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Ariel Wittenberg

@arielwittenberg.bsky.social

Public health reporter at POLITICO’s E&E News. New Englander at heart. Mom. Hobbyist watercolorist. PEN Guild forever ✊🏼

178 Posts1473 Follower 474 Folgt

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3d ago

For my POLITICO Magazine cover story this weekend, I wrote about Justin J. Pearson's Congressional campaign, and how his experience fighting xAI's pollution in his own neighborhood embodies a New Luddite movement pushing back against data centers and AI. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · last mo.

"Our journalists deserve to have input in how AI is deployed, and our readers deserve accurate, accountable journalism overseen by humans."-- Me in Vanity Fair.

PEN Guild@pen-guild.bsky.social · last mo.

ICYMI: the groundbreaking AI provisions of our first contract — and the actions our members took to enforce them —are featured in this @vanityfair.com story www.vanityfair.com/story/inside...

Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · last mo.

Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - Argonaut2026@gmail.com

Springer Nature to divest its consumer media businesses | Springer Nature Group | Springer Nature

Strategic divestment of consumer media portfolio enables Springer Nature to focus on its core business Transaction supports the long-term development

group.springernature.com

Annie Waldman @anniewaldman.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW: In February, I visited Raw Farm. You may have heard of it. RFK Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow are customers. It supplies raw dairy products to 500 stores nationwide. And regulators have linked it to over a dozen recalls and outbreaks that have made hundreds sick. 🧵👇

He Profits Off Raw Milk That’s Making People Sick. The Government Isn’t Stopping Him.

With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Rob...

propublica.org

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heard from a lot of loyal readers asking if we're OK this morning following news that @politico.com plans to kill the @eenews.bsky.social brand. There's still a lot of questions. Here's what we've told management so far:

PEN Guild@pen-guild.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Months after telling staff that the E&E News brand was not going away, POLITICO is shuttering six publications. A statement from PEN Guild's leadership: This is unacceptable.

On January 29, as we were discussing buyouts for the energy and environment teams, Joe Schatz told PEN Guild union leaders “The brands and the publications are not going away. We are looking to sharpen their missions.”

Today, he told us that E&E News as we know it is gone. Energywire, Climatewire, Greenwire, E&E News PM, E&E News Daily, PowerSwitch--six publications are being killed this summer.

This is information that management should have had, and should have told us, while our colleagues were making the decision about taking a buyout earlier this year. PEN Guild’s Labor Management Committee has questioned POLITICO monthly since January--including Jonathan Greenberger himself--about the vision for the newly combined energy and environment teams. At no point was sunsetting the E&E News publications ever mentioned--not even at our most recent meeting on Thursday, June 4. And yet somehow Semafor had the exclusive at 9:17 a.m. today.

This is the second time management has lied to employees in six months--the first being when John Harris said in December there would be no layoffs at the company, only to lay off some managers a month later.

Management says that none of us should be shocked, that change is part of the news business, that they did not lie and that they only finalized this new plan last week. And yet the question remains why such ground-shattering, publication-killing plans were not part of the “new vision” management announced in January? Why were our subscribers only surveyed in May?

This is not leadership. This is unacceptable.

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Months after telling staff that the E&E News brand was not going away, POLITICO is shuttering six publications. A statement from PEN Guild's leadership: This is unacceptable.

David Weiskopf believes in you @dave.bzky.team · 2mo ago

RIP to E&E. Since 2013, E&E has been my constant companion, the morning paper delivered to my digital stoop. Truly the end of an era. My deepest thanks and appreciation to you all, E&E past and present.

Exclusive: Politico folds E&E News ahead of broader energy push

In September, Politico plans to launch a series of energy-focused newsletters.

semafor.com

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 2mo ago

😭 Cy isn't on Bluesky to read this, but he helped so many of us @eenews.bsky.social develop into the reporters we are today. Couldn't ask for a better captain of this ship.

Jennifer Yachnin@yachnin.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are saying goodbye to @politico.com's @eenews.bsky.social Executive Editor Cy Zaneski. If you haven't read his Editors' Picks email today, I recommend grabbing a tissue first.

Chelsea Harvey @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I worked hard on this story, it's important, & I want to share it. I'm also finding it difficult to put it out there without this context: Just as I wrapped up final edits last week, I got word that a friend vacationing in Arizona had died after overheating on a hike. www.eenews.net/articles/dea...

Deadly heat is coming. But funding to save lives is not.

