Sitemap - 2021 - The Present Age

"Just here for the ratio!" vs. "Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?"

Subscribe to The Present Age to keep up with Parker Molloy's work

Merry Christmas from Parker and The Present Age

How to become a Fox News star, according to Fox News star Jesse Watters

No Leaf Clover

Ted Leo has a good song for a good cause. Check it out.

Old tweets sending well-wishes to Jussie Smollett aren't some sort of "gotcha."

"Don't speak ill of the dead" is anti-journalism

My journalism predictions for 2022

The reason for the season

The most important ingredient in the "War on Christmas": victimhood

The ugly origins of the "War on Christmas"

This week's theme: The War on Christmas

Matthew Sheffield talks media's blind spot for religious fundamentalism [podcast + transcript]

Is it data or is it just vibes?

How "the media got it wrong" usually gets it wrong: Rittenhouse edition

This is your newsletter, too

How mainstream media outlets get played by the right

Matthew Sheffield helped build the right-wing media apparatus. Now he's fighting it. [podcast + transcript]

Review: is Twitter Blue right for you? It depends

Look, I made you some content

Comedian Michael Ian Black will say pretty much anything for $85. [podcast + transcript]

I cannot take you seriously if you use the word "woke" unironically in 2021

This is a story about milk, but also about what happens when the press doesn’t do its job

Writer Talia Lavin's latest project tackles the rise of the far-right... and sandwiches. [podcast + transcript]

I sure hope this newsletter stuff works out

Time for a social (media) experiment

No bull: stop falling for PETA's shenanigans

Author Pete Croatto explains how the NBA became a cultural phenomenon [podcast + transcript]

The persistent myth of drugged Halloween candy

Get a hobby! (No, really, get a hobby)

Writer Thor Benson thinks a lot about the pandemic and mental health

"What are we outraged about today?": bisexual Superman who has a slightly different slogan edition

Watching this singing competition has me asking what it means to be real

Nick Lutsko is more than just the sweaty man singing in your Twitter timeline [podcast + transcript]

I'm not asking comedians to stop telling trans jokes. I'm asking them to stop telling *the same* trans jokes over and over.

Writer Aaron Rupar talks about his exit from Vox and the start of the Public Notice Substack [podcast + transcript]

How The Washington Post lost this longtime subscriber

"Is someone making more than $400,000 per year rich?" Yes. Next question.

Is anybody out there actually okay?

A year after Trump said he wanted to "get rid of the ballots," has the press learned anything?

Eddie Geller is a Florida Man who wants your vote [podcast + transcript]

Term limits for columnists now, please

It's hard to have much faith in humanity these days

Franchesca Ramsey shares the secret to a successful social media detox [podcast + transcript]

Mainstream media gushes over Kim Jong-un, certified hottie

"The 'It's about ethics in horse paste journalism' phase of the discourse"

The 8 interviews that helped get this project started

Why did the Washington Post interview "the pandemic's wrongest man" for an article about COVID-19?

Friday forum: What keeps you going?

Writer Molly Jong-Fast has health anxiety — and maybe you do, too [podcast + transcript]

Nobody needs to see Al Roker get knocked over by a wave during a hurricane

The Washington Post's profile of Maggie Haberman misses the mark in one important way

What are some of your favorite Substacks?

Artist Bryan Brinkman explains the WTFs of NFTs [podcast + transcript]

A YouTube channel of irrational fears... that I can't stop watching

The future freaks me out

A small favor

Climate journalist Eric Holthaus believes in a better world [podcast + transcript]

Baseball, brains, and bad words: understanding what happened with Lewis Brinson, a mascot, and a fan.

Joe Galbo is the man making memes for the U.S. government (podcast + transcript)

Media mistakes in covering a police video illustrate unaddressed problems

"When the snow melts away, do the Cubbies still play in their ivy-covered burial ground?"

Baseball writer Keith Law talks memes, vaccines, and what it’s like covering baseball during COVID (podcast+transcript)

The smartest media criticism you've never seen

To end this public health crisis, journalists need to humble themselves

Carlos Maza at the end of the world (podcast + transcript)

A society of Holiday Inn Express guests

Community thread: podcast guest suggestions

Writer and comedian Sara Benincasa is getting by with a little help from her friends (podcast + transcript)

Debunk beds: what false info about "anti-sex" cardboard beds at the Olympics shows us about the spread of misinformation.

Right-wing media politicized COVID. We'll all pay the price.

Former Congressman Joe Walsh is trying to stop a monster he helped create (podcast + transcript)

Are you not entertained?

"What are we outraged about today?": Captain America edition

Comic book writer Dan Slott is grateful for editors, especially when they tell him "No." (podcast + transcript)

A year later, Trump's bizarre 4th of July speech makes sense

Community thread: promote your work

The GIF that keeps on… GIFfing?

New study highlights the virality of hate

Community thread: TV/movie/music/book recommendations

The future is Florida, and that has me worried

The tyranny of t-shirts... or something.

The Tucker Carlson profile industrial complex

Moral Panic Attack

In conversation with Will Butler of Arcade Fire

Fox News and the power of yelling about "cancel culture"

The Q&A: Michael Hobbes from the "You're Wrong About" podcast

Dre(a)dfully fake outrage

Welcome to The Present Age