In my latest for the Guardian, I argue that concerns about the independence of non-profit news organizations are overblown — unless you believe that for-profit news orgs are fully independent of their advertisers....

I’ve been following the Boston City Hall e-mail story with interest since it broke several weeks ago. But today was the first time I really thought it might develop into something much bigger. The reason: Michael Kineavy, the mayoral aide whose dele...

Boston Newspaper Guild treasurer Patrice Sneyd has filed charges against Guild president Dan Totten, according to Boston Globe reporter Robert Gavin. Totten is accused of misappropriating money or property, violating the union’s constitution and dis...

Who wants news to be free? Not me. I want someone — consumers, advertisers, some rich guy who wants to feed his ego — to pay through the nose, and thus ensure lucrative employment for journalists present and future, especially my students. So I was st...

Braude and Eagan Boston Herald reporter Jay Fitzgerald has some very good news: WTKK (96.9 FM) is moving Jim Braude and Margery Eagan’s mid-day talk show to morning drive, where it will now be heard Monday to Friday from 7 to 10 a.m. Aging has-been ...

I am genuinely puzzled by a statement from U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano’s Senate campaign, reported in the Boston Globe. Capuano’s campaign treasurer, Bruce Percelay, was asked to comment on the fundraising advantage state Attorney General Martha...

Here is the video of Princeton University professor Paul Starr at last night’s program on “Public Accountability After the Age of Newspapers,” featuring Starr, Boston Globe editor Marty Baron and me. Update: Video of the entire program ...

Boston Herald reporter Christine McConville writes that she was kicked out of a meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, where the recent union negotiations over the fate of the Boston Globe was the topic of the day. The presentation, ti...

I’ve really only got one thing to say about Dan Rather’s losing his lawsuit against CBS: What was he thinking? OK, two things. When you’re caught passing off phony documents, you should smile and shut up, regardless of how badly your ex-...

This week in the Guardian, I argue that the so-called liberal media are up to their old Clinton-era tricks: coddling the right lest they be accused of liberal bias....

Please pardon the lack of blogging. I’m overcommitted this week, and, other than my students (of course!), my main priority is getting ready for tomorrow evening’s event with Princeton University professor Paul Starr and Boston Globe editor Ma...

The following e-mail, dated Friday, was sent by Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten to Guild members. (The Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam has been posting Guild communications as well.) Media Nation obtained a copy of Totten’s e-mail a...

David Carr’s report in the New York Times that Boston-based GlobalPost will partner with CBS News strikes me as a potentially significant development. It’s unclear from Carr’s story exactly how much use CBS intends to make of GlobalPost&...

William Safire Former New York Times columnist William Safire, who died on Sunday at 79, brought three great passions to his work: a love of the English language; a devotion to dogged reporting; and an abiding commitment to civil liberties. It was that la...

The following e-mail has been sent to the members of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the largest union at the Boston Globe. A copy was obtained by Media Nation earlier today. September 25, 2009 Dear Colleague, I understand that many questions have arisen from...

Didn’t get a chance to note this yesterday, but the Daily News Transcript of Dedham has published its final edition, as the paper’s financially troubled owner, GateHouse Media, shifts its emphasis to the weeklies it owns in that region....

Didn’t get a chance to note this yesterday, but the Daily News Transcript of Dedham has published its final edition, as the paper’s financially troubled owner, GateHouse Media, shifts its emphasis to the weeklies it owns in that region....

The Globe and the Herald today report that Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten is suspected of signing someone else’s name as a countersignature on his paycheck. So here are a few follow-up questions: Is this something he did regularly? Did...

Harvey Silverglate at the Harvard Book Store. (Click on photo for a larger image.) Friend of Media Nation Harvey Silverglate packed the house at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge last night at an event for his new book, “Three Felonies a Day: How ...

More on the charges against Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten, whose union is the Boston Globe’s largest, from the Boston Herald and the Globe. I would be very cautious about drawing any conclusions based on the sketchy information that...