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Sam Francis.

The Sam Francis I Knew

The late conservative thinker, who died 20 years ago Saturday, has transcended the pariah status imposed on him during his life.
by Paul Gottfried via The American Conservative on February 20, 2025
Edward R. Murrow on the telephone.

Edward R. Murrow Wasn’t the First Journalist to Question Joseph McCarthy’s Communist Witch Hunts

As the fear of communist subversion spread throughout America, McCarthy launched hearings that were based on scant evidence and overblown charges.
by W. Joseph Campbell via The Conversation on March 1, 2024
Henry Kissinger in the table in the White House situation room.

Kissinger, Me, and the Lies of the Master

‘Off off the record’ with the man who secretly taped our telephone calls.
by Seymour M. Hersh via seymourhersh.substack on December 6, 2023
Bernie Sanders campaigning
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What Winning New Hampshire — and its Media Frenzy — Could Mean for Bernie Sanders

The New Hampshire returns tell us a lot about the leading candidates.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on February 12, 2020

Why Has It Taken Us So Long to See Trump’s Weakness?

There’s a bad synergy at work between the short-termism of the news cycle and the longue durée-ism of the academy.
by Corey Robin via Intelligencer on February 20, 2019
Collage drawing of elements of US-Cuba relations, including JFK, Castro, missiles, a journalist at a typewriter, and soldiers from both sides carrying guns.

Cuba Libre

Covering the island has been a central concern for The Nation since the beginning—producing scoops, aiding diplomacy, and pushing for a change in policy.
by Peter Kornbluh via The Nation on March 23, 2015
Jeff Bezos against a red D.C. background with the Washington Post newspaper on the bottom half

Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?

The Amazon founder was once the newspaper’s savior; now journalists are fleeing as the paper that brought down Nixon struggles under Trump’s second term.
by Clare Malone via The New Yorker on May 12, 2025
Photo of William F. Buckley Jr.

The Pen Is Mightier

Eight ways to understand the literary-political impact of William F. Buckley Jr.
by Steven Hayward via Political Questions on April 15, 2025
Front page of the Washington Post above the fold.

The Real Story of the Washington Post’s Editorial Independence

When the Kamala Harris endorsement was spiked, the publisher cited tradition. A closer reading of history tells a different story.
by Steven Mufson via Columbia Journalism Review on February 25, 2025
Man reading a newspaper

A Brief Literary History of the Newspaper Endorsement

When did endorsements become pro forma, anyway? And what do they even do?
by Brittany Allen via Literary Hub on October 30, 2024
Campaign signs.
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The Long History of the 'October Surprise'

Last minute disclosures or revelations can play an outsized role in the last weeks before an election.
by Robert B. Mitchell via Made By History on October 24, 2024
Kamala Harris on stage at a campaign rally

The Polling Imperilment

Presidential polls are no more reliable than they were a century ago. So why do they consume our political lives?
by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on September 25, 2024
A duel.
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Mud-Slinging and Deadly Duels: How Negative Campaigning Evolved

The factionalized press was the site of campaigning in the U.S.'s first contested presidential elections.
via Retro Report on September 6, 2024
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at a rally.
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How Vice-Presidential Nominees Became 'Attack Dogs'

Vice presidential nominees weren't tasked with flinging mud until the last 40 years.
by Charles J. Holden via Made By History on August 7, 2024
Cover of "The Freaks Came Out to Write"

The City in Its Grip: On Tricia Romano’s “The Freaks Came Out to Write”

Romano’s book is a vital, comprehensive piece of media scholarship about one of the most influential outlets of the last century. It’s also fun as hell to read.
by T. M. Brown via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 15, 2024
William F. Buckley Jr.

The Evolution of Conservative Journalism

From Bill Buckley to our 24/7 media circus.
by Johnny Miller via National Review on October 12, 2023
Injured reporter interviewing bloodied antiwar demonstrator

Seeing Was Not Believing

A new book identifies the 1968 Democratic convention as the moment when broad public regard for the news media gave way to widespread distrust, and American divisiveness took off.
by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on August 30, 2023
Cover of the book "24/7 Politics," featuring photos of Nixon and Carter.

The Battlefields of Cable

How cable TV transformed politics—and how politics transformed cable TV.
by Jesse Walker via Reason on August 15, 2023
M. Roland Nachman Jr., William P. Rogers and Herbert Wechsler, the lawyers in "New York Times v. Sullivan."

Keeping Speech Robust and Free

Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News' coverage of claims that the company had rigged the 2020 election may soon become an artifact of a vanished era.
by Jeffrey Toobin via New York Review of Books on July 7, 2023
Four men gather around a horse drawn cart carrying newspapers from Philadelphia, New York and Maryland.

There’s Already a Solution to the Crisis of Local News. Just Ask This Founding Father.

As modern lawmakers consider various means of public assistance for local news, they can learn from the founders’ approach to supporting journals and gazettes.
by Steven Waldman via Politico Magazine on April 2, 2023
Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón at the Los Angeles County Jail, circa 1916.

An American Story

Kelly Lytle Hernández’s new book chronicles the tumultuous period leading up to the Mexican Revolution, casting the border as ground zero for continental change.
by Francisco Cantú via New York Review of Books on March 9, 2023
Employees of print shop

Who Owns the Narrative? Texas Law Enforcement Versus Tejano Journalists

At the turn of the century, Mexican American publications paid a price for challenging the local sheriff and elements of the Texas Rangers.
by Isabella Van Trease via Texas Monthly on December 1, 2022
Repeated newspaper photograph of Stokely Carmichael.

How Stokely Carmichael Helped Inspire the Creation of C-SPAN

A Black Power radical, a Navy veteran, and the story behind the most boring channel on television.
by Eamon Whalen via Mother Jones on August 24, 2022
Image of typewriter overlaid onto news articles about fascism

A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe

A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism.
by Deborah Cohen, Karin Wulf via Smithsonian on March 14, 2022
Front page of the New York Daily Times.

How US Newspapers Became Utterly Ubiquitous in the 1830s

On the social and political function of political media.
by Ken Ellingwood via Literary Hub on May 6, 2021
Roger Mudd on the History Channel in August 2001
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The Media Will Be Key to Overcoming a Senate Filibuster on Voting Rights

Roger Mudd proved in 1964 that media attention can help overcome Senate obstruction.
by Donald A. Ritchie via Made By History on April 12, 2021
Artistic rendering of a sheet of newspaper with people crossed out, flowing above people working menial jobs whose heads are also crossed out, working next to signs that read "Sorry."

On Atonement

News outlets have apologized for past racism. That should only be the start.
by Alexandria Neason via Columbia Journalism Review on January 28, 2021
A women in a newsroom covering the election
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Good TV Demands Results on Election Night, but That’s Bad for Democracy

The history of tuning in to televised election returns.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on November 3, 2020
President Trump in car

Trump’s Illness and the History of Presidential Health

Are White House doctors keeping the public adequately informed about President Trump’s battle with COVID-19?
by Lawrence Altman, Isaac Chotiner via The New Yorker on October 6, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during an interview for CBS, November 11, 1973.

US Media Talks a Lot About Palestinians — Just Without Palestinians

Although major U.S. newspapers hosted thousands of opinion pieces on Israel-Palestine over 50 years, hardly any were actually written by Palestinians.
by Maha Nassar via +972 Magazine on October 2, 2020
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