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Brian Mackey

@brianmackey.com

1.1K followers 229 following 64 posts

Host of the @21st.show, the statewide NPR talk show and podcast for Illinois.

Posts Replies Media

Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 18/05/2025

A New Yorker cartoon by Bruce Eric Kaplan shows a man alone in a living room, talking on the phone. The caption reads: “Just sitting here waiting for Facebook to go away.”

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Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 30/01/2025

The Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook, by @onthemedia.bsky.social:

ON THE MEDIA
BREAKING NEWS CONSUMER'S HANDBOOK

1. In the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong.

2. Don't trust anonymous sources.

3. Don't trust stories that cite another news outlet as the source of the information.

4. There's almost never a second shooter.

5. Pay attention to the language the media uses.
• "We are getting reports" ... could mean anything.
• "We are seeking confirmation” ... means they don't have it.
• "[News outlet] has learned" ... means it has a scoop or is going out on limb.

6. Look for news outlets close to the incident.

7. Compare multiple sources.

8. Big news brings out the fakers. And photoshoppers.

9. Beware reflexive retweeting. Some of this is on you.

ONTHEMEDIA.ORG

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Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 03/01/2025

Happening now: Is this a DRONE over CENTRAL ILLINOIS?! … Wait maybe it’s just a street lamp, the Moon, Venus, and a lens artifact of the aforementioned street lamp.

a street lamp, the Moon, Venus, and a lens artifact of the street lamp

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Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 19/12/2024

I think @erikwemple.bsky.social is correct to suggest there might be some strength in numbers with regard to local reporters withstanding attacks from public officials. But it also might be helpful for officials who feel maligned by one reporter to see that this is just how we do our jobs.

The nonstop disparagement is a function of Lisi’s productivity on the county beat, where he has racked up around 400 bylines since June 2022. It makes sense on one level: LNP is the news provider for Lancaster County, though there are some smaller print publications, TV stations, radio and digital properties that pitch in as well. Lancaster’s media bashers would face a taller task if there were five or six Lisi look-alikes haunting the margins of county board meetings. When it’s just one affable, bearded dude in the peanut gallery, on the other hand — no sweat at all. Blast away.

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Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 19/12/2024

Academic assignment desk: It could be interesting to assess the media literacy of public officials elected since the local news apocalypse. As I read this story, Tom was doing his job in a customary way. It's revealing if the county official *truly* did not understand that.

The commissioner’s logic in formulating this accusation merits detailing: Parsons contends that the county board is a transparent entity with around 150 meetings per year, and reporters are aware that they can step forward to ask questions of county officials at any one of them. Therefore, they are not “barred” from pressing county officials on any matter. A memorable passage from Parsons’s Facebook post articulates this bizarre standard: “In this case, WITF/LNP’s most unethical reporter, Tom Lisi, (and that is really saying a lot) asked NO questions at the public meeting,” wrote Parsons in the Facebook post. “He deliberately waited until AFTER the public meeting and then skulked around waiting to ambush County staff. He was then redirected to ask his questions during any of our many public meetings.”

“Reporter” is an appropriate term for someone who skulks around “waiting to ambush County staff.”

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Brian Mackey @brianmackey.com · 29/11/2024

The Times has scores of writers looking at every facet of the new administration. If this story was about cool outfits, I could understand the disdain. But this piece, by the fashion editor, is about how Trump uses imagery to sell his vision of America. It adds to our understanding of his methods.

Text from a New York Times article that reads:

If, after all, the goal is to radically remake the institutions of government, who better to sell that proposal than a group of officials who look as if they were formed in the celluloid image of the institutions? The ones who may not have the usual qualifications but effectively play the roles of experts on TV?

That may not make a difference for the senators who likely will have to confirm Mr. Trump’s choices. But for most of the public, scrolling through the news on their phones as they look for Black Friday deals and the latest memes, those images, typecast as they are, come with an implied authority.
In this sense, Ms. Setmayer said, “perception is reality.” And when it comes to perception, appearance matters.

“It’s one way you airbrush history,” Ms. Ben-Ghiat said.

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