contributor

Allison Hantschel publishes the 13-year-old journalism and politics blog First Draft and is the author and editor of five books, including IT DOESN'T END WITH US, the story of the groundbreaking college newspaper The Daily Cardinal. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and many other publications. Follow her on Twitter: @Athenae

Pressing Matters Allison Hantschel Mar 19, 2024

Bad Journalism Is Giving Life to the “Fetal Personhood” Lie

Allison Hantschel Mar 19, 2024

For years, reproductive-justice activists have been warning that the GOP’s “fetal personhood” bills would endanger access to birth control and fertility treatment—especially IVF. Why hasn't the media taken them to task?

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Feb 20, 2024

Media Can’t Stop Stoking Outrage

Allison Hantschel Feb 20, 2024

Taking their cues from the GOP, the mainstream press has devoted their front page coverage to “but her emails”-level scandals, like President Biden’s age and DA Fani Willis’s private life. What will this mean come November?

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Jan 16, 2024

Don’t Confuse Fake Newspapers With Local Journalism

Allison Hantschel Jan 16, 2024

With so many local newspapers and reporters’ jobs gone, U.S. towns are suffering a profound information crisis. Which is exactly what Republicans want.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Dec 13, 2023

Does Legacy Media Want a Repeat of Election 2016?

Allison Hantschel Dec 13, 2023

Even after January 6th, much of the mainstream press still fails to take seriously the violent, fascistic threats of multiply indicted former president Trump, the GOP frontrunner of the 2024 presidential race.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Nov 14, 2023

Jezebel’s Closure Is More Than Just a Media Story

Allison Hantschel Nov 14, 2023

Since its inception, Jezebel offered a corrective to white male-centered media. With Election 2024 looming, the loss of yet another feminist magazine—killed off by venture capital—we’re left with even fewer outlets where women’s political issues are prioritized.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Sep 19, 2023

The Media Is Bumming People Out. That’s Intentional

Allison Hantschel Sep 19, 2023

Legacy media’s new favorite beat is doomerism, driving outrage clicks on the defeatist idea that none of us can do anything to improve the state of the world.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Aug 22, 2023

The Raid on the ‘Marion County Record’ Is Only the Beginning

Allison Hantschel Aug 22, 2023

The Right's war on the fourth estate is nothing new. But when cops raided a rural Kansas newspaper office and its editors’ homes over an investigation in progress, a new horrifying precedent was set.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Jul 18, 2023

Manufactured Outrage Is Big Business

Allison Hantschel Jul 18, 2023

Republicans believe that stoking their constituents’ rage by inventing controversies wins at the voting booths. So why aren’t news outlets exposing these campaigns of terror for what they are?

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Jun 20, 2023

The Media Is Determined to Repeat All Its Mistakes in Covering Trump

Allison Hantschel Jun 20, 2023

The crimes of the former president are still being covered by legacy news as if they were a circus act and not an international security crisis. And they seem determined to keep it that way.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Apr 18, 2023

That Time Euphemisms Got Too Woke For the Media

Allison Hantschel Apr 18, 2023

The GOP is defunding libraries, censoring history and science, and banning words and books, but media men are flipping out about the occasional awkwardness of inclusive language.