Court Coverage – From “The Front Page” To The Internet

By Ted Gest >> In the fast-paced media environment of 2025, how has news coverage of the courts evolved since the classic portrayal of “The Front Page”? The Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur drama in the 1920s was set in the press room of Chicago’s criminal courts building, where cigar-chomping, card-playing reporters phoned in sensational stories about

FCC investigations under Trump could hurt broadcasters

By Katie Kwasneski >> President Donald Trump’s new Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr has begun multifaceted investigations of national news organizations for reasons ranging from “news distortion,” running commercial ads on noncommercial public broadcast stations, and DEI programs. The first of these investigations began two days after Trump’s inauguration.  Carr reinstated news distortion complaints

Marshall Project opens local newsroom in St. Louis

By Elizabeth Tharakan >> The Marshall Project opened a local nonprofit newsroom in St. Louis to support local media with investigative and data journalism about the criminal justice system. St. Louis is the third city in the New York-based Marshall Project’s local network. The other two are Clevaland and Jackson, Mississippi.  “This newsroom is several

Opinion: The month that shook our world

By William H. Freivogel >> French publication Le Monde headlined this week that it was “The week the US shook Europe’s world.” Americans could justifiably say it’s the month that shook ours. There is no precedent for President Donald Trump’s massive restructuring of the government with a flurry of executive orders, pronouncements, firings and pardons