I wrote last week, in a post entitled ‘What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump,’ about five degrees of culpability for Putinism’s insinuation and degradation of American politics. One could modify that list only slightly, and thereby describe Trump’s present influence in America: (1) those who have served the Trump as operatives and…
Babbittry
Babbittry, Books, Culture, Economy, Janesville
Considering Janesville: An American Story (Part 8 of 14)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
This is the eighth in a series of posts considering Amy Goldstein’s Janesville: An American Story. In this post, I’ll cover one chapter from Part Four (2011) of Janesville (The Ambassador of Optimism). I’ll cover the chapter in detail because it’s so perfect in its account of boosterism, as though Sinclair Lewis’s protagonist George F. Babbitt overtook a Janesville resident and…
Babbittry, Conflicts of Interest, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Politics
Margaret Sullivan on Great Local Reporting
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post’s media columnist observes that Great local reporting stands between you and wrongdoing. (Sullivan was formerly The New York Times public editor, and the chief editor of her hometown paper, The Buffalo News.) Sullivan explains what great local reporting means: “In only 15 years, American newspaper companies slashed their workforces by…
America, Babbittry, City, Local Government, Trump
‘The Closest Thing We Have to State TV’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the clip above, Seth Meyers considers the relationship between Fox News and the Trump Administration, concluding that Fox News is ‘the closest thing we have to state TV,’ represents ‘sycophantic coverage,’ and that ‘instead of a Bible, Trump should have been sworn in on a TV Guide.’ (H/t to Raw Story for the pointer.)…