What happens to local news when there is no local media to cover it?

The pressures on local news outlets have been building for years, driven by the twin devils of recession and the disruption caused by the shift to digital media. The impact was noted in a federal study in 2011. It concluded, “A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed, government waste not discovered, health dangers not identified in time, local elections involving candidates about…

Student Journalists Are Our Future—We Should Start Treating Them Like It

Catherine Palmer was already a seasoned student journalist at The Johns Hopkins News-Letter when Freddie Gray, a Baltimore native and black man, died in police custody, provoking protests across the city that swelled into what would be called the Baltimore Uprising. Even so, she was only 19 when she found herself one of the first reporters on the ground at a pivotal moment in April 2015, thrust onto the scene to cover…

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‘Fontgate’: Microsoft, Wikipedia and the scandal threatening the Pakistani PM

I would call this “typefacegate,” but then I am an insufferable pedant. The daughter of Pakistan’s prime minister has become subject of ridicule in her home country after forensic experts cast doubts on documents central to her defence against corruption allegations. … Documents claiming that Mariam Nawaz Sharif was only a trustee of the companies that bought the London flats, are dated February 2006, and appear to be typed in Microsoft Calibri.…

The President Versus ‘Fake News,’ Again

Bret Stephens of the NYTimes says by accepting the resignations of three staff members who erred, CNN is supporting Trump’s rhetoric that (inevitable) errors in journalism are evidence of a conspiracy. If nothing else, Trump has the bully’s cunning to pick on a target more unpopular than he is. And like a bully, he knows that his mark suffers the additional weakness of being susceptible to moral reproach. Institutions with…

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CNN employees resign after retracted article

CNN is pretty upfront; three journalists resign after an internal investigation determines a story depending on an anonymous source was posted to the CNN website without undergoing standard checks. In the rush to publish, the editorial structure broke down. (CNN retracted the story before it was aired on cable TV; whatever they can verify will, I’m sure, resurface in another story.) This is NOT an instance of “fake news.” It’s…