Hey, I redesigned @niemanlab.org, I think it looks nice
@joshuabenton.comJoshua Benton
@joshuabenton.com
21st-century media and the 19th-c American South. Founded and ran @niemanlab.org at @harvard.edu for 12 yrs; now the senior writer there. Cajun, dad of two, husband of one. Journalist with a history problem. Also: @theatlantic.com, @washingtonpost.com, etc
@joshuabenton.com@joshuabenton.com"NaN Problems" slaps
@whstancil.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comThis kind of talk has always seemed to impress certain segments of the political class, but now that he’s imploding, they look like gullible suckers. He’s just a lout, nothing more. He insults people because he isn’t smart enough for anything else. He’ll become more loutish as he circles the drain.
@stevanzetti.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comA CNN @kfile.bsky.social investigation unearthed since-removed posts from Texas GOP candidate Bo French that repeatedly advocated public executions for political opponents, including former President Barack Obama
@joshuabenton.comIn St. Landry Parish, I think they give you a gun after a five-minute once-over and asking who you voted for in the last election
@joshuabenton.comAlso, she was "arrested" on a Sunday — not usually the prime day for "escorting" people to court.
@radleybalko.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comHuge bummer when you’re just innocently trying to join and promote a movement that hates Black people, immigrants, and Jews — but then you discover that they have a dark side.
@joshuabenton.comLouisiana sheriff's deputies "accidentally" arrested a local Black mayor this weekend.
Sheriff: "Long story short, we made a booboo."
@joshuabenton.comI think I'm going to adopt the LLM concept of "knowledge cutoffs" for whole segments of my life Like, my contemporary popular music knowledge cutoff is June 2014 My ACC basketball knowledge cutoff is April 2017
@joshuabenton.comMe being cranky about David Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, and Margaret Thatcher in @theatlantic.com:
@jswatz.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.com"No matter how well-intentioned the members of these committees may be, if David Ellison wants to get around them, he will. It’s an artificial set of rules that a billionaire owner will inevitably circumvent. These 'independent' boards are PR gestures, not vehicles for editorial protection."
@greene.hausReposted by @joshuabenton.com"This particular move … [has] been a part of past news company acquisitions where concerns about antitrust or editorial control end up being downshifted into similar (and mostly toothless) 'boards.' Their effectiveness has been, to be generous, extremely limited." Quite.
@salvagni.orgReposted by @joshuabenton.comThis is absolutely the correct reading of this decision.
@katestarbird.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comRenee DiResta (@noupside.bsky.social) and Dean Jackson published a new paper explaining how the "censorship industrial complex" propaganda campaign took shape & was eventually used to dismantle election information resilience infrastructure in the U.S. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@jayrosen.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comI have to agree.
@wkash917.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comGreat backgrounder on how "likely" an "independent editorial board" will preserve CNN's independence under David Ellison's Paramount acquisition deal.
(As Rupert Murdoch demonstrated: Don't bet on it!)
www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/davi...
@oliviamesser.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comHarvard’s @niemanlab.org with a very spooky headline
@joshuabenton.comNew by me —>
David Ellison is gonna have control of CNN, and don't pretend any "independent editorial board" will mean otherwise.
(With an extended tour of the Rupert Murdoch Cinematic Universe)
@mcopelov.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.comDon’t. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers. 🤷♂️🤦♂️
@mcopelov.bsky.socialReposted by @joshuabenton.com👇 Also, he fell for Bari Weiss’ fake university grift in the first place, before deciding that would be a bad idea