Excellent section on The Hill article. Thank you. By way of background, a Harvard-produced index of media ownership, political donations and more shows The Hill’s ownership (at #38 as of 2021, ranked by audience size) as follows:
“Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications Inc. The owner. Jimmy Finkelstein is the current CEO of New Communications described as a “Republican and longtime friend who served as a fundraiser for Giuliani’s failed 2008 presidential run.
CNN reports, "Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation.”
The Harvard index is a treasure trove of information about media ownership and I would encourage all reporters to include this transparency information in their reporting on stories. The vast majority of media is not “neutral.”
That Harvard resource is terrific! I would love to see them get funding to keep it up to date…. (My newsletter is occasional and right now via email only but thank you for your support). Today’s Edition is inspiring.
Thanks! Confirms my suspicions. After The Hill closed their Comments, I'd been checking the website to determine the authors' affiliations (click-baited!) before commenting on The Hill's FB feed, and noticed that most of us were commenting on the misleading subject lines of the FB posts. So I unfollowed it.
"Don’t believe everything you read on the internet—especially headlines. They are designed to mess with your mind and monetize your efforts to stay informed. The media is committed to a news formula that tries to incite panic and instill fear because they know it increases reader interest at the cost of accuracy. So, the next time you read a headline predicting catastrophe, approach with caution. Items in the mirror are not as sensational as they appear!"
I feel better knowing you & Jill are in world! Sane, caring, compassionate, involved is what we should all strive to be. My heros, my mentors! Thank you for all the hard work
Apr 13, 2022·edited Apr 13, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
“-if Democrats can summon the messaging discipline to make it.” The question for the last 40 years. The “go high” blather has been a loser, sadly. If you can’t call out the greedy bastards, then what good are you. The “free press” Might be free but they are on the take. Better hire Bloomberg to spread the word, I’m beyond sick of Rupert and clones leading our MSM to the “greed is good” trough. Or maybe we all have signed on to capitalism run amok.
I have begun to think that a good deal of Americans are greedy and only care about what is in it for them. Then David Muir on ABC Evening News will show a person or a group of people doing so many things unselfishly to help others in need. There are good, caring people left in America.
Thanks for bringing this article to my attention. I will definitely discuss this evening. (Companies offering travel reimbursement to Texas employees seeking abortions)
I understand and agree with your thoughts on the article that was published in “The Hill” describing election losses this year of “biblical proportions.” It is most often the case that headlines are written not by the journalists who authored the article and specifically designed to “attract eyeballs and attention” by sensationalizing sound bites within the article rather than featuring its actual theme. News literacy is a particularly important skill in today’s social media dominated world where even previously reliable news sources compete for attention.
I highly recommend to all spending time with the news literacy lessons and tools offered by The News Literacy Project. You can explore these and learn more about them on their website here:
The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.
One of my daughters is an assistant director of a private K-12 school where I help sponsor the cost of a news literacy curriculum for their middle and high school age students using the News Literacy Project materials. The courses get high marks from both their students and parents. It is possible to teach news literacy skills without political bias and these skills are essential to the development to be smart, responsible consumers of news and information.
I just checked out the News Literacy Project website. Wow! A great resource. I have sent a note asking if I can interview a representative of the organization on my podcast.
Todays Edition points to a very real tissue impacting the midterms which is most people are worn out and tired of the headlines, media attacks and a belief that the news is biased and one sided and have tuned it out and don’t react anymore. How many assaults to our freedoms and liberties can we take and when will be the outrage translate to action. The individual states are enacting regressive and prohibitive laws and statues which are not under federal jurisdictions and people are frustrated because the gerrymandering has created an imbalance in state legislatures which is becoming harder to overcome. Freedom is on the ballot in November along with “ how are the Republicans going to make America great again “ and what does that really mean to me.
Exhausted is right. And the pro-Putin crowd takes the cake. I hope that this is just a small minority of people in our country, but they grab the headlines and the megaphones. I am sick and tired of being bullied by this group. It does indeed mess with your mind. Trying to tune out the noise takes time and energy away from solving difficult problems requiring some level of consensus.
Thanks for consistently keeping the key issues clearly in focus, Mr. Hubbell. The dominate corporate media that relentlessly aims to incite hate and division in order to "manufacture consent" for capitalist agendas that have nothing to do with truth and justice has lost all credibility, leaving forums like this the only option for citizens in need of the "free press" essential for democracy. Your humble newsletter built on the foundations of fact-based discourse and the rule of law is another valuable marker on the road to freedom mapped out in the Constitution, an alternative route bypassing the main highway of autocracy, greed and madness, one designed by the founding fathers to restore our imperiled Republic to sanity. The Democrats as a political force, also corrupted by power and money like the Republicans, have lost their way, but hopefully the guidance provided by the citizens who participate in these exchanges of viewpoints will help provide the necessary course-correcting signals. Power to the People!
