Media
To innovate, news needs allies
"Allies, archives and infrastructure in the AI age" - a list of people with the potential to push news forward.
Notable links
Commentary on links that caught my attention around the web.
Democracy
The SFPD leaked its drone footage. It shouldn't be surveilling to begin with.
Surveillance doesn't improve crime or make anyone safer. It wastes civic dollars and creates new risks for vulnerable communities. The SFPD's leak demonstrates one reason why.
Media
We need a PIT Crew for news
Zohran Mamdani has unveiled a radically collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach to building internal technology capacity. News has a lot to learn from it.
Democracy
Climate.gov was destroyed. Open data saved it.
"After losing their jobs at NOAA, Rebecca Lindsey, her sister and another colleague teamed up to rebuild a pivotal resource the Trump administration took offline."
Media
The Trump administration is subpoenaing journalists to reveal sources. Their data security is more important than ever.
"Historically, the Justice Department has sought to subpoena reporters only as a last resort after other reasonable options have been exhausted." Now the FBI is doing it to satisfy an angry President.
Media
Communities will build trust and loyalty for local public media. Chicago Public Media is taking a big leap forward.
Chicago Public Media is launching a region-wide social platform as a way to bolster its journalism. I believe it represents a path to the future.
Technology
As social networks fill up with AI slop, trusted relationships and communities will win.
Long-form LinkedIn posts are 41% slop. Other social networks are not far behind.
Business
Startups track business metrics. Newsrooms should learn from them.
I've rarely seen newsroom business teams discuss metrics like LTV, CAC, and even ARR outside fundraising or finance. They should be commonly known.
Media
CNN and CNBC promote gambling to make a cheap buck
Some newsrooms are making money from deals with prediction markets. It will only serve to further destroy the public's trust in news.
AI
Governance can prevent AI from being used to undermine democracy. But only if it has teeth.
The apparatus to cement centralized, undemocratic power has already been built. Regulations have a part to play, but they can't just be recommendations.
Media
A new media spinout provides streaming apps for public service broadcasters. I just wish it was open.
We need to see more technical collaborations between public service media organizations. It's also really important that they're based on open technology that doesn't lock them in.
Media
Newsrooms need to get comfortable expressing their business value - and raising money on it.
Newsrooms like to spend their time on the journalistic process and assume that the value of their work will speak for itself. They need to start selling themselves.