19 Comments
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Thank you, Margaret, both for these tiny spring-green shoots of hope, and for showing us the vast, dried-up fields where journalism is being starved and allowed to die off.

Expand full comment
author

You summarize it well, Patti. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Expand full comment
Feb 1·edited Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

More intriguing information to peruse. Thanks much. The drought in local news is a fundamental problem for the survival of democracy.

Expand full comment
author

I agree, Monica. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Thank you for the hope-inducing report this time! I especially love learning about the Documenters Network because I think grassroots contribution by ordinary people can keep journalism healthy and focused.

Expand full comment
author

I think people want to help, Kathy. Some people, anyway!

Expand full comment
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Re: The CBS News Miami interview: Jim DeFede is a true hero as a journalist. I don't know how he made it through that entire interview without throwing up (I almost didn't myself and I was just watching!).

I don't see how Maria Elvira Salazar could be more disingenuous and sickening.

She would be a perfect candidate for a Republican presidential press secretary, in the tradition of Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Expand full comment
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Thanks, the good news definitely helps with the battle fatigue.

Something that probably needs a lot more attention is broadcast radio, especially in news desert rural areas. Right wing radio has a monopoly and they use it masterfully to misinform and disinform. Rural citizens aren't stupid, they're just living in an alternate fact-free reality.

Expand full comment
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

so great to read the good news. I’ve not checked that these may all be hardcopy new sources, which may be why you didn’t mention. Tara McGowans initiative in several swing states where she publishes the online courier newsroom.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, yes, Courier is an interesting experiment, Jennifer.

Expand full comment
Feb 2·edited Feb 2Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Many thanks again, Margaret. Looking forward to checking them out. Indeed, we're in an all-hands-on-deck moment.

Expand full comment
founding
Feb 1Liked by Margaret Sullivan

Thanks to you and to these folks you highlight, Ms. Sullivan. I only wish that the "MSM" (looking at you, NY Times), would stop "both-sidesing" the two political parties and acting as if the Orange guy is just another guy running for president, rather than being the existential threat he is.

Expand full comment

Happy to see you mention States Newsroom, whose two publications in my neck of the woods, Kansas City, are doing outstanding work. Here’s a recent example from the Missouri Independent: https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/embattled-missouri-house-speaker-dean-plocher-dismisses-another-top-staffer/

And here’s a recent example from the Kansas Reflector: https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/senate-panel-seeks-to-limit-kansas-counties-from-sending-applications-for-advance-voting-ballots/

The best part? Other news outlets, such as the public radio station in Kansas City (where I worked before retiring), are free to reprint their work as long as they give them credit. This is what the future of journalism should look like.

Expand full comment
author

Great to hear about this, Dan.

Expand full comment

The more people helping the better! I know from years of volunteering that you get a sense of ownership and pride from personally contributing to a worthwhile effort. Journalism is struggling with credibility and trust these days. Maybe this is one way to rebuild that.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm glad for this platform to follow journalists who are not with big organizations any more. Once I read more independent journalists, corporate media sounds even more screechy.

Expand full comment

This is all well and good but apathetic voters do not read this stuff. As long as the Republicans and Congress are intransigent and follow Trump blindly, we are doomed.

Expand full comment
author

Fair point

Expand full comment

Hi, Margaret—

For more good news, go to the website makingeveryvotecount.com

for a thorough non-partisan analysis of all the proposed reforms to the Electoral College system currently under consideration.

Expand full comment