I used to read the literary magazine Guernica but stopped for an unremembered reason (probably being overwhelmed with too many subscriptions). But I enjoyed it; it had some well-written and interesting stories and articles. This past week, the magazine found itself caught in a political ringer. A moving story about Oct. 7 in Israel and what happened was published. Volunteer editors resigned, and the literary world went nuts. Naturally, the editors caved and withdrew it. And apologized. Oddly, the story is archived on Guernica’s site (at least for now).
I first read the story in my hometown newspaper: According to the annual survey of the American Library Association, the number of book challenges skyrocketed in 2023. Well, not exactly. What happened is that the number of challenges slightly declined (affecting less than one percent of the nation’s libraries), but the ALA redefined how it reported the numbers. Naturally, no newspaper or other legacy medium questioned the report.
There was a time, as recently as a decade ago, when I believed I could generally count on the reporting by the Associated Press, even if newspapers and television news seemed to be binging on preconceived narratives. That changed, and AP has seemed to be going out of its way to make up for lost time. I think I began to notice this when I’d see reports of changes in AP’s Style Guide for reporters, which is what I trained on way back when. And now the stories, or at least the ones used by my hometown newspaper, and opinion pieces masquerading as news reports, and sometimes not even bothering to masquerade. This week, two chains, Gannett (as in USA Today and other newspapers) and McClatchy, announced they were dropping AP, not for content reasons, but likely because of fundamentally changed business models.
If you write on Substack, and a lot of writers have flocked to it, you’d do well to pay attention to the recent change in terms of service. And you may find your writing is not welcome, if you espouse particular viewpoints.
More Good Reads
Poetry
Tucson hospital, waiting room – James Matthew Wilson at New Criterion.
The Exeter Book: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and Hail Earendel! – Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.
Joseph – G.K. Chesterton at The Imaginative Conservative.
“Early in the Morning” by Robert Hillyer – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Life concrete – Franco Amati at Garbage Notes.
Life and Culture
How Revolution Happens – and How to Stop It – Tucker Carlson at Modern Age.
Why Government is Always the Most Dangerous Source of Misinformation – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.
Performative Offense – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.
The Coddling of the American Undergraduate – Rita Koganzon at The Hedgehog Review.
Art
The Exemplary Art of Anne Marie Vallotton – Andrew Roycroft at Thinking Pastorally.
Writing and Literature
The Virtue of Slow Writers – Lauren Alwan at The Millions.
News Media
Google’s Woke AI Wasn’t a Mistake. We Know. We Were There – Francesca Block and Olivia Rheingold at The Free Press.
YouTube now requires creators to disclose when realistic content was made with AI – Aisha Malik at Tech Crunch.
If a Millennial is Born, and No One Records It on Their Phone, Do They Really Exist? – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.
The depressed press – Ben Domenech at The Spectator.
British Stuff
The Dioramas of Petticoat Lane – Spitalfields Life.
The Audience Choir – Jacob Collier
Painting: Reading Priest, oil on canvas by Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918).
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