Notes on the next republic

Re-reading Rousseau's "The Social Contract." | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 13 days ago

Some good news: States are stepping up for local journalism

A onrush of new legislation to support local news. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

Investigative journalism and the rule of law

Muckraking's symbiosis with the constitutional order under Donald Trump. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

I've got a new job

Waging a new fight for local journalists across the U.S. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

What did dual-class shares just do to my democracy?

Trump/Musk, the billionaire-CEO, and the American soft spot for tyranny. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

Trump's war on journalists starts now

Assessing the early damage stateside and abroad. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

TikTok came back. Then I deleted the app.

Looking for something to root for in the fight for TikTok. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

People stopped using AI during L.A.'s wildfires

AI had a trust problem when lives and homes were on the line. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

Did you use AI during the L.A. wildfires?

A callout to readers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 month ago

The power (and limits) of Watch Duty

What we can learn from the success of the L.A. wildfires' breakout info resource. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

California journalism's fiery wake-up call

How California lawmakers can support getting more of the best L.A. fire coverage. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

The sunlight through the ash

A few brighter spots in the information environment around L.A.'s fires. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

Fires and the facts

The breaking-news experience is awful for consumers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

Wall Street declares war on the Associated Press

Gannett and Reuters come for one of the final corners for legacy media that had resisted the financialization of journalism. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

Best ways to support journalism in 2025

Concrete ideas for news consumers, journalists and policymakers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

What comes after "pro-democracy journalism"

Toward tomorrow's popular press. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

Is a "we're Communists!" push alert really what saves TikTok?

On the power and limits of disclosure. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 2 months ago

Australia's latest idea to make Big Tech pay for journalism

The Aussies build on the policy that started it all: an update to the News Media Bargaining Code. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Manipulating algorithms is only O.K. if you're American

On an increasingly protectionist internet, saving TikTok might not be what the First Amendment is for. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Anti-lib antitrust

How the next Trump administration's attitude toward corporate competition could be worse than nothing. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Mobs beget mobsters

On Donald Trump, Kash Patel and gangsterism in the democracy. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Making journalism-shaped widgets at the discrimination factory

Creator-based journalism has a market problem: The market is bad. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Journalism's biggest problems are now what we don't control

Journalists have a democracy problem, in addition to all our other problems. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 3 months ago

Well, Patrick Soon-Shiong lied

The owner of the Los Angeles Times now says the Biden's administration's handling of Gaza did play a factor in his non-endorsement decision. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy

The truth is going out of business as technology turns us into a folk-story society, ripe for influence by a demagogue. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history

Contemplating the purpose of the press after the Trump revolution. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Democracy's mystique

The fight for freedom is a war on boredom. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Body horror in the body politic

Donald Trump's haunting obsession with disfigurement in the democracy. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

200,000 canceled subscriptions later, Jeff Bezos proves the point

Listen to journalists. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Why canceling subscriptions to billionaires' newsrooms hurts the wrong people

Toward a more pro-journalist approach to being pissed off. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Are these your kings?

Billionaire owners at Los Angeles Times and Washington Post set a standard of cowardice in facing a crucial election. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

That doesn't make any sense, Patrick

An embarrassing and avoidable episode for the owner of the Los Angeles Times. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 4 months ago

Understanding Lina Khan and the Millennial class war

Millennial's generational struggle against Boomers is ending where it always would: old-fashioned class war. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 5 months ago

The journalism trust problem that a nonprofit newsroom can't fix

The public isn't the only stakeholder group with grievances against the news industry. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 5 months ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom has opinions about journalism jobs(?)

The California governor's puzzling views on news media policy. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 5 months ago

A deep dive into Google's shady (and shoddy) California journalism deal

Hardly anyone won, except for Google. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 6 months ago

The Seth Rogen strike quote I think about all the time

Hollywood and journalism have a crisis in common. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 6 months ago

California's SB 1327 and the Big Tech astroturfers of the week

California wants Big Tech to pay for local journalism. The legislative fight hasn't been completely fair. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 7 months ago

Big Tech is behind those creepy "oppose AB 886" ads in California

The latest attack on the California Journalism Preservation Act is showing up on TV and social media. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 7 months ago

The plotless lives of underground men

On assassins and the limits of biographical meaning. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 8 months ago

Fix your union, fight for journalism, repair the world

RIP Jane Frances McAlevey, 1964-2024. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 8 months ago

Slop versus scum: A brief theory of the internet

The two faces of the platforms' war against specificity. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 8 months ago

Breaking news: California Senate advances a major data mining tax to fund journalism jobs

Senator Steve Glazer's Senate Bill 1327 secures a two-thirds majority. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 8 months ago

A reporter's guide to practicing self-defense in the newsroom

A tipsheet for investigative journalists. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 8 months ago

AI and the end of journalistic time

What happens when the news isn't new anymore? | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 9 months ago

News: California Journalism Preservation Act gets an overhaul

A hearing on new changes to AB 886 is set for June 25. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 9 months ago

Why creators would let TikTok die

TikTok's best political path to survival runs through its content creators. Platform logic might get in the way. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 9 months ago

Washington Post tries Tronc...?

It's gravitas. But with scale. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 9 months ago