HOME          LATEST STORY                    June 17, 2019, 9:50 a.m.What if distrust is a smaller problem than the way news consumption leaves readers stressed, anxious, depressed, afraid, disempowered, and exhausted?The modern digitally connected human (Homo smartphonicus, identifiable by its trademark slumped shoulders and bleary eyes) has access to more news and information than any other human in history, whenever they want it, most of...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    June 17, 2019, 9:50 a.m.What if distrust is a smaller problem than the way news consumption leaves readers stressed, anxious, depressed, afraid, disempowered, and exhausted?The modern digitally connected human (Homo smartphonicus, identifiable by its trademark slumped shoulders and bleary eyes) has access to more news and information than any other human in history, whenever they want it, most of...WW…

In Walter Isaacson’s new biography, Elon Musk, a mere page and a half is devoted to introducing Musk’s grandfather, a Canadian chiropractor named Joshua N. Haldeman. Isaacson describes him as a source of Musk’s great affection for danger—“a daredevil adventurer with strongly held opinions” and “quirky conservative populist views” who did rope tricks at rodeos and rode freight trains like a hobo. “He knew that real adventures involve risk,” Isaacson quotes Musk as having said. “Risk energized him.”But in 1950, Haldeman’s “quirky” politics led him to make an unusual and dramatic choice: to...…In Walter Isaacson’s new biography, Elon Musk, a mere page and a half is devoted to introducing Musk’s grandfather, a Canadian chiropractor named Joshua N. Haldeman. Isaacson describes him as a source of Musk’s great affection for danger—“a daredevil adventurer with strongly held opinions” and “quirky conservative populist views” who did rope tricks at rodeos and rode freight trains like a hobo. “He knew that real adventures involve risk,” Isaacson quotes Musk as having said. “Risk energized him.”But in 1950, Haldeman’s “quirky” politics led him to make an unusual and dramatic choice: to...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    Feb. 23, 2021, 12:16 p.m.“One cannot be betrayed if one has no people.”[Warning: Violent and gruesome metaphor ahead.]In (1995), there’s a scene in which the true extent of ur-villain Keyser Söze’s evil is clarified for the viewer. A has burst into Söze’s home and taken his wife and children hostage. “They realized that, to be in power, you didn’t need guns or money or even numbers,” one character,...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    Feb. 23, 2021, 12:16 p.m.“One cannot be betrayed if one has no people.”[Warning: Violent and gruesome metaphor ahead.]In (1995), there’s a scene in which the true extent of ur-villain Keyser Söze’s evil is clarified for the viewer. A has burst into Söze’s home and taken his wife and children hostage. “They realized that, to be in power, you didn’t need guns or money or even numbers,” one character,...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    Feb. 2, 2021, 1:53 p.m.A stroll through the archives of Editor & Publisher shows an industry with moments of glory and shame — and evidence that not all of today’s problems are new.My two intellectual loves are history and journalism — alternately, history and its — and I’m always happy to see the two overlap. That’s the case with word that the has of — for decades the bible of the newspaper...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    Feb. 2, 2021, 1:53 p.m.A stroll through the archives of Editor & Publisher shows an industry with moments of glory and shame — and evidence that not all of today’s problems are new.My two intellectual loves are history and journalism — alternately, history and its — and I’m always happy to see the two overlap. That’s the case with word that the has of — for decades the bible of the newspaper...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    Oct. 1, 2020, 4:09 p.m.The money, spread over three years and the entire globe, is welcome — but this is PR, not a product.Good news! over the next three years paying publishers for their news. Specifically, the money will license publishers’ content for a .That’s a billion dollars that publishers didn’t have before, and it’s better to have a billion dollars than to not have a billion dollars. (Or...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    Oct. 1, 2020, 4:09 p.m.The money, spread over three years and the entire globe, is welcome — but this is PR, not a product.Good news! over the next three years paying publishers for their news. Specifically, the money will license publishers’ content for a .That’s a billion dollars that publishers didn’t have before, and it’s better to have a billion dollars than to not have a billion dollars. (Or...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    Sept. 21, 2020, 12:51 p.m.“Daily political events consistently evoked negative emotions [which] predicted worse day-to-day psychological and physical health, but also greater motivation to take action aimed at changing the political system that evoked the negative emotions in the first place.”Who would buy a product that reliably makes them sad, or anxious, or worried, or overwhelmed?You wouldn’t...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    Sept. 21, 2020, 12:51 p.m.“Daily political events consistently evoked negative emotions [which] predicted worse day-to-day psychological and physical health, but also greater motivation to take action aimed at changing the political system that evoked the negative emotions in the first place.”Who would buy a product that reliably makes them sad, or anxious, or worried, or overwhelmed?You wouldn’t...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    Sept. 15, 2020, 1:36 p.m.Slow news has been pitched as a way to break through the noise and reach audiences exhausted by the daily headlines. But it’s still fast-news junkies who are most attracted to it, this new research finds., , , , : There are so many slow movements that you might think homo sapiens as a species was in an irreversible entropic downshift into the pace of slugs and snails. But...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    Sept. 15, 2020, 1:36 p.m.Slow news has been pitched as a way to break through the noise and reach audiences exhausted by the daily headlines. But it’s still fast-news junkies who are most attracted to it, this new research finds., , , , : There are so many slow movements that you might think homo sapiens as a species was in an irreversible entropic downshift into the pace of slugs and snails. But...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    July 30, 2020, 10 a.m.Meredith Kopit Levien, everyone seems to agree, is the right person to lead the Times into the 2020s. But here’s hoping she’ll view her mission more broadly — including the state of local news in America.  July 30, 2020 Dear Ms. Levien,Congratulations on ! We’ve never met, but I’ve only heard great things about you and I’m excited to see what you have planned.As...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    July 30, 2020, 10 a.m.Meredith Kopit Levien, everyone seems to agree, is the right person to lead the Times into the 2020s. But here’s hoping she’ll view her mission more broadly — including the state of local news in America.  July 30, 2020 Dear Ms. Levien,Congratulations on ! We’ve never met, but I’ve only heard great things about you and I’m excited to see what you have planned.As...WW…

