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 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.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Mar 1, 2023

The Importance of Women-Owned and -Run Media

Allison Hantschel Mar 1, 2023

If journalism is the first draft of history, then it’s critical that women aren’t just the story, but also the storytellers.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Feb 14, 2023

This Is How Media Shapes the Narrative

Allison Hantschel Feb 14, 2023

When a paper of record makes unsubstantiated claims, other media outlets see them and spin them out in a subversive game of telephone. Is this how we really want the first draft of history to be written?

a repeating pattern of an illustration of a newspaper on a yellow background

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Jan 17, 2023

What Does It Mean to Reinvent Journalism?

Allison Hantschel Jan 17, 2023

There's a reason why every new news site looks, feels and reports the same way.

Pressing Issues Allison Hantschel Dec 13, 2022

Elon Musk Is Really Good At Being Really Bad

Allison Hantschel Dec 13, 2022

As the owner of Twitter, Musk is proving to be a disastrous CEO. And his fragile ego and bizarre fascistic politics threaten to make matters even worse for the once-successful social-media platform.