Mainstream Media

Blue dragon of Roger Williams Park Carousel

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Insider Job-Go-Round

By Justin Katz | February 20, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz check in on the insider operations of the RI State House, bureaucracy, and media.

A water drop and ripples

Journalists face a real risk to digging into Antifa.

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2023 |

Andy Ngo continues to do the work mainstream journalists won’t digging into the ranks of Antifa: They present themselves as rebels against the system, fighting to preserve a piece of local woodland. Yet many of the terrorist suspects arrested and charged over occupying government property and the violent attack in downtown Atlanta on Saturday are…

A hooded man in shadows

Goyette is a problem for mainstream Democrats.

By Justin Katz | January 18, 2023 |

Or rather, he would be if anybody were reporting on the story.  As Republican state representative Brian Newberry noted a week ago on Twitter, Jordan Goyette’s story is not one that anybody in Rhode Island’s mainstream is keen to cover: If you picture the news media as a filtering machine, Goyette falls easily through one…

Machine Elements by Fernand Leger

Politics This Week with John DePetro: RI as Narrative Machine

By Justin Katz | January 9, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz pick apart the false image the establishment presents of the Ocean State.

A water drop and ripples

Imagine if real journalists were doing journalism…

By Justin Katz | December 21, 2022 |

From the other side of the election, with the Hunter Biden laptop known to be real, the J6 commission calling for criminal prosecutions, COVID-related decisions coming under renewed scrutiny, and Elon Musk providing revelations about what really went on inside Twitter to support the Democrat Party, it’s worth revisiting J. Peder Zane’s fictional account of…

Monkey statues in see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil poses

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Tricky Positions for Top Pols

By Justin Katz | December 19, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the contribution of politicians and the media to the most pressing issues of the day.

Jose Clemente Orozco, The Clowns of War Arguing in Hell

“Stamping Out Hate” is not the way to address bigotry, including anti-Semitism.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2022 |

People of Jewish heritage (as distinct from the “alliances” that claim to represent them) would arguably be better off if antisemites felt more comfortable expressing their views.

A water drop and ripples

An ideological contrast provides today’s lesson in MSM bias.

By Justin Katz | November 11, 2022 |

We may (or may not) be past having to prove media bias, these days, but an Amanda Milkovits headline in the Boston Globe still seems worth a short note: Voters largely reject candidates affiliated with conservative group Parents United RI Contrast with this Boston Globe headline on an Edward Fitzpatrick article from September: Top R.I. legislative leaders…

A water drop and ripples

Here’s one thing that’s feeling very familiar about the Paul Pelosi story.

By Justin Katz | October 29, 2022 |

As with myriad issues, many of them related to COVID-19, we’re seeing an instant demand that we accept the approved narrative so zealously that confounding details cannot be considered, with disagreement, or even doubt, being framed in entirely partisan terms.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the 180-degree opposite narrative is correct, but it does mean we…

Lower panels of A Tale of Two Cities cover

Politics this Week with John DePetro: Election as a Tale of Two RIs

By Justin Katz | October 25, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz explore the central divide of Rhode Island politics.