Trump Insurgence, Biden Inauguration
January 19, 2021 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief. Subscribe for a weekly selection of news stories from journalists operating outside traditional corporate systems. Subscribe The Headlines Our Stories Nominations Open for the 13th Annual Izzy Award (Park Center for Independent Media) U.S. Politics How State Capitals Are Bracing for Possible […]
Global Efforts to Adapt to the Impacts of Climate Are Lagging as Much as Efforts to Slow Emissions
Along with promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming, under the Paris climate agreement world leaders also agreed to prepare for its unavoidable and mounting impacts: the displacement of people and the destruction of communities and croplands by sea level rise, intensifying storms, drought, wildfire and famines. But adaptation efforts are lagging […]
The Corporate Response to Capitol Riot Reflects Growing Culture of Accountability
The extreme nature of the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6 requires that all actors involved be held accountable. The GOP has historically been viewed as the “pro-business” party, crafting a policy agenda which favors the interests of the private sector rather than that of the average American. In the week following […]
Martin Luther King Jr. Defended Democracy Against Racism and So Must We
A racist mob broke church windows and threatened to kill Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1,500 activists sitting terrified inside First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in May 1961. The angry men believed in the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and circled the church because, for them, whiteness was more important than democracy. Almost 60 […]
Even After January 6, Some in Media Can’t Kick Their Addiction to False Balance
In the wake of the unprecedented events of January 6, many in corporate media—on both the editorial and reporting sides—have displayed a new and refreshing ability to apply accurate labels to people and their behaviors (“sedition,” “incitement,” “white nationalists,” etc.) and to apportion blame based on reality, not a wished-for fantasy of balance. That false […]
Trump’s Twitter Ban May Be Justified, but That Doesn’t Mean Tech Giants’ Power Isn’t Scary
In the wake of the dramatic storming of the Capitol last week, a host of big media companies, including Facebook, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitch, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have all taken measures against Donald Trump. Making the most headlines, however, was the decision of the president’s favorite medium, Twitter (1/8/21), to permanently suspend him “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” It’s difficult to argue that Trump did […]
Deplatforming Trump Is Already Having a Huge Impact
It’s been nine days of relative calm since Twitter cut off a major spigot of election misinformation from President Donald Trump’s account—setting off a chain of suspensions across Facebook, Snapchat, Twitch, and other platforms that affected the president, his allies, and others who stoked violence in the lead up to the January 6 riot at […]
What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol
As supporters of President Donald Trump took part in a violent riot at the Capitol, users of the social media service Parler posted videos of themselves and others joining the fray. ProPublica reviewed thousands of videos uploaded publicly to the service that were archived by a programmer before Parler was taken offline by its web […]
When Joe Biden Takes the White House, What’s Next for the Left?
As Joe Biden prepares to take the oath of office on January 20, what are the prospects for the US left in the years ahead? Today’s Left is in a challenging place: strong enough for other forces to care about what it thinks and does, but too weak to shape political outcomes. Biden’s steady stream […]
How State Capitals Are Bracing for Possible Violence Ahead of Biden’s Inauguration
Pro-Trump supporters storming the US Capitol on January 6 was something of a wake-up call. While reporting now shows that there were in fact warnings of possible violence that day, there were multiple points of failure in preparing for it. Now federal law enforcement is trying to course correct, fortifying DC and bringing more troops to the capital city than […]