Tag Archives: ch05journalism

A Hollowed-Out Washington Post

Posted on February 15, 2026 by Ralph Hanson

Approximately 13 years ago, Jeff Bezos was recruited by the Graham family to purchase The Washington Post for $250 million. Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s wealthiest men, bought the paper as an individual, not as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Go For Broke – When old editorials become new again

Posted on March 25, 2025 by Ralph Hanson

I’ve been teaching Civil Rights Era Pulitzer Prize-winning editorials in my commentary class since 1988. And it seems crazy to me how some of them keep emerging to the surface from current news events over the years. For example, Ralph … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Go For Broke – When old editorials become new again

When Rachel Maddow Stood Up Against MSNBC Management

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Ralph Hanson

I don’t have a lot to say here about individual cable news/talk hosts. For one thing, I pay a lot more attention to newspapers and other print outlets than I do to broadcast/cable. But it’s also because I don’t think … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on When Rachel Maddow Stood Up Against MSNBC Management

Return to “Pink Slime” Journalism: AI Scraping Edition

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Ralph Hanson

Last fall I had a post about the phenomenon known as “pink slime” journalism. Basically it’s where websites churn out content using either low-paid writers or generative AI. The “news” is either low-quality scrapings from legitimate sites or paid political … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Return to “Pink Slime” Journalism: AI Scraping Edition

What Has Happened to the Washington Post?

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

Editor’s note: Last week, the Washington Post’s publisher and CEO William Lewis announced that the paper for the only the second time in 50 years would not be endorsing a candidate for the presidency of the United States. In a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on What Has Happened to the Washington Post?

Updated: What is “Pink Slime” Journalism, and Why is it Such a Problem?

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

Back in 2012, American consumers were grossed out by stories that found ground beef sold in plastic chubs was often supplemented with the meat byproduct euphemistically known as “finely chopped beef.” This collection of “trimmings” is sprayed with ammonia gas … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Updated: What is “Pink Slime” Journalism, and Why is it Such a Problem?

My How Times Have @#%&ing Changed: Politicians, Presidents and Profanity

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

As I have previously written, presidents and other politicians using offensive  language is nothing new. (In fact, I wrote about this topic as early as 2006 in a media commentary for the late, great Charleston Daily Mail, now merged into … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on My How Times Have @#%&ing Changed: Politicians, Presidents and Profanity

WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich freed from Russian prison in massive prisoner swap

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

The job of being a journalist around the world can be a dangerous one; reporters literally risk their lives to report the news. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that in 2023, 99 journalists and media workers were killed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich freed from Russian prison in massive prisoner swap

Conflicts between newsroom and management at Washington Post

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Ralph Hanson

NOTE: Sorry for the recent lack of posts. I’ve been writing away on the ninth edition of Mass Communication, Living in a Media World that comes out in 2025. Expect to see posts based on some of that material as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Conflicts between newsroom and management at Washington Post

A Rough Week for Fox and its Hosts Part 2 – Bye Bye Tucker Carlson (& CNN’s Don Lemon)

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Ralph Hanson

The popular right-wing cable talk network Fox News has had a rough couple of weeks. In a previous post we talked about their settlement of Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion defamation suit. And in this post will discuss why popular … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A Rough Week for Fox and its Hosts Part 2 – Bye Bye Tucker Carlson (& CNN’s Don Lemon)