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Kevin Lerner

@klerner.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.9K following 354 posts

Professor and Chair of Journalism and Sports Media at Montclair State University. I am a journalism historian, studying press criticism, and literary & alternative journalism.

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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 17h
As a card-carrying member of the Daily Pennsylvanian Alumni Association, I should probably say something snarky about the Cornell Daily Sun. But no. Hooray for independent student journalism! Even at (and right now, especially at) Cornell. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/n...
nytimes.com
Students at Cornell Daily Sun Pursued Sexual Assault Case for Two Years (Gift Article)
The student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, covered the allegations of rape at a fraternity party since they were first made in 2024 and led the reporting on the case.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
There is no doubt that the @nytimes.com takes “getting it right” (or at least being seen as trying hard to do so) seriously and their record of public corrections speaks to that. BUT… www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/b...
nytimes.com
Mistakes? We’ve Made a Few (Gift Article)
For most of its life, The New York Times has tried to correct its errors. These efforts have not always been perfect.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Today is the 175th anniversary of the founding of The @nytimes.com I was interviewed about the paper’s history and significance for The Süddeutsche Zeitung. A German friend told me I’m quite eloquent in translation. www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/new-y...
sueddeutsche.de
Die härteste Gegenspielerin des Präsidenten – 175 Jahre „New York Times“
Von Anfang an berichtete sie aus der ganzen Welt. Wie kann sie in stürmischen Zeiten ihre Unabhängigkeit im digitalen Wettbewerb bewahren?
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Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Missed our NJ News Influencer study talk today? Here is the recording! www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHyl...
youtube.com
New report looks at New Jersey's local news influencers
YouTube video by Center for Cooperative Media
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Haven't shared much about this, except for the occasional job posting, but I've been fascinated over the last year watching my University, Montclair State, pursue and win the rights to operate NJ PBS, then launch 21 simultaneous job searches and barrel toward the launch of a newscast on Oct. 1.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I wonder if the NY Times has a Euphemism Desk to soften its stories. Trump lawlessness is an “expansive interpretation of presidential power”? A Trump-UAE crypto scheme “blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise.” This thread imagines history as written by NYT’s Euphemism Desk.🧵
NYT newsroom in the 1940s
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Self-Serious Gazette Eschews Entreaties to Modulate Obfuscation, Befuddlement Reigns Among Unworthy Hoi Polloi
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I heard @colsonwhitehead.com give a talk at Montclair State University last week and didn’t think to ask the Incredibly Important Question that nagged at me when I was reading the Harlem Trilogy: Are Freddie and Pepper named for a pizza place on the Upper West Side?
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Sure, you can teach a rope, but can you teach a gigantic news organization like the @nytimes.com that they still need copy editors? (It’s corrected in the online version.)
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The inability of @nytimes.com to properly credit other journalists (in this case Abby/us) is something that of course journalists feel most dearly. But it is absolutely indicative of the arrogance that leads the paper—which is great/I support—astray and weakens the trust that people have in it.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Hey Bluesky journos—I have a Q on behalf of a former student: What’s fair pay these days for a 2000-word reported story for a national brand magazine? We think it’s for digital-only publication. Been a while since I’ve done any freelancing for pay.
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Center for Cooperative Media @centerforcooperativemedia.org · 16/07/2026
Northern New Jersey needs a dedicated PBS reporter. NJ PBS's opening covers Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Hudson, Morris, Warren, and Sussex counties: politics, community affairs, and breaking news for broadcast and digital.
The NJ PBS logo on a dark blue background with an illustration of New Jersey. Text reads: New Jersey public media.
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Center for Cooperative Media @centerforcooperativemedia.org · 17/07/2026
NJ PBS is looking for a reporter to cover South Jersey: Camden, Burlington, Ocean, Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, and Gloucester counties. The role is full time and based in Montclair.
