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Artistic rendering of a sheet of newspaper with people crossed out, flowing above people working menial jobs whose heads are also crossed out, working next to signs that read "Sorry."

On Atonement

News outlets have apologized for past racism. That should only be the start.

A Conservative Activist’s Quest to Preserve all Network News Broadcasts

Convinced of rampant bias on the evening news, Paul Simpson founded the Vanderbilt Television News Archive.
The front page of a copy the Los Angeles Municipal Times.

Once Upon a Time, Los Angeles Voters Created Their Own Newspaper

The story of the Los Angeles Municipal News, and the hope — and limitations — of publicly owned newsrooms.
M. Roland Nachman Jr., William P. Rogers and Herbert Wechsler, the lawyers in "New York Times v. Sullivan."

Keeping Speech Robust and Free

Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News' coverage of claims that the company had rigged the 2020 election may soon become an artifact of a vanished era.
The old New York Times building in 2006.

The New York Times is Repeating One of Its Most Notorious Mistakes

The paper’s anti-trans coverage parallels its failings over gay rights and AIDS. But the Times appears determined not to learn from its own history.
Collage image of the book "Public Opinion," featuring a man reading a newspaper.

"Public Opinion" at 100

Walter Lippmann’s seminal work identified a fundamental problem for modern democratic society that remains as pressing—and intractable—as ever.
A Ukranian peasant family poses with sacks of grain.

'The New York Times' Can't Shake the Cloud Over a 90-Year-Old Pulitzer Prize

In 1932, Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer for stories defending Soviet policies that led to the deaths of millions of Ukrainians.
Newspaper and a black background and the words "Printing Hate"

Printing Hate

How white-owned newspapers incited racial terror in America.
Graphic illustration of a tilted white column with a pointed white top, resembling a race, against a red background. The words: "Media Monuments and Hooded Headlines" are printed within the triangular top.

American Journalism’s Role in Promoting Racist Terror

History must be acknowledged before justice can be done.
Political cartoon of three pigs with oil company logos
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The Campus Underground Press

The 1960s and 70s were a time of activism in the U.S., and therefore a fertile time for campus newspapers and the alternative press.
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How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

We’re still dealing with the repercussions of a discredited 1998 study that sowed fear and skepticism about vaccines.

Maligned in Black and White

Southern newspapers played a major role in racial violence. Do they owe their communities an apology?
Donald Trump, holding microphones, surrounded by shock jocks

The Trigger Presidency

How shock jock comedy gave way to Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
Illustration of video of Columbine shooters

20 Years Later, Columbine Is The Spectacle The Shooters Wanted

Searching for meaning in the shooters’ infamous “basement tapes.”

When Richard Nixon Declared War on the Media

Like Nixon, Trump has managed to marginalize the media, creating an effective foil.
President Richard Nixon prepares to go on television May 23, 1970 in the Oval Office.

Trump is Not the First GOP President to Try to Make the Media ‘Fair’

Conservatives love rules about political balance — when they’re in charge.

The Story Behind the First-Ever Fact-Checkers

Here's how they were able to do their jobs long before the Internet.
Daniel Ellsberg.

From the Pentagon Papers to Trump: How the Government Gained the Upper Hand Against Leakers

We may be entering a post-Pentagon Papers era that shifts the power back to political elites, who are ever more emboldened to go after leakers.
Still from the film Medium Cool, 1969.

That Ain't Cool

Capturing the 1968 DNC.
Cover of "Cue The Sun!" featuring videographers filming people lounging in backyard.

Time to Face Reality

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.
Donald Trump wearing 2000 "America First Pat Buchanan" sticker.

The Crack-Up

John Ganz’s “When the Clock Broke” renders the signal political battles of the present in an entirely new light.
Cover of the book "24/7 Politics," featuring photos of Nixon and Carter.

The Battlefields of Cable

How cable TV transformed politics—and how politics transformed cable TV.
Collage of BuzzFeed logo and people using electronic devices.

They Did It for the Clicks

How digital media pursued viral traffic at all costs and unleashed chaos.
Black and white photo of protestors climbing the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Ask the ‘Coupologists’: Just What Was Jan. 6 Anyway?

Without a name for it, figuring out why it happened is that much harder.
Nixon in front of presidential photographs.

Daniel Schorr and Nixon’s Tricky Road to Redemption

Nixon portrayed himself as a victim of the press. But from the 1952 Checkers speech through his post-presidency, he proved to be an able manipulator of the media.
Ralph Nader

The Myth of the “Pinto Memo” is Not a Hopeful Story for Our Time

Drawing analogies between industries can be instructive. But only if we do it right.
Ronald Reagan

The Fairness Doctrine Sounds A Lot Better Than It Actually Was

A return to the fairness doctrine wouldn't curb the damage caused by the far-right media ecosystem fueling much of America's conspiracy-driven politics.
Demonstrators surround a police car during the Watts uprising in 1965
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Understanding Today’s Uprisings Requires Understanding What Came Before Them

The media must make the long years of organizing as visible as the eruptions and uprisings.
Lyndon Johnson with advisors including Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk.

How the Tet Offensive Undermined American Faith in Government

Fifty years ago, the January 1968 battle laid bare the way U.S. leaders had misled the public about the war in Vietnam.
John Adams
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Why Trump’s Assault on NBC and “Fake News” Threatens Freedom of the Press

Restricting the press backfires politically.

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