ted hill

@tedhill.bsky.social

[long audible sigh] ⚽️🍺🏃🏻‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏈🏀🇺🇸💙

"Miami is on the precipice of becoming a news desert..." Carol Marbin Miller, deputy investigations editor for the @miamiherald.com, just posted this over at X in the wake of the newspaper losing 30 positions. Serious stuff.

This will be a long thread. Please stick with it.
The Miami Herald, one of the premier legacy newspapers in America, laid off or wrote off more than 30 positions today – well over one-third of its editorial staff. The cuts include crucial accountability beats. (1)
The layoffs will upend the lives and careers of 20 talented, dedicated journalists -- all good and decent people. These are folks with children and families and debts to pay. They are your neighbors. (2)
The broader story: For 122 years, the Herald has been the outlet of record for the biggest city in one of the most critical states in America, a place of big ideas, of vibrant cultures, of zany politics and stories that, as we say here, were always stranger than fiction. (3)
We long ago cut past the skin and the bone and the muscle and the tendons and the ligaments. We are now slicing out the vital organs, such as coverage of the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. How can you cover Miami without a Miami reporter? (4)
Miami is on the precipice of becoming a news desert – whether the Herald survives these cuts or not. And, as a Miami native who grew up reading the Herald, I hope it can thrive once again. We lost an enormous amount or reporting capacity today. (5)
The Herald’s future, the future of Miami journalism, are crucial to the health of our state. A grand jury reported the Florida governor diverted $10 million in child welfare funds to a political campaign. Our leaders are no longer concerned with oversight or accountability. (6)
The Herald reporter who broke that story is no longer here. Her replacement in the Capital is no longer here. The job likely will be eliminated. Of what significance is government in the sunshine when there are no watchdogs to look in all those otherwise dark places? (7)
It has become political sport to complain about the local newspaper, to ridicule how far it has fallen. But these are weighty issues. And if you’ve been paying attention, you must know the importance of facts

Michelle also covered soccer with great quality for the many years when Miami didn't have a pro team, between the Fusion era and Inter Miami. Plus tennis, college sports, and many other things. Hopefully someone else hires her, and profits from doing so as any outlet would.

ESPN completely abandoning any pretense of journalistic integrity and becoming a PR machine for its business partners has been wild to watch. Adam Schefter doing gambling commercials. SportsCenter anchors "interviewing" WWE wrestlers completely in kayfabe.

Sydney Bauer@sydney-bauer.com · 2w ago

ESPN used to have an ombudsman. Most major newspapers had ombudsmen or public editors. It was a travesty a decade ago when they got rid of them. It’s even moreso now.

For one of the first or rare times in my life, I have a dilemma or life situation where I just do not know what to do or which route to take. I know the options. It’s a very unsettling and helpless feeling.