Ben Werdmuller
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Non-profit newsrooms that speak truth to power

If you’re looking for signal, here are some non-profit newsrooms that speak truth to power on a national scale. You can follow all of them for free; all of them could also use your support. ProPublica ProPublica investigates abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government,

07 Nov 2024

A hypothesis about the Democrats

I’d like to share a hypothesis about the Democrats. It’s about money. It might not be true — it truly is a hypothesis — but I’d like to air it out and see what you think. We have a lot of people in America who are suffering greatly. Dick

07 Nov 2024

Media

What Now for the Press?

[Dick Tofel] Dick Tofel on where the press should go next: "We held a free and fair election, and the candidate who hates the press, who makes sport of threatening it physically and with censorship and muzzling, won. The campaign was fought across seven states and he won them

07 Nov 2024

We can still rise

What a morning. I know this quote has been shared and reshared ad infinitum, but it gives me hope today, and I hope it will do the same for you: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me,

06 Nov 2024

Reflecting today

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about my relatives who actively fought against nationalism as part of the resistance. What they and their colleagues did in the name of inclusion and opportunity. That's the name of the game: a world where everyone has the same opportunity to

05 Nov 2024

10 distractions, in case you need them for some reason

In case you’re searching for things to take your mind off the immediate horrors of the real world for, you know, some reason, here are ten: ‌3D Workers Island is a horror story told in the form of late-nineties screenshots from forums, websites, and a mysterious screensaver. ‌Practical Betterments

05 Nov 2024

Technology

Sen. Ron Wyden: Women's phones have become a tool for abortion surveillance

[Senator Ron Wyden at MSNBC] Senator Wyden has long been a loud voice for surveillance reform and stronger data protections, so this op-ed isn't really a surprise - but it's still nice to see him weighing in here: "Data brokers are selling the ability to

04 Nov 2024

Notable links

Election Issues 2024: Economy, Immigration, Abortion and More

[ProPublica] "With just days to go before Election Day, political coverage is everywhere. At ProPublica, we avoid horse race reporting and focus on telling stories about deeper issues and trends affecting the country. Here are some stories from the last year about issues that are important to voters."

02 Nov 2024

Notable links

Kamala Is Not Our Savior. But a Trump Win Would Be Catastrophic.

[Versha Sharma in Teen Vogue] This is a remarkable kind-of-sort-of-endorsement from Teen Vogue. "As the head of this publication, dedicated to young readers, I have been closely following younger generations’ collective disbelief at the Biden administration’s support of the Israeli government during its all-out assault on Gaza, following

02 Nov 2024

Notable links

Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election

[Craig Silverman at ProPublica and Priyanjana Bengani at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism] "The network, which uses the name Patriot Democracy on many of its ad accounts, is one of eight deceptive Meta advertising operations identified by ProPublica and Tow. These networks have collectively controlled more than 340

31 Oct 2024

Technology

Democratising publishing

[John O'Nolan] This is a genuinely inspiring post from John O'Nolan about the foundation behind Ghost and how it operates. It feels like a blueprint for so many open source projects. "The business model was simple: We would make a great open source product that

30 Oct 2024

Tech is interesting, but democracy deserves our attention

I’m aware that a lot of my linkblog posts have been about the state of America this week. That’s because — well, I’m sure you can figure out why. There is nothing bigger to talk about than this election. So much is at stake, and it really, truly

30 Oct 2024
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Writing at the intersection of technology, journalism, and community.

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Ben Werdmuller explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. Always independently published, reader-supported, and free to read.