I keep seeing "none of these make news" posts like these... ... Even though the Trump/Bondi story is leading the NYT and Washpost home pages right now

it was literally in a bag www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

📱 The way people get their news is changing fast — and Reuters is changing with it. Excited to share this Q&A with @sarahscire.com for @niemanlab.org about my role as @reuters.com’ first social-first video reporter. 👉 Read the full interview here: www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/its-...

Scoop: Business Insider informed its staff this week that they are allowed to use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their stories, while also indicating the newsroom will not disclose such A.I. use to readers. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...

The average household income in Montgomery County is the 20th-highest among U.S. counties. The county has the highest percentage (29.2%) of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate degrees. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/nonp...

Musk, who has funded lawsuits against companies for terminating employees based on what they've said on social media, is tagging the CEO of Microsoft on X to complain about what some of his employees are saying on social media.

approaching autumn

Yesterday we heard from dozens of parents and other people upset by the prevalence of the Charlie Kirk clip on social media. We found that social media apps amplified the video broadly -- often an autoplay to unsuspecting viewers. From me and @willoremus.com. Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4n6oBSi

“The Friday announcement comes as the Trump administration has systematically erased mentions of climate change from government websites while slashing federal funding for research on global warming.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/c...

don't miss the fine print

Newsrooms made a lot of promises in the wake of the "racial reckoning" in media. @hanaatameez.bsky.social looked at those promises and found about 60% of the diversity-related journalism roles created still exist today. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

As of 6 p.m. Boston Voters have cast 76,525 ballots. This includes all ballots scanned across the city and ballots processed during Central Tabulation in City Hall. You have until 8 p.m. to vote. For precincts counted at Central Tabulation, visit www.boston.gov/public-notic...

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...

"The consensus of the people I spoke to was that stand-alone reviews just don’t generate traffic...There are exceptions: the latest Sally Rooney novel, a highly anticipated blockbuster, an especially beloved critic going to town on someone. But the vast majority of reviews go virtually unread."

There’s more asparagus than ever in @nytimes.com. (This sentence will make sense if you read, promise.) www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/the-...

"Independent journalism cannot afford to be defined only by the ‘hot take’ factories out there" 👀

More news breaking at Bounces about Donald Trump's visit to the US Open men's final. The US Open has sent an email to broadcasters, obtained by Bounces, ordering them to censor any reactions or protests from the crowd to Trump's appearance. Read more here: www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-do...

AI sucks, and cannot be trusted for basic news, Example 5,432: (h/t Kenny Beecham, who isn't on Bsky)

Quand les poules auront des dents! www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/in-f...

"Of course, Harvard and the Trump administration could still settle. But the university’s negotiating position is now significantly stronger than it was before the ruling. Free speech and academic freedom are winning — at least for now." (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

JUST IN: Harvard won summary judgment against the Trump administration with the court finding that the admin violated Harvard's 1st amend. rights. The court has vacated the funding freeze orders and termination letters and issued a permanent injunction. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Why am I seeing so many people riding bikes in Boston with their helmets on their handlebars? I feel absolutely insane.

no place like Fenway 🥲 we just booed a pitcher for tying his shoe

received my first holiday gift guide pr pitch today. summer is over.

Not like us

This article by @niemanlab.org details a new white paper that may suggest a direction forward for public media organizations as AI-free producers and curators of reliable information.

ESPN demotes wrong culprit from lousy NBA Finals commentary team: defector.com/espn-demotes...

"@towcenter.bsky.social systematically tested the ability of seven AI chatbots—ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot—on a basic fact-checking task ... We found that all seven models failed to consistently correctly identify the provenance of the photos."

"It is extremely unusual for prosecutors to come out of a grand jury without obtaining an indictment because they are in control of the information that grand jurors hear about a case" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

A new report from @centerforlocalnews.bsky.social asks what it takes for small local newsrooms to build an AI chatbot. Researchers helped four newsrooms launch experimental chatbots in under a month. But only one has committed to running theirs beyond the program. www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/loca...

"time saved is not always strength gained." pauljun.substack.com/p/anti-slop-...

Ok - so I'm going to do a real context+write up but for now, here's what some of these things look like. To start my data reference is DCinbox which is ~208,000 official e-newsletters over the past 15 years.

I wrote about Israel’s assassination of Anas al-Sharif, a brave journalist in Gaza, and the work of local journalists everywhere. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/o...

Excited to welcome the new class of fellows to @niemanfoundation.bsky.social today! Feeling especially grateful for our international fellows this year. More about the outstanding journalists who'll spend this year at Harvard ⤵️ nieman.harvard.edu/class-of-2026/

we got a freelance pitch from "Margaux Blanchard" earlier this month 👀

BREAKING: Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...

Organizers at Maine newspapers owned by the nonprofit National Trust for Local News are trying to add 50 roles in a push for “One Big Union.” About 150 workers are already in the union. 70% of the non-union workers have signed union authorization cards, according to @newsguildofmaine.bsky.social.

peak subscription portent?

hm!

no @niemanlab.org newsletter this week. we’re taking our late summer break. 🎣

“If I want to make sure people know things in the town of Bonavista, Gina is one of the five or six people I text it to and say ‘please disperse this information,’” Bonavista mayor John Norman says. “She will disperse the facts. I’ve also got a few hairdressers and a barber on my list.”

the great @molly.wiki has been my crutch to understanding so many of the weird and wild stories coming out of the crypto world. and it feels like she's just getting started. really fun to talk to her about following the money (and much more!) for @niemanlab.org www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/inde...

I'm a huge fan of @molly.wiki. The work she does is inspiring - and this is a great interview. www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/inde...

I filed a FOIA request with the FTC to get user complaints about ChatGPT. In one case from Utah, a mother reports her son was experiencing a delusional breakdown and ChatGPT told him to stop taking his medication. The AI bot also told him that his parents were dangerous.

“Remarkably, 70% of Facebook users and 65% of Instagram users still say they are using those platforms to get their news, even though there was no news on them.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/why-...

“If it doesn’t align with reality, why are we putting Politico’s name on it?” @andrewdeck.bsky.social following an interesting case at @politico.com that may tell us how AI clauses in union contracts might actually play out www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/poli...

Remarkable story in Mother Jones.. no wait. The Daily Beast. No, sorry. Slate? The New Republic? Let me just take a big sip from my brandy snifter and look at the URL… www.wsj.com/economy/the-...

NEW: last spring, Trump's nominee for director of the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, asked Harvard's president, Alan Garber, to intro him in his confirmation hearings Garber said he was willing it never happened now NIH is withholding big $$ from Harvard www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/11/m...

NPR pointed this out twice even in a short segment this morning @npr.org "But the fact is, crime is down in Washington. Violent crime hit a 30-year low last year. That's according to the U.S. Justice Department." www.npr.org/transcripts/...

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.