HOME          LATEST STORY                    July 28, 2020, 10:31 a.m.Our analysis finds a 99 percent chance someone will still complain about it.One of the more challenging things to represent in journalism is uncertainty. Walter Cronkite ended his newscasts with “,” not “That is certainly one possible outcome, given a wide-ranging set of externalities, the unknowable nature of even the nearest future, and the very real chance that...…HOME          LATEST STORY                    July 28, 2020, 10:31 a.m.Our analysis finds a 99 percent chance someone will still complain about it.One of the more challenging things to represent in journalism is uncertainty. Walter Cronkite ended his newscasts with “,” not “That is certainly one possible outcome, given a wide-ranging set of externalities, the unknowable nature of even the nearest future, and the very real chance that...WW…

Roy Den Hollander, the self-described “anti-feminist” attorney who authorities say is the chief suspect in the shootings of the son and the husband of a federal judge in New Jersey, attacked that judge by name in misogynistic, racist writings he wrote over a period of years and posted in bulk on the Internet Archive. Den Hollander, who describes himself as a Trump volunteer in his writings, called the judge an “affirmative action” case who affiliated with those who wanted “to convince America that whites, especially white males, were barbarians, and all those of a darker skin complexion...…Roy Den Hollander, the self-described “anti-feminist” attorney who authorities say is the chief suspect in the shootings of the son and the husband of a federal judge in New Jersey, attacked that judge by name in misogynistic, racist writings he wrote over a period of years and posted in bulk on the Internet Archive. Den Hollander, who describes himself as a Trump volunteer in his writings, called the judge an “affirmative action” case who affiliated with those who wanted “to convince America that whites, especially white males, were barbarians, and all those of a darker skin complexion...WW…