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Dan Kennedy
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I'm a journalist and academic specializing in the future of local news. My next book, co-authored with Ellen Clegg, will be called "What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate." It will be published by Beacon Press in early 2024. Follow our updates at our website and podcast as well as my blog, Media Nation, both in the links below. Email me at dan-dot-kennedy-at-northeastern-dot-edu. #journalism #LocalNews #FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #boston

New at Media Nation: A Murdoch family deal keeps Fox News on the right-wing path. Let's hope they leave The Wall Street Journal alone. https://dankennedy.net/2025/09/10/a-murdoch-family-deal-keeps-fox-news-on-the-right-wing-path-lets-hope-they-leave-the-wsj-alone/

My friend Callie Crossley of GBH News is being inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. Don Seiffert of the Boston Business Journal about working with her on "Beat the Press with Emily Rooney." Congratulations, Callie! https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2025/08/07/gbhs-callie-crossley-named-to-hall-of-fame-by-bla.html

On the latest "What Works" podcast, Marta Hill explains what j-schools can do to address harassment directed at student journalists.

https://whatworks.news/2025/03/20/marta-hill-explains-what-j-schools-can-do-to-address-harassment-directed-at-student-journalists/

New at Media Nation: Another Mass. judge orders a magazine to turn over its reporting materials. Plus, Apple and Microsoft join Google in caving on the "Gulf of America," BuzzFeed may unveil a Twitter alternative and Zuckerberg returns to his hot-or-not roots. https://dankennedy.net/2025/02/12/another-mass-judge-orders-a-magazine-to-turn-over-its-reporting-materials-plus-media-notes/

Apple News Plus: Promising, or just another example of promises, promises? New at Media Nation. #journalism https://dankennedy.net/2024/05/24/apple-news-plus-promising-or-just-another-example-of-promises-promises/

New at Media Nation: A chain of radio stations is launching online newspapers in 18 (or more?) markets. #journalism #LocalNews https://dankennedy.net/2024/03/12/a-chain-of-radio-stations-is-launching-online-newspapers-in-18-or-more-markets/

You'll see that our free, all-day conference at Northeastern, "What Works: The Future of Local News," is "sold out." Please register anyway. People will be coming in and out all day, and anyone who adds their name to the waitlist should have no problem getting in. It's this Friday, March 15. #journalism #LocalNews https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-works-the-future-of-local-news-tickets-820184533017?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete

The infighting is so fierce because the stakes are so small: far-right talk-show host, Jeff Kuhner, embroiled in a feud with Howie Carr, calls for a boycott of the Boston Herald (via Contrarian Boston). #mapoli https://www.bostonbroadside.com/massgop/boycottherald/

Why are our local media united in referring to the #MaPoli tax cuts as "tax relief"? It's an unnecessary package, mainly skewed toward the rich, that will offset the ballot question we just passed to try to meet some real needs in schools, transportation and social services.

The gold bullion really adds a nice old-school touch to the Menendez scandal.

New at Media Nation: The New York Times' sports section is dead. Long live The New York Times' sports section. #journalism https://dankennedy.net/2023/09/20/the-ny-times-sports-section-is-dead-long-live-the-ny-times-sports-section/

New at Media Nation: Questions and concerns about Press Forward’s plan to raise $500 million for local news. #LocalNews #journalism https://dankennedy.net/2023/09/15/questions-and-concerns-about-press-forwards-plan-to-raise-500-million-for-local-news/

I can't imagine a better choice to run CNN than former NYT president Mark Thompson. Obviously not a diverse choice, and he's not young, but he can surround himself with good people to offset that, at least to a degree. And his news and business judgment are superb. #journalism https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/30/media/cnn-ceo-mark-thompson/index.html

Splendid nostr:npub1muxuf2ky9slp7ghht6j8qjsenmf3mykp775ws3gc9juec2v2hersa6xcur column on media failures in the face of Republican authoritarianism. I don't think things are quite that bad — Kathleen Parker, Peter Baker and Fox News are easy pickings. But read it: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/media-2020-election-trump-authoritarianism-20230827.html

I've heard a lot of people say we should be better than to mock Trump's weight. Here's the thing: What we're mocking is that he lies about everything, the important and the unimportant, the public and the private. He is incapable of speaking the truth. That's what we're mocking.

Not quite sure what nostr:npub1074u5z8ud3mp9ra7q9hfaxq6qwvye4ghlyc2t29pl08s585lss9q3tw3ga is arguing for. Twitter has had public lists you can subscribe to for years. They’re not algorithmic, but that’s OK. She praises Bluesky’s feeds, but you need an engineering degree to write one. I do wish Mastodon had public lists. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/opinion/social-media-algorithm-choice.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

nostr:npub1zqpvvnusq38pymledgyl5297h9v0gmqh7td7ckv2dykutz04k73sftygdt It would be in a subpoena, and the police apparently broke federal law by not bothering to get one.

Replying to bffb3139...

nostr:npub19kr9jlq66y804t0a64adl39n5ztp3wunvaqv4q52k4cq3q685z2qu48m4r

dear Mr Kennedy

it was only yesterday that I realized "mapoli" will cause problems for people who use screen readers

not sure what the answer is; #MassachusettsPolitics (camel case) is very long

nostr:npub1qjssl23udvrumdyrj0qw0ds5vp7rpdapy94kz2pptvrshxnhmy6qurxp6v #mapoli goes back many, many years, and people understand what it means. What does a screen reader do with it? Wouldn't it say something like “mah-poly”?