Stewart, thanks for your comment, and thanks for being an advocate for a fossil fuel free future. Please keep me posted on future events/ developments / demonstrations. A very common complaint I receive from readers of this newsletter is that I do not provide enough coverage of the climate crisis.
Also on page A1—Putin's invasion and a man opening fire on morning commuters. So inflation/war/mass shooting. And, it looks like the Jared Kushner story is already over.
Thanks for the reminder, Joanne. The Kushner story is over only if Democrats say it is. That was my point two newsletters ago--Democrats need to start playing hardball with these stories about rampant GOP / Trump family corruption.
Calling the November elections a "biblical disaster" will only motivate Democrats more to get to the polls to vote in order to avoid such a "disaster". You think the 2020 elections had a great turnout. You ain't seen nothin' yet! 🤣
One thought about your title "this road leads madness". The madness is already here and has been for a very long time, long before we deified Justice Scalia for, among other things, his "brilliance" in reinterpreting the 2nd amendment. With 400,000,000 guns in circulation in our country and armed militias springing up everywhere, does anyone really think we have a chance to build a peaceful society? Current attempts to improve gun laws only nibble around the edges. It pains me to say that it is all too little too late.
You are right, Sam. But I fear it will become far worse when concealed carry is a universal and unregulated right. As I noted, if you are in a workplace where you believe that 20% of your co-workers are armed, the pressure on the other 80% is obvious. I fear that we are on the verge of a new arms race.
You mentioned the PBS NewsHour survey on gun control. This was from September of 2019. Walmart stopped selling ammunition but I believe has returned to its previous policy. Is there any update on gun control polls? Thanks as usual for your Newsletter.
Two great sources for up-to-date gun stats are www.GVPedia.org and www.giffords.org. If you want to take immediate action to help with gun safety, sign up for lunch & lobby for an hour on Mondays to call Congressmen and women. It's spearheaded by Newtown Action Alliance and we are lobbying to get Ethan's Law passed (which requires safe storage of firearms in homes with children and contains penalties for non-compliance.) It's low-hanging fruit but if we can't even get this passed with Dems in charge, it's ridiculous. We are one co-sponsor short at this point so we just need to cross the finish line. Here's the link to sign up: https://www.newtownactionalliance.org/endgunviolence-lunch-lobby-days
Hi, Barbara. I just checked out GVPedia--a great resource. I signed up for its newsletter. And thanks for the cite to Newton Action Alliance. I will check it out as well. If you are involved in the gun violence / gun safety issue, can you please email me when you are aware of developments / studies that you believe merit discussion in the newsletter? Rhubbell@outlook.com Thanks!
Hi Robert, so glad I could help. I am very involved in gun safety. I'm the co-chair of the gun safety committee for the League of Women Voters of Broward and our Lock it Up! program has distributed 17,000 free gun locks and we've spoken to 7,000 people about gun safety.
Most people don't realize that 2/3 of all gun deaths are suicides, a gun is stolen every 2 minutes in the US (to commit crime), and 10 children are unintentionally shot every day. Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children, it used to be third. Gun deaths have gone from 40,000 /year to 45,000/year. Locking up guns prevents suicide protects children and reduces crime. We have given Moms Demand Action 2,000 locks to distribute at events.
A group of high school students made an award-winning PSA for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ZIyGsUs8M. Through lunch & lobby, I connected with a group called Grandparents Against Gun Violence. They are doing great things and they also have a PSA made for them by high school students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfbl8UsmDfA I have been sharing both of those PSAs all over twitter.
The best source to read about gun issues is the free newsletter The Trace. Some of their reporting has led to actual changes. For example, they wrote about how Atlanta policemen allowed their guns to be stolen through negligence and suffered no penalties. After the expose in The Trace, the Atlanta police dept changed the rules to punish officers who did that. You can subscribe to The Trace at www.thetrace.org. I also donate to them as their reporting is critical.
I will definitely keep you apprised of any developments or studies I see. Thanks for all you do! I appreciate your efforts more than I can say. Thanks!
“Most people don't realize that 2/3 of all gun deaths are suicides, a gun is stolen every 2 minutes in the US (to commit crime), and 10 children are unintentionally shot every day. Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children, it used to be third.”
Thanks, Barbara. Sad, but powerful info. I’m also in Florida where my county commissioners support changing Fl statute to allow open carry and lowering gun-ownership age to 18.
