The New Media Firm

09/18/2026

From Will Robinson:

How do we build organizing and leadership capacity that lasts beyond the next election?

Amy Pritchard and I are developing Democracy University around that question. In my latest post, I outline how we propose connecting hands-on local training with management and leadership development, mentorship, and help finding the next opportunity.

Think of it as a continuing apprenticeship: people learn organizing skills, practice them, take on greater responsibility, and eventually become the people training the next generation.

That includes people just starting out - and experienced organizers, managers, and trainers sharing what they’ve learned while learning from each other.

Tell us what you think - and what we’re missing. What training helped you? What did you have to learn the hard way? What support would have made a difference?

The project is still in development, and we’re welcoming feedback, lessons, and training resources. Please read more, share your thoughts, and pass this along to someone interested in teaching, mentoring, or being trained.

More on Democracy University: https://democracy.university



https://democracyuniversity.substack.com/p/democracy-university-building-organizing?r=77gcg

Please tell us what you think—and what we’re missing. We need your ideas, experience, and help to build the training, mentorship, and support that will sustain this work for the long haul.

09/14/2026

For the 2026 Emmys, Abbott Elementary is the only traditional broadcast-network show nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series or Outstanding Drama Series—based on the network and platform affiliations submitted to the Television Academy.
Sixteen nominees. One broadcast show. Not a single broadcast drama.
The audience has moved. Our media strategies need to move with it.

- Will Robinson

https://willrobinson.substack.com/p/for-the-2026-emmys-abbott-elementary?r=77gcg&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

The Emmys have moved on. Have political campaigns?

09/13/2026

My latest Substack, “AI Doesn’t Have to Destroy Humanity to Destroy Democracy,” looks at AI-generated disinformation and a practical response: prebunking helping people recognize manipulation before they encounter it. The research emphasizes repetition, not one video and crossed fingers.

The post also includes registration for tomorrow’s webinar Monday, September 14, at noon Eastern with Page Gardner, Tim Chambers, Mary Coller Albert and Roberta Braga, discussing the research and how to put it to work.

Read the Substack, share it, and find the webinar registration below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9517871554767/WN_jgIJgwRYQIiu3OalrZOGxA #/registration

- Will Robinson

We can take the warnings about humanity’s future seriously - and start defending democracy now.

09/11/2026

You can’t debunk what you never see.

Tim Chambers and I wrote a new Substack about fighting disinformation before the next false claim lands. Drawing on Tim’s research work, we explore prebunking - helping people recognize manipulation before they encounter it - and why it takes repetition, not one video and crossed fingers.

Read it. Share it. Put it to work. Check sources, challenge false claims, and help people recognize misleading tactics - regardless of who is using them. Make this ongoing work, not something we remember only when a crisis hits.

Don’t just chase the last lie. Help people prepare for the next one.

- Will Robinson

Scott Goodstein is right that we won't spot the next attack in time. There is a defense that doesn't require spotting it.

09/11/2026

Never Forget.

09/10/2026

You Can’t Debunk What You Never See. So Build the Defense First.
I’ve been arguing for a while that the information environment has changed faster than our campaigns have.
This new report from PSG Consulting, Countering Disinformation: Strategies for 2026 and Beyond, offers some important evidence about what we should do about it. Tim Chambers, one of the authors of the report, has been thinking deeply about this problem, and we’ll be writing more about this work and these ideas shortly.
The central idea is simple: don’t wait for the lie.
By the time a piece of misinformation is detected, researched, approved for response, and rebutted, it may already have reached exactly the voters it was designed to reach. Instead, we can help people recognize the techniques used to manipulate them - scapegoating, fake experts, conspiracy framing, emotional manipulation - before the attack arrives.
The research says this kind of “prebunking” works. But it also says something campaigns need to hear: one post, one video, or one clever ad isn’t enough. Effects fade. Repetition matters. Trusted local voices matter. Distribution matters. And building the infrastructure before you desperately need it matters.
My favorite advice in the report may be the simplest:
Start today. Think in campaigns, not posts. Build for the next cycle, not just this one.
That is exactly right.
The rules have changed. Our strategy needs to change with them.
Worth reading. More on this soon.

- Will Robinson

RELEASED TODAY: “Countering Disinformation: Strategies for 2026 and Beyond,” a new report prepared by Dewey Square Group for for the Public Good (IFPG), finds that inoculation works best before false narratives become entrenched. Despite the short timeline between now and the general...

09/07/2026

Enjoy the barbecue, the ballgame, or one last trip to the state fair. But let’s remember whose day this is.
Working people deserve good pay, decent benefits, a safe workplace, and a voice on the job. Those aren’t radical demands. And calling workers “essential” means little if we treat them as expendable.
The next union member you meet may be the person who saves your life.
Buy union. Stand with workers fighting for a fair contract. Support their right to organize. Celebrate labor today - and stand with labor the other 364 days, too.

Happy Labor Day.

09/01/2026

From Will Robinson:

We need to train organizers at every level. But we also have a missing generation of field leaders who lost much of the traditional presidential campaign apprenticeship when COVID cut 2020 short and there was no real Democratic primary in 2024.
We can teach basic campaign skills in a weekend or a week. Leadership, judgment, and the ability to develop other organizers take time. Amy Pritchard and I hope Democracy University can help rebuild that ladder by combining training with real experience and mentorship from senior organizers who have been there before.
If you want to learn, teach, mentor, or help us build this, we want you involved. Please let us know.

You can put 2,000 organizers on a payroll overnight, but it takes time for them to learn how to lead

08/29/2026

Here is Will Robinson's 100th Substack. We think this is worth reading.

100 newsletters. Here's what I got right - and what I completely missed.
A year ago I started writing about the firehose of falsehood: how the right built a media machine that doesn't need to win the argument, just wear you down until you stop looking for the truth.
I still believe that. I'd write it again tomorrow.
But I missed something big.
I thought the firehose was aimed at you - your feed, your group chat, your uncle at Thanksgiving. I built this whole newsletter around helping you see the spray pattern and get out of the way.
I didn't see where you'd actually end up standing.
A lot of you stopped scrolling through the spray. You started asking a machine to just tell you what it means.
And that machine doesn't reward the truest answer. It rewards the most repeated one.
So for post #100, I did something I haven't done in the first 99: I told you where I got it wrong.
I've spent a year telling you how the right wins the media war. I didn't expect the referee to become a player.
Read the full post - link below. Whether you've been here since post one or you're just finding this now, thank you for reading.

I’ve written the phrase “firehose of falsehood” seventeen times this year. I was describing something real. I was also describing it wrong.

08/28/2026

Are you starting your shopping for the Labor Day Weekend? Here are some union made products. Let us know what we're missing...