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Massachusetts

SECOND HEARING ON MA JOURNALISM COMMISSION BILL A SUCCESS

  Over 80 journalists, journalism students, and professors answer DigBoston’s call to turn out   Amazingly, I’m on my first real vacation in four years this week. But I think it’s important to pen a truncated version of my usual column to thank the 80 plus people (about half of whom were journalism students… yay!) […]

GIVE MA JOURNALISM COMMISSION SEATS TO WORKING JOURNALISTS

This week, I joined fellow journalists, journalism educators, and members of the public at large in testifying on a bill to form a Mass journalism commission that is currently before the state legislature. In view of the potential importance of the initiative, my column this week is simply the text of my testimony. For more […]

THE RIGHT QUESTION FOR THE BROAD LEFT

  On July 5, start asking the Democrats, “What policies will help working families?”   The patriotic season is upon us. With it comes the arrival of the 2020 presidential race—far too early, in my estimation. Which in turn tends to generate conservative political ripples all the way down to the local level in the […]

EDITORIAL: THE ARTS SPEECH

  DigBoston wants to hear from Boston-area neighborhood artists and arts reporters   Every few months, we start a new intern cohort at DigBoston. And since we’ve taken to accepting larger numbers of interns—we currently have 16 for the summer—inevitably several are arts reporters. Naturally, we want reporting interns to know what we expect of […]

SECOND HEARING CALLED ON MA JOURNALISM COMMISSION BILL

  After some fast action by your pals at DigBoston and BINJ   Almost immediately after rising on Monday, I knew that I wasn’t going to have a normal start to my week. Production on DigBoston commences over the weekend for my colleagues and me, and concludes early Wednesday morning when each issue goes to […]

GATEHOUSE STRIKES AGAIN: WORCESTER MAGAZINE ON THE ROPES

  Time for journalists and readers to fight back against the destruction of American newspapers   Over the holiday weekend, my wife and I had occasion to take the commuter rail out to Dedham to a family gathering in memory of loved ones who have left us. As we walked the mile to my cousin’s […]

CAMBRIDGE COUNCILORS CAN STOP UNDEMOCRATIC COURTHOUSE DEAL

Four votes against the proposed leasing of city parking spaces should do the trick

MORE ACTIVISM NEEDED IN STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS

  Solely spending your money and free time on presidential pageants is unwise   The other day my colleague Chris Faraone made an interesting comment on social media—inveighing against those who lavish money on presidential candidates with the next national elections still a year and a half away:   We held a forum for the […]

NONPROFIT MODEL NOT A PANACEA FOR AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA

  Would-be reformers need to keep that in mind   A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column about a bill (S. 80) filed with the Mass legislature by Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D – Marblehead) and Sen. Brendan Crighton (D – Lynn) that aims to start a volunteer commission to assess the state of local […]

STOP THE ELECTRIC SCOOTER SCAM

  Mass needs expanded public transportation, not hazardous rental toys   It’s not like I didn’t warn everyone. Last summer I wrote a column on the illegal rollouts of dockless electric scooters by Bird Rides in Cambridge and Somerville that was extremely critical of the company’s move on two grounds: safety, and the problem of […]