Weekly Roundup, February 3, 2023
I highlight a few interesting things I’ve seen, heard, read, or thought about this week. This is not an official newsletter of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, but I’ll share some updates about the engagement journalism program as well. This roundup is as much for me to bolster my fleeting memory as for any particular audience, but sharing in case anyone finds it useful.
Photo of the week 📸
Best reads 📚
- Violent History Echoes in the Killing of Tyre Nichols by my friend Emily Yellin. Tyre’s murder follows a horrific line of abuse of Black people in the city by police stretching back long before Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered there at the Lorraine Motel in 1968.
“The toxic line reaches much farther back, to 1866, when mobs led by white Memphis police officers, angry at the Black Union soldiers who were freely roaming the city after the end of the Civil War, systematically killed 46 Black people in the streets. For three days, the mobs rampaged, raping Black women and looting and burning Black people’s homes, schools and churches in the same part of the city where Mr. Payne and Dr. King were killed 102 years later. No charges were ever brought against any of the policemen.”
- If you are looking to follow local reporting in Memphis related to Tyre Nichols’ murder and more on Twitter, I would recommend MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, an organization committed to rejecting copaganda, as well as its founder, the brilliant Wendi Thomas. Micaela Watts, access & equity reporter for the Commercial Appeal, has also been on the ground covering protests and more. I’m sure there are others as well, but as someone that lived in Memphis for six years, those have been my top sources.
- Why have women lost their reproductive rights after 50 years? My friend Tresa Undem is one of the few pollsters I trust and has been tracking opinions on abortion and more for years, using not only surveys but also focus groups and qualitative research. Her latest depressing report shows the extent to which sexism and misogyny remain rooted in this country, particularly among Republicans.
- Writing and Exclusion: AI helps expand definitions of literacy by my colleague and friend Jeff Jarvis, who I knew could be counted on to go beyond the moral panic and explore ways ChatGPT could be useful to journalists and educators. Are there still many things to be concerned about? Of course, but I find it useful to look for opportunities as well.
- The Roadmap for Local News: An Emergent Approach to Meeting Civic Information Needs by Elizabeth Green of Chalkbeat, Darryl Holliday of City Bureau, and Mike Rispoli of Free Press. I still have this saved as to-read, but I already know it is going to be a vital resource. Bonus: It features The City’s Missing Them project, which our Newmark J School at CUNY engagement adjuncts Terry Parris Jr. and Anjali Tsui and their students and several alumni worked on, as an example of a “civic information product” merging traditional journalism practices with innovative tech + community engagement + unique institutional collaborations.
Newmark J-School at CUNY Engagement Journalism News
- Rachel Glickhouse, ’15, has a new job at Grist running partnerships!
- BREAKING: After about 7 years of teaching our advanced reporting course, Meredith Bennett-Smith actually has an ID 😂
Listening to/Watching 👂👁️🗨️
- Episode 3 of The Last of Us — Let me just join the chorus and say, you really should be watching this show if you aren’t already.
- Armchair Expert interview with Harvard psychiatrist Chris Palmer — Could mitochondria be the key to treating mental disorders? So much we don’t really understand about depression and anxiety and how to treat them, but new research has some interesting possibilities.
Heartbreak 💔
Finally, this week’s timeline brought the horrible news that journalist and friend Mandy Jenkins will be going to hospice. This news utterly rocked me this week, and I’m still thinking about her and her family. The only small bright spot is that this GoFundMe has already raised $55K, with anything raised beyond the actual need going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