How do I love this newsletter? Let me count the ways. First, your call to action to go on the offensive yesterday seems to have resonated with not just us, but also with others in the public eye. For example, Eddie Glade talked about going on the offensive against the 63 Republicans who voted against supporting NATO. Next is the solid information on how to combat the false inflation narrative. Governor Greg Abbott has instituted 100% truck inspection at the Texas/Mexico border. The result has been delays in bringing product across the border, especially car parts used in manufacture at several factories. This has caused many companies to cancel orders. This has increased supply chain issues and increased inflation. Have you heard anything about this? I hadn’t until I saw it on Lawrence O Donnell’s show. This should be on the news everywhere not just in Texas.
As for whether the media is trying to "mess with our minds," I suspect there isn't that much thinking behind it. It's careless, rather than intentional. And in some ways careless is more insidious, because the careless don't know and don't care about the effect their words have. Specific media outlets may be intentional, like The Hill, but how much worse is the Times and other mainstream outlets who merely use headlines to sell newspapers?
Excellent section on The Hill article. Thank you. By way of background, a Harvard-produced index of media ownership, political donations and more shows The Hill’s ownership (at #38 as of 2021, ranked by audience size) as follows:
“Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications Inc. The owner. Jimmy Finkelstein is the current CEO of New Communications described as a “Republican and longtime friend who served as a fundraiser for Giuliani’s failed 2008 presidential run.
CNN reports, "Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation.”
The Harvard index is a treasure trove of information about media ownership and I would encourage all reporters to include this transparency information in their reporting on stories. The vast majority of media is not “neutral.”
https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/futureofmedia/index-us-mainstream-media-ownership
Kathleen, thank you for the wonderful resource! I will share with my readers. And I will check out your newsletter, too!
That Harvard resource is terrific! I would love to see them get funding to keep it up to date…. (My newsletter is occasional and right now via email only but thank you for your support). Today’s Edition is inspiring.
Great to know who he is and where he stands. It explains so much! Thank you, Kathleen.
my new "go to"
Interesting that the Daily Caller was co-founded by Tucker Carlson! So of course it's RW media extremist.
Thanks! Confirms my suspicions. After The Hill closed their Comments, I'd been checking the website to determine the authors' affiliations (click-baited!) before commenting on The Hill's FB feed, and noticed that most of us were commenting on the misleading subject lines of the FB posts. So I unfollowed it.
Thank you for that information! I have not read anything from The Hill to my knowledge, and I will make certain that I don’t bother.
Exactly THIS!
"Don’t believe everything you read on the internet—especially headlines. They are designed to mess with your mind and monetize your efforts to stay informed. The media is committed to a news formula that tries to incite panic and instill fear because they know it increases reader interest at the cost of accuracy. So, the next time you read a headline predicting catastrophe, approach with caution. Items in the mirror are not as sensational as they appear!"
Thanks for continuing to be the voice of reason.
I feel better knowing you & Jill are in world! Sane, caring, compassionate, involved is what we should all strive to be. My heros, my mentors! Thank you for all the hard work
I agree, Robert. You always keep me from losing hope and Jill brings me up with her wonderful podcast.
“-if Democrats can summon the messaging discipline to make it.” The question for the last 40 years. The “go high” blather has been a loser, sadly. If you can’t call out the greedy bastards, then what good are you. The “free press” Might be free but they are on the take. Better hire Bloomberg to spread the word, I’m beyond sick of Rupert and clones leading our MSM to the “greed is good” trough. Or maybe we all have signed on to capitalism run amok.
I have begun to think that a good deal of Americans are greedy and only care about what is in it for them. Then David Muir on ABC Evening News will show a person or a group of people doing so many things unselfishly to help others in need. There are good, caring people left in America.
Thanks for this. We need to hear more about them . I’ll check out David Muir🌺🙏
I hope you like him. He doesn’t insert his own opinion. He really enjoys happy stories about children and animals, too. 💕🙏
I'm with you on that one and thanks for saying that out loud!
NYT's 4/12/22 DealBook: "Abortion is Becoming a Workplace Issue." I realize this is off topic for today but thought it worth forwarding on.
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=4&emc=edit_dk_20220412&instance_id=58253&nl=dealbook&productCode=DK®i_id=103820600&segment_id=88193&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F3f1fe562-2ab1-56a5-8f41-3d27a741a043&user_id=c2f4f50a36dc90a23a014672d0f1f5b5
Thanks for bringing this article to my attention. I will definitely discuss this evening. (Companies offering travel reimbursement to Texas employees seeking abortions)
Glad you found it newsworthy. I did...thank you!
