Your Internet Provider Is Distorting Free Speech

Your Internet Provider Is Distorting Free Speech

Earlier this year, the Newseum Institute asked 1,000 Americans to name their rights under the First Amendment. A clear majority listed freedom of speech first — before freedom of religion, assembly, and other core civil liberties. And that makes sense. Protecting free...
The Reverend Who Won the Airwaves

The Reverend Who Won the Airwaves

Toward the end of his life, civil rights champion and Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall was asked how he wanted to be remembered. “He did the best he could with what he had,” Marshall replied. That’s really the most any of us can do, and those...
Creating a Constituency for the News

Creating a Constituency for the News

There’s a crisis in journalism. Rapidly changing consumer habits have slashed demand for the print editions of newspapers and magazines, squeezed advertising dollars, and made thousands of media jobs vanish. The news industry’s downturn has created another crisis:...
Byline Inequality Matters

Byline Inequality Matters

Anna Quindlen relayed an eye-opening and hair-raising experience to her readers in 1990. “A newspaper editor said to me not long ago, with no hint of self-consciousness, ‘I’d love to run your column, but we already run Ellen Goodman,’” the New York Times...
Don’t Let This Cable Giant Stamp Out Democracy

Don’t Let This Cable Giant Stamp Out Democracy

Comcast’s gleaming tower soars over its hometown of Philadelphia. The cable giant’s presence in the city is palpable. You’d like to believe that the company would have a sense of what’s going on in its backyard — and what its neighbors need. But Comcast isn’t paying...