Hugh Curnutt
@hughcurnutt.bsky.social
Comm + media studies professor, labor negotiator, and all the dad stuff.
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Great read about why the closure of one of our nation’s oldest local newspapers will reverberate well outside its city limits. Access to reliable news is a public good, and without it, civic engagement suffers and misinformation spreads on unregulated platforms.
Did a quick Q&A about the imminent closure of my hometown newspaper for the @us.theconversation.com
Why the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s closure exposes a growing threat to democracy
When reputable local news outlets close, fewer people vote and get involved in local politics, and misinformation, corruption and polarization increase.
theconversation.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Great read about why the closure of one of our nation’s oldest local newspapers will reverberate well outside its city limits. Access to reliable news is a public good, and without it, civic engagement suffers and misinformation spreads on unregulated platforms.
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Here’s a great whistle 3D print file. I can confirm it’s loud as hell, and very easy and cheap to print in bulk.
www.thingiverse.com/thing:2933021
www.thingiverse.com/thing:2933021
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle by whistleblower
Rock-Solid and lightweight emergency whistle. Two chamber design. Painful loud, louder than the v29 and twice as loud as the "wannabe 129db" whistle.If you have stringing problems, this whistle will n...
www.thingiverse.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Here’s a great whistle 3D print file. I can confirm it’s loud as hell, and very easy and cheap to print in bulk.
www.thingiverse.com/thing:2933021
www.thingiverse.com/thing:2933021
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Sorry but yes we should still read Adorno. No one has to be an Adornian, or follow any specific author as a single authority. But we must continue reading the critical tradition during this time of conservative restoration.
January 5, 2026 at 12:48 AM
Sorry but yes we should still read Adorno. No one has to be an Adornian, or follow any specific author as a single authority. But we must continue reading the critical tradition during this time of conservative restoration.
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
When I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day.
When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.
When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.
"The newspaper industry served as a feeder for our entire news media ecosystem. So when we lose those newspapers, we've lost that journalism. In the early 2000s, we had 40 journalists per 100,000 people. We're now down to 8 journalists per 100,000 people," says @victorpickard.bsky.social.
December 16, 2025 at 7:25 PM
When I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day.
When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.
When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Every piece of anti-faculty union propaganda that pretends to have our interests at heart
April 11, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Every piece of anti-faculty union propaganda that pretends to have our interests at heart
Best piece I’ve read on ai and higher ed www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 7, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Best piece I’ve read on ai and higher ed www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Thanksgiving Menu at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (1899) www.openculture.com/2025/11/than...
Thanksgiving Menu at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (1899)
Above, we have the menu for an 1899 Thanksgiving dinner at the Plaza Hotel in New York. If you were a turkey, you had it relatively easy. But the ducks? Not so much. On the menu, you'll find Mallard d...
www.openculture.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Thanksgiving Menu at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (1899) www.openculture.com/2025/11/than...
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Recommend this piece by @ibogost.bsky.social on the dismal state of where we're at in higher ed teaching & learning right now. Key takeaway is that to fix what is breaking would require a wholesale overhaul that few of us have the time, energy or institutional capacity to undertake.
This Year Will Be the Turning Point for AI College
Members of the class of 2026 have been using ChatGPT since they were freshmen.
www.theatlantic.com
August 17, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Recommend this piece by @ibogost.bsky.social on the dismal state of where we're at in higher ed teaching & learning right now. Key takeaway is that to fix what is breaking would require a wholesale overhaul that few of us have the time, energy or institutional capacity to undertake.
Two peas in a pod. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/n...
Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor’s Race
www.nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Two peas in a pod. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/n...
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
A banner week in fascism (and this is like a tenth of it)
August 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
A banner week in fascism (and this is like a tenth of it)
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
Forthcoming March 2026
July 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Forthcoming March 2026
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
the singular message of this ad is "zohran loves new york city" and it is incredibly effective
Shooting our videos is a little bit different now.
July 8, 2025 at 2:33 AM
the singular message of this ad is "zohran loves new york city" and it is incredibly effective
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
One time I posted about listening to Magnetic Fields and someone called them "grad student music" and I got so mad I had to turn off the record
Famous
The Magnetic Fields · Get Lost · Song · 1995
open.spotify.com
June 29, 2025 at 5:16 PM
One time I posted about listening to Magnetic Fields and someone called them "grad student music" and I got so mad I had to turn off the record
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
"Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, is eager to secure the Trump administration’s approval for a multi-billion-dollar sale of her company to Skydance, a company run by the son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison." Hence, she hopes to settle Trump’s "baseless & far-fetched" case.
Yet another example of how a corporate media conglomerate cannot privilege democratic needs over profit imperatives. It's almost as if this hyper-capitalist media system is incompatible with democracy, especially when the latter is threatened by authoritarian power.
Breaking News: The executive producer of “60 Minutes” said that he would resign from the long-running program because he had lost his journalistic independence.
April 23, 2025 at 12:22 AM
"Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, is eager to secure the Trump administration’s approval for a multi-billion-dollar sale of her company to Skydance, a company run by the son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison." Hence, she hopes to settle Trump’s "baseless & far-fetched" case.
Next year we’ll be doing our taxes on X.
The Social Security Administration Is Gutting Regional Staff and Shifting All Public Communications to X
The SSA’s shift to Elon Musk’s X comes as the agency plans to cut its regional office workforce by roughly 90 percent, WIRED has learned.
www.wired.com
April 12, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Next year we’ll be doing our taxes on X.
Reposted by Hugh Curnutt
The final event of the UMass History Department's Feinberg series on "What Are Universities For?" will be a lecture by Prof Steven Salaita on "The Meaning of Honesty in Academe" on 4/16 at 6pm EST, live via Zoom; link emailed to those who register: websites.umass.edu/feinberg/the...
April 10, 2025 at 6:34 PM
The final event of the UMass History Department's Feinberg series on "What Are Universities For?" will be a lecture by Prof Steven Salaita on "The Meaning of Honesty in Academe" on 4/16 at 6pm EST, live via Zoom; link emailed to those who register: websites.umass.edu/feinberg/the...