Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 43m

Bari Weiss should be judged at CBS News as all her predecessors were judged: By the ratings and the quality of the journalistic product.

Her greatest challenge isn't what most people think it'll be - it's ABC News.

The latest in the Lint Trap

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/bari-weiss...

Bari Weiss's Greatest Challenge at CBS

It's not the Murrow-Cronkite Legacy. It's not the newsrooms & bureaus filled with journalists more experienced than her. It's not the scale of the operation. It's David Muir's incredible dominance.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com

1 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 15h

Great piece by @ajbauer.bsky.social in Time about how Conservatives have been after CBS News for a very long time.

I wish AJ had mentioned G.H.W. Bush's ambushing Rather on live TV, and G.W. Bush's FCC giving CBS biggest fine in history for Janet Jackson, etc.

time.com/7318570/cbs-...

CBS Has Been in Conservative Sights for Decades

It was once deemed the "Communist Broadcasting System" by conservative activists.

time.com

1 6 15

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 20h

Not good: It's beginning to appear that the Air India Flight 171 plane crash earlier this year, like Egypt Air Flight 990 in 1999, was mass murder.

The pilot apparently shut off all fuel to engines shortly after takeoff [for unknown reasons].

www.reuters.com/world/india/...

www.reuters.com

1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 21h

If mass audience influence power [as measured in ciruclation/subs/TV ratings] mattered as much as they used to, then Washington Post + CBS News would focus more on retaining their fleeing (declining) audiences than sacrificing huge potential audiences to be more pleasing to the administration.

1 1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 21h

Seems almost the opposite: The bigger the audience + influence (ABC News, CBS News, NY Times, Wall Street Journal), the more Trump feels he must sue them into compliance.
The more pleasing to the administration (podcasters, micro-influencers), regardless of audience size, the more favors.

2 1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 22h

This is an excellent, well-informed piece that demonstrates a very sharp understanding of the huge differences between the worlds of TV news and web publication.

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 1d

please read my memo www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

1 2 6

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 22h

In talking about circulation, subscriptions sold, ad sales, revenues + profits... we're misleading ourselves.

Much of the commercial media now exist primarily as vehicles for regulatory & political favors.

That's why Jeff Bezos doesn't care that Washington Post subs + circulation has collapsed.

1 1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 22h

I used to think the political economy of U.S. media was more about economics [the need to package huge bipartisan audiences to sell to advertisers] than about the politics [rent-seeking + regulatory favoritism more important than profit-earning].

I think that was true last century, but not anymore.

1 1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 23h

One important way TV news is distinct from print/web publishing is the multi-person collaborative production process.

Remember how difficult it was to learn precisely who did what in the Dan Rather-Memogate story?
Remember how easy it was to figure out what Jayson Blair did?

That's the difference.

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 1d

Good introduction to Larry Ellison here, covers the essential questions about CBS News + Tik Tok (and maybe CNN).
We don't know what he'll do yet, but his vision of the future is a bit scary.
(I'm quoted)

Bobby Allyn @bobbyallyn.bsky.social · 1d

lol former Oracle exec: "I remember earlier in my career when I told people I was working for Oracle they would say, ‘Oh you mean the toothbrush company,' and I would say, 'not Oral B, Oracle'

www.npr.org/2025/10/06/n...

Who is Larry Ellison, the billionaire Trump friend who's part of the TikTok takeover?

Larry Ellison has a lower profile than other tech billionaires, but his influence over media is about to be immense. His family's empire could soon own CBS, Paramount, CNN and TikTok.

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/06/nx-s1-5560216/who-is-larry-ellison-the-billionaire-trump-friend-whos-part-of-the-tiktok-takeover”

1 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

Walter Cronkite, in agreeing to anchor the CBS Evening News in 1962, insisted on the "Managing Editor" title.

He wanted a very clear line of authority - every word on the nightly broadcast was his, and ultimately only his, responsibility.

Who has that authority at CBS News today?

3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

Little-known CBS News history: In 1964, CBS News President Fred Friendly hired NY Times legend Herbert Mitgang to be "Executive Editor" of CBS News, a new role.

Mitgang barely lasted 2 years before going back to the Times. He knew newspapers, didn't really understand TV news.

1 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

Catnip for the Curious: @ourworldindata.org isn't exactly a secret, but, like Reddit's Data Is Beautiful, it's filled with fascinating infographics & information about trends in our contemporary world.

The latest in the Lint Trap.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/our-world-...

