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Beth Fertig

@bethfertig.bsky.social

1.7K followers 780 following 1.1K posts

I spent most of my adult life as a reporter at WNYC and NPR. Now I’m working at @PressPassNYC to rebuild trust in media by helping the next generation. We give public schools the support & tools to launch student news sites.

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · Nov 15

I got to record Stephen Sondheim giving a rare class for high school English and theater teachers in 2014, when I worked for WNYC. It was thrilling. He got choked up when he told them teaching is “a sacred profession.”
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NYC Drama Teachers Meet Their Idol | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News

Drama teachers from across New York City were thrilled to get a master class with Stephen Sondheim. But it was the Broadway legend who got emotional praising their work.

na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 17h

Does exposure to social media cause violence? It's not helping, according to this Op Ed from a NYC high school newspaper.

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 17h

"Repeated exposure to this type of content on social media leads to a desensitization to violence." The Verdict at Cardozo HS weighs in on what teens are exposed to in their feeds.

cardozoverdict.com/8580/editori...

Who’s Really in Control? Teens, Threats, and the Power of the Feed

Over the past couple of years, social media has become an essential aspect of teenage life based on how it is shaping the way teenagers think, communicate, and behave. Several notable platforms such a...

cardozoverdict.com

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 2d

Nice analysis from @niemanlab.org on the new principles of CBS and MSNBC

www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/msnb...

Bari Weiss’s CBS News and MSNBC both just laid out their new journalistic principles — and they’re fascinatingly different

CBS: "America," "American," "all of the tools of the digital era," and speed. MSNBC: Press freedom, the First Amendment, and ethics.

www.niemanlab.org

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 2d

“The crowd stared back silently as he complained, implausibly and as he has done many times before, that one year before the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center he tried to warn the world about Osama Bin Laden” WHAT?? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

www.nytimes.com

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 2d

How to nurture the next audience for news the industry needs to survive: student journalism teaches learning by doing.

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 2d

We are proud of our team at Bronx River News! They were invited to cover the NYC School's Chancellor's event last week announcing her vision for the city's public schools. bronxrivernews.org/2025/10/nyc-...

NYC DOE chancellor shares vision for future, celebrates Lehman Campus connections

[caption id=attachment_9723 align=alignleft width=300] Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos talks about her goals for New York City's public schools during her State of the Schools address. (Jamal Quinones...

bronxrivernews.org

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 3d

I’m not sure how much attention this poll got given the onslaught of news over the past few days. But it’s a terrifying statement on trust and Journalism. We must build it back.

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 5d

With Gallup showing trust in news is now under 30%, it's more important than ever that we invest in the NEXT audience the industry needs to survive: teens. They need guidance on which sources to trust. That's why we help NYC schools start student news publications.
news.gallup.com/poll/695762/...

Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S.

Americans' trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly is at a new low of 28%.

news.gallup.com

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 3d

Pritzker said he had “directed state agencies to investigate what happened at the apartment building, citing reports of ‘children who were zip-tied and held, some of them nearly naked’ and ‘elderly people being thrown into a U-Haul for three hours and detained.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/u...

Pritzker Says Federal Agents Are Trying to Make Chicago a ‘War Zone’

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Beth Fertig

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 4d

The FBI director seems like a stable, reasonable person who can be trusted to lead fair and unbiased investigations

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Reposted by Beth Fertig

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 4d

The fact that Democrats have a 10 point advantage over the GOP in Virginia on education shows just how wrong the national party/pundit takes on this issue have turned out to be. Virginia, of course, is where the narrative about the electoral power of school culture wars began

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Reposted by Beth Fertig

Neil Vigdor @gettingviggy.bsky.social · 5d

The publications in Alaska lost significant staffing after the owners made changes to an article that had drawn criticism from a Republican state lawmaker. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

Journalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Fertig

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 5d

Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S.

