Bob Weir is gone. He and Jerry Garcia were (at least to me) the sonic and vocal backbone of the Grateful Dead. He was less than two months younger than me. Jerry was older, but dead at 53. Phil Lesh made it to 84, dying in October 2024. Bill Kreutzmann is still with us at 79. Ron "Pigpen" McKernan croaked at 27. Mickey Hart's still cookin' at 82.
I didn't see much of The Sopranos, but I remember hearing The Doors' "When the Music's Over" during one of the late episodes. The line in the lyrics following the title one is "Turn out the lights," foreshadowing the ending of the whole show. It's my favorite track on my favorite Doors album. Two of the band members, John Densmore and Robby Krieger, are still with us at 81 and 80, the milestone our President (who shall remain nameless, because algorithms) will hit in June, and I'll hit two Julys later, if I'm still here.
Which brings me to a fact that might seem a theory: that death is not a state. One does not exist when dead, though to say one is dead suggests that it's a state. When we die, we are gone. Existence for us has ceased, except in the hearts and minds of others, and in whatever works we have left among the living.
If death is a state, then life is the exception to it. But if life is a state, death is its absence, and no more.
To say one is no more is also to say life is nothing but more.
More breathing, more heartbeats, more thoughts, more of what Whitman celebrated.
Most of Whitman's body was interred in Camden, New Jersey, in a house-like vault. His brain was removed for study and then either spoiled, went splat, or both. Hard to know.
If you want me again look for me under your boot soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean. But I shall be good health to you nevertheless. And filtre and fiber your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged. Missing me one place search another I stop some where waiting for you.
He isn't dead, because nobody is. He is just inaccessible in living form.
But here he is. Same as Bob and Jerry and Jim and Ray.
The last thing David Hodskins emailed to me was “Don’t become a Hoosiers fan.”
It was David who made me a Duke Blue Devils Basketball fan. David was an Iron Duke—an alumnus who contributed to the program. And he made me a fan by bringing me often to fill the other of his two season ticket seats in Cameron Indoor Stadium. This was between 1977 and 1984. At the beginning of that stretch, Duke had been in a long slump following the Vic Bubas and only got good at the end of the Bill Foster years, peaking in ’77-’78, when they had what the late great John Feinstein called Forever’s Team. While that team may have been the best in the country, it lost in the championship game to Kentucky when Goose Givens went nuts and scored a zillion points.
But that wasnt when the Duke Dynasty started. Mike Krzyzewski replaced Bill Foster in 1980, when Duke was good but not great. The greats of that time were, among others: Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Georgetown, and—most hated of all—Indiana under Bob (then still Bobby) Knight. It’s easy to forget that Coach K’s early years also kinda blah. His teams didn’t make the final four until ’86, and his first (of five) championships didn’t come until ’91.
My point here is that I got into Duke basketball when they were far from the hateworthy overdog they’ve been for close to four decades. That’s my excuse. Anyway, David Hodskins didn’t want me to become a Hoosiers fan.
But I was a Hoosier. But Indiana is where I work (as a visiting scholar at IU), and Bloomington is where I live. (Yes, I also live in Santa Barbara, but that only complicates things other than sports.) Bloomington is also where The Greatest Story in College Sports is happening right now, with Indiana Football.
One thing making this story the Greatest Ever (yes, perhaps, and we’ll see) is that it’s hard to overstate how lame Indiana Football has been. Not for years, or decades. For generations. For example, until this year (when Northwestern exceeded it), Indiana University held the record for the total number of losses in college football: 715.
It was at that number at the start of this season. And there it remains, because this year’s team is undefeated, #1 in the country, and about to play for the championship, against the Miami Hurricanes.
I won’t cite other stats, but will instead repeat what Hoosier lifers told me last night after a bunch of us watched our team drown the Oregon Ducks. (This was after doing the same a week before in the Rose Bowl to the Alabama Crimson Tide. They’ll probably do the same to Miami in the championship game a week from Monday.) “We were the doormat of the Big 10.”
Whether IU wins the championship or not, it’s hard not to be invested in the story. Because it’s happening now, and there has never been another story like it. The movie is being performed right now by real characters.
