The Objective

A "Jim Crow" law made MLB leave Atlanta. Sports reporters should've asked why they went back. Coverage of the All-Star Game’s return to Atlanta fails to mention a voter suppression law that prompted the game’s leaving in 2021.

Nice piece by Jen Ramos Eisen in The Objective. @jenramose.online ‪@objectivejournos.bsky.social‬

A "Jim Crow" law made MLB leave Atlanta. Sports reporters should've asked why they went back. Coverage of the All-Star Game’s return to Atlanta fails to mention a voter suppression law that prompted the game’s leaving in 2021.

A “Jim Crow” law made MLB leave Atlanta. Sports reporters should’ve asked why they went back.
objectivejournalism.org/2025/07/medi...

Yet the law was on the books when Commissioner Rob Manfred announced, to both criticism and fanfare, in Nov. 2023 that the All-Star Game would return to Atlanta, and is still on the books as of publishing. This incongruity was finally covered in more news stories after I asked Roberts about his 2021 comments and several articles mentioning the law. Roberts — who was supportive of the decision to move the game out of Atlanta — gave what seemed like a canned, PR-trained answer: “I’m not a politician. I do feel that everyone has their right to voice thoughts. But right now I just really choose to focus on the players and the game and be excited to be here.” “Sportswriting is access journalism,” a baseball industry source told me.

baseball media whiffed on covering MLB's capitulation about having the All-Star Game at Truist Park leading up to the festivities. my latest for @objectivejournos.bsky.social: objectivejournalism.org/2025/07/medi...

I spoke to @jenramose.online @objectivejournos.bsky.social about how flawed coverage of the return of the MLB All-Star Game, despite voter restriction laws still being on the books, is a logical conclusion to The Atlanta Way's crisis of legitimacy and the city's broader crisis of democracy.

this was, perhaps, the most telling, indicative, and damning thing of the state of baseball media — where is everyone else? my story in @objectivejournos.bsky.social objectivejournalism.org/2025/07/medi...

NY Times cited 29 times to justify decision limiting trans healthcare Meanwhile, other mainstream media newsrooms treated the U.S. v. Skrmetti case as an opportunity to center coverage around the expected result.

twenty-nine (29!!!) nyt stories were cited to support the state in the u.s. v skrmetti decision (h/t @assignedmedia.org for reporting for @objectivejournos.bsky.social) to further limit access to trans healthcare. just horrid horrid stuff objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/new-...

NY Times cited 29 times to justify decision limiting trans healthcare Meanwhile, other mainstream media newsrooms treated the U.S. v. Skrmetti case as an opportunity to center coverage around the expected result.

The New York Times was cited 29 times to justify the Supreme Court's decision limiting trans healthcare.

The decision leaves in place bans that have forced families of some trans kids to leave their homes to maintain access to the necessary treatments.
objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/new-...

NY Times cited 29 times to justify decision limiting trans healthcare Meanwhile, other mainstream media newsrooms treated the U.S. v. Skrmetti case as an opportunity to center coverage around the expected result.

Journalists shouldn't take for granted how news coverage is used to justify life-altering political decisions.

A focus on the process, not just product: Healing through hearing Even when movement journalists can’t offer justice, we’re not just responsible for our stories, but for the ways in which we listen.

Sometimes the moment in which journalism makes the most change is an intimate one. In my latest for @objectivejournos.bsky.social, I reflect on the responsibility of holding healing and catharsis as a storyteller. objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/a-fo...

Journalistic objectivity at the protest Leaving the notebook at home after 16 years at newspapers. (First published in Frank Shyong's Lunch Box and reprinted with permission.)

Thanks to @objectivejournos.bsky.social for republishing my piece on journalistic objectivity at the protest: objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/jour...

A focus on the process, not just product: Healing through hearing Even when movement journalists can’t offer justice, we’re not just responsible for our stories, but for the ways in which we listen.

"The families want to talk to journalists for justice, but the editors and the audiences want a story. "
objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/a-fo...

Journalistic objectivity at the protest Leaving the notebook at home after 16 years at newspapers. (First published in Frank Shyong's Lunch Box and reprinted with permission.)

"By now most of us can agree that pure objectivity is a fiction; that those invoking it often use it as cover for expressing white or majoritarian perspectives."
objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/jour...

'No act of journalism ... is too small': Creating necessary archives Archives are the "slam dunk" purpose of movement journalism. What we create just has to archive the truth for the next generation.

The threat to our stories of liberation and justice is real and ongoing. But through archiving, even if we lose our fights, the next generation has a shot at learning what we attempted and how, @lewispants.bsky.social writes. objectivejournalism.org/2025/06/no-a...

