For those who don’t like media consolidation and love net neutrality – you are not going to like what you are about to read If the byline above looks familiar to you, it’s because it’s the same one I wrote eight years ago. The world was shocked when Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. After losing to Joe Biden […]
Journalists under fire from Trump, the left, and even Mayor Johnson as journalism’s prestige continues to sag If you thought the 2024 Chicago White Sox had a rough year, the media had it worse. Daily attacks on the Fifth Estate have become commonplace in the last few weeks leading up to the Presidential election. And it’s not just coming from […]
Chicago’s South Side MLB team resembles CBS Chicago’s ratings disasters in every way possible In the early 2000s, then-Chicago Tribune media critic Steve Johnson noted the management at CBS-owned WBBM-TV implemented what he called a “Viewer Alienation Plan”, a series of bad decisions repelling viewers from the station throughout the 1990s, including tabloid newscasts, awful anchor pairings, and a deer-in-headlight […]
The newest White Sox PBP is as unprofessional as it comes. So why is he there? I’ve tried to hold my tongue for the last two months and give the new kid a chance, but here’s my verdict on new White Sox play-by-play man John Schriffen. He sounds like ass. But you probably knew that already, given the ridiculous, over-the-top […]
Booing of Bulls GM Jerry Krause is yet another embarrassment to our city What happened Friday night at the United Center during the Ring Of Honor ceremony honoring the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls season was as vile as anything I have seen in the nearly 52 years I’ve lived in Chicago. And I’ve been through the racially-tinged Council Wars when our […]
White Sox debacles, and news crews getting robbed spotlight the tremendous failure of city institutions If you were a kid in the 1970s or 1980s perhaps you remember a commercial for Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups when someone got peanut butter into their chocolate, and vice versa. So what happens when the problems of sports’ worst-run franchise mash-up with the […]
Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are om strike outside of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. With no settlement in sight, the entire 2023-24 TV season for scripted shows could be wiped out When SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on the picket lines on July 12, the entire industry shut down and the thinking was, this would spur some kind of progress in […]
Online reviews, viewer anger sink Mandy Kaling’s Scooby-Doo-less reboot In the 40 years I’ve followed the television business, I’ve never seen a series as panned as Velma – and I don’t mean by TV critics. On its way to becoming one of the biggest flops in television history, HBO Max released the much-talked-about Velma adult animated series from Mandy Kaling […]
Twitter’s path under Elon Musk follows those of other media companies In the 37 years I’ve followed media, I have never seen a media company – social or not – that’s been run into the ground quicker than what I’m seeing with Elon Musk and Twitter. In the sixteen years I’ve written this blog, I’ve written about how egotism and […]
West’s comments about Jewish people and George Floyd put him on the spot, but a lack of outrage (outside of social media) may keep him on black radio [Editors Note: This post was updated on October 30.] Here we go again: former Chicagoan and rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye, but for the purposes of this item we’ll call […]
Brash billionaire likely to send social media platform to ruins, similar to what Zell did to the Tribune As you know by now, billionaire Elon Musk has bought Twitter, Inc. for $54.20 a share, or for $44 billion. The outright purchase of the social media platform by the world’s richest man came after Musk acquired shares in the company, […]
Party’s over as competition, governments take aim at streaming giant It wasn’t too long ago Netflix was the toast of the town, heralded as the best entertainment had to offer on a new, emerging platform. The company partied hardy for years feasting on praise as the darling of Wall Street. Well, the bill is now due. In a […]
Once one of the premier teams in sports, a sex scandal sends the team’s popularity into the toilet Scandal gives Chicago’s image yet another black eye – one of a lot as the team’s decline also reflects the city’s If you’ve read the blog over the years, this space has devoted quite a bit to Chicago sports and how […]
Lightfoot’s decision to exclude white journalists sets off firestorm. But it’s a conversation long overdue The latest dustup between the Chicago media and minority communities is unusual because the person behind it happens to be the Mayor of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the first Black woman to be elected to the position in the city’s history, decided […]
NewsNation in the fight of its short life after Lyons, key staffers depart Back when NewsNation was announced in January 2020, Nexstar – who just acquired Tribune Media and cable network WGN America, hoped to provide an alternative to what the cable “news” networks were offering – hard news without opinion. NewsNation launched here in Chicago on September 1, hiring […]