If there has been one consolation about Fox News’ ongoing subversion of our political discourse — and even of democracy itself — it has been the near-certainty that 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch does not actually have a pact with the Lord of the Underworld and will at some point depart this vale of tears. His rabidly ..read more

My Northeastern colleague Meg Heckman writes for WBUR’s Cognoscenti about the challenges facing the media in covering Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, arguing that we ought to be wary of discussing Harris’ “viability” — a “vague term [that] is often code for a lingering — and likely inaccurate — perception that women are somehow less electable ..read more

I found President Biden’s address Wednesday night to be sad and moving. His theme was democracy and how we can preserve it. His 2020 victory over Donald Trump saved us from authoritarianism to an extent that no one realized when they cast their ballots. After all, it was only afterwards that Trump launched his effort ..read more

Steve Bailey’s profile of Jack Connors in The Boston Globe Magazine of June 3, 2007 In his obituary of Boston businessman and philanthropist Jack Connors, who died Tuesday at 82, Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard reminds us that Connors was part of several failed attempts to buy the Globe from the New York Times Co., which finally sold it to financier and Red Sox principal owner John Henry in 2013. Marquard’s obit, by the way, is remarkable, and includes quotes from an interview Connors gave just last week as he was dying of cancer. The first time Connors’ name came up in connection with ..read more

1923 photo via the Library of Congress If we’ve learned anything about news publishing in recent years, it’s that the giant tech platforms are not our friends. Google is embracing artificial intelligence, which means that searching for something will soon provide you with robot-generated answers (right or wrong!), thus reducing the need to click through. Facebook is moving away from news. Twitter/X has deteriorated badly under the chaotic leadership of Elon Musk, although it still has enough clout that President Biden used it to announce he was ending his re-election campaign. So what should ..read more

Photo (cc) 2020 by deckerme We were on our way back from a family gathering in upstate New York when we learned that President Biden had stepped aside from his re-election campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. I was checking social media at the Lee rest stop on the Mass Pike eastbound; I think I was about an hour behind. We’d been anticipating the moment for days, if not weeks. Still, it came as a surprise. I’m hearing some people grouse that Biden should have acted sooner, but this had to be incredibly difficult. No doubt he believes he can still do the job. What he couldn’t d ..read more

Events overtook my conversation with WBZ-TV political analyst Jon Keller. These two segments ran earlier today, before President Biden stepped aside from the 2024 campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. I hope you enjoy this anyway. Leave a comment | Read comments ..read more

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton. Photo (cc) 2019 by Marc Nozell. Three data points this morning as we continue to wait for President Biden to decide whether he should step aside. • Writing in The Boston Globe, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton says that Biden — with whom he has spent quite a bit of time over the years — appeared not to recognize him during a recent encounter. The North Shore Democrat, who has called for Biden to end his candidacy, says: More recently, I saw him in a small group at Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. For the first time, he didn’t seem to recognize me. Of course, that can ..read more

There’s been some reporting in recent months to the effect that the Russian government wouldn’t be willing to talk about freeing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich until after his case was resolved. Now that he’s been convicted at a sham trial (free link) and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony, perhaps negotiations to win his release will get serious. Leave a comment | Read comments ..read more

Larry Ryckman. Photo (cc) 2021 by Dan Kennedy. On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk to Larry Ryckman, editor and co-founder of The Colorado Sun, the subject of a chapter that I wrote for our book, “What Works in Community News.” The Sun was launched by journalists who worked at The Denver Post, which had been cut and cut and cut under the ownership of Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that the Post staff called “vulture capitalists.” The Sun was founded as a for-profit public benefit corporation. A PBC is a legal designation covering for-profit organizations that serve ..read more