Krog Tunnel, 2018

Change in AJC publisher means a change in its Editorial Board. Andrew Morse was a public face of the AJC and wrote front-page editorials. Will Curran be as high profile? Or is Cox CEO Alex Taylor's recent pieces a sign he'll be?

Morse on Georgia Politics: “One of the things that has surprised me is that in a time when the country is seemingly so polarized... There's actually a tremendous amount of cooperation on the state level between parties.” The neoliberal consensus. One that has prioritized Cox's interests.

No Regrets: Andrew Morse's exit interview as he steps down as Publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after 3.5 years. Morse famously set a goal of achieving 500,000 digital subscribers by the end of this year. He leaves with just ~101,000. 🧵 youtu.be/hyq9mTgprDk?...

The last Dem. Gov in GA was Roy Barnes who purged GPB of its leadership following a financial scandal. During Sonny Perdue's tenure, Fox News began leasing space. Under Nathan Deal's admin. GPB began directly competing with WABE, licensed to APS, in Atlanta. brianpbannon.medium.com/the-politics...

"Will public media be an issue in the Georgia Governor’s race? Will media policies in general? From filling news deserts to corporate consolidation, to regulating Big Tech? Not if left to the media strategists." brianpbannon.medium.com/the-politics...

Culver's started in my hometown of Sauk City, Wisconsin. In a former A&W, hence its own root beer. It's not luxurios, though more expensive than Ramen noodles. It's family-friendly, like a dairy Chik-fil-A that's open Sundays.

Carville was Bill Nigut's last guest as host of Cox and Friends.

I'm working on a blog post about Georgia's Governor's race and our competing public broadcasters, state-run GPB and WABE, licensed to the Atlanta public schools. I reached out to both campaigns for a statement and received this from the Bottoms campaign. The Jackson campaign has not responded.

Nepo-bot going nowhere.

My pithy comment: the difference between the Democratic Socialists winning and the Tea Party winning is that the press gave favourable coverage to the Tea Party

Cox also owns Axios. www.axios.com/2026/06/24/m...

I don't begrudge my Congresswoman meeting a major employer and constituents, but noticed it came the same day New York's Democrats selected several explicitly anti-billionaire candidates. Cox is as close to an Atlanta oligarchy as anything.

Meanwhile spotted at a Taco Truck. #SaveWRAS

Today I was informed that tomorrow's board meetings for Georgia Public Broadcasting have been postponed until July 29th due to the World Cup. While several GPB board members are involved in sports broadcasting, both the board meetings and World Cup were scheduled well in advance.

This David Folkenflick interview w/ Star Tribune CEO Steve Gove makes no mention that the paper's owner, Glen Taylor's daughter Jean is CEO of MPR/APM—or how a Star Tribune non-profit conversion could structurally cannibalize local public radio donors. www.wvxu.org/2026-06-14/i...

Someone got rid of their Neil Gaiman collection.

Atlanta's Krog Tunnel is over a century old and a place generations of Atlantans have left their mark. Its namesake family owned a slave. youtu.be/E6__txnartk?...

Does access journalism hold the powerful accountable, or normalize their impunity? Does it serve democracy or oligarchy? Is Axios worthy? brianpbannon.medium.com/is-axios-wor...

In his victory speech Mathewos Samson credited DSA's extensive organizing efforts including 24,000 door knocks (I assume some were repeats) and a large volume of texts and phone calls. (I saw Samson himself sign waving most of primary day.)

Mood is upbeat here based on early returns.

2 current and 1 potential future Democratic Socialist elected officials in Georgia. DSA-endorsed candidate for Georgia state rep. Mathewos Sampson at his primary election runoff watch party at Manuel's Tavern. Also in photo are DSA state rep Gabriel Sanchez and City Council member Kelsea Bond.

Fot the 100th anniversary of Ulysses, Aris Theatre in Atlanta did a stage adaptation and the Irish consulate gave out copies. (I listened to the audiobook.)

Grady College is named for Henry Grady, the Constitution editor and New South propagandist. As issues with AJC have come up, especially conflicts of interest over its billionaire ownership, I've often wondered why GA's J-Schools and professors were mostly silent. www.ajc.com/about-us/202...

Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin has fired KUT Public Media General Manager Debbie Hiott, following a back-and-forth fight with UT over the station's inaugural festival last month.