Consider this for a cast: the largest population of alumni in the country: 805,000. No wonder they filled the Rose and Fiesta bowls. Betcha most of the spectators in the stands at the championship game will also be Hoosiers, even though it will be played at Hard Rock Stadium: the Miami Hurricanes’ home field. Indiana’s (yes) perfect quarterback, Fernando Mendoza (who has had more touchdown passes than incompletions in recent games), grew up in the same Miami neighborhood, making the game local all around.
The inevitable movie about the Hoosiers’ football turnaround won’t be brilliant fiction, like Hoosiers (a truly great sports movie, written by Bloomington native Angelo Pizzo and directed by fellow Hoosier David Anspaugh). It will be a documentary. And I already have a title.
The last thing David Hodskins emailed to me was "Don't become a Hoosiers fan."
It was David who made me a Duke Blue Devils fan, by bringing me often to fill the other of his two season ticket seats in Cameron Indoor Stadium. This was between 1977 and 1984. At the beginning of that stretch, Duke had been in a long slump between the Vic Bubas years and the Bill Foster years, but happened in '77-'78 to have what the late great John Feinstein called Forever's Team. Which was the best in the country, but still lost in the championship game to Kentucky when Goose Givens went nuts and scored a zillion points.
But that wasnt when the Duke Dynasty started. After '78 and until Mike Krzyzewski replaced Bill Foster, Duke was good but not great. The greats were NC State, Carolina, Kentucky, and—most hated of all—Indiana under Bob (then still Bobby) Knight. It's easy to forget that Coach K's early years also weren't great. He started in 1980, and his teams didn't make the final four until '86. His first (of five) championships didn't come until '91.
My point here is that I got into Duke basketball when they were far from the hateworthy overdog they've been for close to four decades. Anyway, David didn't want me to get into Indiana.
But Indiana is where I work, and Bloomington is where I live. (Yes, I also live in Santa Barbara, but that only complicates things other than sports.) Bloomington is also where The Greatest Story in College Sports is happening right now, with Indiana Football.
It's hard to overstate how lame Indiana Football has been. Not for years, or decades. For generations. I won't cite stats, but will instead repeat what Hoosier lifers told me yesterday after a bunch of us watched the team flatten an otherwise great Oregon team. This was after doing the same a week before in the Rose Bowl to Alabama. They'll probably do the same to Miami in the championship game a week from Monday.
Whether that happens or not, it's hard not to be invested in the story. Because it's happening now, and there has never been another one like it.
The movie is being lived and performed right now by real characters.
Consider this for a cast: the largest population of alumni in the country: 805,000. No wonder they filled the Rose and Fiesta bowls. Betcha most of the spectators in the stands at the championship game will be Hoosiers, even though it will be played on the Miami Hurricanes' home field. Indiana's perfect quarterback, Fernando Mendoza (who has had more touchdown passes than incompletions in recent games) grew up in the same neighborhood, making the game local all around.
So the movie about the Hoosiers footbal turnaround won't be brilliant fiction, like Hoosiers (a piece of perfection, by Bloomington native Angelo Pizzo). It will be a documentary. And I already have a title.
Canada is planning LNG export infrastructure as if global gas demand growth will persist for decades, but the energy system is moving in a different direction. Under conditions of sustained LNG oversupply, rapid global deployment of solar and batteries, and rising financing costs for fossil infrastructure, most proposed Canadian LNG ... [continued]
After writing about 40 new fast EV chargers made operational near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, here is a similar article about 88 fast charging ports announced for Brooklyn, NY. These EV chargers are somewhat different because they are backed by energy storage in the form of batteries. The batteries can be ... [continued]
In December 2025, 10,384 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold into the Australian market, and 5,919 plugin hybrids were sold. In total, out of 101,513 passenger vehicles sold, 16, 303 came with a plug. This achieved a penetration rate of 16.7%. This is the highest rate of EV penetration so ... [continued]
When, oh when, will Tesla launch an electric minivan into the global auto market? Probably never, or at least not while the company is still struggling to keep the Cybertruck flop-mobile afloat. In the meantime, drivers looking for a true family car that doubles as a practical working vehicle can ... [continued]
Crystals hidden in Australia’s oldest rocks have revealed new clues about how Earth and the Moon formed. The study suggests Earth’s continents didn’t begin growing until hundreds of millions of years after the planet itself formed. When scientists compared the rocks with Moon samples from the Apollo missions, they found a remarkable match. The results support the idea that a massive cosmic impact gave birth to the Moon.
