Community Media

News Desert Drys Up Information

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 6/11/26

Headline:  “News deserts aren’t just a journalism problem. They’re costing taxpayers $1.1 billion a year.”

Subhead:  “A new study estimates that governments in counties without local newspapers pay higher borrowing costs because lenders see them as riskier investments”

“Decades into the local news crisis, it’s well established that growing news deserts mean fewer reliable sources of information for local residents. But, according to a study published Wednesday, it can also mean extra costs for local governments to the tune of $1.1 billion. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2026/news-deserts-cost-1-1-billion-dollars-taxes-study/

Media Lessons from Civil Rights Era

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Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 6/10/26

Headline:  “What Today’s Media Can Learn From the Civil Rights–Era Black Press”

Subhead:  “Journalism professor Kathy Roberts Forde argues that journalists should lean into values such as promoting democracy instead of hiding between claims of neutrality.”

“Kathy Roberts Forde, a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says that it’s critical that journalists and media organizations stop pretending that there is a neutral way to cover the news that expresses no underlying values. A “view from nowhere,” the term that journalism expert Jay Rosen uses, is misleading (journalism requires making decisions on what to cover and how) and empowers people who use this neutrality standard to attack all journalism as biased. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/211588/today-media-can-learn-civil-rights-era-black-press

Stormy Time for Media Matters

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 6/8/26

Headline::  “Media Matters’ Musk Mayhem”

Subhead:  “The progressive media watchdog has been forced to undergo layoffs and take other cost-cutting measures as it continues to battle the “dark MAGA” billionaire in a costly legal war, Status has learned.”

“In March of this year, an uncomfortable reality dawned on Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, and the non-profit’s leadership team. As he examined the progressive media watchdog’s finances, which had come under enormous strain over the last year amid a costly legal war waged by Elon Musk, Carusone concluded that he would need to make some difficult cuts to the organization. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/media-matters-elon-musk-lawsuit-layoffs

Community Media Pioneer Dies

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Article in Democracy Now! by Staff, 5/29/26

Headline:  “Philadelphia Community Access Media Founder Gretjen Clausing Dies at 61”

“Gretjen Clausing, the founding executive director of Philadelphia Community Access Media, has passed away at the age of 61. Clausing dedicated decades of her life advocating for public access to the media and freedom of expression and was actively involved in national campaigns in support of community media and local journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/29/headlines/philadelphia_community_access_media_founder_gretjen_clausing_dies_at_61

Next Stop, Fernwood 2night?

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Article in Poynter by Tom JJones, 5/26/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Stephen Colbert said he’d return to public access TV. Then he actually did it.”

Subhead:  “One day after ending his 11-year run on CBS, Colbert resurfaced on a quirky Michigan community access show with Jack White, Jeff Daniels and Eminem”

“Stephen Colbert is already back on TV.

Well, for a moment he was. Just a day after he wrapped up his 11-year run as host of CBS’s “The Late Show,” Colbert made a guest appearance on “Only in Monroe,” a community access show broadcast in southeast Michigan. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/stephen-colbert-public-access-return/

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Article in Mother Jones by Anna Merlan, 5/23/26

Headline:  “Stephen Colbert Escaped Late Night and Immediately Started Having Fun”

Subhead:  “A gloriously deadpan and silly public access appearance after an ‘excruciating’ 23 hours off-air.”

“In a delightful Easter egg for fans of Stephen Colbert, local television, or the improbable combination of the two, following Colbert’s last-ever Late Show, he popped up the following day as the guest host of ‘Only in Monroe,‘ a public access show in Monroe, Michigan. Colbert presented an hour of local news, assisted, sort of, by his ‘volunteer musical director,’ a deadpan Jack White hunched over a reel-to-reel tape deck with headphones clamped over his ears.

“ ‘It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV,’ Colbert declared. ‘So I am grateful to be here on Monroe Community Media before they are also acquired by Paramount.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/stephen-colbert-escaped-late-night-michigan-public-access-and-immediately-started-having-fun/

Women Silenced in Major Media

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Interview by Spenser Graves, on Radio Active Magazine airs Tuesday, 5/2/26

“Next Tuesday’s Radio Active Magazine features in interview with U Mass Amherst Communication professor Allison Butler on ‘How women are centered and silenced in the major media’.  She has a new book titled, ‘How women are centered and silenced in pop culture’. . .”

A video of the43-minute interview with her is available with the  podcast to air on Tuesday.  Also airs on Pacifica.

Listen live to the episode at on Tuesday, 6:00 PM at:

Good, Real-News

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Photo courtesy of CJR Reed Brody

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Susie Banikarim, 5/8/26

Headline:  “Amy Goodman’s Good Example”

Subhead:  “A documentary that resonates, why the press needs to pay more attention to Truth Social madness, and an impressive investigation from the Post and Courier.”

“. . .Goodman, now the host of Democracy Now!, is the star of Steal This Story, Please! But it is more broadly a film about independent journalism and why it matters, now maybe more than ever. Goodman turns out to be an ideal guide: relentless, fearless, and a natural storyteller with a matter-of-fact clarity of purpose and no apparent interest in self-aggrandizement or martyrdom. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/amy-goodmans-good-example-documentary-truth-social-post-courier-investigation.php

Axis of Evil in Media?

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Article in The Intercept on The “Intercept Briefing”, 4/14/26

Headline: “Amy Goodman on the Media’s ‘Access of Evil’ ”

Subhead: “The investigative journalist and ‘Democracy Now!’ host — and the subject of a new documentary — on why independent media is needed now more than ever.”

“As talks to end the U.S.–Israel war on Iran break down and President Donald Trump demands a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, journalist Amy Goodman says that in times of war and conflicts, ‘What I care about is the answer, and I care that people in this country don’t get health care at the same time that money goes to kill others in another country.’

“This week on ‘The Intercept Briefing’, Goodman speaks to host Akela Lacy about a new documentary called ‘Steal This Story, Please!’. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2026/04/14/amy-goodman-democracy-now-independent-media/

Saving a Community Station

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Article in AP by Jonathan Landrum Jr., 4/9/26

Headline:  “Dave Chappelle helps keep Ohio radio station rooted in hometown with restored building”

“YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) — Comedian Dave Chappelle stood on the front lawn of a newly restored 19th-century schoolhouse Thursday, joining neighbors and local officials as a small-town radio station secured its future in the community he calls home.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked two historic moments: Chappelle’s restoration of the Union Schoolhouse and WYSO’s relocation of its new broadcast facility inside it, bringing together distinct efforts to keep the station rooted in Yellow Springs at a time when local media outlets face mounting challenges. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/dave-chappelle-radio-station-1297aeb70e20d61e5a46481f0b660332

Community Radio Back in St. Louis

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Headline:  “Community Radio St. Louis Goes Live February 1”

Subhead:  “Over 60 former KDHX volunteers plus new broadcasters will revive local music and arts services online”

“At noon Central time on Sunday, February 1, 2026, eclectic music and perspectives will once again beam into St. Louis and around the world from a new all-volunteer internet station, Community Radio St. Louis (CRSTL). Commercial-free webcasting from CRSTL.FM will revive the strong grassroots voice supporting regional culture that was silenced last year by the radio frequency sale and demise of KDHX-FM. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.crstl.fm/