Category: Media
-
COVID Is Still News
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I seem to recall that contributors and comments on this blog often said that “come November 4, COVID will no longer be a big news item.” The implication, of course, was that the main national news organizations were hyping the COVID issue in order to damage the Trump administration. Well, it is…
-
America’s New Ruling Class: Washington Post Edition
by James A. Bacon That didn’t take long. In the wake of Washington Post articles alleging systemic racism at the Virginia Military Institute, the Board of Visitors voted Thursday to remove the statue of Stonewall Jackson from its campus. The action follows the Monday resignation of J.H. Binford Peay III, the institute’s superintendent, who had…
-
Connolly: Expel VMI Students Guilty of Racist Conduct, Track Thought Crimes
by James A. Bacon Representative Gerald Connolly, D-Va., and other congressional Democrats have written Governor Ralph Northam, calling for the expulsion of students at the Virginia Military Institute who have been found guilty of “racist or discriminatory conduct.” Citing a Washington Post article that alleged the existence of “relentless racism” at the military institute, the…
-
Stonewall Jackson: Getting It Right
by Kerry Dougherty Newspapers aren’t what they once were. That’s especially true for the lean local papers that serve our area. They’ve laid off staff, farmed out editing and rely heavily on wire copy from the national newspapers. Yes, there is a knot of earnest young reporters trying desperately to cover the region, but they…
-
Why We Love Governor Ralph
By Peter Galuszka He’s been through “coonman,” “blackface,” a muddled interview about late term abortion, and aggressive and controversial steps to stop the pandemic, but Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has sprinted through a recent statewide poll with flying colors. According to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll, more than half of Virginia’s registered voters approve of the…
-
A Tale of Two Governors
by Kerry Dougherty Every once in a while we get a delicious example of agenda-driven news coverage. Last week, for instance. On Thursday, headlines across the country gloated over news that Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons and his wife, Teresa had tested positive for COVID-19. Here, have a peek: CNN: This Republican Governor Refused A Mask Mandate.…
-
Major Impacts of Northam’s War against Teachers
Federal school funding threatened; Democrats and unions in a bind; Lawsuits coming by James C. Sherlock Ralph Northam declared on August 30 of this year that Virginia’s schools are systemically racist and that teachers are presumptively racist and must be treated and monitored. In addition to threatening to create turmoil in the schools and damage to the…
-
More Bad News for Our Local Newspapers
by Kerry Dougherty Yes, yes, we all complain about the local newspaper. Its editorials are too liberal. The news coverage is too thin. Mistakes are too frequent. No one can deny that The Virginian-Pilot is a shadow of what it was 15 years ago when the paper was humming with reporters and editors, when its…
-
The Media Meltdown Accelerates
by James A. Bacon First Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot merged with the Daily Press in Newport News. Then, the parent company, Tribune Publishing Co., closed the Pilot’s Norfolk office, telling reporters, editors and other employees they could work either at the Pilot’s press operation in Virginia Beach or the Daily Press office across the river. Then, Tribune…
-
Media Waters Getting Colder and Colder
The shrinkage of newsrooms at Virginia’s commercial newspapers continues apace. Lee Enterprises, owners of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Daily Progress, and Roanoke Times, among other newspapers, have confirmed another round of layoffs. The RTD has eliminated positions for a business reporter, a photojournalist, a multimedia content provider, and a sports producer. Meanwhile, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises has…
-
A Sad Emblem of Our Times
By Dick Hall-Sizemore A venerable Richmond-based printing company closed last May. Somehow, that really saddened me. Perhaps because it was located not far from where I live. Perhaps because it had been around for so long. Perhaps because it had a niche business that seemed sort of neat to me. Perhaps because its closing seemed…
-
Elmer Gantry In Lynchburg
By Peter Galuszka The resignation of Jerry Falwell Jr. amid a series of scandals may have a strong impact in Virginia where his late father built an extraordinary, ultra-conservative evangelical university in Lynchburg that later became highly politicized lightning rod supporting President Donald Trump. Falwell has been caught up in a number of controversies including…
-
The Godzilla of Truth Launches Digital News Site
by James A. Bacon As old-school newspapers fade away, there’s a new star in Virginia’s media constellation — the Virginia Star. The John Fredericks Radio Network has launched a daily news and digital newspaper for Virginia as an affiliate of Star News Digital Media. “The Virginia Star will be fiercely local in its core news…
-
Charlottesville Elites and Virginia’s New Ruling Class
by James A. Bacon Before it sold off its national newspaper division to Lee Enterprises for a measly $140 million in March, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway owned most of the newspapers in western and central Virginia, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Roanoke Times, the Daily Progress (in Charlottesville), and the News Virginian (in Waynesboro).…
-
The Return of the “Cooch”
By Peter Galuszka Early this past Wednesday morning, Mark Pettibone and Connor O’Shead were walking on their way home after a peaceful protest in Portland, Ore. Suddenly an unmarked van pulled in front of them. Men wearing green uniforms, tactical gear and generic signs reading “POLICE” hustled them into the vehicle. They were not told…