A New York Times Podcast on Youth Trans Care Leaves Out the Patients — Assigned Something must be wrong, they keep suggesting, but they can’t tell us what it is. And they didn’t uplift the stories of the trans youths whose care is under threat.

A new podcast from the New York Times left out patient stories that could have best illuminated its topic, those of trans youth but also of detransitioners, argues @evanurquhart.bsky.social.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

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This piece was copublished with @objectivejournos.bsky.social, a rad news org with a focus on media criticism that you should definitely check out!

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Assigned Media's Evan Urquhart has the story of reporters playing hardball with a devastated family, and the voice of the young trans woman at the heart of the story who is speaking publicly for the first time.

This story was published in partnership with @objectivejournos.bsky.social.

Check out @objectivejournos.bsky.social, a newsroom that focuses on examining systems of power and inequality in journalism.

And subscribe to Assigned Media's free Friday digest to keep up with trans news from us and all over the web. Just enter your email in our pop up or the footer of any page.

I had the honor of being interviewed by James Salanga, co-director of The Objective, about why newsrooms may be continuing to use passive voice when describing police violence. #GeorgeFloyd

Mainstream newsrooms aren’t really covering the latest attack on gender-affirming care As anti-trans legislation continues to reach record levels, these publications are excluding accurate reporting about the stakes.

“As anti-trans legislation continues to reach record levels year over year, publications are choosing to not include accurate reporting on what’s at stake for trans people.”

Five years later, the AP still inconsistently describes George Floyd’s murder The major newswire service continues to use passive voice when describing a crucial flashpoint of police violence.

Newsrooms that continue to use passive voice even when it’s clear who perpetrated violence may be doing so “out of mimicry and habit rather than strategy,” @karenyin.bsky.social, the author of The Conscious Style Guide told The Objective.

This moment shows why movement journalism matters "Movement journalism's purpose zero is challenging fascism and authoritarianism by fighting disinformation," Lewis Raven Wallace writes.

Movement journalism’s purpose zero: Challenging fascism and authoritarianism by fighting disinformation.

How do you think journalism should meet this moment? 🤔

objectivejournalism.org/2025/05/this...

Will prison journalism save democracy? From subversive spaces, prison journalists build muscles of resistance and perhaps a sort of tolerance against the repressive nature of opposing forces.

Will prison journalism save democracy?
Prison journalists build muscles of resistance and perhaps a sort of tolerance against the repressive nature of opposing forces.
objectivejournalism.org/2025/05/will...

White House says no comment to reporters with pronouns in bio, in email to one such reporter Limiting press access through this policy is at the intersection of the administration's anti-press attitudes and transphobia.

great reporting from @hashtagjames.bsky.social for @objectivejournos.bsky.social

objectivejournalism.org/2025/04/whit...

The Case for Movement Journalism A new limited-run column from The Objective from Lewis Raven Wallace, author of View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity, about why movement journalism matters.

What if the news we took in every day inspired us, helped us connect to one another, and gave us hope and vision for another world? 💭
‪
Learn more, read @lewispants.bsky.social's new column "The Case for Movement Journalism."

Subscribe today! ⬇️
objectivejournalism.org/the-case-for...

The Case for Movement Journalism A new limited-run column from The Objective from Lewis Raven Wallace, author of View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity, about why movement journalism matters.

Movement journalism—journalism in service to liberation—can save us. Learn how by subscribing to my new limited-run series of columns for @objectivejournos.bsky.social, The Case for Movement Journalism. objectivejournalism.org/the-case-for...

White House says no comment to reporters with pronouns in bio, in email to one such reporter Limiting press access through this policy is at the intersection of the administration's anti-press attitudes and transphobia.

"The White House said they will not be responding to reporters with pronouns in their signature — in an email to a reporter with pronouns in their signature."

Government attacks on Palestinian human rights speech aren't new Newsrooms must contextualize the Trump administration’s animosity toward Palestine solidarity as part of a long-time U.S. government pattern.

Newsrooms must urgently contextualize the Trump administration’s animosity toward speech supporting Palestine as not just an attack on the First Amendment but as part of the U.S.’s long history of suppressing solidarity for Palestinians’ rights.

Government attacks on Palestinian human rights speech aren't new Newsrooms must contextualize the Trump administration’s animosity toward Palestine solidarity as part of a long-time U.S. government pattern.

The "Palestine exception" to free speech is a documented, decades-long pushback to supporting Palestinians that has settled across all fields of work, from education to journalism.

Don't conflate journalistic caution, care with advance compliance As Trump attacks journalism, the media ecosystem needs to reorient itself toward real community protection, rather than complying in advance.

"As Trump’s attacks on press continue, the media ecosystem needs to reckon with oppression and censorship by reorienting itself toward real community protection, rather than complying in advance."