Josh Shepperd
@joshshepperd.bsky.social
Assoc Prof, University of Colorado; Director, RPTF + Fellow, Library of Congress NRPB
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
So for my latest @satevepost.bsky.social Considering History column, on the inauguration's anniversary, I wanted to highlight the Great Society gem that was the CPB, & how its origins & early history remind us of how vital public broadcasting remains. 🗃️
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
Considering History: Public Broadcasting’s Origins Remind Us of Its Vital Role Today | The Saturday Evening Post
This institution has played an important role in American society for nearly 60 years.
www.saturdayeveningpost.com
January 21, 2026 at 7:28 PM
So for my latest @satevepost.bsky.social Considering History column, on the inauguration's anniversary, I wanted to highlight the Great Society gem that was the CPB, & how its origins & early history remind us of how vital public broadcasting remains. 🗃️
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
I gave a second interview with the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) about why the right is attempting to shut down NPR and PBS, and how rural station closures will affect democratic discourse. Thanks to the excellent Lucy Schiller.
The NPR and Colorado stations that took Trump to court.
“It isn’t just an affront to localism. It’s an attempt to reengineer thought.”
www.cjr.org
January 21, 2026 at 3:27 PM
I gave a second interview with the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) about why the right is attempting to shut down NPR and PBS, and how rural station closures will affect democratic discourse. Thanks to the excellent Lucy Schiller.
The list of things no one can avoid has grown to death, taxes, and AI.
January 21, 2026 at 1:43 AM
The list of things no one can avoid has grown to death, taxes, and AI.
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
After the loss of federal funding, how can public media position itself for a successful 2026 amid ongoing uncertainty and change? Join us for our next webinar Thursday, Jan. 15 at 1 p.m. ET. Presented with Public Media Innovators. uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Innovate with Current: The Future of Public Media (2026). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Join Public Media Innovators and Current for our second annual conversation about what the year ahead holds for public media. Suffice to say, 2025 didn’t go the way many of us hoped. So, now what? How...
uwmadison.zoom.us
January 12, 2026 at 7:57 PM
After the loss of federal funding, how can public media position itself for a successful 2026 amid ongoing uncertainty and change? Join us for our next webinar Thursday, Jan. 15 at 1 p.m. ET. Presented with Public Media Innovators. uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
I love the random cool shit on the side of the art deco buildings in Manhattan. This was just on top of some door.
January 18, 2026 at 12:56 PM
I love the random cool shit on the side of the art deco buildings in Manhattan. This was just on top of some door.
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
My article "The ratings panel from participation to personification: Nielsen and the big data reconfiguration of the audience" is out in Convergence
I draw on years of research in the trade convention circuit to make sense of the way this legacy company is using AI across their product suite
Link👇
I draw on years of research in the trade convention circuit to make sense of the way this legacy company is using AI across their product suite
Link👇
October 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
My article "The ratings panel from participation to personification: Nielsen and the big data reconfiguration of the audience" is out in Convergence
I draw on years of research in the trade convention circuit to make sense of the way this legacy company is using AI across their product suite
Link👇
I draw on years of research in the trade convention circuit to make sense of the way this legacy company is using AI across their product suite
Link👇
This week’s hotel window view
January 14, 2026 at 6:55 PM
This week’s hotel window view
I curate the history series at public media's trade journal Current. We're looking for pieces on the history of NPR, PBS and its affiliates, with some space to imagine public media's future. We accept academic articles repurposed for wide readership. Plus, we pay. Please circulate!
Rewind: The Roots of Public Media
This series features scholars of media history looking back at both familiar and lesser-known chapters in public broadcasting’s evolution. “Rewind” is presented in partnership with the Radio Preservat...
current.org
January 11, 2026 at 9:42 PM
I curate the history series at public media's trade journal Current. We're looking for pieces on the history of NPR, PBS and its affiliates, with some space to imagine public media's future. We accept academic articles repurposed for wide readership. Plus, we pay. Please circulate!
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
Rep. @AOC: I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.
January 9, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Rep. @AOC: I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
"NPR’s audience remains older and whiter than the country in general," writes @cchavez4.bsky.social. "Unless the network pivots, it will be further out of touch with the public it purports to serve." current.org/2026/01/opin...
Opinion: Lessons from NPR’s past efforts to reach minority listeners
Rather than working to maintain the status quo, this could be the moment for NPR to reimagine its mission by broadening its listener base beyond an elite few.
current.org
January 9, 2026 at 7:03 PM
"NPR’s audience remains older and whiter than the country in general," writes @cchavez4.bsky.social. "Unless the network pivots, it will be further out of touch with the public it purports to serve." current.org/2026/01/opin...
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
What does Latina feminism sound like in pop culture? To Esther Díaz Martín, the answer is in the air waves. RADIOPHONIC FEMINISMS explores the ways that radio and podcasting can be spaces for resisting oppressive patriarchal structures. Tune in and grab your copy below 🩷🔗
utpress.utexas.edu/9...
utpress.utexas.edu/9...
