Michael J. Socolow

Taffy Abel, of the U.S. ice hockey team that competed in Chamonix, France, in 1924, was the first U.S. flag bearer at a winter Olympics. The Jones Family Collection

Clarence ‘Taffy’ Abel: A pioneering US Olympic hockey star who hid his Indigenous identity to play in the NHL

Despite being a foundational figure in American hockey, Taffy Abel – who hid his Ojibwe heritage so he could pass as white – has been largely erased from national memory.
Will settlements by news companies with President Donald Trump turn journalists into puppets? MARHARYTA MARKO/iStock Getty Images Plus

ABC’s and CBS’s settlements with Trump are a dangerous step toward the commander in chief becoming the editor‑in‑chief

Will costly settlements over news stories the president sued about influence network journalists when deciding whether to pursue investigative stories involving the Trump administration?
Donald Trump addresses the crowd after being declared the winner during an election night party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

What should journalists do when the facts don’t matter?

Historical examples abound of American news consumers being presented with verified facts about controversial figures or events, only to have the excellent journalism have little to no effect.
How will we preserve technologies so deeply embedded in daily life? BrAt_PiKaChU/Istock via Getty Images

Saving broadcasting’s past for the future – archivists are working to capture not just tapes of TV and radio but the experience of tuning in together

Scholars, preservationists, archivists, museum educators and curators, fans and the public are meeting in late April in the nation’s capital to figure out how to preserve broadcasting’s history.
Approach with caution, advises a journalism scholar. simon kr/E+/Getty Images

Don’t trust the news media? That’s good

Journalism has been fodder for politicians’ contempt for generations. A huge percentage of the public doesn’t trust the news media either. That mistrust isn’t a bad thing in a democracy.
Author Andrew Sullivan has gone from blogging to writing for mainstream publications to blogging again, this time on Substack. T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

Substack isn’t a new model for journalism – it’s a very old one

High-profile media figures are defecting to Substack, where readers will have to pay a subscription to read their work. Could Substack remind news consumers that paying for journalism is worth it?
Host Jack Barry, middle, is flanked by contestants on ‘21,’ a 1950s TV game show. Orlando Fernandez/New York World-Telegram and Sun/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons

Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows

The only satisfactory debate arrangement everyone agreed to nearly 60 years ago largely remains in place today – the game show format.
Australian federal police entering the Australian Broadcast Company headquarters on June 5, 2019. A.B.C. screenshot from videotape

Investigating the investigative reporters: Bad news from Down Under

An American media scholar studying in Australia looks at the protections offered by the two countries for investigative reporting, raising crucial questions about journalism’s role in democracy.
Un agent de sécurité regarde depuis le siège de News Corp. à Midtown Manhattan, avril 2017. Mary Altaffer/AP

Ce n’est pas Fox News le problème, c’est l’obsession des médias pour Fox News

Malgré l’obsession de la presse américaine pour l’« empire » Fox News, l’idée que la chaîne d’information exerce un pouvoir politique sans précédent aux États-Unis est excessive.

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