Mainstream Media

Homeless man "seeking human kindness"

To understand how progressives operate, consider the housing issue.

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2022 |

Rhode Island has real problems, and an unavoidable consequence of reality is that those who most need a healthy, vibrant society under their feet will face the greatest risk of tragedy in an unhealthy, sclerotic one.  The wise approach, then, when one observes suffering in the community is to look for fundamental causes and solutions…

Liquid pouring into an invisible glass

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Illusion of Politics

By Justin Katz | May 16, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz pull back the curtain on Rhode Island politics

A gas shortage starts in South Carolina

“Price gouging” is another term pols and the media use to slippery effect.

By Justin Katz | May 16, 2022 |

Three things come immediately to the eye of anybody who carefully reads Sarah Doiron’s WPRI article, “Dems urge crackdown on price gouging as gas skyrockets.” First, the article contains not a single number or specific instance of price gouging.  Politicians (Democrats all) simply note that prices are up, assert that there is “price gouging” and…

Blindfolded woman smoking

The Crucial Lesson of Gaps in Abortion Journalism

By Justin Katz | May 10, 2022 |

From a one-sided Boston Globe article advocating for subsidized abortions, we can see how Bill Maher managed to remain ignorant about the facts of U.S. abortion.

A water drop and ripples

Has the media rebranded “gang violence” as “mass shootings”?

By Justin Katz | April 20, 2022 |

You don’t have to pay very much attention to political discourse in the United States to know that “mass shooting” has a very particular definition.  When Americans hear the phrase, they think of one or more psychotic gunmen killing people indiscriminately as an expression of alienation. It feels deliberate, therefore, that the mainstream media appears…

A ring of doctors and nurses

What’s in (the Lack of) a Rhode Island Doctor’s License? In This Case, Not Much.

By Monique Chartier | April 17, 2022 |

Please check out my new article on the Ocean State Current when you have a minute.  It’s about an attempt by WPRO’s afternoon drive time host to discredit one of the few data professionals who brings forward honest, panoramic COVID-19 data by pointing out that he does not have a Rhode Island physician’s license.  Oopsie,…

Assorted Patriot Front stickers

Simplistic moral panic is more dangerous to RI than white supremacists.

By Justin Katz | March 16, 2022 |

According to Jack Perry’s uncritical recitation of the Anti-Defamation League of New England’s warning about an increase in “white supremacist propaganda,” Rhode Island is seeing a dangerous increase.  By their own standards, though, the ADL and the Providence Journal are contributing to the threat.  Consider the last line of the article: “By using propaganda to spread…

John DePetro on the Ukraine-Poland border

Does the RI media know DePetro’s providing international journalism?

By Justin Katz | March 15, 2022 |

Just as he was out and about regularly reporting on Antifa/BLM protests in the Providence area, just as he was covering large protests against Governor Dan McKee’s vaccine mandate for health care worker, John DePetro has travelled to Poland and the Ukraine border to provide live, on-the-scene reportage. So many young children from Ukraine being…

Jose Clemente Orozco, The Clowns of War Arguing in Hell

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Let’s Pretend Politics

By Justin Katz | February 28, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss some of the more mystifying realities on the RI news landscape.

Man reading newspaper

Local journalism must see past the mists of its romantic self-vision.

By Justin Katz | February 19, 2022 |

The Valley Breeze is a notable standout in local journalism, with observable quality and dedication.  Indeed, the fact that its chief editor, Ethan Shorey, spends hours each week actually delivering the paper has a back-to-our-roots feel that one can’t help but admire and encourage for the paper’s peers. But zooming out to the whole industry, rather than…