Author: gretchenapeck

Gretchen A. Peck's writing has been featured in more than 50 domestic and international publications, including translations to Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French. She has written about communications, media, and advertising; politics and public policy; rhetoric, writing, and journalism; sustainability and food-chain matters; travel and culture; dance and fine arts; legal, and other consumer-interest topics. Her decades-long reporting on journalism and news, publishing, printing, and graphic arts has appeared in dozens of industry trade periodicals and journals, including Editor & Publisher magazine; BookTech/Book Business magazine; Publishing Executive magazine; Business Tech Edge; Dealer Communicator; Digital Output and Digital Publishing Solutions magazines; In-Plant Graphics magazine; WhatTheyThink.com, Newspapers & Technology; CREATE Magazine; Internet Publishing; Catalog Success; Artes Graficas; HOW Magazine; The Seybold Report; IPA Bulletin; Graph Expo Show Guide; American Printer; Layers Magazine; Xerox's realbusiness magazine, Broad Street Magazine, Business Ledger, and more. She "tweets" about news and publishing @GretchenAPeck.
News & Publishing, Politics & Public Policy

A Tale of Two Presidential Campaigns

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Way, way back in grad school, I studied rhetoric—the art of using words to persuade. Ever since I’ve been fascinated by politics and oration, which brings me to our Presidential race: Trump/Vance v. Harris/Walz.

There are clear policy differences between the two parties. We can vote on those according to our values and priorities. But what’s notably distinctive is the tone of the campaigns. 

One paints a picture of a dystopian America, a nation alone on the world stage, alliances be damned. Not just America First, but America Only. It’s a campaign based on grievances—personal grievances of the man at the top of the ticket, who spends his rallies disparaging people who don’t bend the knee in fealty or espouse his loosely held principles. It is a campaign that not only doesn’t extend a handshake to all Americans, it disparages them in cruel, incredible terms. It is a campaign that portrays too many Americans as “others,” to be feared, hated, prosecuted, persecuted, or worse. A campaign that describes the nation’s cities—our multicultural centers of commerce, technology and art—as hellscapes, and a campaign that reimagines the future of America in the regressive Project 2025. It’s a campaign replete with speeches pining for a dialing back to 2016, a dialing back on policy, on “settled” law, on rights, on innovation, on societal progress and intellectualism. It looks at humanity and showcases the worst of it. It is a campaign about retribution (Trump’s words). It is relentlessly angry. 

From Donald J. Trump’s Truth Social account, August 6, 2024
Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance is starting to mimic the culture-wars rhetoric of his running mate. Despite the thorough debunking of this claim days ago, this post still appears on Vance’s X.com page as of August 6, 2024.

By comparison, the other campaign strikes a tone that’s hopeful, aspirational, empathetic. You’ll find no “losers and suckers” admonishments in the deep cuts. It’s a campaign with a Presidential hopeful who is attacked—like so many women—for being accomplished and yet unapologetically happy. They call her “giggles” and “crazy” and “cackling” when she expresses joy.

Now, she has a running mate, who seems happy, too—not pollyannish about what ails our nation, but excited for the prospect of their proposed solutions to heal them.

Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz expresses empathy for Minnesota’s families who are struggling to make ends meet — offering solutions not bluster.

And unlike the falsely masculine rhetoric coming from the other campaign, this VP doesn’t hide his softness, his compassion. He laughs, and not at others’ expense. Hours old, this campaign already feels lighter, forward-focused.

So many Americans are politically exhausted and parched. They’re looking for the water source in that dystopian desert. And if you think a message of hope, aspiration and joy doesn’t sell in the nasty news cycle-obsessed world of modern-day politics, I give you eight years of President Barack Obama as evidence people find it refreshing, resounding and winning. 

