I really appreciated this piece. There's a lot of debate about the extent to which objectivity is possible in journalism, but to my eyes, this at least clearly had objectivity as some sort of north star. I feel like I learned many things here that I hadn't learned through the countless opinion pieces and takes in other outlets.
Great piece Justin, thanks for going. And thanks to Matt and Jen for sending him. Nothing beats eyes on the ground with a good pen and the intention of being as objective as humanly possible. I really appreciate this perspective.
Excellent work Justin. Thanks to The Line for engaging with Justin on this. Exactly why The Line is worth the subscription (well this sort of thing plus the work of Jen and Matt on their own)! But - for sure - Line readers should subscribe to Bug Eyed and Shameless! The Line and Bug Eyed are Substack publications that are worth every dollar you would spend.
Very much liked this piece and the format, which you've used before to stretch beyond commentary and into observational journalism. I know this is more expensive to produce, but I see a lot of value in these pieces. They are a great antidote to the click-baity, 'the sky is falling" shorter pieces in other publications that focus on highly controversial elements of these protests without providing context (are they representative or outliers).
Justin's piece on Columbia is more balanced than his hatchet job he did on the trucker convoy where he acted like a government spoke person without any facts
This write-up does a great job of showing how confusing this protest issue has become. And what they are protesting is a very confusing issue as well. World opinion is very mixed with regards to the war that Hamas started when they attacked Israel. The media does a very poor job of just presenting facts because they now feel that opinion pieces are more important than just presenting facts. My personal opinion is that we should ignore all talking heads and only listen to the news. Having said that I do recognize that it helps to get other people's perspective on an issue in order to frame this issue in a way that makes sense to me.
Justin Ling has done a fantastic job of presenting the issues without taking sides. He found a way to do investigative journalism without all the sensationalism that generally comes with reporting today. I wish more reporters would take this approach when it comes to bringing news to the masses.
And just when The Line was starting to grate (Matt's "youth are stupid" remark in the latest podcast struck me as a resoundingly ironic TTC). Kudos to Justin Ling and The Line for this excellent piece of journalism. Guess I'm staying subscribed.
I highly doubt Greg Abbott had any contact with the NYPD: "But I am pretty sure that sending in the NYPD to crack their skulls, as Texas Governor Greg Abbott did in Austin...."
I found this an interesting read. I don't do protests, mostly because I think that even well-intentioned people at protests are very susceptible to groupthink and groupthink leads to mob mentality. I also feel that most protests are dumb ;-)
The pro-Palestinian protests, not so thinly disguised and sometimes overt pro-Hamas anti-semitism, are definitely out of control and need to be reined in. This piece is a masterpiece of moral relativism. The Columbia University demonstrations were as wrong-headed in 1968 as they are now and are only about power, nothing else. Might is not right and I don't think it's any more complicated than that.
There are many opinion pieces out there offering "moral clarity" on this issue, from one side or another. Justin did exactly what we asked him to do. He want to the site of the encampment and he told us what he saw. JG
I really appreciated this piece. There's a lot of debate about the extent to which objectivity is possible in journalism, but to my eyes, this at least clearly had objectivity as some sort of north star. I feel like I learned many things here that I hadn't learned through the countless opinion pieces and takes in other outlets.
Great piece Justin, thanks for going. And thanks to Matt and Jen for sending him. Nothing beats eyes on the ground with a good pen and the intention of being as objective as humanly possible. I really appreciate this perspective.
Excellent work Justin. Thanks to The Line for engaging with Justin on this. Exactly why The Line is worth the subscription (well this sort of thing plus the work of Jen and Matt on their own)! But - for sure - Line readers should subscribe to Bug Eyed and Shameless! The Line and Bug Eyed are Substack publications that are worth every dollar you would spend.
Very much liked this piece and the format, which you've used before to stretch beyond commentary and into observational journalism. I know this is more expensive to produce, but I see a lot of value in these pieces. They are a great antidote to the click-baity, 'the sky is falling" shorter pieces in other publications that focus on highly controversial elements of these protests without providing context (are they representative or outliers).
Solid journalism and much needed!
The students aren't getting a good enough education if they don't know the legal meaning of "genocide".
Justin's piece on Columbia is more balanced than his hatchet job he did on the trucker convoy where he acted like a government spoke person without any facts
I'd be curious about a link if you have the time. Is there one particular "hatchet job" that you have in mind?
This write-up does a great job of showing how confusing this protest issue has become. And what they are protesting is a very confusing issue as well. World opinion is very mixed with regards to the war that Hamas started when they attacked Israel. The media does a very poor job of just presenting facts because they now feel that opinion pieces are more important than just presenting facts. My personal opinion is that we should ignore all talking heads and only listen to the news. Having said that I do recognize that it helps to get other people's perspective on an issue in order to frame this issue in a way that makes sense to me.
Justin Ling has done a fantastic job of presenting the issues without taking sides. He found a way to do investigative journalism without all the sensationalism that generally comes with reporting today. I wish more reporters would take this approach when it comes to bringing news to the masses.
Excellent first hand reporting with a moral bias against extreme certainty.
And just when The Line was starting to grate (Matt's "youth are stupid" remark in the latest podcast struck me as a resoundingly ironic TTC). Kudos to Justin Ling and The Line for this excellent piece of journalism. Guess I'm staying subscribed.
Jill Stein is the 2024 Presidential Candidate for the Green Party: https://www.usatoday.com/elections/voter-guide/2024-11-05/candidate/jill-stein
I highly doubt Greg Abbott had any contact with the NYPD: "But I am pretty sure that sending in the NYPD to crack their skulls, as Texas Governor Greg Abbott did in Austin...."
Good piece.
I found this an interesting read. I don't do protests, mostly because I think that even well-intentioned people at protests are very susceptible to groupthink and groupthink leads to mob mentality. I also feel that most protests are dumb ;-)
The pro-Palestinian protests, not so thinly disguised and sometimes overt pro-Hamas anti-semitism, are definitely out of control and need to be reined in. This piece is a masterpiece of moral relativism. The Columbia University demonstrations were as wrong-headed in 1968 as they are now and are only about power, nothing else. Might is not right and I don't think it's any more complicated than that.
There are many opinion pieces out there offering "moral clarity" on this issue, from one side or another. Justin did exactly what we asked him to do. He want to the site of the encampment and he told us what he saw. JG
More please!