I have been wondering if companies in states with all these excessively restrictive laws will start to suffer in their recruiting efforts.
Thanks for including this link.
Thanks Lynell
Thanks for this link. Very interesting article.
I understand and agree with your thoughts on the article that was published in “The Hill” describing election losses this year of “biblical proportions.” It is most often the case that headlines are written not by the journalists who authored the article and specifically designed to “attract eyeballs and attention” by sensationalizing sound bites within the article rather than featuring its actual theme. News literacy is a particularly important skill in today’s social media dominated world where even previously reliable news sources compete for attention.
I highly recommend to all spending time with the news literacy lessons and tools offered by The News Literacy Project. You can explore these and learn more about them on their website here:
https://newslit.org/
The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.
One of my daughters is an assistant director of a private K-12 school where I help sponsor the cost of a news literacy curriculum for their middle and high school age students using the News Literacy Project materials. The courses get high marks from both their students and parents. It is possible to teach news literacy skills without political bias and these skills are essential to the development to be smart, responsible consumers of news and information.
I just checked out the News Literacy Project website. Wow! A great resource. I have sent a note asking if I can interview a representative of the organization on my podcast.
Thanks for the wonderful resource, and thanks for sponsoring the news literacy project at your daughter's school.
Todays Edition points to a very real tissue impacting the midterms which is most people are worn out and tired of the headlines, media attacks and a belief that the news is biased and one sided and have tuned it out and don’t react anymore. How many assaults to our freedoms and liberties can we take and when will be the outrage translate to action. The individual states are enacting regressive and prohibitive laws and statues which are not under federal jurisdictions and people are frustrated because the gerrymandering has created an imbalance in state legislatures which is becoming harder to overcome. Freedom is on the ballot in November along with “ how are the Republicans going to make America great again “ and what does that really mean to me.
Exhausted is right. And the pro-Putin crowd takes the cake. I hope that this is just a small minority of people in our country, but they grab the headlines and the megaphones. I am sick and tired of being bullied by this group. It does indeed mess with your mind. Trying to tune out the noise takes time and energy away from solving difficult problems requiring some level of consensus.
Thanks for consistently keeping the key issues clearly in focus, Mr. Hubbell. The dominate corporate media that relentlessly aims to incite hate and division in order to "manufacture consent" for capitalist agendas that have nothing to do with truth and justice has lost all credibility, leaving forums like this the only option for citizens in need of the "free press" essential for democracy. Your humble newsletter built on the foundations of fact-based discourse and the rule of law is another valuable marker on the road to freedom mapped out in the Constitution, an alternative route bypassing the main highway of autocracy, greed and madness, one designed by the founding fathers to restore our imperiled Republic to sanity. The Democrats as a political force, also corrupted by power and money like the Republicans, have lost their way, but hopefully the guidance provided by the citizens who participate in these exchanges of viewpoints will help provide the necessary course-correcting signals. Power to the People!
Stewart, thanks for your comment, and thanks for being an advocate for a fossil fuel free future. Please keep me posted on future events/ developments / demonstrations. A very common complaint I receive from readers of this newsletter is that I do not provide enough coverage of the climate crisis.
Grateful for your audio addition, always…. Hope to make it to the podcast tonight. Thank you.
May I add one more gun control organization in the mix, Moms Demand Action. https://momsdemandaction.org/
Thanks for reminding me about Moms Demand Action. I should have included it and will do so next time.
The NYT reports daily on "INFLATION!" as if it's new: "https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/12/business/economy/inflation-report-march.html."
Also on page A1—Putin's invasion and a man opening fire on morning commuters. So inflation/war/mass shooting. And, it looks like the Jared Kushner story is already over.
Thanks for the reminder, Joanne. The Kushner story is over only if Democrats say it is. That was my point two newsletters ago--Democrats need to start playing hardball with these stories about rampant GOP / Trump family corruption.
Calling the November elections a "biblical disaster" will only motivate Democrats more to get to the polls to vote in order to avoid such a "disaster". You think the 2020 elections had a great turnout. You ain't seen nothin' yet! 🤣
One thought about your title "this road leads madness". The madness is already here and has been for a very long time, long before we deified Justice Scalia for, among other things, his "brilliance" in reinterpreting the 2nd amendment. With 400,000,000 guns in circulation in our country and armed militias springing up everywhere, does anyone really think we have a chance to build a peaceful society? Current attempts to improve gun laws only nibble around the edges. It pains me to say that it is all too little too late.