In the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick for a running mate, Governor Tim Walz, the Obamas weighed in on what Walz brings to the ticket, including “his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect.”
Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama take their final flight on Marine One, as they fly over Washington, D.C. following the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. Photo: G.A. Peck
News & Publishing, photography, Politics & Public Policy, TV, Radio, Audio

Watch “Print It Black” on Hulu

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In the week that followed the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, I was one of thousands of calls into the local newspaper, the Uvalde Leader-News. I was working on a story for E&P—part of the magazine’s “Reporting On” series—about journalists who have the daunting task of reporting mass shootings. 

On a few occasions that week, a member of the newsroom there would answer—audibly exhausted and grief-stricken, yet polite and professional—and take down my message for the owner-publisher Craig Garnett. I, of course, wanted to speak with him about my assignment, to learn in those still-raw moments what it takes for a newsroom to cover a story of this magnitude and tragedy. But so much more importantly, I wanted to express my sorrow, to let him and his entire newsroom know that we shared in their grief. After all, a member of our news community had been personally and profoundly impacted by this crime. ULN’s Crime Reporter Kimberly Mata-Rubio’s 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was among the victims.

Despite an enormous weight on his shoulders, Garnett called me back a few days later, and generously, thoughtfully spoke about what his newsroom was going through. Through tears that seemed never-ending, I wrote the story. 

I’ve thought about that local paper—Garnett and the small, tight-knit staff—the Rubio family, and the community of Uvalde every day since.

I had the great honor to reconnect with Garnett last week, to talk about the ABC News documentary, “Print It Black,” now streaming on Hulu. It’s a difficult-to-watch yet important film that I implore everyone to see—a complex, nuanced and honest look at mass shootings in America, about life in a small town, about racism, poverty and classicism, and about a local newsroom rising to an occasion for which it never could prepare.

#Uvalde #LocalNews #RobbElementary #UvaldeLeaderNews #ABCNews #documentary

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/from-tragedy-to-screen-uvalde-leader-newss-journey-in-print-it-black,251254?newsletter=251259&vgo_ee=3LlnuTuG1f3N7xJAyEmHXrirvfwhAS4xrL7muUNUPGNXAKv5mtfn%3AcQ3Q25RViKPhAkQOSD05hsgssV1JK4Tz
News & Publishing, Politics & Public Policy, TV, Radio, Audio

Producing a step-by-step FOIA guide

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As FOIA director at @washingtonpost, Nate Jones is a government records specialist — expertise he gladly shares with other journalists and the public

#newsmedia #FOIA #illustration #journalism

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/producing-a-step-by-step-guide-to-foia,250976

book, Book Publishing, fiction, Food, Travel, Culture

Read this book.

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Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is the most compelling work of fiction I’ve read in years. It’s a tale about a contemporary Irish family, told through each of its four members’ perspectives—father, mother, daughter and son. Murray’s use of first-person narrative, sentence structure and punctuation (or lack thereof) ensures each voice is distinctive. 

Though the story unfolds over more than 600 pages, for the reader, there’s never a sense that even a paragraph is ancillary or unnecessary. It’s a story that conveys raw human emotions: grief, fear, disappointment, yearning, joy, duty and desire.

Murray cleverly, almost stealthily, explores some grand themes, such as one’s desire to be purely authentic, while the forces of life and societal conventions push back. He expertly captures how the past imprints on a person. Hardship, envy, violence, poverty, happiness, fleeting moments of awe, passion—memories that bind to us like DNA strands. 

The author keenly explores the friction of a life that doesn’t follow the path you’ve plotted. Does it ever?

If you’re looking for a book that sucks you in and holds you captive until the final sentencee, this is that book. 

News & Publishing, Politics & Public Policy

Two of ProPublica’s Editors Talk About the Past, Present and Future for the Nonprofit News Leader

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It’s hard for me to believe that nearly 20 years have passed since ProPublica first came on the news media scene. I immediately followed their work, because I believed in their mission and the void they were filling. Yet, I worried that the then-fledgling news outlet and the nonprofit model wouldn’t pan out. 

Thankfully, they flourished. 

