“My economist brain said: If something — let’s say trustworthiness — becomes scarce, then it becomes valuable. He wondered whether “being confronted with the difficulty of telling real from fake would make people more willing to pay for news that they trust.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/trus...

I'm so honored that my friends at @objectivejournos.bsky.social named my story about journalism's retreat from DEI as one of their favorite pieces of media criticism this year. Every story on this list is worth your time: objectivejournalism.org/2025/12/the-...

After more than a decade working in newsrooms, I've seen firsthand the passion and resilience of journalists. I've also seen the immense pressure they face, often with limited time and resources. That's why I've spent the last nine months building something I truly believe the news industry needs.

New from me: A NiemanLab prediction! Have always admired this end-of-year package from the smartest people in media, so it was an honor to be asked to write this. Imo, in 2026, AI-written content online will outpace what humans produce. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...

New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard. I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced* www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

My @politicshome.bsky.social story from the summer about the AI-generated "I rise to speak" phenomenon in Parliament has made it into @nytimes.com 🇺🇸 (sadly, without credit)

Phil Klay in @nytimes.com (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...

While YouTube and Facebook are still America’s most-used social media platforms, growth is up on: TikTok – 37% of U.S. adults use it today, up from 21% in 2021 Instagram – 50% today v. 40% in 2021 WhatsApp – 32% today v. 23% in 2021 Reddit – 26% today v. 18% in 2021 More: www.pewresearch.org/...

More on language vs intelligence, a dynamic the AI industry is increasingly having to reckon with www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

going to Quebec City for the first time later this month with @bbscott.bsky.social and would love any travel recs! into art, good food, history, bookstores, and Christmas shopping.

every crisis we talk about nationally - policing, housing, public health, environmental harm - shows up first at the local level, and the only reason the public ever learns about many of these issues is because a local journalist put in the hours. it is an actual survival tool for all of us.

“We all had our doubts. If people tell you they had no doubts about this, they’re lying.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/what...

"A lot of people have been hurt over this strike financially [and] emotionally. I want to make sure that has its due. But we’re going to have to work through that very quickly and get back to work." by @sarahscire.com

Nieman Lab is great for many things, including the "How Not to be a Newsroom Leader" genre. Four reporters at a Florida nonprofit say their editor appeared to be using an AI chatbot that inserted fake quotes + nonexistent laws into their drafts. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...

"This was not the first hallucinated quote [the EIC] introduced into a reporter’s story draft." www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...

New: Reuters has tallied job losses, suspensions and investigations stemming from the reaction to Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination. Its findings: More than 600 Americans have been punished, and the figure is likely to be an under-count. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

We're fortunate to be part of this BU Newsroom project at @dotnews.bsky.social and, let me tell you, these student journalists have been consistently delivering compelling, well-written content, w/ excellent guidance from Steve Greenlee and Brian McGrory. The future is brighter than you think.

"More relevant than ever": Read @sarahscire.com's full review of @lauragarbes.bsky.social's new book Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry in @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund....

"I observed that half the IQ In world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population" — Larry Summers to Jeff Epstein

the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...

“I know that I was hired to help us diversify our airwaves, help us diversify our audience. But I literally had a news director tell me — I made a pitch — and they literally asked me, ‘Why do white people care?’” www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...

as a former teacher who did exactly this, I have one tip: bring in local journalists - teens distrust "journalists" because usually they have never met one - let them meet a living journalist, let them ask all their questions, it goes a long way in developing understanding

Teens overwhelmingly used negative words like "biased," "boring," "chaotic," and "bad" to describe the news media and journalists in a new @newslit.org survey. Those doing the hard and important work of teaching media literacy to high schoolers are unsurprised. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/bias...

About half of the teens surveyed believe that journalists frequently “make up details, such as quotes” and “pay for sources.” More than a third of teens believe journalists could improve by simply “Telling the truth,” “Fact checking,” and “Not lying.” buff.ly/7vgO0ci

A detailed analysis of who voted early, and where, from @haidee.bsky.social. www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/02/e...

MORNING BOSTON! Sunrise still from Bunkerhill!

New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...

remember this? @sltrib.com seeks to rid itself of that "necessary evil" the paywall www.niemanlab.org/2024/09/the-... today @speppered.bsky.social reports the Tribune plans to drop their paywall in the first quarter of 2026. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/the-...

A new wave of writers is leaving Substack citing not just content moderation but “bad business” and a lack of tech and customer support. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/top-...

“There is a set of populous countries, generally where traditional media are under pressure and social media use is high, where news creators are having a significant impact" @hanaatameez.bsky.social wrote up a fascinating @reutersinstitute.bsky.social report www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/news...

"The legal issue is ... whether the rights of human beings will start accruing, maybe gradually at first, to our AI companions, legally protecting them as they entertain, advise, educate and soothe; manipulate, flatter and persuade." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...

New: The Pentagon confirms to CNN it will funnel $130M from an anonymous Trump “friend” toward military pay. Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

Shams Charania reporting Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was also arrested by the FBI for alleged illegal gambling

NEW: @andrewdeck.bsky.social and I found the @waybackmachine.bsky.social has been archiving news homepages less frequently for the past 5 months. The result: an 87% drop in homepage snapshots across 100 news outlets during a very newsy year. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/the-...

the nonprofit news and government transparency org @muckrock.com is teaming up with an investigation desk that self-describes as "the George Santos prevention program.” good news for the many local newsrooms that have lost their research desks 🌞 www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/rebu...

For the past few months, the Wayback Machine has been showing many fewer snapshots of news publishers' homepages than it used to. Something happened on May 16, but what? @hanaatameez.bsky.social and @andrewdeck.bsky.social investigate www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/the-...

Yeah, I don’t think the issue with lack of engagement with links was that so many people clicked on the links forgot to like the OP. The problem is that nobody clicked on (or even saw) the links! As a journalist, who cares about likes and replies? The best result is people reading your story!

"The prevalence of common allergies fell 43 per cent for peanuts and more than one-third for all foods after US medical advice was updated a decade ago to recommend early exposure." (good news in this @financialtimes.com gift link) on.ft.com/4hDPwD7

fun to see a huge and energetic crowd for Lina Khan at Harvard last night. she gave the Stone Lecture on Economic Inequality. clearly a very popular figure across disciplines — audience questions were from doctor, nurse, computer scientist, labor economics PhD student, worker rights advocate, etc.

"the punches will be pulled"

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵) www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Reporters covering the Pentagon ask what the department is doing with taxpayers’ money in their name. www.militaryreporters.org/2025/10/mre-...

US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is what I pay the New York Times for: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/w... [Gift link]

New Reuters Institute report on how people are increasingly using LLMs for search. no surprises (in many markets the figure will be higher) . It’s not really so much *replacing* what publishers do as ‘aggregating’ publisher material and failing to credit www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/peop...

MIT becomes first school to reject proposed "compact" with Trump administration www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/10/b...

You've probably heard how a high percentage of #Nobel laureates are immigrants. The US in particular has benefited from the influx of bright minds. @jennaahart.bsky.social ran the data for this century's Nobel prizewinners — and shows more than 30% immigrated. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

Exclusive: The Pentagon has investigated nearly 300 Defense Department employees for online comments after the death of Charlie Kirk. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's order to target those critical of Kirk reflects deepening alarm over his stewardship.

great @columjournreview.bsky.social interview with the eic of @restofworld.org. Anup Kaphle was on vacation in Nepal when a revolution erupted. www.cjr.org/the-intervie...