects of our book, “What Works in Community News,” have evolved.

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