On @NPR, this morning, a cynical report on the shutdown. Took a R House member guest to mention crucial health insurance subsidies at stake. Host asked about the failure to seat AZ's new D rep, but failed to explain the new rep's signature would force a vote on the Epstein files. Shameful!

So this is an interesting question. If you are in temporary housing, would you embark on a massive demolition and construction project? Does the current inhabitant of the WH intend to leave? I apologize if many others have already brought this up!

So the president starts literally demolishing the WH, and bans pictures and @NPR doesn't even include it in its headlines, and Democratic officials aren't lying on the ground to block the bulldozers? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

You know in the old days, we'd call stories the editors deemed less important to be placed "below the fold." NYT has spent a lot of energy this year "belowthefolding" crucial attacks on our democracy. Its placement of stories, and their often weak, often misleading, headlines, shame journalism.

Glad that sisters are calling out Cardinal Dolan. This man's desire to curry favor with the present administration needs to be curbed. www.globalsistersreport.org/ministry/ny-...

Can U.S. Catholic Bishops rally around a pro-life message that doesn't involve fetuses? DC Archbishop Robert McElroy's pro-immigrant message gives me hope. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

I have been on a news fast while in Europe, but @billscher.bsky.social @washingtonmonthly.com made me break it today. Great column about Biden inner circle and their reluctance to consider her a worthy Biden successor.

So is this the Bro-pacy? Pope Leo shares his luxury flat with four mates. Sounds like something tech bros do, not popes. And it just reinforces the misogyny. Francis named women as decision makers, but Leo is going to trust his male chums, instead. www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

In June, the Society of Professional Journalists, DC Chapter, honored VOA Director Michael Abramowitz,This week, even as litigation continues over the administration's actions, Abramowitz was fired. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

For the media to recognize that they can't cover the president as if his actions were in the realm of normal is crucial. This oped wasn't written by a White House reporter, but it asks questions that need to be asked. thehill.com/opinion/camp...

I hope @sulliview.bsky.social does a column or substack on today's NYT headline: Trump fires BLS Commissioner, Claiming Weak Jobs Numbers Were Rigged. (They made the hed a bit stronger later). This is unprecedented, the act of a crazy man. But the media are normalizing all of it.

Can we ever believe any BLS numbers again? We already can't believe history in our museums, or what's on federal health websites. This may be the most consequential and disastrous act of his presidency. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

dorotheaproject.com#letters The bishops pulled out all the stops to overturn Roe. Where's the same passion to protect immigratns? Catholic women have decided to shame them into action. The Dorothea project asks women to write to their bishops and asks them to do what their faith requires them do.

Amen to this idea! Another great piece by @billscher.bsky.social Democrats Should Get Tough and Quit Negotiating Spending Bills  washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/22/d...

I can always count on Washington Monthly's Bill Scher for cutting through false assumptions and telling me something useful! washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/17/l...

Because the leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put protecting fetuses above protecting immigrants. Their colleagues are waiving Mass obligations to keep their hunted flock safe. www.ncronline.org/news/califor...

When Congress makes disastrous cuts to Medicaid to feather the nests of the Jeff Bezos of the world, the people who lose out include 60% of nursing home patients, even those who saved for retirement. www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

Pleased to interview award-winning journalist Miranda Spivack about her book, Backroom Deals in our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes fighting back. spjdc.org/2025/06/auth...

Alexandria, VA is hardly the bastion of unrest, but its residents were out in blistering heat at today's #NOKINGS celebration of democracy.

The president won't let ICE raid farms, restaurants and hotels. But apparently will still allow raids at schools, hospitals and churches. Too bad this story didn't say that. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/u...

Froomkin is right. Journalism has to do more. criticalread.substack.com/p/journalist...

"We're in big trouble": Veterans rally on D-Day anniversary against Trump's cuts and violations open.substack.com/pub/katewood...

Today, New York Times carried this front-page headline: "Mistakenly Deported Man Is Returned to U.S. from El Salvador." That sounds like someone got on the wrong plane! That "man" has lingered in a notorious prison for weeks, despite his blatant innocence, and now faces another trumped up charge!

