Rex Smith

Today I’d like to say just a few words about words that are not said – ways that we’re encouraged to avoid truth-telling.

You know those photos that show a younger Donald Trump hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein and some underage girls – one of them showing Trump with his hand on a young girl’s leg? Have you seen those? Yeah, well, they’re not real, folks.

(Airs 09/12/25 @ 3 p.m. & 09/14/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and current Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy and Barbara talk about the importance of the weather beat, a major collaboration between a non-profit news organization and The New York Times, coverage or non-coverage of crowd reaction at the U.S. Open, and much more.

In recent weeks, I have used this golden opportunity to offer commentary on a valued regional public radio network mainly to talk about journalism. I’m comfortable with that because it has been my professional focus for a half-century.

(Airs 09/05/25 @ 3 p.m. & 09/07/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian, and Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy and Barbara talk about coverage of President Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to Chicago, Artificial Intelligence in journalism, the Fox Trump feedback loop, and much more.

There’s a reference book called the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, which is how I know that it was some five-and-a-half centuries ago that a book first declared, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Actually, in that 1576 book, Petit Palace, attributed to someone named G. Pettie, the phrasing was, “So long as I knoweth it not, it hurteth me not.”

(Airs 08/29/25 @ 3 p.m. & 08/31/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of the Saratogian, and Daily Freeman Publisher Emeritus Ira Fusfeld. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, Barbara and Ira talk about covering the Minneapolis shooting, whether news subscriptions should be subsidized, the value of the Freedom of Information Law, and much more.

Ever since Donald Trump became a political force a decade ago, we’ve been told that his popularity is in part a result of grievance – that is, a lot of people become part of the MAGA faithful because they believe that the political system and American institutions are stacked against them.

(Airs 08/22/25 @ 3 p.m. & 08/24/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of the Saratogian. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy and Barbara talk about community journalism, why so many Americans are confused about what being a journalist means, and much more.

We sometimes think that no time before was as perilous or troubled as our time. Probably that’s not true.