Kevin Lerner
@klerner.bsky.social
Professor and Chair of Journalism and Sports Media at Montclair State University. I am a journalism historian, studying press criticism, and literary & alternative journalism.
123 years ago this month, muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens reported on "The Shame of Minneapolis" for McClure's Magazine. The story wasn't new—but he did bring it to a new audience.
Here's a link to a pdf with a nice contextual intro: www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/steff...
Here's a link to a pdf with a nice contextual intro: www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/steff...
www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org
January 8, 2026 at 10:46 PM
123 years ago this month, muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens reported on "The Shame of Minneapolis" for McClure's Magazine. The story wasn't new—but he did bring it to a new audience.
Here's a link to a pdf with a nice contextual intro: www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/steff...
Here's a link to a pdf with a nice contextual intro: www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/steff...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
.@katiecouric.bsky.social asked me to write about the state of CBS News after Weiss and Dokoupil. I'm honored she asked.
An Expert's Analysis of Tony Dokoupil's First Week Anchoring katiecouric.com/news/opinion...
An Expert's Analysis of Tony Dokoupil's First Week Anchoring katiecouric.com/news/opinion...
An Expert's Analysis of Tony Dokoupil's First Week Anchoring "CBS Evening News"
It's the last nail in the coffin of CBS News as respected journalism.
katiecouric.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM
.@katiecouric.bsky.social asked me to write about the state of CBS News after Weiss and Dokoupil. I'm honored she asked.
An Expert's Analysis of Tony Dokoupil's First Week Anchoring katiecouric.com/news/opinion...
An Expert's Analysis of Tony Dokoupil's First Week Anchoring katiecouric.com/news/opinion...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
A typically excellent @joshuabenton.com piece today, on the demise of Pittsburgh’s only daily newspaper. (I also learned that the Toledo Blade had a London bureau til 1983!)
Via @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/will...
Via @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/will...
Will Pittsburgh become America’s most important city without a newspaper?
One of the country's oldest newspapers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, says it's shutting down in May. Not going digital-only — just disappearing. But the delayed closure could also spur some long-delay...
www.niemanlab.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:11 PM
A typically excellent @joshuabenton.com piece today, on the demise of Pittsburgh’s only daily newspaper. (I also learned that the Toledo Blade had a London bureau til 1983!)
Via @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/will...
Via @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/will...
I need to stage a Fox News intervention for my dad.
One of my sisters, who lives in exurban Minneapolis and works in a school district with quite a few Somali families, has become increasingly despairing over what has been happening in her area. 1/
One of my sisters, who lives in exurban Minneapolis and works in a school district with quite a few Somali families, has become increasingly despairing over what has been happening in her area. 1/
Jesse Watters highlights that Renee Nicole Good, the woman killed by ICE, had "pronouns in her bio" and "leaves behind a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage"
January 8, 2026 at 4:14 AM
I need to stage a Fox News intervention for my dad.
One of my sisters, who lives in exurban Minneapolis and works in a school district with quite a few Somali families, has become increasingly despairing over what has been happening in her area. 1/
One of my sisters, who lives in exurban Minneapolis and works in a school district with quite a few Somali families, has become increasingly despairing over what has been happening in her area. 1/
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
not saying it can't get worse but this week really feels like a straightforward depiction of what worst-case 'post truth' information apocalypse ppl were warning of in the late 2010s
January 7, 2026 at 10:43 PM
not saying it can't get worse but this week really feels like a straightforward depiction of what worst-case 'post truth' information apocalypse ppl were warning of in the late 2010s
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
Not sure how to summarize this one. Wrote about the podcaster-occupied government invading for content, how the algorithmic internet is governed by the logic of reaction videos, and how it has contributed to a very nihilistic illiterate politics and culture of performance for imagined audiences
Everything Reacting to Everything, All at Once
Why the Trump administration is posting messages like “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” after the attack on Venezuela
www.theatlantic.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Not sure how to summarize this one. Wrote about the podcaster-occupied government invading for content, how the algorithmic internet is governed by the logic of reaction videos, and how it has contributed to a very nihilistic illiterate politics and culture of performance for imagined audiences
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
“There’s a project to essentially starve the public system and then reallocate the signals”: Project 2025 aims not only to stop funding public media, but also to replace it with outlets politically favorable to Trump
-- Josh Shepperd
@joshshepperd.bsky.social @rodneybenson.bsky.social @pbs.org
-- Josh Shepperd
@joshshepperd.bsky.social @rodneybenson.bsky.social @pbs.org
I was interviewed at CJR about the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Along with the excellent @rodneybenson.bsky.social.
