EnviroPolitics Blog

Is the media ready for the midterms?

Media experts on the threat to democracy, and what the press must do

This is a free edition of Wait, What?, a newsletter about politics, the far right, and the things you should be noticing. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. For access to all editions of the newsletter, including subscriber-only exclusives, subscribe to The Atlantic.

By Molly Jong-Fast The Atlantic

How should the media cover the political landscape when one party has gone full arsonist?

It’s a question that looms large as America struggles against the rise of the antidemocratic movement at home. The midterm elections are a little more than 220 days away. Republicans have already promised revenge if they win back the House—including removing some Democrats from their committees as a punishment for Democrats stripping QAnon-pushing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and white-nationalist-loving Representative Paul Gosar of their committee assignments—but it’s unlikely that would be the end of it.

Senator Ted Cruz is already predicting President Joe Biden’s impeachment: “Yeah, I do think there’s a chance of that, whether it’s justified or not,” Cruz told the listeners of his podcast. Republicans are probably hoping that they can prevent Democrats from holding Donald Trump accountable for his failed coup through intimidation. American politics have been dysfunctional but never has one party rejected democracy itself.

Reporters at mainstream news outlets puzzled over how to cover Trump. How do you report and contextualize the words of a politician who is not bound by the truth? How do you write about lies without seeming biased for calling them lies? And just when they started to figure it out—calling lies, for example—Trump was (temporarily) gone, and a sea of mini-Trumps also unbound by truth and Democratic norms flooded Washington, D.C., and statehouses across the country. If there were a useful litmus test for Republican candidates, it would be their ability to provide a factual answer to the question of who won the 2020 election.

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Opinion writers like myself don’t need to worry about presenting a balanced view (or more to the point, maybe, the appearance of a balanced view). But what about reporters? They are supposed to invoke neither fear nor favor. How do they navigate the sticky wicket of a two-party system in which only one party seems to value the truth?

The Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan, who has written extensively on this topic, has recommended the “truth sandwich”—the tactic by which a reporter properly quotes a lie by surrounding it with truth. Her advice for the media as the midterms approach? “The mainstream press (the reality-based press, to distinguish them from the right-wing press) should focus on what’s good for citizens and not the horse race aspect of the midterms, and they should call out lies clearly.” She added that she’d also like to see “more focus on voting rights and gerrymandering.”

It’s worth remembering that this coming election will include many state-level positions and that many of those candidates are running on the Big Lie. Trump’s pick for Michigan attorney general is a lawyer named Matthew DePerno, and according to Politico, he was “a major figure in Trump’s failed bid to overturn the election in Michigan.” Hard to treat a person as a normal candidate when one of his main positions is undermining democracy.

When I reached out to Jon Allsop, the author of Columbia Journalism Review’s newsletter, his response was focused on the press not two-siding midterms stories.

“Mainstream media should cover the midterms like they should cover any political story at the moment—by avoiding treating the two parties as equal and opposite ‘sides’ when they aren’t, especially when it comes to the preservation of U.S. democracy, ” he said. “I think that many reporters and editors have woken up to the Republican assault on democracy in recent years—and others didn’t need waking up in the first place—but good, urgent coverage of the threat still tends to get siloed away from the horse-race punditry, which still often seems to start from the premise that the track is even. We need to see more joined-up thinking here and that will require focus, which will be a particular challenge amid a news cycle dominated by war and with so many other important stories to cover.”

Read the full story here

Is the media ready for the midterms? Read More »

#BILLYPENNGRAM-3/29/22

#BILLYPENNGRAM-3/29/22 Read More »

Philly program trains former prisoners to recycle worn-out electronic products

A group of employees collect e-waste at PAR-Recycle in North Philadelphia. — A group of employees collects e-waste at PAR-Recycle in North Philadelphia. The nonprofit employs formerly incarcerated individuals as part of its mission to provide employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people. (Photo courtesy of Maurice Jones)

By Raquel Perez WHYY News

According to the EPA, Americans generated 2.7 million tons of consumer electronics waste in 2018. The world produces 50 million tons of e-waste each year. Only 20% of that waste is recycled, with the remaining waste going to landfills.

People Advancing Reintegration, known as PAR-Recycle Works, is a nonprofit organization trying to change those recycling rates — as well as the rate of the formerly incarcerated who end up back in prison.

The mission of PAR-Recycle is to reduce recidivism through electronics recycling. The organization provides transitional employment to people who are returning home from prison. The nonprofit started back in 2016 and has worked with 110 people. Of that number, 90 have gone on to full-time work, and only two have gone back to prison.

A PAR-Recycle employee examines one of the pieces of e-waste that the nonprofit collects and recycles. — An employee examines an example of e-waste at PAR-Recycle in North Philadelphia. The nonprofit employs formerly incarcerated individuals as part of its mission to provide employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people. (Photo courtesy of Maurice Jones)

PAR-Recycle Works provides training and therapies that include financial literacy, digital literacy, cognitive behavioral therapy, conflict resolution, mindfulness, forklift operation, and support in getting driver’s licenses. The idea is to set people up for success in their time with the organization, which is usually six to nine months.

