In moments when the climate emergency’s dire impacts become unignorable, mainstream news can produce appropriately urgent reporting, such as on wildfires and other disasters. But only sustained coverage of humans’ damage to the planet will communicate the depth of the...
Posts By Jeremy Lovelett
Countering COVID Misinformation with Science
COVID-19 caseloads are climbing again, and the Right continues to spread virus misinformation as the government struggles with its response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given contradictory advice over the past months concerning mask wearing—its...
Media Spreads Big Lies as Jan. 6 Committee Attempts to Hold Insurrectionists Accountable
On January 6, 2021, a mob of loyalists to former president Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol building after he delivered an incendiary speech that falsely claimed the 2020 election, and its ongoing certification in the Capitol, was fraudulent. After Senate...
How Media Is Distorting “Critical Race Theory” to Spur Outrage
Right-wing panic over “critical race theory” has come to a head in news media and politics over the past few months, as conservative organizations use the once-obscure term to generate outrage and score political victories. Critical race theory is a decades-old...
Media’s Vaccine Misinformation Problem
The extremely contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus has been spreading across the globe as vaccination rates lag. The U.S. is no exception. Reports from different parts of the country indicate that even fully vaccinated citizens have been susceptible to the...
Exxon Lobbyists “Look out for Shareholders” as Planet Burns
Just days before an undersea gas pipeline burst in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in a fiery vortex that was all too symbolic of the current climate emergency, it was made public that a senior ExxonMobil lobbyist unwittingly revealed how the oil company uses its...
Why Antitrust Bills Are Taking on Big Tech
Four tech giants have been consolidating wealth and media control over the past several years, and especially during the pandemic. Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google have cemented their platforms in businesses from social media to movies as critics argue their...
Amazon’s Dollars Bust Unions and News
The fight for labor rights operates in tandem with journalism – as organizers assemble workers, news outlets amplify their voices for more of the workforce to hear, coalescing a more powerful force to push against exploitative employers. This spring, media was abuzz...
Israel and Palestine: Misleading Objectivity in the News
A ceasefire holds after Israel’s 11-day assault on Gaza that killed over 240 Palestinians, including 66 children, and injured more than 1,700 people. Hamas rockets fired on Israel killed at least 12 people. Despite the ceasefire, colonial violence continues, as...
Facebook Tuned its Algorithm to Hinder Progressive Outlets
In late 2017, Facebook executives were briefed on major changes to the platform’s News Feed—the code that determines which of innumerable posts appear when a user views Facebook. The changes would reduce how much news people saw, and therefore decrease outlets’...