Journalism coops give me — and most of the journalists I know — a lot of hope for the industry. But I've been curious: What's it like to actually work at one? I spent the last few months talking to a bunch of brilliant worker-owners to find out. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...

this Q&A by @neeldhanesha.com about what federal agents are using in MN, is alarming, but also really interesting. The pepper spray in use today is hotter & clingier than it used to be. "Less than lethal" rounds are larger & faster, and standard eye protection doesn't protect against them.

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

I was one of the four people who got canned. In the interim, you can subscribe to my newsletter, Straight From The Hut. No paywall, but feel free to choose the pay to support model. I'm not going anywhere — the show goes on, and I'll be back on MSNBC Saturday night. straightfromthehut.substack.com

Hi! Today @quantamagazine.bsky.social published a special issue on climate science, featuring stories about how Earth's climate fundamentally works that I needed to read after covering climate impacts for so many years. I hope you'll check it out! <3 www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...

This story — which asks what happened to all of those newsroom DEI jobs, committees, and promises from 2020 — is the hardest one I've ever worked on. I hope you'll spend some time with it today. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

One thing that struck me about my conversation with @davejorgenson.bsky.social: I think he's having...fun? With journalism? In this economy? www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/with...

What it comes down to is: Should beautiful, interesting, entertaining things exist in the world, and should we spend our time making them?

There have been a ton of 20th anniversary "best of" podcast lists lately, and it has started to feel a bit like an obituary for an industry. [gift link] defector.com/the-future-o...

Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it

"workers are not allowed to wear masks on the front line, even if they want to" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/u...

about two months ago, i reached out to @boringstein.bsky.social to ask if they'd be open to talking about the incredible videos they were making for Zohran Mamdani's election campaign it turned into a much bigger story than i expected

I have studied the targeting of journalists for many years, but the scale and public display of these killings is truly shocking: “Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital“ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Shannon is one of the most talented reporters I know, I am SO excited for this book!

i wrote about the texas floods and climate anxiety and mercy defector.com/the-floodwat...

🫠 🫠 🫠 Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

A story that got less attention was the incredibly cynical primary of my amazing Councilwoman—the first Muslim woman ever elected to the NYC Council—by a billionaire, corporate-backed candidate also lobbing gross accusations of antisemitism. Anyway, the challenger got trounced. Hell yea.

I'm in touch with a source in Cuomo's camp. They're all screaming and turning back into rats. Not looking good so far

A Muslim son of immigrants might become mayor of NYC in part because he cross endorsed and supported a Jewish candidate and Black candidate, and vice versa. It's a beautiful American story for the rest of us. A nightmare for all the right people ;) It's so New York.

Bill Clinton please endorse my enemies

Cuomo conceded New York City baby lets go Mets baby bodega cats pizza pie I love this city

Just click on this: skyviewer.app/explorer #RubinTelescope

The lovely @neeldhanesha.com talked to me about @project-push.tk.gg for @niemanlab.org! It was great fun to chat about, and really inspired me to give the project another kick. If you're interested, sign up now, and I'll be in touch soon. www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/proj...

I know that media use the term "big beautiful bill" in quotes but it's unfortunate that this many years into covering this president we are still suckered into leading with his language and framing when covering such consequential stories

Here is the grad speech that NYU is now withholding the student's diploma for: "As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

Between this and the NY Mag piece it sounds like office hours are just two two-chatbots-in-a-trench-coat www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/t...

Important and very sad reporting from @maeveallsup.bsky.social for @latitudemedia.bsky.social, on what the hell is going on with Puerto Rico's $365-million Programa de Comunidades Resilientes, dedicated to backup power for hospitals and community housing. 🔌💡 www.latitudemedia.com/news/inside-...

kind of wrecks me that Polygon, a fully staffed, dynamic website, was sold off not as a functioning business but as an employee-less shell to be refilled with (presumably) cheap content farm material and maybe AI slop. This wasn't a limping legacy title.

This is absolutely gutting — Polygon was one of just a handful of urls I'd type into my browser on the regular. What a baffling decision by Vox. Polygon folks, I'm so sorry and I hope you all land in great places soon. If you feel like talking about all of this in the meantime, my DMs are open.

I went to SEJ last week and the vibes were…kinda weird! I wrote about it for @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/a-co...

SOURCE REQUEST 🚨 I'm working on a @niemanlab.org story about what’s come of media companies' 2020 DEI promises. How have newsrooms' DEI priorities changed over the last 5 years? What impact have DEI initiatives had on journalism/journalists? DM me here, on Signal, or email ([email protected]).

Final_Version_of_Tarrifs_actualFINALcopy_version7_USETHISONE.docx

Colossal didn't make a dire wolf. This is not a dire wolf! Stop saying it is!! I feel like I'm going mad!!!

Here's an amazing tip sheet by @laurahazardowen.bsky.social on how the public can safely leak sensitive + important information to journalists! Please share with the federal workers and employees of shady companies in your life 😇 www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/how-...

If these tariffs fuck up kesar mango season for me I swear to fucking god

"It’s not just a drive-by where we extract information from you and then we’re done with you." @neeldhan.bsky.social wrote about the @propublica.org tips truck. unintentional puns aside — this is one of the most thoughtful and innovative engagement teams www.niemanlab.org/2025/03/prop...

She was targeted by a doxxing website and the US government used it to disappear her. canarymission.org/individual/R...

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying. They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks. From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

NEW: The WIRED crew takes you inside the first 6 weeks of DOGE, laying out in great detail how Elon Musk installed loyalists across government who gained access to our country's most sensitive computer systems. “This is a digital coup,” one USAID source told me. www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

Super important and well reported read from @justcalma.bsky.social about who made American chips and the price they paid for these tiny bits of silicon that power the tech we use. www.theverge.com/features/611...

i wrote about something strange happening within the environmental movement — many of its supporters have careened into the far right www.vox.com/climate/3935...

A couple of weeks ago @andrewdeck.bsky.social told the @niemanlab.org team about a story he'd been puzzling over, and we all became obsessed with trying to figure out what was going on with these odd AI-generated newsletters. His story is finally out, go read it! www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/insi...

Power lines. Altadena in the wake of the #EatonFire

The thing that drives me crazy about all the hand-wringing over trust in the media is that SO many influencers just co-opt journalists’ reporting, and their audiences respond to it! The trust in the reporting clearly exists; it’s the trust in the delivery that doesn’t.

I got to talk to @sarahzhang.bsky.social for work and it was a delight www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/the-...

I wrote about what Laura Helmuth accomplished at Scientific American, and what her resignation means for science journalism, and for me personally defector.com/do-not-accep...

The Nieman Lab team is now on Bluesky! Follow our writers and editors here: go.bsky.app/8G55aVd