an article two friends and my mom sent me before 8 this morning— www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

It's the 160th anniversary of the United States' refounding, the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

Dawnita Brown left her job to become a caregiver for her parents. Brown says it's a gift to care for her parents, but it can also be difficult. That's why respite is an important part of her life.

“The things people click on are exclusives and anything that has a distinct voice or a really strong opinion,” said a Hearst staffer.

“We’re now starting to face some challenges with email that are similar to search challenges because Google is essentially bringing AI to the inbox,” said an executive at a product-recommendation site, who has noticed a reduction in click-through rates on email but not reductions in open rates

@jokenty.bsky.social loved your renovator post today about the new civic ed movement. I am working on new book called “thinking like a citizen.” Would love to talk —would you be open to a conversation?

It's not just the newspapers. "While declines to print readership are almost a foregone conclusion, 'digital traffic to local news sites is experiencing a cratering similar to that of print,' State of Local News Project director Zach Metzger writes in the report. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/in-m...

“That this debate is happening in terms of skills versus content is itself unsettling, subsuming Shakespeare into that category of internet clickbait produced to keep hits coming, rapidly being overtaken now by A.I. slop” let’s gooooo

A kid ate Doritos at his high school and an AI-powered gun-detection system mistakenly flagged the bag of chips as a weapon. Police were called and when they showed up, they pointed guns (real ones) at the student. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Where are examples of reporting on White House East Wing demolition that address, and seek to answer, legal and democratic questions involved?

👀The conclusion of a 2001 article from Journalism & Mass Communcation. #journalism #civiced

"There are positive developments in local news but they’re being swamped by the negative trends. We’re losing the race against time." By @stevenwaldman.bsky.social commenting on the State of Local News 2025 report, an annual study from Northwestern U. www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/were...

"Digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast swaths of the country with little to no access to local news.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/in-m...

👀The conclusion of a 2001 article from Journalism & Mass Communcation. #journalism #civiced

a thing about human teachers—it’s not just about having someone around who’s “nice” or “encouraging,” there’s no substitute for a teacher who likes ideas and enjoys being in a room full of thinking students

“When democracy deteriorates, you need more and better civic education” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/w...

In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

"People often ask me what journalism I trust. So today I’m handing out letter grades to some major players." —Mark Jacob. www.stopthepresses.news/p/im-handing...

"As a Times loyalist, I kind of resent the implication: Come join our resistance, New York Times! As if that’s what we want from the journalism, to do our politics for us"

Danielle has a new report out with the Council on Civic Strength - thanks to Hans Zeiger and @thefulcrum-us.bsky.social for this great story about its origins! "The task force rightly argues that student learning, not issue advocacy, is the proper purpose of this kind of education."

🧵 I'm excited to share that my article "Democratic Backsliding and the Limits of Civilian Control of the Military" has been accepted @thejop.bsky.social. It answers the question "how ought militaries act when civilian leaders turn on democratic institutions?" 1/ #CivMilSky #PolTheory

If as a journalist you don't know which photos or videos to trust on social media any more you might ask why the news media is not positioning itself to prosper from the pending consumer rush back to trusted sources.

Inspired by @marcwatkins.bsky.social and wanting to share his piece with my newsletter subscribers, I put my two cents in. open.substack.com/pub/engagede...

Learned a lot at #accessfest25! Thanks @ire.org !

"Journalism — the practice of it — belongs not only to the people who call themselves journalists, but to everyone who does civic work with its tools. "

Learned a lot at #accessfest25! Thanks @ire.org !

This exists! It’s called Local Matters. We are sponsored by @ire.org & @knightcolumbia.org. Local Matters is a free, weekly newsletter that is curated by myself and three other working journalists. This is our 8th year! Anyone can sign up here: visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin...

"Information is a public good that we should all protect. For this reason, what is truly productive is a partnership between citizens and journalists in the service of ethical and civic responsibility." --Pope Leo

"Information is a public good that we should all protect. For this reason, what is truly productive is a partnership between citizens and journalists in the service of ethical and civic responsibility." --Pope Leo

“One form of active citizenship is to value and support ... agencies that demonstrate seriousness and true freedom in their work ... a virtuous circle that benefits society as a whole,” he said.

You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

have a story coming out hopefully soon on why language/lit fell out of US civic ed!

In our series Job One, @richelord.bsky.social has been tracing pathways from disability diagnosis to schooling to employment. In this story, Pittsburghers share their experiences finding (and creating) meaningful work. buff.ly/aHM4d4B

opportunity for journalism as civic ed!

Reminder to @CNN about why this is a humiliating self-own by them. 1) Prez *does* have some legal power to change geog name, as used in federal documents. Thus Gulf of Mexico-->USA! 2) Prez has *zero* legal power to create, abolish, or rename a fed dept. Requires act of Congress. STOP NOW CNN

Seeing versions of “AI is here to stay” quite a bit. What do we mean by that? How do we know?

does anyone else have a new bout of insomnia

Seeing versions of “AI is here to stay” quite a bit. What do we mean by that? How do we know?

Have you have been following the Defense Department's attempt to prevent reporters with credentials from publishing anything that hasn't been approved? Well, by sticking together they appear to have won that fight. But there's more coming. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/b... [gift article]

The intro to the 4th ed of the Elements of Journalism makes one of the best defenses I've seen of the necessary relationship between journalism and democracy.

"Another myth was that independence required journalists to be neutral." --Elements of Journalist, rev and updated 4th ed

Striking design w beautiful photo spreads

From Mark Cuban Interview in @axios.com Pittsburgh newsletter this morning. What notion of “the best professors” underlies this statement?

Avoid “democracy” as a word. Wow! Fascinating and unsettling. As a journalist, I get it; as a scholar teacher of democracy, I’m concerned. So much work to do, w words and concepts!

If I Ran the Media™ Fewer stories on: —How Dems Need to Change Their Messaging —How [event xx] Will Play w [voter bloc YY] —How 2028 Field Is Shaping Up More of: —Which points of resistance are actually working —What specifically GOP Reps/Sens are so afraid of —Real-world tariff/immig effects —ETC

"The fiery intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois and the young columnist Walter Lippmann were among the first to grasp a core feature of modern mass politics: Information and a crisis of trust in the news had deformed American political life..."