Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3h

AI can do OK news commentary + analysis (nothing great- nothing too inventive, creative, or incisive) because it summarizes & synthesizes others' work well.

But it can't pick up a phone or do "shoe leather" reporting because it doesn't have hands or feet.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4h

I don't understand this (from Bangor Daily News):

If she'll be 79 years old on her first day in the Senate, how can she guarantee she'll live to be 85 years old?

Screenshot of Bangor Daily News article, headline text: "Janet Mills Pledges to Serve Just 1 Term in US Senate if Elected"

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 15h

Nobody should "like" this post, but in Bangor, Maine, we have a Nazi running for City Council right now, and swastikas keep popping up around town.

Really horrible.

www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/14/b...

Nazi graffiti painted on Bangor walking path

The graffiti, which included a swastika and the numbers “1488,” was visible as of Monday afternoon.

www.bangordailynews.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 15h

What a strange, bizarre story.

The Media School @ Indiana Univeristy [Ernie Pyle, '23*] demands school newspaper print *no news* in homecoming edition of the paper. When media advisor balks ("This is First Amendment stuff”), he's fired?

*didn't graduate

www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU fires student media director after he refused to censor the IDS

Indiana University directed the IDS to stop printing news.

www.idsnews.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 22h

I was asked to write an "explainer" for @us.theconversation.com on why there's no First Amendment in broadcasting.
Here's my simple (bit too basic) explanation.
Something few remember: The FCC Chairman who hated free speech the most was Republican Michael Powell.

theconversation.com/the-limits-o...

The limits of free speech protections in American broadcasting

Pressuring broadcasters by leveraging the powers of the Federal Communications Commission occurs no matter which party controls the White House.

theconversation.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 1d

They wore costumes to perform... ON THE RADIO.

Think about that.

Also, it's amazing how many very early radio programs (see the NBC logo on the microphone? Those are carbon-suspension mics, very, very primitive) were sponsored by tire manufacturers. Goodyear, Firestone, Michelin... Radio=travel.

Jesse Walker @notjessewalker.bsky.social · 1d

Your morning image

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

"An 'inside story' of how a baby-carriage factory works would be dull and of no interest. But an inside story of a baby-carriage factory that is actually making machine-guns on the sly-that’s more like it."
Ken magazine:"New Journalism" pioneer in 1930s
linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/ken-the-19...

Over image of piece of paper with typewriter text: "Ken: The 1930s Journalism Experiment That Was 3 Decades Too Early. The innovative magazine that encouraged new modes of reporting and writing, and anticipated "The New Journalism," was a bit too ahead of its time.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

One reason "ABC World News Tonight" draws 7.3 million viewers every evening is that the people who produce it know TV news viewers aren't particularly interested in Hillary Clinton's and Condoleezza Rice's perspectives on the Israel-Hamas accord.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

Evening newscast ratings notoriously difficult explain (they correlate more closely to lead-in show ratings than any individual characteristics- this is the famous "Oprah" effect lifting Jennings + ABC locals in 1980s-90s).

Muir's handsome, and team is solid. It's Errol Flynn reading news wires.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

Nothing says: "I'm capable and prepared to lead this news organization to new heights" than a memo asking "Can all of you please tell me what you're doing here?" that's sent on a holiday weekend Friday, ordering it done by Tuesday, that also promises "I'll keep it just between us!"

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

Imagine what Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, Mike Wallace, or Andy Rooney would say if ordered to produce a memo that explained how they spend their working hours...

... by somebody who's never worked in broadcasting, on Friday of a holiday weekend, due the following Tuesday.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

That jumped out at me, too. Written by somebody who's never been senior management at a massive news organization. Depending on what memos used for, could open up massive legal liability.

Also: Today's Friday of a holiday weekend, and these reports are due Tuesday. That'll encourage people.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

1) Issued on Friday of a holiday weekend, with reports due Tuesday. Great timing. Urgent deadlines and breaking news coverage can often be sidelined at giant news organizations.

2) The line "they will be held in the strictest of confidence" could open up all kinds of liability.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

I supervised a 2012 UMaine Ph.D. dissertation titled "Cops, Cameras and Accountability: User-Generated Online Video and Public Space Police-Civilian Interactions" by D.A. Kelly.

It'll never not be timely.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance uploaded it here:

bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/file...

bja.ojp.gov

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

"Do you have any idea what it's like trying to be profound for two minutes every day?"
-Eric Sevareid

books.google.com/books?newbks...

Eric Sevareid's Commentaries, 1964-1977

Eric Sevaried, one of the original Murrow boys, was a highly influential CBS correspondent and best known for his provocative television commentaries, which he delivered almost every night on the Even...

books.google.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

You know what's a strange fact to contemplate?

Right now we're closer in time to 2030 than to 2020.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for the kind words, Elana.

And thanks for teachinig me (with "Her Stories") basically anything I know about daytime serial drama (soap opera) history!

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Bari Weiss should be judged at CBS News as all her predecessors were judged: By the ratings and the quality of the journalistic product.

Her greatest challenge isn't what most people think it'll be - it's ABC News.

The latest in the Lint Trap

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/bari-weiss...

Bari Weiss's Greatest Challenge at CBS

It's not the Murrow-Cronkite Legacy. It's not the newsrooms & bureaus filled with journalists more experienced than her. It's not the scale of the operation. It's David Muir's incredible dominance.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Great piece by @ajbauer.bsky.social in Time about how Conservatives have been after CBS News for a very long time.

I wish AJ had mentioned G.H.W. Bush's ambushing Rather on live TV, and G.W. Bush's FCC giving CBS biggest fine in history for Janet Jackson, etc.

time.com/7318570/cbs-...

CBS Has Been in Conservative Sights for Decades

It was once deemed the "Communist Broadcasting System" by conservative activists.

time.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Not good: It's beginning to appear that the Air India Flight 171 plane crash earlier this year, like Egypt Air Flight 990 in 1999, was mass murder.

The pilot apparently shut off all fuel to engines shortly after takeoff [for unknown reasons].

www.reuters.com/world/india/...

www.reuters.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

If mass audience influence power [as measured in ciruclation/subs/TV ratings] mattered as much as they used to, then Washington Post + CBS News would focus more on retaining their fleeing (declining) audiences than sacrificing huge potential audiences to be more pleasing to the administration.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

Seems almost the opposite: The bigger the audience + influence (ABC News, CBS News, NY Times, Wall Street Journal), the more Trump feels he must sue them into compliance.
The more pleasing to the administration (podcasters, micro-influencers), regardless of audience size, the more favors.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

This is an excellent, well-informed piece that demonstrates a very sharp understanding of the huge differences between the worlds of TV news and web publication.

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 8d

please read my memo www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

In talking about circulation, subscriptions sold, ad sales, revenues + profits... we're misleading ourselves.

Much of the commercial media now exist primarily as vehicles for regulatory & political favors.

That's why Jeff Bezos doesn't care that Washington Post subs + circulation has collapsed.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

I used to think the political economy of U.S. media was more about economics [the need to package huge bipartisan audiences to sell to advertisers] than about the politics [rent-seeking + regulatory favoritism more important than profit-earning].

I think that was true last century, but not anymore.

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