Sam Callaway
You are right, Sam. But I fear it will become far worse when concealed carry is a universal and unregulated right. As I noted, if you are in a workplace where you believe that 20% of your co-workers are armed, the pressure on the other 80% is obvious. I fear that we are on the verge of a new arms race.
You mentioned the PBS NewsHour survey on gun control. This was from September of 2019. Walmart stopped selling ammunition but I believe has returned to its previous policy. Is there any update on gun control polls? Thanks as usual for your Newsletter.
Two great sources for up-to-date gun stats are www.GVPedia.org and www.giffords.org. If you want to take immediate action to help with gun safety, sign up for lunch & lobby for an hour on Mondays to call Congressmen and women. It's spearheaded by Newtown Action Alliance and we are lobbying to get Ethan's Law passed (which requires safe storage of firearms in homes with children and contains penalties for non-compliance.) It's low-hanging fruit but if we can't even get this passed with Dems in charge, it's ridiculous. We are one co-sponsor short at this point so we just need to cross the finish line. Here's the link to sign up: https://www.newtownactionalliance.org/endgunviolence-lunch-lobby-days
Hi, Barbara. I just checked out GVPedia--a great resource. I signed up for its newsletter. And thanks for the cite to Newton Action Alliance. I will check it out as well. If you are involved in the gun violence / gun safety issue, can you please email me when you are aware of developments / studies that you believe merit discussion in the newsletter? Rhubbell@outlook.com Thanks!
Hi Robert, so glad I could help. I am very involved in gun safety. I'm the co-chair of the gun safety committee for the League of Women Voters of Broward and our Lock it Up! program has distributed 17,000 free gun locks and we've spoken to 7,000 people about gun safety.
Most people don't realize that 2/3 of all gun deaths are suicides, a gun is stolen every 2 minutes in the US (to commit crime), and 10 children are unintentionally shot every day. Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children, it used to be third. Gun deaths have gone from 40,000 /year to 45,000/year. Locking up guns prevents suicide protects children and reduces crime. We have given Moms Demand Action 2,000 locks to distribute at events.
A group of high school students made an award-winning PSA for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ZIyGsUs8M. Through lunch & lobby, I connected with a group called Grandparents Against Gun Violence. They are doing great things and they also have a PSA made for them by high school students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfbl8UsmDfA I have been sharing both of those PSAs all over twitter.
The best source to read about gun issues is the free newsletter The Trace. Some of their reporting has led to actual changes. For example, they wrote about how Atlanta policemen allowed their guns to be stolen through negligence and suffered no penalties. After the expose in The Trace, the Atlanta police dept changed the rules to punish officers who did that. You can subscribe to The Trace at www.thetrace.org. I also donate to them as their reporting is critical.
I will definitely keep you apprised of any developments or studies I see. Thanks for all you do! I appreciate your efforts more than I can say. Thanks!
“Most people don't realize that 2/3 of all gun deaths are suicides, a gun is stolen every 2 minutes in the US (to commit crime), and 10 children are unintentionally shot every day. Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children, it used to be third.”
Thanks, Barbara. Sad, but powerful info. I’m also in Florida where my county commissioners support changing Fl statute to allow open carry and lowering gun-ownership age to 18.
Thanks for all YOU do !
Thanks, Kathy. Tragically, Florida is a scary place right now.
How do I love this newsletter? Let me count the ways. First, your call to action to go on the offensive yesterday seems to have resonated with not just us, but also with others in the public eye. For example, Eddie Glade talked about going on the offensive against the 63 Republicans who voted against supporting NATO. Next is the solid information on how to combat the false inflation narrative. Governor Greg Abbott has instituted 100% truck inspection at the Texas/Mexico border. The result has been delays in bringing product across the border, especially car parts used in manufacture at several factories. This has caused many companies to cancel orders. This has increased supply chain issues and increased inflation. Have you heard anything about this? I hadn’t until I saw it on Lawrence O Donnell’s show. This should be on the news everywhere not just in Texas.
Thanks for mentioning the Texas border issue. I will check out Lawrence O'Donnell's segment on that story.
This story has now reached the Washington Post and it looks like produce is even more drastically affected, since it is so perishable: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/13/texas-truck-abbott-mexico/
Thank you for reading beyond the “disaster looms” headlines and reporting to us, I can’t bring myself to do it!
As for whether the media is trying to "mess with our minds," I suspect there isn't that much thinking behind it. It's careless, rather than intentional. And in some ways careless is more insidious, because the careless don't know and don't care about the effect their words have. Specific media outlets may be intentional, like The Hill, but how much worse is the Times and other mainstream outlets who merely use headlines to sell newspapers?