Emergency officials are searching for loopholes to save lives as President Donald Trump slashes programs.

eenews.net

Condé Union @condeunion.bsky.social · 2mo ago

VINDICATED: Condé Nast is paying the price for its illegal attempts at busting our union. Our members won a settlement that vindicates those who “marched on the boss” in November 2025. More here… nyguild.org/post/conde-w...

NEW YORK — Unionized Condé Nast workers who were illegally fired and disciplined after taking part in a “march on the boss” in November 2025 have been vindicated as part of a substantial agreement won by The NewsGuild of New York on Wednesday.

“Our fight as a union is about more than a single contract; it is about ensuring workers’ rights to a just workplace,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “When employers attempt to undermine our rights, we will organize, fight back, and hold them accountable. This settlement sends a forceful message: workers united in solidarity have the power to push back against bully union-busting bosses and demand their workplaces be governed by respect rather than fear.”

Condé Nast management illegally terminated four Condé Union leaders and suspended five others for coming together to demand answers from executives at 1 World Trade Center about abrupt layoffs at multiple brands including WIRED and the consolidation at Teen Vogue.

By abruptly, and unlawfully, firing and suspending nine employees, management violated members’ contractual Just Cause protections, as well as federal labor law to engage in protected concerted activity as workers.

The NewsGuild of New York immediately filed grievances related to the firings and suspensions, as well as Unfair Labor Practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Guild members at Condé Nast were also supported by NewsGuild parent union the Communications Workers of America, through a member relief fund program that provides aid to workers targeted by union busting.

Under the terms of the settlement, three of the illegally fired workers — Alma Avalle, Ben Dewey and Jasper Lo — were:

Reinstated as employees in good standing

Awarded significant financial settlements totaling more than $400K
Provided letters of recommendation, with all disciplinary records expunged

The three reinstated workers subsequently chose to resign on their own terms. Jake Lahut, a fourth unlawfully fired employee, declined a lesser settlement offer from the Company. At the time of the dismissal, he was a probationary employee and not yet covered under the contract’s Just Cause provisions. He is, however, protected by federal labor law as a union member and the NewsGuild of New York has an active unfair labor practice charge on his behalf at the National Labor Relations Board.

“We fought because we had to, because so much of an equitable future as workers and journalists depends on our combined efforts to resist inhumane treatment,” said Jasper Lo, formerly a senior fact checker at The New Yorker. “There is no reason for us to feel disempowered by companies and work in the fear that they create. Not only can we stand up for what’s right, but we can also set the tone for what is acceptable in a workplace.”

The five illegally suspended workers were:
Awarded back pay for every day they were illegally suspended without pay
Cleared of all wrongdoing with their disciplinary records expunged

“The unpaid suspensions added another layer of egregious, illegal retaliation to this situation—and it was particularly insulting that Conde Nast never specifically articulated to any of us what they alleged that we did wrong or why we were singled out”, said Lily Newman, Senior Writer at Wired. “It is heartening that this settlement removes the discipline from my and my colleagues’ records and furnishes backpay.”

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This was so hard won and I’m incredibly proud to be part of a team that held the line for 1.5 years in defense of our contract and good journalism. We did not yield until we won #NewsNotSlop for our readers.

PEN Guild@pen-guild.bsky.social · 3mo ago

NEWS: @politico.com has agreed to shut down 2 AI tools that were in violation of our collective bargaining agreement wbng.org/2026/05/22/p...

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Twist to this story (which I wrote): As of Wednesday, the data center at issue here is now being used entirely by Anthropic for Claude. www.eenews.net/articles/ant...

Anthropic moves into Musk’s Memphis data center

Colossus 1, owned by xAI, has been slammed by environmentalists for skirting clean air rules and the company's water reuse commitments.

eenews.net

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 3mo ago

"Musk pledged two years ago to build a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis to guarantee that his xAI servers wouldn’t deplete the city’s groundwater" "Now that Musk’s first data center is up and running, construction on the recycling facility has come to an abrupt halt"

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This article is making the rounds but its from a year ago--when HHS announced layoffs of some 15,000 staff. I don't know the up to date info about the cruise ship inspectors, but a significant number of CDC experts (like worker safety & food inspectors) have been reinstated.

Brian Tyler Cohen@briantylercohen.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Unearthed reports reveal that RFK Jr. fired every full-time CDC cruise ship sanitation inspector ahead of the Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak. www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cru...