We wanted to write about ProPublica now, in a year when its journalists earned a 7th Pulitzer Prize (added to a considerably long list of other awards) and has become an unquestionable leader in the industry — not just for the impactful journalism their newsroom produces, but for the way in which they’re enabling other newsrooms around the country to excel in their own accountability work through partnerships. 

I spoke with two of the editors who’ve been there since the beginning — about what it was like to stake their careers on the new nonprofit; how the newsroom has evolved; and what keeps them motivated all these years in. At the link, hear from Charles Ornstein, ProPublica’s managing editor, local, and Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg. 

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/ethical-exposs-and-pulitzer-prizes-propublicas-impactful-journey-in-investigative-journalism,250361

News & Publishing, TV, Radio, Audio

TV and Radio Broadcasters Launch Hyperlocal Digital and Streaming News Services

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I’ve long appreciated the concept of hyperlocal news. What better way to make communities and neighborhoods feel seen and heard than to cover the news expressly for them and about them? We’ve seen news outlets like Block Club Chicago and Trib Total Media have rousing success taking a street-level neighborhood approach to news. 

I was pleasantly surprised when E&P’s Robin Blinder and Mike Blinder returned from Borrell Miami this spring with a new story in hand about hyperlocal news—TV and radio broadcasters leveraging their brands and trustful audiences to launch hyperlocal digital sites and streaming services. So, I followed up with Gordon Borrell to get his take on why hyperlocal news was seeing a renaissance of sorts and followed up with three media executives in the throes of starting up new hyperlocal media properties. Here are their stories: 

#communitynews #hyperlocalnews #TV #Radio #Streaming #digitalmedia

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/from-news-deserts-to-digital-havens-the-rise-of-hyperlocal-journalism,250359

Food, Travel, Culture, photography, Uncategorized

On the Block: A Photographic Tour of Block Island

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All photos ©G.A. Peck

Block Island is just off the coast of Rhode Island, accessible by ferries that leave from New London, Connecticut and Point Judith, Rhode Island. 

The island only has approximately 1,400 residents, but it’s a popular day-trip, weekend or vacation destination for visitors. 

The island has both sandy and pebble beaches, accessible and free. 

Beginner surfers catch waves on the main public beach. 

There are two lighthouses — one you can tour and another that’s popular with photographers.

The island can be quite crowded during the summer season. But it’s also a wonderfully romantic destination for off-season visitors. One of my favorite trips to the island was New Year’s Eve one year. There were only a handful of tourists. Locals all descended on a local bar, Yellow Kittens, to ring in the New Year, and the next morning, they all gathered on the beach for an annual Polar Bear Plunge and bonfire. 

Block Island homes derive nearly 100% of their energy from offshore wind. There are five windmills off its coast, which have become another popular tourist attraction. Chartered boats take you up close and personal with the wind turbines. It’s a great way to get a feel for their massive scale. 

The ferries are the most popular way to get to the island, but if you’d like a special voyage, take a small-craft plane out of Westerly, Rhode Island’s airport. It’s a 12-minute flight on a plane that holds about eight passengers and their luggage. 

The plane is no frills. There are no drink carts, no extra leg-room seats, and no air conditioning. On this flight, during a particularly hot day, our pilot asked, “Would you like me to turn on the air conditioning?” The passengers all chimed in together with a resounding, “Yes.” Little did we know that the “AC” meant she put her cockpit window down and used the palm of her hand to direct a breeze back into the cabin. 

Can confirm. 

News & Publishing, Politics & Public Policy, Printing and Imaging

Talking newspapers with Kelsey Russell

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This ranks as one of the most fun and fascinating conversations I’ve had this year about the power of the printed newspaper and media literacy.

Meet TikTok’s “Print Princess,” Kelsey Russell, who leverages the platform to introduce her audience to news of the day; how to be critical about what they read; and how print can give us a break from screen time, as well as help us more meaningfully consider and retain information.