Access and Evils. Jonathan Swan was at Axios before the NYTs. Axios is currently one of the Trump admin.'s favorite "mainstream" outlets to leak to or "break" stories on the Middle East and administration gossip. All trade scoops as currency.

East Bound and Down.

What interests me about this local public radio story about growing resentment towards "The Charlotte Way" are its paralels to "The Atlanta Way" and Neoliberalism's corroding effect on democracy. And Atlanta's public radio war is an example of "The Atlanta Way" www.wfae.org/politics/202...

"All About the Money" has won the Jury Prize for Best Feature at the 2026 San Frisco Documemtary Festival. The film, by Irish director Sinead O'Shea, follows controversial Cox heir James "Fergie" Chambers after his cashing out of the family trusts. It debuted at Sundance this past Jan.

At a monthly comedy PowerPoint show I do someone else did a spoof of Alex Taylor's anti-Beltline Rail OpEd.

"The city has paid Incisive $123,000 in the current fiscal year..." Lot of folks with Cox ties at Incisive. www.incisive.is

"The owner of the Star Trib is businessman Glen Taylor. Meanwhile the CEO of American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio is Taylor’s daughter Jean Taylor." It turns out MPR and the Star Tribune have an incestuous relationship akin, somewhat, to the AJC and WABE. www.linkedin.com/posts/timroe...

Today is the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944. It’s also the first since CBS Radio shut down after 99 years. The complete broadcast days of both CBS and NBC are available, for now, on Archive.org. brianpbannon.medium.com/listening-to...

Departing Atlanta Journal-Constitution publisher Andrew Morse was a Fellow of the Punch Sulzberger Executive News Media Leadership Program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. brianpbannon.medium.com/family-busin...

"The model does not adjust for stations with overlapping reach." "Stations in regions with overlapping public radio signals will either 'find their market,' he said, or conclude that the fee structure gives them a new reason 'to think about a merger.'" #SaveWRAS current.org/2026/06/over...

The AJC and Star-Tribune were exchanging notes, both talked of moving from "paper of record to paper of relevance," sought regional subs outside their metro, and focused on 5 or so areas like politics, business, food, sports. Each also had a distinctive beat: Outdoors in MN, Black Culture in Atlanta

"highly regarded" former president of Georgia State University Mark Becker.

"Perdue pointed to the involvement of CPHE’s founding chairman, Mark Becker, the highly regarded former president of Georgia State University." Becker handed GSU's student-funded college radio station over to GPB in a secret, backroom deal. www.gpb.org/news/2026/06...

ACPC picking up ACC's summer intern.

"Atlanta Civic Circle was founded in 2018 by veteran Atlanta journalist Maria Saporta and community leader Bill Bolling. It was run by Executive Director Saba Long since 2021." Nonprofit newsroom Atlanta Civic Circle closes amid funding challenges roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/06/01/a...

"After more than five years in operation, despite our best efforts, we were unable to secure the consistent funding needed to sustain our work."

Atlanta Civic Circle may be ending but at least Bill Nigut gets to talk to Kevin Riley on public radio whenever he wants. #CoxCity

Atlanta Civic Circle was a digital non-profit news site that covered housing, "democracy," i.e. voter guides and civics, and labor issues. #gapol #atl

With most of Atlanta media billionaire or corporate-controlled, critics of billionaires and corporations need to start making their own media. #atl #gapol

The 2026 Atlanta Fringe Festival @atlfringefest opened this weekend and continues through June 7th. I’ve seen about 6 shows so far. One has a direct relationship to media issues. atlantafringe.org/atlanta-frin...

Erick used his bubble of Christian conservative media to promote the First Liberty Ponzi Scheme.

Axios was purchased for half a billion $ by Cox. Cox also owns the AJC and has dominated Atlanta media since 1939. The vocal pushback to Cox CEO Alex Taylor's op-ed calling for an end to Beltline rail in favor of Rivians, which Cox is an investor in, wasn't quite a call for guillotines but...

After a lot of pushback to Alex Taylor's opinion piece in the AJC calling for an end to Beltline Rail, the paper published a rebuttal from the transit advocacy group Beltline Rail Now. www.ajc.com/opinion/2026...

For less than the price of a Breeze card...

Less explicit than Jeff Bezos' use of the Wash. Post to push free markets, Cox and the AJC push billionaire-friendly economic policies. Like that the answer to Atlanta's massive wealth inequality is financial literacy and entrepreneurship, not a wealth tax or curbs on corporate power. #gapol #atl