News Media

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…

A water drop and ripples

I don’t think “independent” means what Magaziner thinks it means.

By Justin Katz | September 20, 2023 |

Doublespeak such as that used by Democrat Congressman Seth Magaziner in the following tweet has become so common that we hardly notice it.  He (or a staffer who wrote the post) may not even realize the problem with the word choice (which would make it doublethink, I suppose): If government supports journalism, it is by…

A woman walks in a smokey alley

Politics This Week: Stories of Absolutely No Interest (To the Media)

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz tease out multiple stories that the local media could investigate to generate interest (but probably won’t).

Doctor covers a piggy bank

Why can’t Neronha and the local media give us insurance information straight?

By Justin Katz | August 10, 2023 |

Spin from Attorney General Peter Neronha, which local media picked up mostly without skepticism or even context, shows Rhode Islanders are defenseless against the activists’ storyline.

Business people leap over a chasm.

Politics This Week: Media, Population Changes, and a Poll

By Justin Katz | July 10, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review the political news of the day in Rhode Island.