August 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
What does Latina feminism sound like in pop culture? To Esther Díaz Martín, the answer is in the air waves. RADIOPHONIC FEMINISMS explores the ways that radio and podcasting can be spaces for resisting oppressive patriarchal structures. Tune in and grab your copy below 🩷🔗
utpress.utexas.edu/9...
utpress.utexas.edu/9...
Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.
A Founding Father of NPR Worries About Its Fate
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.
I was interviewed at CJR about the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Along with the excellent @rodneybenson.bsky.social.
What the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting means.
The parent organization of NPR and PBS, already defunded, is shutting down—and claims that’s for the best. But there are dangers ahead.
www.cjr.org
January 7, 2026 at 1:41 PM
I was interviewed at CJR about the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Along with the excellent @rodneybenson.bsky.social.
Sorry but yes we should still read Adorno. No one has to be an Adornian, or follow any specific author as a single authority. But we must continue reading the critical tradition during this time of conservative restoration.
January 5, 2026 at 12:48 AM
Sorry but yes we should still read Adorno. No one has to be an Adornian, or follow any specific author as a single authority. But we must continue reading the critical tradition during this time of conservative restoration.
“When I look at Mamdani, I didn’t see some radical departure from the past. I see him as the heir to an old and venerable Jewish tradition – that of Yiddish socialism – which helped build New York.”
They tried to smear him as an antisemite – but Mayor Zohran Mamdani walks in a rich Jewish tradition | Molly Crabapple
When I look at Mamdani, I don’t see some radical departure. I see him as an heir to the Yiddish socialism that helped build New York
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:33 AM
“When I look at Mamdani, I didn’t see some radical departure from the past. I see him as the heir to an old and venerable Jewish tradition – that of Yiddish socialism – which helped build New York.”
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
Happy Public Domain Day! Thanks to @publicdomainrev.bsky.social for creating this list.
publicdomainreview.org/blog/2026/01...
publicdomainreview.org/blog/2026/01...
Happy Public Domain Day 2026!
Each January 1st is Public Domain Day, when a new crop of works have their copyrights expire and become free to share and reuse for any purpose. Here's our highlights for 2026.
publicdomainreview.org
January 1, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Happy Public Domain Day! Thanks to @publicdomainrev.bsky.social for creating this list.
publicdomainreview.org/blog/2026/01...
publicdomainreview.org/blog/2026/01...
Making beef bourguignon, an all-day affair. And I’m a terrible chef.
January 1, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Making beef bourguignon, an all-day affair. And I’m a terrible chef.
My New Year’s resolution is to drink more coffee.
December 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
My New Year’s resolution is to drink more coffee.
Giving my yearly invited talk at the Library of Congress in January. Rescheduled from November. Twelfth consecutive year!
December 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Giving my yearly invited talk at the Library of Congress in January. Rescheduled from November. Twelfth consecutive year!
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
The lecturer in question is our colleague in children’s literature studies. She is a brilliant scholar and from all accounts a gifted teacher.
This ruling is infuriating… at the end of the day, it is our students’ education that will suffer.
This ruling is infuriating… at the end of the day, it is our students’ education that will suffer.
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 4:19 PM
The lecturer in question is our colleague in children’s literature studies. She is a brilliant scholar and from all accounts a gifted teacher.
This ruling is infuriating… at the end of the day, it is our students’ education that will suffer.
This ruling is infuriating… at the end of the day, it is our students’ education that will suffer.
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
From what I can tell, this is the first document in US history to conceptualize and name ”public broadcasting,” in 1936. It would take another 31 years of advocacy for the idea to become a policy.
December 16, 2025 at 1:17 PM
From what I can tell, this is the first document in US history to conceptualize and name ”public broadcasting,” in 1936. It would take another 31 years of advocacy for the idea to become a policy.
Reposted by Josh Shepperd
I’m not just saying this because they are my employer, but the SUNY system is one of the few university systems (shoutout Cal State) actually committed to educating Black and Brown students and getting them to the middle class. If you care about equality, that goal is moved through public schools.
December 14, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I’m not just saying this because they are my employer, but the SUNY system is one of the few university systems (shoutout Cal State) actually committed to educating Black and Brown students and getting them to the middle class. If you care about equality, that goal is moved through public schools.
Appreciation post for Ahmed al-Ahmed. Hero.
The hero who disarmed one of the terrorists in Sydney turned out to be 43-year-old Ahmed al-Ahmed — a fruit shop owner and father of two.
He was shot twice and is currently in hospital. He is scheduled to undergo surgery.
He had no experience with weapons of any kind.
He was shot twice and is currently in hospital. He is scheduled to undergo surgery.
He had no experience with weapons of any kind.
December 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Appreciation post for Ahmed al-Ahmed. Hero.