The Lessons We Haven’t Learned
My birthday is August 7, sandwiched between the anniversary dates for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively). I was six years old when the first bomb fell. My course in life was predetermined. On September 2, 1945, when...
‘Self-Centered Nationalism’ Could Lead to War and Nuclear Disaster, Hiroshima Mayor Warns on 75th Anniversary of Attacks
The mayor of Hiroshima on Thursday warned of the ongoing dangers of nationalism and militarism on the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese city by the United States on August 6, 1945. "We must never allow this painful past to repeat itself," said...
The Fertilizer that May Have Caused the Beirut Explosion Is All Over the US. It’s Unevenly Regulated.
A powerful explosion that ripped through Beirut on Tuesday and killed more than 130 people may be the latest example of the danger posed by a common fertilizer stored in communities throughout the U.S. As investigators work to find the official cause of the blast,...
Over 1,100 Policing Agencies in the U.S. Have Bought Drones Capable of Recording
In early June, Julie Weiner was at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Yonkers, New York, when she spotted a small drone in the sky, monitoring the protest. Weiner, a long-time Yonkers resident, immediately asked her city councilperson, Shanae Williams, who had...
‘I’m out here—I am the news for our people.’ How protesters across the country are keeping informed.
BLACK LIVES MATTER may be the largest movement in US history, yet as the Justice for George Floyd protests enter their third month, there is a sense that the national news cycle, outside unprecedented events like the federal occupation of downtown Portland, has...
Freedom Rider: How Trump Can Steal the 2020 Election
The election was stolen from Clinton four years ago and the even weaker 2020 candidate can expect the same fate. “No one in the media or the Democratic Party gives a basic civics lesson or talks about how elections are really stolen.” Republicans win the presidency...
How Republicans Gutted Voting Restoration for Formerly Incarcerated Floridians
During the 2018 midterm elections, 64.5 percent of Floridians voted in favor of passing the Voting Restoration Amendment, also known as Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to over a million formerly incarcerated people. In spite of that overwhelming victory,...
As election looms, a network of mysterious ‘pink slime’ local news outlets nearly triples in size
THE RUN-UP TO THE 2020 November elections in the US has produced new networks of shadowy, politically backed “local news websites” designed to promote partisan talking points and collect user data. In December 2019, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism reported on an...
How to Understand COVID-19 Numbers
I’ve watched so many reporters, both at ProPublica and at other outlets, do their best to debunk myths, demystify confusing trends and answer the public’s questions. It is, frankly, exhausting, especially when the same arguments keep coming up again and again. I’m...
Student Work
Internship: Taylor Millican at The Frontier
Taylor Millican '22 (Cinema and Photography) interned at The Frontier in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For a documentary relating Tulsa's race massacre to the U.S. now, she has been obtaining interviews and filming the protests against Trump's June visit to Tulsa....
Internship: Lauren Leone at WBFO Public Radio
While interning remotely, Lauren Leone '22 (Journalism and Politics) produced news content about the Black Lives Matter movement and the local impacts of COVID-19 for National Public Radio member station WBFO in Buffalo, New York.
The Indy Brief
From Looming Election to Nuclear Disarmament
June 19, 2020 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief, a weekly selection of news stories from journalism outlets operating outside traditional corporate systems and news organizations. The Headlines PCIM Exclusive Watch: Webinar with Esteemed...
From Federal Crackdown to Understanding Coronavirus Numbers
June 19, 2020 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief, a weekly selection of news stories from journalism outlets operating outside traditional corporate systems and news organizations. The Headlines PCIM Event Webinar: Journalism in Times of...
PCIM Exclusives
Indy Journalists: ‘We Are Not The New York Times — We Take Sides’
Four esteemed voices in media joined PCIM on July 29 to discuss recent changes in journalism amid pandemic and protest. Moderated by PCIM Director Raza Rumi, the conversation invited valuable perspectives from each of the four panelists: The Independent’s chief U.S....
Interview: Faisal Devji on Globalized Antiracist Protests
Faisal Devji, a distinguished scholar and historian at Oxford University, joined PCIM director Raza Rumi to discuss how the global scope of the recent Black Lives Matter protests is raising possibilities for a new global politics. Devji’s historical insights place...
A Jury In Georgia Declares Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Guilty of Conspiracy at Naval Base Housing Nuclear Arsenal
By Vaughn Golden On April 4, 2018, seven activists, devout Catholic Workers, following a calling of their faith to symbolically disarm nuclear weapons, broke into the Kings Bay naval base in southern Georgia. Nearly 19 months later, they were pronounced guilty by a...
Kings Bay plowshares seven begin arguing defense in court
Inside a sterile, but lavish wood paneled courtroom in Brunswick, Ga. Monday, the Kings Bay plowshares seven, formally opened their legal argument, providing hints to what Judge Lisa Godbey Wood would allow. The government, represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl...
Featured
Indy Journalists: ‘We Are Not The New York Times — We Take Sides’
Four esteemed voices in media joined PCIM on July 29 to discuss recent changes in journalism amid pandemic and protest. Moderated by PCIM Director Raza Rumi, the conversation invited valuable perspectives from each of the four panelists: The Independent’s chief U.S....
PCIM Webinar: Journalism in Times of Pandemic & Protest
Join the Park Center for Independent Media on Wednesday, July 29 for a webinar on the media environment amid the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing protests against racial injustice. Our speakers will review the coverage of pandemic and protests by the mainstream media...
Interview: Faisal Devji on Globalized Antiracist Protests
Faisal Devji, a distinguished scholar and historian at Oxford University, joined PCIM director Raza Rumi to discuss how the global scope of the recent Black Lives Matter protests is raising possibilities for a new global politics. Devji’s historical insights place...