Mainstream Media

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…

Construction workers reviewing a site

“Wage theft” legislation is a good illustration of unions’ destructive activism.

By Justin Katz | February 18, 2022 |

If you’re only a casual observer of legislation and/or labor law, you might find news coverage of Rhode Island labor unions’ study on “wage theft” confusing.  The study is about misclassification of workers as independent contractors, yet the rhetoric is about “wage theft.” Are those the same thing?  It’s an important question, because the push…

A man in a plague mask on a swing

Don’t let COVID-lockdown propaganda hide behind death numbers.

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2022 |

COVID-19 can be a nasty disease, even when it’s not a killer, which it most definitely can be.  The coronavirus is not, however, the only killer, and disease is not the only nasty thing that can happen to your life. As we look out across the landscape of continuing fear, ramped up to an irrational…

The moon over a weathervane

Dr. Skoly coverage may be another indication that the narrative is changing.

By Justin Katz | February 8, 2022 |

Among the encouraging signs that are beginning to peak out of the COVID chill like early buds in spring is that coverage of Dr. Stephen Skoly’s lawsuit hasn’t been limited to the website of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, of which he’s chairman, and national conservative sites like The Daily Signal.  The Providence Journal…

Emily Barger on NowThis

“Youth media” is more concerned with Democrats than with minorities on the Supreme Court.

By Justin Katz | February 4, 2022 |

Accuracy in Media gave me some space to express frustration with the dishonesty of a video from NowThis that attempts to cover for Joe Biden’s pledge to pick the next Supreme Court justice from a narrow demographic: NowThis is lying to its young audience when it claims that “conservatives are freaking out at the idea of a…

A water drop and ripples

We need more talk about the trucker convoy.

By Justin Katz | January 31, 2022 |

Granted, I’ve been falling behind lately, but it still surprised me when some of the other participants in a class I attended last week brought up the compounding effects of the massive trucker convoy taking place over weeks in Canada to protest vaccine mandates.  As Russell Brand notes in the video below, following the news…

Maybe more attention is justified when even government contractors label what they’re doing as treason.

By Justin Katz | January 27, 2022 |

Miranda Devine, in the New York Post, describes a body camera video that has emerged from a police officer who was checking up on a strange, low-security middle-of-the-night flight into a small New York airport carrying young men, apparently illegal immigrants, before loading them on buses and sending them into communities around the East Coast a…

National School Choice Week 2022 logo

What if nobody in RI knew about McKee’s one saving grace (school choice)?

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2022 |

Because Democrat Governor Dan McKee has been so broadly disappointing from a moderate-to-conservative perspective, this is encouraging news: For the first time in the state’s history, a Rhode Island governor has officially recognized the last week of January as “Rhode Island School Choice Week.” Gov. Daniel McKee recently signed a proclamation recognizing School Choice Week…

A man in black pulls strings on fingers

The strings of the COVID-narrative reset are showing.

By Justin Katz | January 22, 2022 |

You know, it’s difficult not to laugh at the computer screen when reading something like this in January 2022: Massachusetts has a new way of how they are reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations to differentiate between what they are calling “primary” and “incidental” cases. The state is now reporting the difference between patients who were admitted for the…

A water drop and ripples

URI went ahead and revoked its honorary degrees to Michael Flynn and Rudy Giuliani.

By Justin Katz | January 21, 2022 |

One interesting sidebar to watch (maybe) is whether any of the local journalists reporting on the development will bother to find and quote any URI graduates who disagree with the move.  I added the parenthetical “maybe” to cover the unlikely event that they actually do.  It’s echo chambers all the way down.