The NJ PBS logo on a dark blue background with an illustration of New Jersey. Text reads: New Jersey public media.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
This is a big moment for Montclair State, my college, my Department, and public media in New Jersey. Journalists and profs: What do you want to see us do with this opportunity? I can have the most direct effect on student engagement and curricular development, but can pass along other ideas too.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
On the occasion of James Murdoch buying @nymag.com among other pieces of Vox, I’m reposting my story about the New York profile of his father that Rupert had spiked when *he* bought the magazine. A version of this story also appears in my book Provoking the Press. presscriticism.com/2011/08/05/t...
presscriticism.com
The profile of Rupert Murdoch that Rupert Murdoch killed
Rupert Murdoch had already been living in New York for three years before most of the city’s journalism establishment cared much about who he was. Sure, he owned a few papers around the count…
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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
THREAD: A common claim I see is that the reason most of the photos we see from the 1960s are in black-and-white is because of some concerted effort to make events like the Civil Rights Movement seem more distant. While I understand the attraction to this idea, the reasons are simpler than that. 1/
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Can any language expert explain why even the best writers in my class don’t pluralize “journalist” when they’re writing? I know that “sts” is hard to pronounce—is it just that they’re writing from the standpoint of growing up in an oral culture instead of a written one?
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Nice piece on AI in journalism by @wmsc.bsky.social featuring several Montclair State journalism faculty including @brizzyc.bsky.social and yours truly: wmscradio.com/wmsc-news-fo...
wmscradio.com
WMSC News Focus: AI in Journalism - WMSC 90.3 FM
Taking a closer look at how artificial intelligence is shaping the future of news and media.
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Brian Phillips @brianphillips.lol · 02/05/2026
Anyway student journalists have been and remain one of the best reasons to have hope for this country
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Brian Phillips @brianphillips.lol · 02/05/2026
The president of Cornell backed his car into a student and a recent grad after a campus debate on Israel-Palestine. Then he lied about what happened in an email claiming he'd been the victim of harassment. Then, magnificently, Cornell's student newspaper found a video of the incident
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
A 🧵 w/photos The #NYC contingent of @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social joined tens of thousands of their fellow New Yorkers at the #NoKings demonstration. Demonstrating in support of our First Amendment rights- especially freedom of assembly and a #FreePress. 1/n
demonstrators. One large yellow sign "Freedom of the press is not just important TO democracy, it IS democracy- Walter Cronkite."
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Damon Kiesow @kiesow.net · 25/03/2026
Media Literacy is tech literacy and critical thinking enables us to Contain, Correct or Curtail our use of GenAI for journalism. kiesow.net/tech-literac...
kiesow.net
Tech literacy is media literacy
Mizzou hosts an annual Scholastic Journalism "JDay" during our spring break, 1,500 high school students and advisors from around the state gather on campus for workshops and discussions. This morning...
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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I think these are some of the earliest images of CBS News in existence? I screenshoted them from Ted Husing's book "Ten Years Before The Mic" (1935). They show Husing covering the 1928 political conventions. At the time, CBS was less than one year old.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Good night, and God help us all.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Literally yesterday, I was teaching my journalism history class about the beginnings of radio. This is a whimpering, ignominious end to a venerable legacy.
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Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Thank you Afroman for being the introduction to the libel unit of my media law class this semester
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Just talked about Sarnoff (and Paley) in my journalism history class today!
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info-activism.bsky.social @info-activism.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
📢 Final Call! 📢 Apply to become a paid collaborator on the recently launched third edition of the Collaborative Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI). Deadline is this Friday, 20 March —> exposingtheinvisible.org/en/news/call...
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
The New York Times, by virtue of its survival, is *by far* the most important institution in American journalism. Its successes and failures often stand in for the success and failure of US journalism (synecdoche New York Times?). We need it, but we also need to pick at its flaws—when they're real.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Wondering now if I can get Jason Isbell to adjunct teach for our journalism program.
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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Margaret Sullivan notes how the Times is more likely to respond to criticism than it was during the "great journalism speaks for itself" era. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/its-great-... Now its: "We did it right. We will acknowledge your criticism but will not admit we could have done it better."
margaretsullivan.substack.com
It's great that the NYT is thriving. But I have a worry.
