A. Brad Schwartz
@abradschwartz.bsky.social
Historian of Media, Fake News, and Propaganda. Author/Co-Author of BROADCAST HYSTERIA; SCARFACE AND THE UNTOUCHABLE; ELIOT NESS AND THE MAD BUTCHER. Michigan Wolverine with a Princeton PhD.
The SS Arthur M. Anderson seen earlier today, laid up in Toledo exactly fifty years after accompanying the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on its final voyage.
November 11, 2025 at 3:03 AM
The SS Arthur M. Anderson seen earlier today, laid up in Toledo exactly fifty years after accompanying the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on its final voyage.
I took this photo from Belle Isle yesterday afternoon (following, I kid you not, an Edmund Fitzgerald commemorative event).
Only learned later that I apparently watched this freighter run aground in the Detroit River:
Only learned later that I apparently watched this freighter run aground in the Detroit River:
November 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I took this photo from Belle Isle yesterday afternoon (following, I kid you not, an Edmund Fitzgerald commemorative event).
Only learned later that I apparently watched this freighter run aground in the Detroit River:
Only learned later that I apparently watched this freighter run aground in the Detroit River:
Went to Belle Isle for an event commemorating the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Ended up seeing a freighter, about the same size as the Fitz, get itself stuck in the Detroit River.
Ended up seeing a freighter, about the same size as the Fitz, get itself stuck in the Detroit River.
November 8, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Went to Belle Isle for an event commemorating the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Ended up seeing a freighter, about the same size as the Fitz, get itself stuck in the Detroit River.
Ended up seeing a freighter, about the same size as the Fitz, get itself stuck in the Detroit River.
Welles did genuine believe the broadcast had ruined him, for a short time. But after the press conference, he gave an interview to the Princeton student paper where you can see the light dawning on him:
papersofprinceton.princeton.edu/princetonper...
papersofprinceton.princeton.edu/princetonper...
October 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Welles did genuine believe the broadcast had ruined him, for a short time. But after the press conference, he gave an interview to the Princeton student paper where you can see the light dawning on him:
papersofprinceton.princeton.edu/princetonper...
papersofprinceton.princeton.edu/princetonper...
But you know what they say about what happens when the legend becomes fact…
Or at least my friend @chrisyogerst.com does, since this just came in the mail!
Or at least my friend @chrisyogerst.com does, since this just came in the mail!
October 31, 2025 at 4:23 PM
But you know what they say about what happens when the legend becomes fact…
Or at least my friend @chrisyogerst.com does, since this just came in the mail!
Or at least my friend @chrisyogerst.com does, since this just came in the mail!
Welles gave a legendary performance at that Halloween press conference, trying to project absolute sincerity and sadness. But the common notion that he was secretly delighted is more legend than fact.
"If I'd planned to wreck my career," he said privately, "I couldn't have gone about it better."
"If I'd planned to wreck my career," he said privately, "I couldn't have gone about it better."
October 31, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Welles gave a legendary performance at that Halloween press conference, trying to project absolute sincerity and sadness. But the common notion that he was secretly delighted is more legend than fact.
"If I'd planned to wreck my career," he said privately, "I couldn't have gone about it better."
"If I'd planned to wreck my career," he said privately, "I couldn't have gone about it better."
“You don’t play murder in soft words. … Of course, I’m terribly sorry now.”
—Orson Welles to reporters, after his “War of the Worlds” broadcast, on Halloween 1938 🎃
—Orson Welles to reporters, after his “War of the Worlds” broadcast, on Halloween 1938 🎃
October 31, 2025 at 4:17 PM
“You don’t play murder in soft words. … Of course, I’m terribly sorry now.”
