Rex Smith

(Airs 03/29/24 @ 3 p.m. & 03/31/24 @ 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, Barbara Lombardo, Daily Freeman Publisher Emeritus Ira Fusfeld and WAMC News Director Ian Pickus. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Barbara, Ira and Ian talk about the uproar over NBC hiring former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, a call to withdraw the video of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, and much more.

Before we get to talking about the news of the day, let’s take a moment to discuss guilt – because, after all, the personal drives the political. And we’ve all done things that we consider cringe-worthy.

(Airs 03/22/24 @ 3 p.m. & 03/24/24 @ 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 Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, Barbara Lombardo, and WAMC News Director Ian Pickus. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, Barbara, and Ian talk media organizations dropping the Associated Press wire service, the economic challenges facing journalism as well as the dangers facing journalists, and much more.

People have always learned important life lessons from theater. Take the plays of Shakespeare, for example. The moral of Romeo & Juliet is clearly that nothing good can come of hatred; Macbeth is chilling in its lesson that danger and darkness lie in deep ambition. Julius Caesar? Maybe it’s this: Be careful how you wield power (and who you choose as friends).

I’ve been redistricted again. I haven’t moved, but New York’s new congressional district boundaries have, and the new lines divide our little town between two districts – neither of them represented by our current member of Congress. And it makes me feel a bit, well, disempowered. It’s as though politicians chose whose constituent I will be, rather than me choosing the politician who will represent me.

(Airs 03/08/24 @ 3 p.m. & 03/10/24 @ 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 Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and Adjunct Professor at the University, and Media Project producer David Guistina. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, Barbara and David talk about how a lack of local reporting effects the Supreme Court, polling and what to believe, how media can fight American’s “collective amnesia” over the past behavior of the Presidential candidates, and much more.

A lot of things that people used to believe turned out not to be true: The earth is not flat, and it isn’t the center of the universe. Smoking will not aid digestion, as some doctors paid by tobacco companies asserted in the 1950s. And human sperm does not contain miniscule but completely pre-formed individuals, though what’s called “preformation” was the dominant theory of generation in the 18th century.

(Airs 03/01/24 @ 3 p.m. & 03/03/24 @ 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, Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and Adjunct Professor at the University, and WAMC News Director Ian Pickus. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Barbara and Ian talk about Pink Slime journalism, who should make the decision of what news gets covered on line, and much more.

I don’t know about you, but I always feel better after the Imbolc. You know about the Imbolc, right? That’s the threshold between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox – the point when there’s finally enough daylight for plants to begin to grow. This year, it was February 1st.

(Airs 02/16/24 @ 3 p.m. & 02/18/24 @ 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, Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and Adjunct Professor at the University, and WAMC News Director Ian Pickus. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Barbara, and Ian talk about the White House being upset over coverage of the special counsel’s report, what happens when journalists move to the “dark side,” and much more.