News Media

A bridge on fire

Politics This Week: RI’s Bridge to Self Awareness

By Justin Katz | December 19, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review the moments of clarity following the Washington Bridge fiasco.

A dragon cradles three journalists

Yes, the Cicilline-run Rhode Island Foundation “investing” in journalism should be controversial.

By Justin Katz | December 5, 2023 |

It’s strange to note, but Providence Journal political reporter Kathy Gregg got some heat from others in the local media (specifically from the Boston Globe) for writing this: The political flap erupted a week after Cicilline – a leader in the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump – told the Boston Globe and more recently a…

A water drop and ripples

URI polling shows a schizophrenic public.

By Justin Katz | December 5, 2023 |

Ian Donnis tweeted, in October, some poll results from the University of Rhode Island that raise an perennially interesting point: Note that “most respondents favor increased state-level spending on education, housing, infrastructure, and aid to the poor.  73% want government “investment” in “blue economy initiatives like offshore wind.”  Yet, those with “a great deal” or…

A water drop and ripples

I wouldn’t claim to have a direct solution for Rhode Island’s early intervention programs.

By Justin Katz | November 20, 2023 |

But I have to wonder: as these groups come forward demanding more money, is anybody — whether journalists or state agencies — investigating the services that are being provided, the mandates imposed on the providers, or the nuts and bolts of the organizations providing them? Such stories typically evince no trace of skepticism about the…

A water drop and ripples

Hamas journalists raise (and answer) a classic question of journalistic ethics.

By Justin Katz | November 9, 2023 |

The other day, I wondered whether younger folks have any sense of how long-standing is the problem of the huge gray area between journalists within the Palestinian territories (and elsewhere in the Middle East) and the terrorist organizations they’re covering.  Whether or not they’re more like terrorist propagandists is a gray area the terrorists have…

Trick-or-treating children distract an old woman to take her candy

Politics This Week: Trickery in RI Government

By Justin Katz | October 31, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review many ways RI politicians are childish and misleading.

A water drop and ripples

This is too little too late from the likes of Jha.

By Justin Katz | October 16, 2023 |

Nonetheless, it’s worth noting this mild corrective from Brown University’s Dr. Ashish Jha on Newsmakers, as summarized in a recent “Nesi’s Notes” column: “I think we all in public health could have done a better job of communicating with more humility about what we knew and didn’t know. There was a desire by some people to…

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

Journalists find distrust of mail ballots inexplicable because they don’t want it explained.

By Justin Katz | October 10, 2023 |

Whether it’s deliberate manipulation or just a sloppy resort to groupthink, Nancy Lavin’s recent article on Rhode Island Current is a good illustration of how issues can be framed to support the preferences of the powerful. Note this section: Proponents tout these expansions as ways to improve voter turnout and access while easing the pressure…

A water drop and ripples

Rain or shine, everything is a warning of the apocalypse.

By Justin Katz | September 26, 2023 |

Among the many reasons for growing distrust of mainstream journalism is its apparently incessant need to make everything an indication of impending doom. (This is true, at least, when mass hysteria is seen to serve Democrats, as with the climate. On matters that point in the other political direction, like illegal immigration and the economy,…

A water drop and ripples

RI institutional Democrat support creates personal danger.

By Justin Katz | September 25, 2023 |

Two implications of this recent tweet from Nicole Solas illustrate the danger that begins to fester when the institutions of a state become wholly partisan. The first implication is that it will be very surprising if the attorney general or anybody else in Rhode Island law enforcement turns up the heat on a Democrat threatening…