—Orson Welles to reporters, after his “War of the Worlds” broadcast, on Halloween 1938 🎃
—Orson Welles to reporters, after his “War of the Worlds” broadcast, on Halloween 1938 🎃
A tradition is a tradition…
And if it’s 8pm Eastern time, on October 30th, I’m tuning in to WAR OF THE WORLDS…
And if it’s 8pm Eastern time, on October 30th, I’m tuning in to WAR OF THE WORLDS…
October 31, 2025 at 12:07 AM
A tradition is a tradition…
And if it’s 8pm Eastern time, on October 30th, I’m tuning in to WAR OF THE WORLDS…
And if it’s 8pm Eastern time, on October 30th, I’m tuning in to WAR OF THE WORLDS…
Liberty Magazine, 94 years ago this month:
October 30, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Liberty Magazine, 94 years ago this month:
October 18, 2025 at 10:19 PM
October 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
The full context—in which Pope Leo describes journalism as an essential “barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing"—is even better:
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
October 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The full context—in which Pope Leo describes journalism as an essential “barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing"—is even better:
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
Exposition doesn’t get much smarter than the first few minutes of APOLLO 13, when Kevin Bacon delivers crucial information on how the spacecraft works with a beer bottle, a pint glass, and an innuendo
September 22, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Exposition doesn’t get much smarter than the first few minutes of APOLLO 13, when Kevin Bacon delivers crucial information on how the spacecraft works with a beer bottle, a pint glass, and an innuendo
QUIZ SHOW is one of the great, under-appreciated gems, which somehow makes you *feel* what it was like when lying on TV still counted as a major scandal.
Robert Redford made too many great films to list here, but this one’s never been more relevant. #RIP
Robert Redford made too many great films to list here, but this one’s never been more relevant. #RIP
September 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
QUIZ SHOW is one of the great, under-appreciated gems, which somehow makes you *feel* what it was like when lying on TV still counted as a major scandal.
Robert Redford made too many great films to list here, but this one’s never been more relevant. #RIP
Robert Redford made too many great films to list here, but this one’s never been more relevant. #RIP
You should, on the other hand, always read (and re-read) Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.”
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
September 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
You should, on the other hand, always read (and re-read) Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.”
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
(For the record, this Murrow quote comes from David Lilienthal’s published journals—*not*, as Google AI would tell you, from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.)
September 5, 2025 at 6:23 PM
(For the record, this Murrow quote comes from David Lilienthal’s published journals—*not*, as Google AI would tell you, from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.)
It’s always a treat to meet a writer whose work you admire—especially when you get to thank him for citing your research in his!
So glad I got to see @vermontgmg.bsky.social on his swing through Michigan yesterday.
So glad I got to see @vermontgmg.bsky.social on his swing through Michigan yesterday.
September 4, 2025 at 3:46 PM
It’s always a treat to meet a writer whose work you admire—especially when you get to thank him for citing your research in his!
So glad I got to see @vermontgmg.bsky.social on his swing through Michigan yesterday.
So glad I got to see @vermontgmg.bsky.social on his swing through Michigan yesterday.
Writing (when it’s character based) and acting are more similar processes than I think people realize, but I never fully appreciated that until I read this quote from Philip Seymour Hoffman (which describes my workday better than anything I’ve ever seen).
August 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Writing (when it’s character based) and acting are more similar processes than I think people realize, but I never fully appreciated that until I read this quote from Philip Seymour Hoffman (which describes my workday better than anything I’ve ever seen).
If you ask me this question in a few years, though, the answer may be GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK—since that film introduced me to Edward R. Murrow, who I’ve been chasing through history since grad school.
(But that’s still too much of a work in progress for me to have perspective on it yet.)
(But that’s still too much of a work in progress for me to have perspective on it yet.)
August 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
If you ask me this question in a few years, though, the answer may be GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK—since that film introduced me to Edward R. Murrow, who I’ve been chasing through history since grad school.
(But that’s still too much of a work in progress for me to have perspective on it yet.)
(But that’s still too much of a work in progress for me to have perspective on it yet.)
On the podcast, I talk about how WAR OF THE WORLDS adaptations always take the shape of our fears (Nazis in the 1930s, nuclear war in the 1950s, terrorism in the 2000s.)
But the new version seems to take that a bit literally:
bsky.app/profile/ever...
But the new version seems to take that a bit literally:
bsky.app/profile/ever...
July 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
On the podcast, I talk about how WAR OF THE WORLDS adaptations always take the shape of our fears (Nazis in the 1930s, nuclear war in the 1950s, terrorism in the 2000s.)
But the new version seems to take that a bit literally:
bsky.app/profile/ever...
But the new version seems to take that a bit literally:
bsky.app/profile/ever...
Just for fun, name two completely unrelated movies that share the same director.
July 13, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Just for fun, name two completely unrelated movies that share the same director.
I don’t think Superman would take kindly to that suggestion.
July 9, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I don’t think Superman would take kindly to that suggestion.