Boston’s two leading public media executives say that rebuilding trust and community are the keys to survival in the face of the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funds for public broadcasting over the next two years.
Media
Posted inOpinion
Don’t let public access TV go dark
In communities across the Commonwealth, these stations have kept the lights on in meeting halls and school auditoriums, ensuring that local democracy happens in the open.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon celebrates multiple wins at 2024 NENPA awards
CommonWealth Beacon was recognized for journalistic excellence by the New England Newspaper & Press Association, taking home multiple awards for its work, including top honors for Best Overall Website and Racial, Ethnic or Gender Issue Coverage.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: The empty seat inside the State House press gallery
Is the Associated Press pulling back from coverage of the Massachusetts State House?
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s best Codcasts of 2024
Looking back at 2024 through our favorite podcasts of the year.
Posted inMedia
The top ten CommonWealth Beacon stories of 2024
ALL ROADS lead to home, or perhaps the nearest T station. Housing and transportation are both issues that roiled policymakers on and off Beacon Hill, as state officials sought to […]
Posted inOpinion
Good news about news in Waltham
The Waltham Times is the latest entry in an emerging sector of nonprofit local news outlets. Some two dozen Massachusetts communities are now home to citizen-led news enterprises aiming to fill the void left by the shuttering or hollowing out of community newspapers that once served as key pillars of the local civic infrastructure.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s new editor on public service journalism
Colarusso comes to CommonWealth after more than three years at Nieman Reports, which is the Harvard University Nieman Foundation magazine focused on the journalism industry.
Posted inOpinion
Bruce Mohl made CommonWealth must-reading — and brought me back into civic life
CommonWealth Beacon editor Bruce Mohl retired last week after 16 years. Longtime opinion contribtor Jim Aloisi offered this tribute and reflection on the mark he made. I’VE BEEN A somewhat […]
Posted inOpinion
A consumer’s guide to newspaper endorsements
The problem with the moves by Bezos and Soon-Shiong is that they acted at the last minute, overturning their editorial boards and convincing absolutely no one that there was any principle behind their decision beyond not provoking the wrath of former President Donald Trump.
Posted inMedia
In Melrose, an experiment in hyper-local AI podcasting
Catalini sighs describing the Melrose news options over the 25 years since he moved with his wife to the city, which felt “robust” at the time. Now, almost nobody is covering hyper-local news like override votes or digging into the overwhelming documentation around proposed zoning policy, he said.
Posted inMedia
Colarusso taking over as CommonWealth Beacon editor
A graduate of Columbia University and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, Colarusso has also worked as digital managing editor at WGBH and digital opinion editor at the Boston Globe.
Posted inMedia
Globe host’s endorsement of Harris raises murky ethics questions
“Boston Globe Today” host Segun Oduolowu urged attendees to vote, donate, and organize for Harris in the presidential race during an August 26 “African Diaspora for Harris Post-Convention Call.”
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: A Mariano drubbing in Camberville | Boston papers trade jabs on NH race
State rep races in liberal districts in Cambridge and Somerville were also referendums on Beacon Hill’s centralized power structure under Democrats, and voters made clear that they don’t like it.
Posted inMedia
After hiring new staff, Globe changes its mind on podcast
Linda Henry, the CEO and co-owner of the Globe, said the turnabout on podcasts was driven by the realization that audio journalism may be compelling but does not attract subscribers.
Posted inOpinion
How a state commission could help ease the local news crisis
The local news crisis has become so acute that it’s time to consider some unconventional approaches, including a limited role for government in providing indirect support to outlets.
Posted inMedia
Navigating Mass. media sector’s choppy waters
Journalists have been compared to priests and ditch-diggers, but a better parallel can be found on the high seas. Like sailors and the call of the running tide, reporters and editors have the rush of chasing a scoop. But over the last two decades, the tide has been going out.
Posted inOpinion
PWHL Boston finals bid a triumph of law and policy
In the much-larger Tsongas Arena, the fan base is growing. At each game, there are thousands of people – the majority of them girls and women. The vibe is joyful and positive.
Posted inOpinion
For WBUR, GBH, the answer is merge, purge, diverge
For WBUR and WGBH the problems are fundamental. Expenses are up, the number of listeners is down, as is advertising dollars – who knew they had advertising income? – culminating in operational deficits.
Posted inOpinion
Fed action on social media parental controls needed
A federally regulated verification system puts the decisions in the hands of parents. They can decide when it’s right or wrong for their teens to download apps in the most streamlined manner.
Posted inMedia
WBUR, once flush, is warning of tight times ahead
We’ve seen a dramatic loss of sponsorship support. In the digital age, almost all that money now goes to the big platforms — like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Spotify. This is bad news for the news business and has created big gaps that can’t easily be filled. In the last five years, our annual on-air sponsorship income (underwriting) has dropped by more than 40 percent — nearly $7 million.
Posted inOpinion
Streaming fee needed to save cable access channels
Many customers are canceling their cable subscriptions in favor of online streaming services. As the number of cable subscribers drops, so does the available funding for PEG stations.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s most popular Codcasts of 2023
“I really take that as a kind of a philosophy, almost, at this particular point, that I want to be as optimistic as I possibly can, knowing the bleakness of my situation as a reality, but also to walk on air, meaning, I think, take chances that you might have put off at other times in your life.”
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s most-read commentary pieces of 2023
Perhaps not surprising at a time when it often feels like MBTA stands for “more bad transit agita,” half of the 10 most-read commentary pieces of 2023 related in some way to how we get around, two of them specifically zeroing in on the T.