In 2015, Jason Velásquez, a farmer, tax assessor and one-time marketing director for a Shakespeare theater company, started an online news site because he believed–and still does–in the importance of local news. When he founded The Greylock Glass in January of that year, the two main papers in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts had just…
It’s been hard in recent weeks to deliver my usual pep talk about journalism to the college students whom I teach. For one, we are not in the same physical space. I’m engaging with students online in bursts and have been since late March. Even so, I can sense their grief, sometimes in their silence…
My physical world, like many of ours, has become smaller in recent weeks even as my digital world has expanded. I’m working from home, and as an editor, I don’t have to be out reporting in the community to do my job. I can minimize the risks of exposure (for me and my family) to…
In the hours after Iran attacked two Iraqi military bases that housed U.S. troops in January, social media predictably was rampant with rumors. Old and doctored photos surfaced claiming to show the bases on fire, and users shared reports on Twitter and Facebook that the missile strikes had killed Americans. A news-savvy, educated friend of…
A sweeping new Pew Center report that examines trust in the media confirmed an uneasy truth that we can no longer ignore. It’s not just that our readers don’t trust us. They think we are unethical. And like everything else in America right now, it’s a partisan truth. According to the analysis, Republicans consistently express…