Critiquing media past, present and future. Championing student journalism.
Helping other writers get read.
I spent ten years in daily journalism in Chicago, specializing in investigative work and coverage of crime and religion, federal terrorism response, racial justice, and municipal land use, winning national and regional awards from the Associated Press Editors Association, the Illinois Press Association and the Chicago Headline Club.
As executive director of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation I brought the organization national visibility, expanded its writing programs, inaugurated its first residency and hosted a national scholars’ conference, and continue my literary nonprofit work at The American Writers Museum as program director.
I am the author and/or editor of books about journalism, politics, and the place that’s a home for both: the Irish pub.
My Books
In 2004, frustrated by the state of political journalism and inspired by the new writers emerging online, I founded First Draft, a media & politics blog that quickly became one of the best-read left-leaning sites online. Our writers covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, labor protests in Wisconsin, environmental catastrophe and the rise of today’s fascist movements. Our reader-supported work was cited by the New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, Alternet, the Atlantic, The New Republic, Progressive magazine, and many other outlets.
Our readers flew across the country to gut flooded houses in New Orleans, funded cleanup of oil-covered pelicans, collected coats for schoolchildren, and raised thousands of dollars for impoverished food pantries and troops serving overseas.
The site still publishes under the new management of Peter Athas and his team of writers.
Founding Independent Journalism
Links to Media Criticism
“When investors pour millions of dollars into media ventures but have zero interest in journalism, it hastens the demise of our democracy..”
— “Venture Capitalists are Killing the New Industry,” DAME magazine, 12/4/21
“If you as a journalist believe a story’s good enough to stick with, and you want people to pay attention, then you MAKE THEM PAY ATTENTION.”
“When I was reporting I used to think I had access to a secret world, to the underpinnings of everything.”
“What newspapers have done over the years is disinvest in circulation, in marketing and in distribution. And if people don’t know about your paper and people can’t get your paper, those problems cross business models, that is not an issue of needing to find a way to build in micropayments.”
— “The Real Reason Local Newspapers are Dying,” interview, Nieman Lab, 12/14/20
“Every week another group of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed media personalities launches another cleverly branded news site to solve all of American journalism’s problems. So why do all these sites sound the same?”
— “What Does it Mean to Reinvent Journalism?” DAME magazine, 1/17/23
Talking to Writers
During COVID the American Writers Museum moved programming online, and these are some of my interviews with America’s leading authors on their newest works.