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/meet-the-print-princess-tiktok-personality-kelsey-russell-uses-social-media-to-spark-critical,250283

Book Publishing, Music, TV, Radio, Audio

Rebel Girl

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I preordered Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna. I felt it mandatory reading. I’d listened to the band(s) back in the day. I was fascinated by the lore and that Kathleen married my second favorite Beastie Boy. I wanted the backstory on it all, especially what it was like to be a woman in a band in the midst of a nearly all-male punk moment. I certainly knew what it was like to be a woman in the clubs, basements and warehouse shows where women were relegated to the perimeters by virtue of slamming male bodies and fear of being trampled or groped. 

What I didn’t know to expect was the constant struggle, the poverty, the family dysfunction, the sexual abuse, the rapes, the violence, the loneliness, despair, the anger and hatred (especially from other women), which Hanna reveals in bite-sized chapter chunks. Sometimes it’s all you can swallow before snapping the cover shut and trying to process it, wondering how the author ever did. 

Did she? 

Can you? 

It’s a question I ask myself all the time. Do we actually heal? Or do we just learn to be temporarily okay in the moment and then string those moments together to make a day, a week, a year, a decade, a lifetime? 

Hanna’s storytelling kept me captivated. I read the book in two days. After all, it’s what a memoir should be — raw, candid, honest and deeply introspective. 

TV, Radio, Audio

Apprenticing the emperor (sans clothes)

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Slate published an article today, written by Producer Bill Pruit. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at The Apprentice and the subsequent cult of personality it created with clever editing, flashy production, and seemingly earnest, eager contestants willing to do anything to get a chance to work alongside the guy with his name on all the buildings. 

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the revelations of the article reveal Donald J. Trump’s toxicity, racism, sexism and narcissism. We’ve all seen these traits on international display, including Trump’s proclivity for insults, retribution and sadism. It doesn’t surprise me at all to learn that he flippantly used slurs, including the “N word,” especially after what he did to the “Central Park Five.”

No, none of this “new information” surprises me. 

What does surprise me is the longevity of The Apprentice. Mark Burnett unquestionably has the secret sauce for long-run “reality” shows. Despite little tweaks to the Survivor game and casting, it’s still the same format as it was 24 years ago when it was novel. And people still watch it and want to be on it. 

But The Apprentice was a different animal. 

In 2004, I tuned in because I liked the concepts — the challenge of creating and championing a product or service; how to target and hone its marketing; how to hustle; how to multitask; how to work as a team; how to defend your decisions and your work; and how to ensure your own survival in a cut-throat business environment. 

But as an astute watcher from the beginning, I almost immediately spotted a pattern from week to week and across the first few seasons: Donald Trump was a lousy businessman. That fact played out in the real world over decades. He notoriously leveraged the bankruptcy courts to stiff vendors and employees, while preserving what empire remained. He published a bestseller he hadn’t written, and according to the ghostwriter, he likely never read. He cut corners, grifted, sold people inferior products, and cheated at every turn.

He is one of the few — if not the only — casino owners who actually lost money on those enterprises. That’s an astounding feat of failure.

And it became clear as he sat center stage at The Apprentice’s ominously illuminated conference room table, that he lacked even the most fundamental business insights. From week to week, he showed glaring inconsistencies in those principles — favoring honesty one week, rewarding deceit the next; espousing the virtues of creativity in one episode, only to scold the most out-of-the-box thinking the next. 

In most episodes, it seemed that it didn’t matter how the contestants performed their tasks; who stayed and who got fired appeared more about who made the best television for one more week — or, even more cynically, how they looked.

Trump himself shined only in the moments when he was doing what he does best — grilling people, shaming them, making them grovel and beg, and of course stoking his own ego. And that made for good reality drama for a while, but I think for actual business people, it fizzled quickly. It certainly did for me, and I tuned out after a few seasons — annoyed that I’d invested as much time as I had in the show.

The Celebrity Apprentice, which ultimately replaced the original format, extended the show’s life by virtue of well-known contestants and a charity payout. But the fundamental problem with the show endured: Trump was an unpredictable, bloviating showman, but not an executive of any measurable caliber.