So NYT reports that WaPo expanding opinions section, naming the project Ripple. Isn't that the wine of choice for winos? Ripple.https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/business/media/washington-post-opinion-ripple.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock

Really impressed by interview @ayesharascoe.bsky.social conducted today with a Black father and son and how they navigate dealing with law enforcement and a general climate that is anti-DEI. It really demonstrated how a journalist can use her lived experience in a way that serves the journalism.

The family a Salvadoran man who had served his time in a U.S. prison, and benefitted from it, and was set to be released, only to be deported to El Salvardor, likely imprisoned again. He'd had a loving relationship with his three daughters, even behind bars. www.thehandbasket.co/p/ice-deport...

Many journos are covering the Conclave. My take as a progressive Catholic. www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

I spent the past 12 years writing about Pope Francis. He had a starring role in my book, Catholic Women Confront Their Church. The world is poorer for his death. www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

Well, neither the Washington Post nor the New York Times felt yesterday's protests deserved a front page story, but at least the Times did a decent video, once you got past the ad the paper snuck in. www.nytimes.com/video/us/pol...

So a man who was a heroin addict for 15 years wants to ban soda for food stamp recipients? What a hypocrite! www.scrippsnews.com/health/kenne...

Here is what's wrong with journalism. Muckrack is exploding with coverage of the Houthi Signal scandal, but the real news is WaPo's account of the chaos at Social Security, endangering millions of Americans. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

These are the Senators who may betray us and vote for cloture on the House CR: Kisten Gillibrand, Maggie Hassan, Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, Brian Schatz, Jeanne Shaheen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto. This is shameful. Please contact them by email or phone tonight. Senate.gov

If you live in the DMV, there's still time to submit entries to our Society of Professional Journalists Dateline competition. Many categories! Deadline extended to March 17! mailchi.mp/d5c74db7ff86...

@ruthmarcus.bsky.social, I'm the president of the SPJ DC chapter. We would love to publish your Bezos editorial on our website, and circulate it widely to our national journalist community. -- Celia Wexler [email protected]

Pope Francis is virtually the only world leader who is providing some moral clarity right now. Let's hope he survives! My oped today. www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

Our webinar on writing compelling stories with nonfiction master and award-winning author Lee Gutkind has been rescheduled to 6 p.m. Monday, March 24. Hope you can join us! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Words matter. It's Orwellian to change words by Executive fiat. If it becomes accepted, we are in a world where truth-telling is suppressed. Or diseases? Does Covid disappear if saying the word is banned? www.spj.org/spj-decries-...

Journalists living in the DMV, give yourself a Valentine and enter the Dateline Awards contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists DC Chapter. 2025 is a tough year to practice journalism, so take a break and look at the great work you did in 2024! spjdc.org/2025/01/2025...

As many parents may recall, If you give a mouse the Gulf of Mexico, he'll want a glass of milk.

SPJ supports @apnews.com in its First Amendment right to cover the White House and is disturbed by the Trump administration’s mounting efforts to stifle and intimidate the independent press. Read the full statement: www.spj.org/spj-backs-ap... @emilybloch.com

SPJ stands with the AP over "Gulf of Mexico" flap. www.spj.org/spj-backs-ap...

The Society of Professional Journalists stands in solidarity with the Associated Press. www.spj.org/spj-backs-ap...

If only Pope Francis had spoken out this strongly last September! Only 279,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where many devout Catholics live,might have made difference. www.ncronline.org/vatican/vati...

A rally to take back the Dept. of Treasury from Musk. x.com/i/broadcasts...

Kudos to Sen. Bill Cassidy, (R-LA) who ended the lengthy confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy's nomination to head HHS by concluding: As a doctor, "I've used the preponderance of evidence to reassure" patients about science ... "you have used selected evidence to cast doubt."

​U.S. bishops could have done so much more, so much earlier, if they weren't so obsessed with fighting abortion. www.nydailynews.com/2025/01/25/h...

In case you want another take on Hegseth hearing today. celiawexler.com/2025/01/14/f...

I really think this piece about Murdoch and Carter is well done! You know no one is absolutely blameless, particularly when the people who work for you may have less scuples than you do. www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/that...

Finally, the institutional Catholic church is declaring its support for immigrants. Let's hope bishops in other states do the same. cruxnow.com/church-in-th...

There's still time for the Senate to pass the bipartisan PRESS Act, already passed unanimously in the House. It ensures that reporters can protect their whistleblower sources from government intrusion, protecting citizens from government and corporate malfeasance. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...