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Mercy for Justice

Critical Considerations

A monthly series of in-depth, curated articles exploring Mercy's Critical Concerns and their intersection with current events and the work of justice.

How the News is Reported Affects What We Know

January 2023 – In his article, Old News in a New Year: The Inflation and Deflation Stories of Our Lifetime (and No, They’re Not the Ones You Think!), journalist Tom Engelhardt uses the placement of articles in a print edition of the New York Times to reflect on what the mainstream media considers most important and what issues it down-plays or ignores. He observes that coverage of the most crucial issues facing us as a nation and world are often relegated to the back pages, and when they are covered, there is little context to help readers understand the broader implications. The two issues he cites specifically are climate change and militarism, both of which threaten the continuation of life on this planet.

Read the article.

The news isn’t just a matter of what’s reported, but of how and where it shows up. Tom Engelhardt

Tom Engelhardt is editor of TomDispatch, a web-based publication which describes itself as “a regular antidote to the mainstream media.” The site publishes several articles each week covering economic and military issues and climate change.