Rebuild

The number of local journalists in the US is dwindling rapidly, according to a new report from nonprofit organization Rebuild Local News and PR and communications software platform Muck Rack. According to the report, there were 40 journalists per 100,000 residents across the country in 2002. Now, it says that two out of three US counties have less than 10 of what the authors call “local journalist equivalents” per 100,000 residents. That translates into a drop of about three quarters. The report also finds that out of the 3,141 counties in the US, more than a third of them—over 1,000—do not have the equivalent of even one full-time journalist. And while you might except the problem to be largely limited to remote locations, counties in large urban areas are also affected. For example, the Bronx (population 1.4 million) has just 2.9 LJEs per 100,000 people and Queens (4.3 LJEs per 100,000) doesn’t do much better. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Vermont easily outpaces the other 49 states, with 27.5 LJEs per 100,000 people, with Wyoming coming in second at 19.6.

Joe Davidson
Joe Davidson

Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson, who wrote its “Federal Insider” column for most of the 20 years he has been at the paper, is exiting. He cites WaPo owner Jeff Bezos and the Post's shifting editorial policies as prompting him to quit . In a piece titled “Quitting The Washington Post—or did it quit me?," he wrote that the title of "Washington Post columnist" was not worth keeping no matter the cost. "For me, the cost became too great when a Federal Insider column I wrote was killed because it was deemed too opinionated under an unwritten and inconsistently enforced policy, which I had not heard of previously," Davidson wrote July 8. “Starting before the November presidential election, Bezos’s policies and activities have projected the image of a Donald Trump supplicant. The result – fleeing journalists, plummeting morale and disappearing subscriptions.” However, Davidson notes that “Post coverage of Trump remains strong. Yet the policy against opinion in News section columns means less critical scrutiny of Trump.”

Mens Journal

Men's Journal is returning to print, beginning with a Summer Edition featuring Matty Matheson of FX’s The Bear. The 100-page issue hits newsstands July 11. First published in 1992, Men’s Journal was most recently in print in January 2023. The new print edition will be supported by the platform’s nearly 50 million monthly online readers and eight million social media followers. Men’s Journal is owned and operated by tech company and media platform The Arena Group, which operates such publishing brands as TheStreet, Parade and Athlon Sports “This issue strikes all the chords people know and love about Men’s Journal,” says editor-in-chief Brittany Smith. “It’s packed with utility, grit, and heart."