In the latest FAQ, I’m publishing here answers to some questions from a Turkish PR company (published on LinkedIn here)…
Q: In your view, what has been the most significant transformation in digital journalism in recent years?
There have been so many major transformations in the last 15 years. Mobile phones in particular have radically transformed both production and consumption — but having been through all those changes, AI feels like a biggest transformation than all the changes that we’ve already been through.
It’s not just playing a role in transforming the way we produce stories, it’s also involved in major changes around what happens with those stories in terms of how they are distributed, consumed, and even how they are perceived: the rise of AI slop and AI-facilitated misinformation is going to radically accelerate the lack of trust in information (not just the media specifically). I’m being careful to say ‘playing a role’ because of course the technology itself doesn’t do anything: it’s how that technology is designed by people and used by people.
Q: How do you evaluate its main differences from traditional journalism?
I think there’s very little difference now between digital journalism and “traditional” journalism. Every journalist is a digital journalist now: you would struggle to find a reporter who only writes printed or broadcast stories, and that’s been the case for many years now. Multiplatform reporting is now the norm.
In terms of how modern reporting differs from pre-internet reporting, there’s a much stronger sense of the audience. Audience feedback was very basic before the internet. Now we have a very clear picture of what stories people read or watch or listen to, for how long, and what they do with those stories.
Modern journalism also has lost significant control over how it reaches an audience, with that control now held by search engines, social media, and AI platforms. Because the business models and cultures of companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI now play a major role in shaping what stories audiences are likely to see, that has in turn shaped the business models and cultures of news organisations.
So journalists must now consider the extent to which their stories fit into those infrastructures and the extent to which they are optimised for search or for social. But there’s also been a growth in forms that have more direct relationships with audiences, such as email newsletters.
Investigative journalism is much easier for modern reporters than it used to be in the analogue era, as journalists are able to gather and analyse more information, faster, and with more power.
Data journalism and OSINT are two new forms of journalism that embody this, and they also embody the much wider range of formats and genres involved in modern journalism.
Podcasts and ‘scrollytelling’, for example, are just two examples of how modern journalism has moved away from formulaic reporting towards more in-depth narrative journalism.
And interactivity has opened up all sorts of new ways of telling stories, too, not only in personalisation, maps, calculators and games — but also in the way that audiences can play an active role in newsgathering, from providing user generated content (UGC) and tip-offs to crowdsourcing.
Q: From the time you founded the Online Journalism Blog until today, how do you see the trajectory of digital reporting?
Aside from the changes listed above, we’ve seen journalism go through a number of phases. One of the most fundamental – which is often overlooked because of all the changes that followed – was the hyperlinked nature of the web, which made us think about how our reporting connected with the rest of that network, both informationally (linking to sources, and to further information) and socially (connecting with audiences).
Blogging was another early major change which introduced additional competition that forced journalists and publishers to up their game. It was no longer enough to merely report what people were saying, because our sources now had a direct channel to our audiences. It’s easy to forget how stenographic most journalism was before.
Journalists then had to adapt to new forms of information including data and UGC, so we’ve seen Computer Assisted Reporting become data journalism, an expansion of factchecking, and the emergence of OSINT. Information overload created both supply and demand for curation as a skillset.
Mobile phones added to this, and transformed newsgathering, putting a piece of kit into every reporter’s hands that meant writers had to learn how to film and record clear audio. And because that kit was also in the hands of audiences, and as bandwidth has increased to facilitate it, and algorithms tweaked to prioritise it, the language of news has become less textual and much more visual.
There’s been a tragedy of the commons as initial optimism about the internet has come up against increasing pollution and weaponisation of a public sphere built on algorithms that have learned the most basic human emotional triggers for content that keeps us on the page are hate and anger.
We may well look back at this time as a digital cold war, with dozens of countries funding armies of trolls and sock puppets to destabilise adversaries, and most people completely unaware or unbelieving that the content they were sharing was not authentic.
But it’s easy to focus on what we’ve lost and forget what we have gained. The voiceless have more of a voice than they did three decades ago; there are more tools to hold power to account, and they are cheaper and more accessible than ever. We have more creative ways to tell stories than we ever did, and as a result the stories are richer and more diverse than they ever were.
Q: What are your thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence and automation tools in journalism? How do these developments affect the ethical boundaries of the profession?