Over an image of the website Our World in Data, this text: "Our World in Data: Catnip for the Curious A Resource from Oxford University, filled with fascinating data."

6

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

Cool story: The Seattle Seahawks helmet logo comes from a mask of the Kwakwaka’wakw people of British Columbia.

But it resides in a museum at the University of Maine.

umaine.edu/news/blog/20...

1 2

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

Low trust in the media?

Not a problem: “Everyone in a democracy is a certified media critic, which is as it should be"
-Michael Schudson

"An enduring democracy will encourage rather than discourage media criticism."
Me in @us.theconversation.com a few years ago

theconversation.com/dont-trust-t...

Don’t trust the news media? That’s good

Journalism has been fodder for politicians’ contempt for generations. A huge percentage of the public doesn’t trust the news media either. That mistrust isn’t a bad thing in a democracy.

theconversation.com

2

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

It's kind of amazing the @nytimes.com was positively profiling High School "Tik Tok clubs" just 6 years ago (T. Lorenz) and now it's positively reporting that High Schools around the U.S.A. are banning cell phones.

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

A neo-Nazi who drives around town in his Adolf Hitler T-shirt waving a "1488" flag is running for City Council in Bangor, Maine.

I'm not sure if this is common elsewhere in the U.S.A. these days?

He says his profession is "free speech activist."

www.bangordailynews.com/2025/08/18/b...

A far-right activist is running for Bangor City Council

Richard Ward is one of 11 potential candidates considering running for three open seats on the Bangor City Council this November.

www.bangordailynews.com

1 2 6

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

Democrats need to pin unaffordability + inflation on Trump. It's his weakness. Don't talk about negotiating with him.
Take ownership of shut down with a message that'll resonate:

"We can't afford it..."
"We can't afford it..."
"We can't afford to..."

Be very, very disciplined and repetitive.

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

Every Democrat should begin *every* media response with:

"We can't afford it."

"We can't afford higher prices and more unemployment. Nobody can afford to buy a house. Nobody can get a job. Everyone knows things are getting much worse. That's why we're shutting it down. It's not working." (2/3)

1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

This is obviously a Frank Luntz-tested message that works.

It indicts Democrats [via metaphor & synecdoche] almost perfectly, and disarms/weakens their strongest point by including "healthcare" in verbiage.

Democrats need rhetocial clarity:
"We can't afford it."
That's it. Repeat over + over (1/3)

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

Republicans: "Healthcare for illegal immigrants."

Four words, repeated continuously by every Republican. Complete message discipline.
Everyone's heard them by now & will continue to hear them.

Democrats: ?

The difference in precise, succinct, direct messaging is astounding.

1 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

Even if you're 100% correct [and I think you are], none of that matters in the 2025 media environment.
What 4 or 5-word message can Democrats repeat endlessly [whether true or not] that will resonate in people's heads for the win? That they're not even trying is telling.
It's all that matters.

1 1

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

Republicans: "Healthcare for illegal immigrants."

Four words, repeated continuously by every Republican. Complete message discipline.
Everyone's heard them by now & will continue to hear them.

Democrats: ?

The difference in precise, succinct, direct messaging is astounding.

1 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6d

RIP Jane Goodall, who could take a joke:

"In the aftermath, Goodall reached out to Larson, and the two became friends; Larson even licensed the cartoon to the Institute to produce a t-shirt that was then used to raise funds."

screenrant.com/far-side-con...

A cartoon of a female chimpanzee plucking a hair off the back of a male chimpanzee. Text: "Well, well - another blond hair - Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?"

11 32

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Beta Gems: A very cool + curated YouTube channel [created by Jay Allen Sanford of The San Diego Reader] is filled with weird + wonderful lost objects, culled from over 1,000 videotapes.

The latest in the Lint Trap.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/beta-gems-...

Beta Gems: Another Youtube Channel Filled with Wonderful and Weird Lost Video Objects

Culled from over 1,000 videotapes, little snippets from a pop culture world that's disappeared

linttrapofhistory.substack.com

2 3

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 8d

The @postopinions.bsky.social's reinvention is like if Coca Cola insisted on pumping out New Coke forever & stopped making classic Coke.

They know *exactly* who's willing to pay for subscriptions, yet they don't care.

I guess revenue doesn't matter at this point?

www.foxnews.com/media/editor...

Editorial overhaul: Washington Post's new opinion chief feels the weight of the challenges ahead

The Washington Post's new opinion editor Adam O'Neal spoke with Fox News Digital about the challenges he faces as he reshapes the paper's editorial pages.

www.foxnews.com

1