What the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting means.
The parent organization of NPR and PBS, already defunded, is shutting down—and claims that’s for the best. But there are dangers ahead.
www.cjr.org
January 7, 2026 at 2:17 PM
“There’s a project to essentially starve the public system and then reallocate the signals”: Project 2025 aims not only to stop funding public media, but also to replace it with outlets politically favorable to Trump
-- Josh Shepperd
@joshshepperd.bsky.social @rodneybenson.bsky.social @pbs.org
-- Josh Shepperd
@joshshepperd.bsky.social @rodneybenson.bsky.social @pbs.org
No matter how many university orientations I go to, it never gets old to hear myself described as part of a “community of Lerners.”
January 6, 2026 at 6:53 PM
No matter how many university orientations I go to, it never gets old to hear myself described as part of a “community of Lerners.”
Our information ecosystem is horribly sick right now.
www.esquire.com/entertainmen...
MTV Is Still Alive. So Why Does Everyone Think It Shut Down Last Week?
MTV Is Still Alive. So Why Does Everyone Think It Shut Down Last Week?
MTV Is Still Alive. So Why Does Everyone Think It Shut Down Last Week?
Our ability to tell fact from fiction—even when the facts are right in front of you—is nearly gone. This is not going to end well.
www.esquire.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Our information ecosystem is horribly sick right now.
Dick Pollak, who I knew best as the founding editor of the 1970s journalism review (MORE), died last week. He was a terrific journalist and editor and thinker, and he was also a mensch, generous with his time and his bound volumes. I’m proud to have known him.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
Richard Pollak, 91, Dies; Edited Magazine That Criticized the Media
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Dick Pollak, who I knew best as the founding editor of the 1970s journalism review (MORE), died last week. He was a terrific journalist and editor and thinker, and he was also a mensch, generous with his time and his bound volumes. I’m proud to have known him.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
Nice compilation by CNN of all the 1st Amendment threats this year www.cnn.com/politics/fre...
Trump tests the First Amendment: A timeline | CNN Politics
Within weeks of retaking the White House, President Donald Trump boasted that he had “brought free speech back to America.” But since then, he has tested the limits of the First Amendment time and aga...
www.cnn.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Nice compilation by CNN of all the 1st Amendment threats this year www.cnn.com/politics/fre...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
December 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
My Nieman Lab prediction for this year is a rant. It's a five alarm fire for journalism (and other things as well) and it's time to fight. (we won't.) www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
The year we band together and fight back
"It is, yes, time to be an advocate (I said it)."
www.niemanlab.org
December 18, 2025 at 8:32 PM
My Nieman Lab prediction for this year is a rant. It's a five alarm fire for journalism (and other things as well) and it's time to fight. (we won't.) www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
Always love the @niemanlab.org predictions for journalism, but extra-psyched this year to have two colleagues who prognosticated. Read the work of @brizzyc.bsky.social and @jamditis.bsky.social (And then come study journalism with us at Montclair State University!)
www.niemanlab.org/collection/p...
www.niemanlab.org/collection/p...
Nieman Lab's Predictions for Journalism 2026
Each year, we ask some of the smartest people in journalism and digital media what they think is coming in the next 12 months. Here’s what they had to say.
www.niemanlab.org
December 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Always love the @niemanlab.org predictions for journalism, but extra-psyched this year to have two colleagues who prognosticated. Read the work of @brizzyc.bsky.social and @jamditis.bsky.social (And then come study journalism with us at Montclair State University!)
www.niemanlab.org/collection/p...
www.niemanlab.org/collection/p...
Rob Reiner is responsible for more films that I can quote almost verbatim than pretty much any other director. In the last week, I've watched Stand by Me and the original This is Spinal Tap. Princess Bride is probably my most re-watched movie. Just crushing on top of Brown and Bondi. So, so bleak.