Automation is just one application of AI, and journalism has used automation for over two decades now, so the ethical challenges are not new. It has always been important to ensure that the outputs of automated steps in a workflow are regularly checked and edited (what is now called ‘Human In The Loop’), and that any algorithm itself is regularly checked and updated.
Those checks consider the key ethical consideration of accuracy, and ensure another, editorial independence. But if the subject matter or material is likely to raise other issues, major automation is normally not used.
For example, automation might be used to generate stories for earthquake alerts or financial results or football matches where the source is reliable, factual and authoritative, and there is no need for ‘balance’. But in less clear-cut contexts, it might be used only to alert journalists in much the same way that a press release, email alert or newswire. For example Dataminr uses machine learning to classify tweets as newsworthy and alert journalists to those.
What is different about automation with genAI is that it is a probabilistic tool. So whereas previous automation technologies made mistakes in a systematic way, in which the same input will always lead to the same output, generative AI does not: the same input can lead to different outputs; it’s a roll of the dice each time. That means it requires closer monitoring of both input and output, especially in relation to known weaknesses of AI such as accuracy and bias.
Another major difference is our reliance on third party algorithms. When we automate with someone else’s LLMs (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic etc) we have no control over those algorithms, and may not know if they are changed while we are using it – especially given that they are essentially being constantly trained on the inputs of a world of users.
For that reason it is important to ‘train’ the model as much as possible, whether that is through building your own LLM, or creating a custom GPT, or through prompt design techniques. All of those are examples of asserting some editorial control.
Editorial independence is a complex issue here. Like most ethical considerations, it has to be considered alongside other ethical issues. For example, news organisations lose editorial independence by allowing it to be indexed by Google (allowing the importance of our stories to be decided by their algorithms), but the ethical considerations of accessibility and informing audiences (and having large enough audiences to be financially sustainable) win out over that.
We can see similar trade-offs with AI: some reporting would not be possible without it, and AI can be a useful tool in improving how well we consider ethical issues (it can aid accuracy and bias, even though those are also weaknesses in general).
The second part of this FAQ, focusing on data journalism and open data, is published tomorrow.
Experts say pulling the U.S. out of more than 60 global organizations will weaken international governance structures and lead to further fragmentation of global power.
By Bob Berwyn
The U.S. government’s announcement that it will seek to withdraw from more than 60 international organizations, many linked to the United Nations, will inflict lasting geopolitical self-harm and suggests the current administration is deeply insecure in the face of a rapidly changing world, political scientists said this week.
Willcox is ground zero for Arizona’s groundwater crisis. The state’s settlement with Riverview, the company draining the town’s aquifer, requires it to fallow fields and compensate affected well owners.
By Wyatt Myskow
PEARCE, Ariz.—Nearly two years ago, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes held a town hall in this desert community, which is widely regarded as the epicenter of the state’s groundwater crisis.
After taking over control of Venezuela, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio’s decision to pull the United States out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) may not seem like the biggest news, but it is a huge deal and it’ll be interesting to see where things go. ... [continued]
ATLANTA — Today, environmental groups demanded the Georgia Public Service Commission reconsider Georgia Power’s plan to build the most expensive gas plants in the nation. The Sierra Club, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) filed a motion to reconsider Georgia Power’s “Requests for Proposals,” ... [continued]
Trump administration continues to undermine Colorado’s efforts to turn the page on coal DENVER — The Trump Administration’s EPA today disapproved Colorado’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, again illegally undermining the state’s efforts to rein in pollution from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources. The state’s plan includes retirement deadlines ... [continued]
Pacifico Accelerates Growth in the Vietnam Energy Market Vĩnh Long, Vietnam — Pacifico Energy Vietnam (PEV), the Vietnam-based development platform of Pacifico Energy Group (PEG), a leading global energy infrastructure developer, today announced the commencement of commercial operations at its 30 MW Sunpro Wind Farm (Sunpro), adding new power capacity ... [continued]
This is a problem across our society, a major problem. Perhaps it’s a significant problem in every society, but at least some other societies more implicitly trust people who understand science to be leaders in society. In the US, the issue is that we’re making one disastrous decision after another ... [continued]
In this sponsored Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, host Ben Whitelaw talks to Oversight Board co-chair Paolo Carozza (Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana) and Board member Julie Owono (Executive Director of Internet Without Borders and research affiliate at Berkman Klein Centre) about the Board’s five-year journey and its plans for the future.
