Local news is crucial to democracy, and it's disappearing — according to a new book by Steven Brill, excerpted in @Semafor, approximately twenty-two hundred papers and their websites went out of business between 2005 and 2021. That's created a vacuum into which "pink-slime" sites have poured. Brill writes about these sites that present themselves as legitimate publishers but are created to boost specific candidates and secretly financed by partisan funders, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Federated news publishers include @AxiosNews, @Semafor, @BloombergGreen, @19thnews, @ConversationUS and more. You'll also find many fantastic lifestyle publishers there, such as @Smithsonianmag, @cntraveler, @outside, @Kotaku and @TheRoot. We're working on a better way to separate publisher and curator profile details so you can easily find what you're looking for; stay tuned. If you're a publisher who'd like to onboard to Flipboard or have your account federated, fill in this survey:
Faux Local News Sites, Lifestyle and Spirituality Blogs, and a Designated Terrorist Entity Among Nearly 400 Websites Laundering Russian Propaganda Online
In your weekly edinburgh cycle 'digest' (bumper edition 😅): The Search for Political Will; Fundraising Opportunities; Transport & Environment Committee May Meeting Roundup; and @edfoc Kicks Off!
In Cheboygan, Michigan, there are no local journalists to report news.
Local residents are turning to Facebook for local news. (Personal note: argh, Facebook isn't a reliable or trustworthy resource to learn what's happening in your community.)
Moody St. bridge in #WalthamMA is currently shut down by police, can't drive or walk across it.
I spoke to an independent photojournalist on site (with First Arrival on Instagram), and he said someone was magnet fishing and found an old bomb
very old... like from some old war
— #Waltham#Massachusetts#LocalNews
We all know that social media is falling apart. Please sign up for free email delivery of new posts to my blog, Media Nation. Just go to the website, scroll down the right-hand side and hit "Subscribe." For you old-school types, RSS works too. #journalism#LocalNews#boston#politicshttps://dankennedy.net
Many thanks to Joyce Linehan, who hosted Ellen Clegg and me for a book reading for “What Works in Community News” Monday evening in her Dorchester home. About 70 people atternded, including some old friends from The Boston Phoenix. Among the highlights: Ed Forry, founder of the Dorchester Reporter, showed up, bearing a copy of the Reporter’s 40th anniversary edition. I asked him to sign it. #journalism#LocalNews#boston