Americans' trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly is at a new low of 28%.

news.gallup.com

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 5d

Who is calling this “Freaky Friday”? What a cruel twist

Reposted by Beth Fertig

Aura Bogado @aurabogado.bsky.social · 6d

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

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PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 5d

Brave Questions. Student reporters at Cardozo HS ask whether last month's scary incident was politicized -- a sophomore was arrested for posting an online threat and bringing a loaded weapon to Benjamin N. Cardozo High School.

cardozoverdict.com/8589/editori...

Weaponizing a Student Scare: How 2025 Politics Distort New York City School Safety News

There are dozens of headlines, locally and nationally, depicting the incident that took place on Sept. 18, when a sophomore was arrested for posting an online threat and bringing a loaded weapon to Be...

cardozoverdict.com

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 7d

"The federal transportation department suggested in a statement that requiring minority- and women-owned businesses to receive work for the projects makes construction less efficient." gothamist.com/news/trump-h... @stephennessen.bsky.social

Trump halts money for NYC infrastructure projects, says minority contract rules are unconstitutional

The U.S. Department of Transportation suggested requirements for minority- and women-owned businesses to receive contracts for New York's largest public works projects make construction less efficient...

gothamist.com

Reposted by Beth Fertig

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 8d

One important function of a high school newspaper: shooting down rumors. Teens need to learn reliable sources of information. The Domino, at Richmond Hill H.S. in Queens, looks at what's really going on with the school store and finds it's all about staffing. rhhsdomino.com/867/news/the...

The School Store: What’s the Confusion?

The Richmond Hill cafeteria school store has been open for years and is integral to the student experience; however, this year it’s been closed leaving many students and teachers in the dark. With the...

rhhsdomino.com

Reposted by Beth Fertig

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 8d

Lovely profile here of a high school teacher who collects plants from local vendors to share with students and their families. amsvoice.org/1267/showcas...

Green Thumb, Warm Heart: AMS Honors Ms. Cameron

September 19th is the birthday of none other than Ms. Elizabeth Cameron. She is known in our community for being a dedicated paraprofessional, always caring about her students and peers, and most of a...

amsvoice.org

Reposted by Beth Fertig

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 8d

The new Bronx STEAM program "introduces students to more hands-on work rather than the traditional classroom setting, currently provides programs in Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and Cyber Security.”
bronxrivernews.org/2025/09/care...

Career program gains STEAM

With a kickstart of the new STEAM program, 11 Bronx River juniors have started attending Mercy University for their chosen career pathways. They attend classes at BRHS from 8:15 a.m. to noon. Then the...

bronxrivernews.org

Reposted by Beth Fertig

PressPassNYC @presspassnyc.bsky.social · 8d

What does school overcrowding feel like at Cardozo High School? “The density of people caused by overcrowding in this school leads to unnecessary touches by random people."

cardozoverdict.com/8502/school-...

How Overcrowding at Cardozo is Impacting Students’ Daily Life

In the 2025-2026 school year, there are an astonishing 3,100+ students enrolled at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School. With the enrollment increase from last school year’s 2,852 students, there is barely...

cardozoverdict.com

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 7d

Is there a single upstanding U.S. institution that will be left unscathed?

Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 7d

The Tiffany Network is now ____ (fill in the blank)

Reposted by Beth Fertig

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 8d

This is what CBS staffers have told me about the possibility of Bari Weiss taking over the newsroom:

One, she's not a journalist, as far as we're concerned. And two, the idea that she's going to carry some sort of editorial stick for us is hard to swallow.”

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

‘He lied to us’: CBS News staffers say new owner David Ellison ‘can’t be trusted’

EXCLUSIVE: Multiple CBS News staffers said new owner David Ellison has broken his promise not to “politicize” the network by installing a Trump loyalist as ombudsman, and courting The Free Press found...

www.independent.co.uk

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Beth Fertig @bethfertig.bsky.social · 7d

Someone just shared this on Reddit. Very timely, indeed.

Reposted by Beth Fertig

Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 8d

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough for the first time since 2012.

The infant was less than two months old and was not old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine.

buff.ly/8epl2QS