December 15, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Rob Reiner is responsible for more films that I can quote almost verbatim than pretty much any other director. In the last week, I've watched Stand by Me and the original This is Spinal Tap. Princess Bride is probably my most re-watched movie. Just crushing on top of Brown and Bondi. So, so bleak.
I always wait to do my year-end top ten lists at the end of the *fiscal* year.
December 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I always wait to do my year-end top ten lists at the end of the *fiscal* year.
While I don't like the idea of newspapers living and dying entirely because of billionaire philanthropy, I vastly prefer that to a world with no Daily News (or daily news!)
MacKenzie Scott can I interest you in purchasing and endowing The Daily News for posterity, so there's at least one metro newspaper left in this city?
NEW YORK (AP) — Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott increased her donations to nonprofits in 2025, giving $7.1 billion.
December 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
While I don't like the idea of newspapers living and dying entirely because of billionaire philanthropy, I vastly prefer that to a world with no Daily News (or daily news!)
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
"I spend much more time with NYT Games (daily average is 24 minutes, right around when I give up) than I do with the actual New York Times (daily average is 9 minutes)." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour... by Jacob L. Nelson
December 6, 2025 at 10:45 PM
"I spend much more time with NYT Games (daily average is 24 minutes, right around when I give up) than I do with the actual New York Times (daily average is 9 minutes)." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour... by Jacob L. Nelson
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
wow do you want to be an editorial intern at a cool cooperatively owned company and write blogs for the summer????
apply here! defector.com/would-you-li...
apply here! defector.com/would-you-li...
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector inte...
defector.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
wow do you want to be an editorial intern at a cool cooperatively owned company and write blogs for the summer????
apply here! defector.com/would-you-li...
apply here! defector.com/would-you-li...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
On Fridays I get to drag my Slate colleagues in to our studio and together we laugh at the news. Truly one of my fave things I’ve been doing this year slate.com/podcasts/wha...
SchadenFriday: Feelin’ Nuzzi
Broken bonds and bottle blondes.
slate.com
December 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM
On Fridays I get to drag my Slate colleagues in to our studio and together we laugh at the news. Truly one of my fave things I’ve been doing this year slate.com/podcasts/wha...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
The United States men's national team will play Paraguay, Australia and then one of Slovakia/Kosovo/Türkiye/Romania at the World Cup on home soil next summer.
Wondering how they got there? It's a bizarre and funny story.
I've written a book about it.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
Wondering how they got there? It's a bizarre and funny story.
I've written a book about it.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
The Long Game by Leander Schaerlaeckens: 9780593653876 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The gripping account of the U.S. men’s national soccer team’s winding saga from obscurity to the global stage as they stand on the brink of a seminal World Cup in 2026 For almost half a century,...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:16 PM
The United States men's national team will play Paraguay, Australia and then one of Slovakia/Kosovo/Türkiye/Romania at the World Cup on home soil next summer.
Wondering how they got there? It's a bizarre and funny story.
I've written a book about it.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
Wondering how they got there? It's a bizarre and funny story.
I've written a book about it.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
We need great, small, independent journalism. But we also need the big institutions. Because the big institutions are the ones who have the resources to do things like this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/b...
New York Times Sues Pentagon Over First Amendment Rights
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
We need great, small, independent journalism. But we also need the big institutions. Because the big institutions are the ones who have the resources to do things like this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/b...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
Omg. Everything I teach is selected with so much thought towards relevance and necessity. But those things by definition require not just expertise but CRITICAL JUDGEMENT. That’s why people not robots teach and there is a large sphere of rational disagreement about those words.
December 2, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Omg. Everything I teach is selected with so much thought towards relevance and necessity. But those things by definition require not just expertise but CRITICAL JUDGEMENT. That’s why people not robots teach and there is a large sphere of rational disagreement about those words.
My friend Jake (that’s Dr. Beck to you!) on the crisis in Texas universities.
www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
Professor: Texas used to have universities
Former Texas Tech professor takes issue with the actions of Texas universities to restrict what topics can be discussed. Doing so makes them something other...
www.dallasnews.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:57 PM
My friend Jake (that’s Dr. Beck to you!) on the crisis in Texas universities.
www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
Reposted by Kevin Lerner
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.