Guys, I know it’s fashionable to pretend this is a New Moment for American Journalism, but check it:  It was already widely believed in the South that black men had been brazenly stockpiling ice picks, pistols, rifles and explosives in anticipation of a larger race riot. With millions of white men now serving in the armed forces and stationed away from their families, the story went, white communities were vulnerable to an impending assault. When that day came, black women—many of whom worked in domestic service—intended to force their white employers to cook and clean for them. “Eleanor Clubs are … Continue reading All Of This Has Happened Before

Of the many tired arguments that this is a New Era to which Journalism Must Respond (most likely by cutting newsroom jobs and reducing distribution), FAKE NEWS is maybe my least favorite:  The production of fake, semi-false, and true but compromising snippets of news reached a peak in eighteenth-century London, when newspapers began to circulate among a broad public. In 1788, London had ten dailies, eight tri-weeklies, and nine weekly newspapers, and their stories usually consisted of only a paragraph. “Paragraph men” picked up gossip in coffee houses, scribbled a few sentences on a scrap of paper, and turned in the … Continue reading Stop Pretending We Ain’t Seen This Before

Press hos, specifically:  With this uplifting example, I inaugurate an occasional feature: Access Watch, tracking the special treatment — phone calls, interviews, perhaps the lone press seat on the secretary of state’s plane — that can result when media people play nice. True, it is not the proper job of journalists to provide favorable coverage but rather to hold powerful figures accountable. But that doesn’t get you far these days, at least in terms of access. So we’ll be taking note of what does. I wanted to pull this bit out, because it’s telling: Marantz quotes a more veteran journalist … Continue reading Margaret Sullivan Did Not Come to Play with You Hos