“It is a way for individuals to get their lives back after incarceration,” PAR-Recycle Founder Maurice Jones said.

The United States incarcerates more of its population than any other country in the world. In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has the highest incarceration rate of any county, and approximately 25,000 people come back to the city every year from prison. Out of that, 17,500 end up going back to prison. U.S. Department of Justice statistics say that over 68% of those released from prison in the first three years will be reincarcerated.

“Being from the city, understanding the city, having an upbringing from the hood I know what it’s like. I’ve been a statistic, I’ve been to jail and I know what people are faced with when they come home without support,” said Jones.

Read the full story here

Philly program trains former prisoners to recycle worn-out electronic products Read More »

Is the Delaware River wide enough for commercial and recreational users?

File photo: A member of the Delaware River Fishermen's Association fishes for catfish in Bucks County. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) — *File photo: A member of the Delaware River Fishermen’s Association fishes for catfish in Bucks County. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)*

By Susan Phillips WHYY

Taking a trip to the banks of the Delaware River on a warm summer day these past couple of years, you may have seen people paddling kayaks, floating on inflatable pink flamingos, racing by on jet skis, and even swimming. It’s a sign that the river, once known as a “stinky ugly mess,” is now much cleaner and more inviting.

It’s also the result of an effort by advocates and environmentalists to encourage more recreational use of the river.

But not everyone is cheering a recreational return to the Delaware. Each year, about 4,000 large cargo ships carry everything from plywood to steel to grapes, delivering material to 30 different marine terminals in the 27-mile stretch between the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and the Commodore Barry Bridge. Thousands of workboats, including barges and tugs, also travel that stretch each year.

The Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay, a trade association for the commercial shipping industry that helps manage the traffic, says the increased recreational activities risk fatal collisions with container ships that ply the Delaware. The group is pushing back against efforts to upgrade the river’s regulatory designation under the Clean Water Act.

“Even were the water quality improved, the area would still not be safe for primary contact recreation,” Maritime Exchange president Lisa Himber wrote in a letter to Philadelphia City Council in December

Read the full story here

Is the Delaware River wide enough for commercial and recreational users? Read More »

U.S. grants another import extension for Chinese autoshredder wear parts

By Hannah Zuckerman Scrap News

On March 23, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced its determination to reinstate certain previously granted and extended product exclusions in the China Section 301 Investigation. The determination reinstates the tariff exclusion on shredder wear parts, retroactive to Oct. 12, 2021, and extends the exclusion through Dec. 31, 2022. Shredder wear parts imported from China will not be assessed the additional 25% tariff during this period.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has advocated on behalf of its members and the industry since the Trump administration imposed the tariff in July 2018. USTR granted an exemption on April 18, 2019, and in 2020 the government allowed companies and organizations to request the continuation of the exemption for one year, which was granted to all that requested it.

In October 2021, when USTR invited public comments on whether to reinstate previously extended exclusions which included shredder wear parts, ISRI was quick to submit comments. The association explained why the exclusion for shredder wear parts should be reinstated and how the tariff has caused economic harm to U.S. small businesses, employment, manufacturing output, and critical supply chains.

Wear parts are essentially the heart of a shredder. But they need to be replaced almost daily, so having them in bulk is vital for U.S. recyclers.

Since more than 85% of shredder wear parts are sourced from China, and those costs amount to 60–70% of the cost of operations in this sector, the 25% tariff would make a huge difference—especially to smaller operators.

Don’t miss environmental news like this Click for free updates

U.S. grants another import extension for Chinese autoshredder wear parts Read More »

200 property owners in a flood-prone NJ town told to raise their homes or sell to the state

And, no, it’s not a town on the Jersey Shore

Maryann Morris, 43, walks through her gutted single-story home in the Lost Valley section of Manville, damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

By Karen Yi, Gothamist

When the remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled across New Jersey, Maryann Morris had just started to settle into her newly purchased home on a quiet residential block in Manville.

Less than a year after she moved in with her 7-year-old daughter, Ida’s floodwaters inundated her basement and sloshed up another four feet on the first floor.

“There were still my daughter’s baby blankets and stuff from the hospital when she was born,” Morris, 43, said. “There were presents down there that she hadn’t gotten to open from her birthday.”

Don’t miss environmental news like this Click for free updates

Seven months after the storm, Morris and her daughter, Ember, are still living in a nearby rented apartment as they wait to settle an insurance dispute and receive a government loan to start construction. Morris said her insurance company agreed to cover part of the repairs but it isn’t cooperating with the U.S. Small Business Administration, which will make up the rest.

“I have run out of ways to answer my daughter about when we’re going home,” Morris said. “Because I don’t even know.”

The recovery for Morris has been slow; the inside of her house is completely gutted. But even when she returns home, she’ll have to decide whether it’s safe enough to stay. She’s one of 200 home and business owners in Manville who received letters from the Somerset County borough telling them they have to elevate their properties or sell to the state’s buyout program, known as Blue Acres.

Read the full story here

200 property owners in a flood-prone NJ town told to raise their homes or sell to the state Read More »