Together, Ben, Paolo and Julie discuss the Board’s recently published report, From Bold Experiment to Essential Institution, and what it means to call Board “essential” in today’s ever-evolving internet landscape. They also talk about how the Board has changed, the criticisms it faces around cost and influence, and what comes next in 2026 and beyond.
It has been a couple weeks since CleanTechnica published an article titled “Massachusetts’s First Big Energy Storage Tender.” The tender is a result of a law on battery storage, signed by Governor Maura Healey on November 20. Addressing the 1,500-megawatt (MW) tender, author Zachary Shahan wrote, “If you’re upset because ... [continued]
I have a hard time understanding the appeal of giant vehicles — all the land yachts on the road around me — but my, oh, my do I love a small electric car! I’d have a Mini Cooper EV and BMW i3 in my driveway if I had the money ... [continued]
People in low-income urban communities in the Global South without access to reliable energy sources are burning the toxic plastic waste inundating their communities to cook and heat their homes.
By Liza Gross
Several global trends are colliding with disastrous consequences for health and the environment, new research warns.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s Department of Health and Human Services has issued new dietary guidance. Meat lovers, rejoice! The new upside-down pyramid places steak, cheese, and whole milk as your first and best meal choices. “My message is clear,” RFK Jr. reiterated. “Eat real food.” Such meat-focused “real food” isn’t ... [continued]
If you want to understand how far MAGA Republicans have strayed from any actual “free speech” principles, look no further than this: Congress issued a subpoena to Rolling Stone journalist Seth Harp, because he posted on X a publicly available online biography of someone involved in the illegal and unconstitutional kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro. There was no private information shared. There was no “doxxing” in any sense of the word.
Just to be crystal clear about what we’re talking about here: a member of Congress subpoenaed a journalist and referred him for criminal prosecution for posting information that was publicly available on a university website. Information that a university proudly displays on its own website. Information that, even if it were classified (which it isn’t), would still be constitutionally protected to publish.
Yet, because MAGA folks always need to attack anyone who makes them look silly, they went crazy. First, they got X to lock his account until he deleted the post. Harp explained how there’s no way you could consider this to be doxxing.
If you can’t read that screenshot, Harp’s detailed explanation of why he did nothing wrong is quite thorough and quite obviously true:
Yesterday, X admins locked my account and required me to delete certain posts in order to log back in. No explanation was given, but I had posted the publicly available, online bio of a Delta Force commander, a full-bird colonel, whose identity is not classified and which anyone skilled at FOIA can ascertain.
In no way did I “doxx” the officer. I did not post any personally identifying information about him, such as his birthday, social security number, home address, phone number, email address, the names of his family members, or pictures of his house. What I posted is still online on Duke University’s website for all the world to see.
If you serve in the US military, your personnel documents are public records, as they should be. Because I served in the Army myself, anyone can obtain my records, which show the units in which I served. Nothing exempts Delta Force from this basic transparency.
To illustrate these points, I also posted the records of deceased special operators, obtained through FOIA, that specifically say “Delta Force” on them, unredacted. In the spirit of fairness, I also posted my own service record. X required me to delete those posts, too.
Nothing about this should distract from the larger issue: Delta Force, acting on President Trump’s unlawful orders, which contravened every principle of international law and sovereignty, as well as the Congress’s prerogative to declare war, invaded Venezuela, killed scores of Venezuelans who posed no threat to the United States, and kidnapped the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, as well as his wife.
Every civilian official and military officer in the American chain of command who participated in this outrageously illegal and provocative act of war – which a supermajority of Americans oppose is the legitimate subject of journalistic scrutiny, and X has no business censoring my timely and accurate reporting.
And just to underscore how ridiculous this entire affair is: Duke University, apparently spooked by the controversy, has now scrubbed the bio from its website. The officer’s name and photo remain, but the biographical text—which revealed nothing even remotely sensitive—has been deleted. So Luna’s intimidation campaign worked, at least in getting a university to memory-hole publicly available information about one of its own fellows. This is exactly how chilling effects operate in practice.
