Donald Trump skipped Wednesday night’s GOP debate. Instead he went to Clinton Township, Michigan and spoke at a non-union auto parts factory. The day before Trump’s visit to Michigan, sitting president Joe Biden joined United Autoworkers leader Shawn Fain at […]
journalism
“You’re nobody until somebody hates you”
I am looking forward to seeing Richard Dewey’s film, Radical Wolfe: Journalist, Satirist, Iconoclast. In the meantime, here is a taste of John Tierney’s review at City Journal: Wolfe went on writing in his inimitable voice for the Herald Tribune Sunday supplement, […]
Ross Douthat: A Christian conservative who lives among liberals and writes for them
Here is Isaac Chotiner at The New Yorker: “Douthat is highly skilled at addressing liberal Times readers in a manner that makes clear he is not one of them, without allowing them to think that he actually holds views—about Donald Trump, say, […]
Major foundations invest in local journalism
In the 1980s I covered middle school sports for the Montville Herald, a now defunct newspaper published in my hometown of Montville, New Jersey. I have always loved local news. This is why I jumped at the chance to get […]
“Arguments with everyone”
Over at The Bulwark, Ronald Radosh reviews Martin Peretz’s memoir The Controversalist: Arguments with Everyone, Left Right and Center. Peretz is the former editor of The New Republic. Here is a taste of Radosh’s review: WRITING RECENTLY IN HIS New York magazine […]
Zenger House announces its 2023 prize winners.
Zenger House is: a Christian foundation that exists to help journalistic start-ups and honor writers who do street-level reporting and write excellent stories that show biblical truth, even if that’s not a writer’s goal. The foundation awards annual prizes to encourage outstanding writers […]
Do journalists have more freedom than professors?
Ross Douthat begins his recent New York Times piece by engaging with the recent pushback against “wokeness” on university campuses. If what is happening on the campuses of Stanford, Harvard, Penn State, Cornell, and Vanderbilt is any indication, and Columbia’s […]
“Is the New York Times becoming a more complex place that is open to the views of, well, half of America?”
Over at “Get Religion,” veteran religion writer Terry Mattingly responds to my recent Current piece “The New York Times’ ‘Come to Jesus’ Moment.” Here is a taste: …This brings us to a rather short John Fea “think piece” essay that […]
On the “fuzzy border” between history and journalism
As a trained historian who serves as the co-founder and executive editor of an online website of opinion, I resonated with New York Times reporter Clay Risen’s recent piece at Perspctives on History: “Professional Crafts: The Fuzzy Border between History […]
Rod Dreher in Hungary: “blogging and backtracking”
Here is Hungarian writer Balázs Gulyás on the mess the conservative blogger is making in Hungary: Last week, Rod Dreher, the American author now living in Hungary, caused a diplomatic scandal that has gone largely unnoticed in his home country. […]
Remembering Grant Wahl
As I said in an earlier post, I had not read much of Grant Wahl’s soccer journalism until after his death last week. Over at Jacobin, journalist Abe Asher offers a tribute. Here is a taste of “For Grant Wahl, […]
More responses to the death of Michael Gerson
I commented on the death of the former Bush speechwriter and Washington Post columnist here. We also linked to the PBS Newshour tribute. A few more responses: Daniel Silliman reporting at Christianity Today: He gave Bush’s speeches about compassionate conservatism […]
Jelani Cobb: “I would like to see our graduates walking out the door with 50 years of contextual knowledge on the beats they cover”
This is what you get when you hire an American historian to run a school of journalism. Historian and New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb is the new dean of Columbia School of Journalism. What a great pick! Here is a […]
CNN cancels “Reliable Sources.” Brian Stelter is out
Too bad. Reliable Sources was one of my favorite CNN shows. I tried to watch it every week because host Brian Stelter often had thoughtful guests, including scholars, on the show. I especially enjoyed his critiques of Fox News during […]
Columnist Tony Norman leaves the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tony Norman’s piece on Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama appeared at Current on our launch day–April 5, 2021. We are hoping our friend will now have more time to write for us! Here is a taste of his farewell column […]
Nicholas Kristof returns to The New York Times
After his bid for governor of Oregon did not go so well, The New York Times gave him his old job back. We tried to recruit Kristof to Current, but we couldn’t afford him–at least not yet. 😉 Here is […]
The “American Studier” tackles the history of investigative journalism
I am a regular reader of Ben Railton‘s blog “American Studier.” Last week he took-up the history of investigative journalism with pieces on Ida B. Wells, A.C. Thompson, David Halberstam, Ida Tarbell, Nellie Bly,and Fanny Fern. It’s a great little […]
Journalists and “bothsidesism”
Should journalists give equal time to every side of a particular political or social issue? According to the Pew Research Center, “a little more than half of the journalists surveyed (55%) say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in […]
Bob Woodward and the copy machine
Last Sunday night we watched the first two episodes of CNN’s documentary on John Dean and Watergate. I am looking forward to the last two episodes this weekend. It’s good. So needless to say, a recent Washington Post piece on […]
Fifty local newsrooms opened in the United States during the pandemic
It appears that COVID-19 stimulated local news, especially in Georgia, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, and Florida. Here is a taste of Kristen Hare’s piece at Poynter.com: More than 50 local newsrooms launched in the United States in 2020 and 2021. […]