Study Hall Digest 10/2/2017

Hi

How can we challenge the lack of journalism coming out of Puerto Rico right now? It’s depressing, though not really surprising, that the U.S. media has under-reported Hurricane Maria and the incompetent, racist and outright cruel response of the Trump administration. That’s not to say there aren’t great reporters doing good work, but the mainstream media has made its priorities clear. The lack of coverage may say more about racism in the U.S. than the state of the media, since half of Americans don’t even know Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. But I think it also points to a growing problem with the consolidation and centralization of journalism in cities like New York and Washington D.C. The harder and farther away a story is to report, the less coverage it seems to get. Yes, we ignore Iraq and Afghanistan, Puerto Rico and everything else that affects people who aren’t white and don’t live close to the centers of U.S. power because the U.S. media is complicit in U.S. empire, but we also ignore those stories because they’re expensive to report, and don’t get as many clicks as publishing the same, gossipy story about the Trump White House that 600 other outlets are also reporting on.

Anyone else find the framing of this story kind of weird? Doesn’t really seem to be about fake news to me, but more about how most American towns will justify their racism with anything they can. The media loves a good fake news story though because fake news inflates the importance of “real” news, imho.

A good profile of Belt Magazine, which is trying to make journalism about the Rust Belt more of a thing.

What could we build if we seized the salaries of every idiotic pundit working in the media? Also, why do these people get paid this much? Like who is even paying attention to them? What readers/viewers do they draw in???

Fuck Hugh Hefner but Playboy did some cool journalism, including interviews with MLK and Malcolm X by Alex Haley.

A good remembrance of Kim Wall, and a reminder that there’s no such thing as “danger zones” for women in journalism (because literally everywhere is a danger zone).

If you want to be angry about the state of local journalism, and/or need motivation to build a guillotine, I suggest you read this piece about Digital First Media.

Melissa, u ok?

//

//

Final Thoughts

I know this is from a Banksy fan account, and I hate Banksy, but I also agree with this quote, so sue me.