And, for that, he gets a subpoena driven by MAGA Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who falsely claimed he was “leaking classified information.” She then followed it up by referring Harp to the DOJ:
That’s Rep. Luna misleading everyone and misrepresenting what Harp did, saying:
I have referred Seth Harp to the DOJ for investigation and to pursue criminal charges regarding the intentional publication of information related to Operation Absolute Resolve, including the doxxing of a U.S. Delta Force operator. That conduct is not protected journalism. It was reckless, dangerous, and put American lives at risk. The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations, or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting.
Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate when national security is endangered, and no one is above oversight. It is also well within my constitutional authority to work with the DOJ to ensure that justice is served. I look forward to the results of a very thorough investigation and the potential filing of charges for violations of multiple U.S. codes.
I have confirmation that the DOJ has received the letter, and we look forward to their findings.
The only truthful part of that is that she has, in fact (ridiculously), referred Harp to the DOJ.
She’s wrong on every other account. He did not “doxx” anyone. And even if he was revealing “information related to Operation Absolute Resolve,” that is absolutely protected by the First Amendment.
It’s not even a close call. We did this 55 years ago in the Pentagon Papers case, where the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that of course the First Amendment protects journalists publishing even secret government documents about military operations (which isn’t even what Harp did here)—documents that were actually classified, unlike the public university bio that Harp posted.
Take a moment to review all this: In 1971, the Nixon administration tried to stop the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers—genuinely secret documents about the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court told Nixon to pound sand. Now, in 2026, we have a member of Congress going even further, not just trying to stop publication (which already failed half a century ago), but criminally referring a journalist for publishing information that was publicly available on a university website.
In a concurring opinion in the Pentagon Papers case, Justice Hugo Black wrote poetically about the power of the First Amendment protecting journalists especially when they are embarrassing the government:
In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly. In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam war, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.
Rep. Luna either hasn’t read that, doesn’t understand it, or doesn’t care. Because what she is engaging in is out-and-out harassment of journalists doing their jobs, in an effort to intimidate and chill speech of reporters who report information that Luna and the MAGA Trump world would prefer not see the light of day.
That’s not how this works. It’s not how journalism works. It’s not how the First Amendment works, and it’s not how free speech works.
Journalists don’t work for the government and can’t ‘leak’ government information — to the contrary, it’s their job to find and publish the news, whether the government wants it made public or not. Identifying government officials by name is not doxxing or harassment, no matter how many times Trump allies say otherwise. Reporters have a constitutional right to publish even classified leaks, as long as they don’t commit any crimes to obtain them, but Harp merely published information that was publicly available about someone at the center of the world’s biggest news story.
You may recall that after the election in 2024, President Trump demanded that Republicans in the Senate kill the PRESS Act, which had been approved in the house with broad bipartisan support. That law, which would make it even more explicit how the First Amendment protects journalists was killed because Trump and the MAGA base have known all along that they need to violate the First Amendment rights of journalists to try to intimidate and silence them.
This fits a pattern that’s become impossible to ignore: the same people who spent years screaming about “big tech censorship” and “free speech” are now wielding actual government power to silence journalists who embarrass them. The same crowd that insisted Trump would “bring free speech back” is now cheering as he and his congressional allies deploy subpoenas and criminal referrals against reporters.
Remember, it was just a few years ago that Rep. Luna herself was apoplectically accusing the Biden administration of colluding with Twitter to censor users… because she didn’t understand what Jira is. Yet, here, she’s helping the bastardized remains of Twitter, X, silence a journalist herself.
In normal times you could trust that the DOJ would laugh at Rep. Luna’s call for prosecution. But these aren’t normal times. We’ve seen case after case after case of the DOJ bringing bogus, bullshit federal criminal cases against perceived enemies for no reason other than intimidation. That most of those cases are failing in the courts is besides the point. The process itself is the punishment.
And here, Rep. Luna is holding the censor’s axe, abusing her power as an elected official to intimidate and suppress the speech of journalists who were just reporting publicly available information. The First Amendment doesn’t stop applying just because the subject of journalism is inconvenient for the government. But Luna and her MAGA colleagues seem to think it does—or at least, they’re betting that their base won’t care about constitutional principles when it’s “their guy” doing the censoring.
Rather than working to maintain the status quo, this could be the moment for NPR to reimagine its mission by broadening its listener base beyond an elite few.
