Meeting #2: Ready, Set, Go
Hello hello!
Thanks for signing up for this reading experiment. It’s great to have you here.
What we’re reading📚
For our August book club meeting, we’ll be reading. . .
The View From Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity by Lewis Raven Wallace
Raven Wallace dives deep into the history of “objectivity” in journalism and how it’s been used to gatekeep and silence marginalized writers as far back as Ida B. Wells. At its core, this is a book about fierce journalists who have pursued truth and transparency and sometimes been punished for it—not just by tyrannical governments but by journalistic institutions themselves.
When we’re meeting🤳🏽
Our Zoom meeting will be held at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23. Once again, the author has agreed to join us for a 30 minute Q&A! I will share a Zoom link at a later date, as well as a form for submitting questions for Raven Wallace.
Missed the July meeting? NBD. You can watch a recording of the last Q&A here. It cuts right to the quick with my first question for News For All the People co-author Juan González about the origins of this book project.
Attended the July meeting and have thoughts on how we can improve? Provide feedback here.
News you can use🗞
Timely read: How Food Media Created Monsters in the Kitchen.
Consolidation in the public interest? Nexstar, which owns 196 local TV stations in 114 markets—more than any other company in the U.S.—wants you to believe it’s possible. Hmm. . .
What Went Wrong at the Los Angeles Times? Vice has the (incredibly comprehensive) story, which runs the gamut from gender-based and racial discrimination to possible kickbacks and rewritten press releases.
The culture wars continue apace . . . But the only thing worth reading about it, IMO, is Osita Nwanevu’s long, thoughtful take on the real illiberalism.
Quibi really is that bad! NY Mag digs in. (The part about “adverse selection bias” or “getting A-talent’s B-material” was especially insightful.)
Study Hall did a great Q&A with Rafia Zakaria, the mind behind The Baffler’s column on “The Pulitzer Problem.”
ICYMI: Alicia Kennedy wrote about the need for more translation in food writing.
From the book world: Publishing is more partisan than ever under the Trump administration, and won’t be changing anytime soon.
And Google has given $39.5 million to publishers in covid relief!?
Get in touch✍🏽
You can reach me at elliepses@gmail.com or on Twitter @elliepses (DMs are open). Questions, comments, concerns, reading recommendations—I’ll take it all!
And, as always, the full History of Journalism reading list is available here.