Plus: My pledge to you about AI in this newsletter.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
A few weeks ago, I bought a copy of Walt Whitman's Selected Journalism edited by Noverr and Stacy. It's a 2014 book, but I thought it was not previously owned—it clearly hasn't been read. But today, while waiting for a student who was late to advising, I opened it and found this.
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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Generative AI will never be able to do research like a PhD student. It will never have that level of self doubt or the urge to take up unrelated hobbies.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Picked up three used journalism books at The Strand just now and the cashier told me so few people ever go to that section, and when they do they’re all looking for Hunter S. Thompson—but that there’s so much more cool stuff back there. And he’s right. Journalism is pretty cool.
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Erica Weintraub Austin @ericawaustin.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
They create videos "light on evidence and traditional journalistic techniques but filled with sinister-sounding claims." Slopulism "rage posting" offers followers "emotional gratification through mindless, performative gestures" that can provoke policy action. Don't fall for it. #medialiteracy
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Another reason why we need strong news literacy education: these videos aren’t journalism. They aren’t really investigative. But they can sure seem that way to people who don’t know how journalism works. (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Is ‘Slopulism’ Shaping Our Politics? (Gift Article)
Social media has long been flooded with populist rage and discontent. What happens when the posts become policy?
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I feel like I've built the right culture in my class when students email me like this: "I just wanted to let you know that I am going to be late to class today. I won’t give you any hogwash, I just woke up late." Hogwash!!
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Andy Clayton @aclayton33.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Sobbing at my desk this morning. This business has been so absolutely cruel over much of the last decade. Gut punch after gut punch. To hear that such talented journalists - and friends - are losing their jobs is just heartbreaking. We fought together so hard for our contract ... but evil still wins
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Dan Kennedy @dankennedy.net · 10/02/2026
My latest for @theconversation.com: As Jeff Bezos dismantles The Washington Post, five regional papers chart a course for survival. What could Bezos learn from The Boston Globe, The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Seattle Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Salt Lake Tribune?
theconversation.com
As Jeff Bezos dismantles The Washington Post, 5 regional papers chart a course for survival
Other billionaires who own newspapers are doing a better job, a journalism professor explains.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I guess we can finally write the last chapter of David Halberstam's great book 'The Powers that Be.' Time Magazine CBS News The Washington Post The LA Times It's hard to imagine a bigger change in what those brands mean than what has happened to them between 1979 and 2026.
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Edmund Lee @edmundlee.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Amazon spent $75 million for MELANIA, a hagiomentary that will likely incur $60 million in losses even after a robust box office. Jeff Bezos is willing to lose money on media, just a certain kind of media
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Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Here's the tragedy: Timothy Crouse made exactly the same argument, for similar reasons, in 1972.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
There are eight full-time faculty in my department. Four of us have birthdays within five days of each other.
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Everyone who participates in public, civic conversation needs to learn to be a press critic at some level. It is a vital skill for media literacy—and Jay Rosen's summary of the distinctions he uses in his own criticism is a great place to start thinking about refining your own thinking.
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Dan Kennedy @dankennedy.net · 02/02/2026
New at Media Nation. Before Minneapolis there was the Boston Massacre. In 1983, I wrote my master's thesis on how the press of Colonial Boston covered it. dankennedy.net/2026/02/02/b...
dankennedy.net
Before Minneapolis, there was the Boston Massacre. My 1983 thesis on how the press covered it.
All of a sudden, the Boston Massacre is in the news. Journalists and historians such as Josh Marshall, Radley Balko and Ted Widmer have all written essays in recent days arguing that the uprising a…
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American Journalism Historians Association @ajhasocial.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Registration for this year's Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference at Columbia University is open! Registration is free for all graduate students. The conference will be held March 27 from 9-5 a.m. To sign up, visit ajha.wildapricot.org/event-6518450
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Kevin Lerner @klerner.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
It's easy to call out the Orwellian don't-believe-your-eyes propaganda, and we absolutely should. But the happy-talk, infantilizing, no-need-to-pay-attention-to-difficult-things propaganda of Huxley can be just as dangerous. #amusingourselvestodeath
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
We’re just not a free country. Any American watching this play out between regime forces and journalists overseas would recognize it for what it is.
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