US President Donald Trump certainly is busy these days, preoccupied as he is with the kidnap and murder of US citizens while desperately struggling to keep a lid on the Jeffrey Epstein files. And so, it is no surprise to see Trump’s energy policy, such as it is, circling the ... [continued]
I did a series of three articles on this topic three years ago. What’s changed in the meantime? “Electric Everything” depends on modern battery technology. 100 years ago, electric vehicles used lead-acid batteries. It’s the same technology that gas cars still use today to power their starter motors. Those early ... [continued]
When the Mormons settled Utah in the 1800s, they picked the Wasatch Front in Northern Utah because snowfall in the mountains stored water that was used by farmers over the summer to irrigate their crops. However, the climate in southern Utah, with major city Saint George, was milder, so Utahans ... [continued]
I think we could have powered two cities with the work Gemini just did, thinking slowly to help me identify the actress that my old pal Drew Youngs sings about in his video (and musical composition) Betty the Bloop. In an unrelated matter, somewhere I have still photos (remember those?) of the work Drew's dad's body shop did fixing the crushed back end of my new 1985 Toyota Camry after it was rear-ended by a drunk driver on Alma at Chruchill that same year in Palo Alto.
Be in charge
Phil Windleywaxes wise on authorization. Here's why this topic matters: In the future, the companies and organizations you deal with won't do anything without your permission and guidance. (Thank MyTerms for getting that ball rolling.) You will need tools of your own rather than those entities' internal systems, all of which (at least the way business works today) are captivity traps.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide if a president can exit international treaties the Senate has ratified, saying it’s a political question.
By Georgina Gustin
After the Trump administration announced late Wednesday that it would withdraw from the foundational agreement underpinning the international effort to slow the climate crisis, global leaders and climate advocates expressed extreme frustration and anger. Few were shocked.
Registration is now open for free events taking place in Apple’s London offices at Battersea Power Station on February 6. Sessions will be led by creatives from PRX, Goalhanger, Acast, and more
Public media organizationPRX— bringing acclaimed podcasts and radio to millions — and AudioUK— the industry body dedicated to advancing podcasting and audio — today announced programming for the 2026 Podcast Creator Summit taking place in London on Friday, February 6. The free daylong series of lively events — including workshops, talks, and networking for emerging podcasters — is organized in partnership with Apple Podcasts and will be hosted in Apple’s London offices at the Battersea Power Station.
Producers of all experience levels are invited toofficially register here for the free summit, and to receive additional updates. As space is limited, registration is required.
Sessions will focus on evolving areas of podcasting, such as monetization and sustainability, creating a brand, and harnessing video.
Speakers will include creatives from some of today’s most influential networks and publishers, as well as creators of acclaimed independent productions, such as:
Nicole Logan, Executive Producer (Development) at Goalhanger, home of The Rest is Historyand The Rest is Science
“We’re thrilled to be in London and to deepen our partnerships around the world. As the podcasting industry grows, our focus remains on helping foster meaningful support and opportunity for creators working at every level in their own communities,” said Stephanie Kuo, VP of Content at PRX. “The UK’s audio scene is rich, diverse and constantly pushing boundaries, and we’re proud to work alongside organizations like AudioUK that help make it such an inclusive and vibrant home for podcasters and audio makers.”
“The programme for the Podcast Creator Summit has been carefully designed with early-stage creators at its heart,” said Katie Banham, Head of Marketing and Membership at AudioUK. “The sessions focus on practical skills, real-world insight and honest conversations about building creative confidence and sustainable pathways in podcasting. Co-producing the summit with PRX allows us to connect the UK’s emerging podcast and audio talent with global perspectives, ensuring new voices are supported to grow, experiment and thrive.”
PRX convened several Podcast Creator Summits in 2025 in the United States, including in Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia in partnership with local public media stations KUT and WABE. Presenters included creative leaders from iHeartPodcasts, Tenderfoot TV, Audacy, The Roost, City Cast, Exactly Right Media, and more.
For press inquiries:
David Cotrone, Director of Public Relations and Communications at PRX: david.cotrone@prx.org
Celebrating more than 20 years as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit prx.org for more.
About Audio UK
AudioUK is the industry body dedicated to advancing podcasting and audio, by fostering innovation, supporting creators and businesses, and driving commercial and creative growth. Through advocacy, training programs, networking opportunities, and industry events, AudioUK helps shape the future of podcasting and audio in the UK and beyond. By connecting creators, producers, and businesses, AudioUK ensures that talent thrives, ideas flourish, and the industry continues to expand both creatively and commercially. For more information, resources, and to find out how to join, visit audiouk.org.uk.
