Matt Shipman (he/him)

How the lack of newspapers feeds a rise in local corruption. Our study also found that digital media sites didn’t make much of a difference.

One large study found that when a major daily newspaper covering a federal judicial district disappears, corruption cases there—bribery, embezzlement, fraud—rise by more than 7%.

The researchers suggest officials feel emboldened when no one's looking.
www.cjr.org/analysis/loc...

Financing dies in darkness? The impact of newspaper closures on public finance We examine how local newspaper closures affect public finance outcomes for local governments. Following a newspaper closure, municipal borrowing costs…

Studies show that when local news outlets stop scrutinizing government, efficiency drops. Public payrolls bloat. Waste increases.

The cost gets passed to you—roughly $85 in added taxes per person after a county loses one of its last few papers.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

U.S. newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008 While newspapers have seen steep job losses from 2008 to 2020, digital-native news organizations have seen considerable gains.

Between 2008 and 2020, U.S. newspaper newsroom employment fell 57%.

More than 200 counties are now "news deserts"—no local outlet at all. In another 1,500+ counties, only one remains. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post offering “financial runway." This month it gutted its newsroom—more than 300 layoffs.

Whatever you think of legacy news, the hard data shows us that newspaper closures hurt Americans. Here's how: 🧵

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

Deeply conflicted, Kushner represents the U.S. in high-stakes negotiations with Iran Today in Geneva, Switzerland, Jared Kushner will represent the United States in meetings with Iranian officials — a last-ditch effort to avoid war.

Just a reminder: instead of an actual diplomat, we sent Trump’s deeply compromised son-in-law as the lead negotiator to avert war with Iran.

popular.info/p/deeply-con...

Thanks for your kind words. I think it went well.

@djolder.bsky.social Glad to find you on Bluesky! And using this opportunity to importune you for another entry in either Dactyl Hill or Bone Street Rumba. (Worth a shot, right?)

Dude has leaned hard into bad decisions.

powerful academics getting to retire after being linked to a child sex trafficer is not "accountability" or "facing consequences" or "a reckoning" or "justice" it's just them retiring. These institutions continue to beclown themselves. Divest.

Congratulations. You harassed a married staffer until she submitted to your perversions leading to her suicide and still kept your job because the Republican Party stands for nothing except the acquisition of power. Congrats, Tony. bsky.app/profile/atru...

This week's cover @thelancet.com

It went well! It usually goes well, to be honest. It's just that my stomach remembers (in advance of the talk) that I am terrified of public speaking and decides to clench itself into tiny little knots...until it's go time, and then we're off to the races. :)

In a few minutes I'll be co-leading a webinar for a bunch of comms professionals around the country.

I have given many (many) talks and served on many (many) panels. And I still always get so nervous beforehand that my stomach hurts. I'll be fine once it starts, but I hate this part.

Well, this seems bad.

My apologies to Pickle.

Glen Campbell became so successful as a country artist, it's easy to forget he was a session guitarist with the Wrecking Crew and could play pretty much anything.

And, of course, George Benson was a jazz guitar hero before becoming a successful pop artist.

YouTube video by OhPal22 George Benson feat. Glen Campbell - Affirmation

George Benson and Glen Campbell busting out a jazzy disco instrumental is exactly what I needed this Friday afternoon.
#guitar
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41e...

Pickle is clearly a very good boy.

YouTube video by KatrinaTheWavesVEVO Katrina & The Waves - Walking On Sunshine (Official Music Video)

And if it is *absolutely necessary*, you can break the glass on this bad boy. But remember, this is to be used ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCIES.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUm...

YouTube video by John Scofield - Topic What'd I Say

Should that gif be insufficient (I know, I know, how could it not be enough?), check out this cover of "What'd I Say" led by jazz guitarist John Scofield, with vocals by Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples and Dr. John, among others.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_y6...

a man and a woman are standing next to each other and looking at each other . Alt: A man and woman perform a no-look fistbump while standing side by side, then slide smoothly away from each other in opposite directions.

This calls for my most used gif.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nopety-no-no-no annnnnnnd nope.

In conclusion, absolutely the F not.

YouTube video by Singular Vision Productions Buddy Guy and Chris Duarte with Kunimoto Takeharu Japanese TV 1995: Better Quality!

This is great. If you want cut to the cross-cultural blues, skip to the 8:50 mark. It's delightful.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wedN...

199 is strollin'. You love to see it.

I do wonder if Democrats will learn anything from this. Catering to homophobia and transphobia will not garner votes from the right, but it will alienate your base. Being politely ineffectual in opposition will not win you votes.

Fight like hell for human rights. Tax the rich. Show some backbone.

I don't know why, but I have a tremendous fondness for Paul McCartney's "Check My Machine." Sure, it's a self-indulgent experiment in pseudo-dub by a white guy approaching 40 who plays all of the instruments. But when that guy is also one of the greatest pop songwriters of all time, it's fun.

Labour did everything the popularists like Matt Yglesias want. They cracked down on trans people and immigrants. They pushed austerity. They ended up fracturing their entire base and losing this seat to the left for the first time in nearly a 100 years.

One of the misinformation talking points from centrists on Covid is that Covid activists and anti-vaxxers are the same.

I want you to think of any other rights movement where the centrist position has been “ugh, these people on the far ends are both so noisy, they’re the same.”

Is it all of them?

Labour's swing toward racism is perhaps the biggest unforced error in British political history; burnt their base to ashes and won them not a single vote on the right.