After 18 years (yes, 18 years), CleanTechnica has decided to do something we’ve never done before. Actually, we’re doing three things we’ve never done before. First of all, we are hosting our first ever in-person event in North America! It will be in Hawaii, a top center for cleantech adoption, ... [continued]
The announcement by Block Communications this week that it would cease publication of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette generated despair in the journalism world. As Joshua Benton of Nieman Lab asked: “Will Pittsburgh become America’s most important city without a newspaper?”
It’s interesting, though, that this is framed as a question, as opposed to a fait accompli. Benton, who once worked for the Block family at the Post-Gazette’s sister paper in Toledo, writes that there’s “pent up” capacity for some kind of replacement for the paper, perhaps one run by a nonprofit.
Ed Blazina, News Guild vice president and a longtime transportation reporter, made a similar observation to Pittsburgh’s Public Source, saying he thinks someone will step in to “fill the void. … I can’t believe that the city and the foundation community would allow a city of this size to exist without a daily newspaper.”
Hopeful voices were also featured in a piece by Julia Maruca at Pittsburgh’s WESA. Tom Davidson, a professor of media business at Penn State, lamented the loss but said it may not be “ the final act of this play.”
“ One would imagine any number of other parties may be interested in talking with the Blocks about possibly purchasing some or all of the assets of the paper. There are still a lot of open questions,” Davidson said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this story yet.”
News In Focus Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.
Civic Discourse & Democracy
>> How journalists should cover ICE’s fatal shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis (Poynter)
Covering a fatal use of force by any law enforcement officer is “the most basic form of holding power to account,” writes Poynter’s Kelly McBride, who outlines what she calls a “familiar but urgent set of ethical decisions.”
>> Youth media and the future of news (Nieman Reports)
Media organizations and funders need to “proactively involve young people in journalism,” writes Leah Clapman, the founder and executive director of PBS News Student Reporting Labs. She lays out a number of initiatives that aren’t just “cute experiments” — rather they involve young people in the practice, process and ethics of reporting and make them feel like they have a stake in the future of journalism.
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Community Engagement & Trust
>> API in the news: Turning back the clock — At Newsday, a nostalgia beat brings massive traffic (Medill Local News Initiative)
Newsday has tapped into Long Island’s rich history with a nostalgia beat, Eric Rynston-Lobel writes. Shawna VanNess, Newsday’s associate managing editor, tells him that the beat is “low-hanging fruit” that contains stories of places and institutions that have stood the test of time. API’s Emily Ristow says such an initiative is easily replicable for other newsrooms, especially legacy organizations that have lots of images, stories and videos to draw from in their archives.
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Revenue & Resilience
Beehiiv courts larger ad buys with boost to newsletter ad network (Variety)
The creator platform Beehiiv is hiring more staff to pitch advertisers on its network of publications, writes Brian Steinberg. The platform supports newsletters with subscriber bases ranging from 1,000 to more than a million, and creators don’t have to accept Beehiiv’s ads, the company’s co-founder, Tyler Denk, told Steinberg.
Related: The year the newsletter business reached a fever pitch (The Wall Street Journal)
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What else you need to know
🤖How news audiences feel about AI use by newsrooms: What a new LMA–Trusting News survey reveals (Local Media Association)
🗞️Three stories I’d like to see in 2026 (Dick Tofel’s Second Rough Draft)
Don’t believe your eyes. On Thursday, that’s what some members of Donald Trump’s administration essentially said when talking about the tragic events of Wednesday when an ICE agent shot and […]
A White House social media post misleadingly links deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro with the U.S. fentanyl crisis. The X post includes a video highlighting parents who lost children to […]
Bayer has asked the justices to decide whether federal law shields the company from lawsuits over its Roundup herbicide and cancer. Democrats and MAHA activists aren’t happy.
The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, like previous editions, ignores the climate impacts of livestock and could make them worse, environmental groups worry.
By Georgina Gustin
The Trump administration’s new dietary guidelines, released Wednesday, take a dramatic turn toward encouraging the consumption of animal protein, including red meat, something a growing number of governments and international reports in recent years have urged consumers to reduce for both health and climatic reasons.