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Now in POLITICO www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

XAI sidelines major water reuse project as IPO looms

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company abruptly stopped work on a water reuse facility meant to alleviate strain on the Memphis-area water supply. Nobody’s saying why.

politico.com

Ariel Wittenberg@arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

xAI has abruptly stopped work on a water reuse facility aimed at reducing a Memphis-area data center's strain on the local drinking water source. The move comes as SpaceX preps to launch the biggest IPO in history. My latest with @mirandawrites.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/xai...

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting @chicagotribune.com! Our entire newsroom covered Midway Blitz with everything we had. I’ve never been prouder of the Tribune or its commitment to the truth. It’s an honor to be part of this team.

Gregory Pratt@royalpratt.bsky.social · 7mo ago

64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz. Our team fanned out to cover the before, during and after of the federal government’s months-long raid on an American city. This is worth your time to understand the United States today www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

XAI sidelines major water reuse project as IPO looms

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company abruptly stopped work on a water reuse facility meant to alleviate strain on the Memphis-area water supply

eenews.net

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Trump administration hasn't released more than $400 million to help Americans pay energy costs. The LIHEAP funds could be used to dull the impact of Iran War-related price shocks on low income households. My latest for @eenews.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

E&E News: Trump holds back federal aid for Americans’ energy bills

The administration has not released more than $400 million that Congress appropriated to help low-income Americans pay their rising utility bills.

subscriber.politicopro.com

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Worth noting that RFK jr had a podcast before he ran for president in which he platformed conspiracy theories about the origins of viruses, including Lyme, HIV and more www.eenews.net/articles/bio...

‘Bioweapons’ and cover-ups: The untruths behind RFK Jr.’s disease claims

Kennedy has spread misinformation about the deadliest and most debilitating diseases of the modern era.

eenews.net

Ali Swenson@aliswenson.bsky.social · 4mo ago

SCOOP: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a new podcast that he says will begin “a new era of radical transparency in government." apnews.com/article/rfk-...

ProPublica Guild @propublicaguild.org · 4mo ago

Our DC members are out in full force! Today we’re striking to demand a fair contract, including layoff protections, AI guardrails, fair pay and a clear disciplinary process. Join us: www.gofundme.com/f/support-pr...

Two ProPublica employees holding up blue and yellow signs that read "ProPublica workers on strike for a fair contract." One employee also holds a white and red megaphone to his mouth.

ProPublica workers on strike, standing on the street and holding up signs.

A line of ProPublica workers chanting and holding up blue and yellow signs that read: ProPublica workers on strike for a fair contract.

Eight ProPublica workers can be seen in the background of this photo, holding up strike signs. In the foreground is a cluster of orange and yellow flowers surrounded by a black gate.

Anna Clark @annaleighclark.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I love my job. I believe in ProPublica's mission. I have so much work to do today on a story that should publish soon. But today, I'm on strike with my colleagues at the @propublicaguild.org. Hoping we get over the finish line SOON on our very first contract -- and a fair one.

Selfie of Anna in front of a window, wearing a ProPublica Guild T-shirt.

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Standing in solidarity with these fabulous journalists. Our readers deserve news, not slop!

ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org · 4mo ago

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

We're on strike! Don't visit propublica.org on April 8

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 4mo ago

ICYMI: One of OSHA's only tools to protect workers from heat expires *tomorrow,* and the agency won't say whether it will renew it. @repcasar.bsky.social and other Congressional Dems have pushed for answers. My latest for @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/exp...

Expiration nears for Biden workplace heat-protection program

The Trump administration is silent on its plans. Democrats urged renewal and warned about workers "risking their health and their lives."

eenews.net

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 4mo ago

But two former museum employees who left amid the changes told POLITICO they believed the US Holocaust Memorial Museum was altering its content preemptively, so as to not draw unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration. www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

‘Proactively fall in line:’ Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office

Two former employees said they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively to avoid unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration.

politico.com

Corbin Hiar @corbinhiar.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Lots of E&E News greats are walking out the door today. A true tragedy.

PEN Guild@pen-guild.bsky.social · 5mo ago

At least 19 of our @eenews.bsky.social Politico Pro colleagues have decided to take the buyout and leave us this week. It's no small amount. Not everyone was offered a buyout @politico.com 1/4

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 5mo ago

And yet, @politico.com management still hasn’t met our main demand: Articulating the vision that allegedly precipitated these buyouts. We warned management when they announced this move that we would lose talented colleagues if they didn’t explain their reasons for doing this. 4/4

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Buyouts from @politico.com represent: 21 percent of the newly-unified energy team, including 25 percent of @eenews.bsky.social 33 percent of Magazine And more from the central editing desk, data, visuals, graphics and interactives teams. 3/4

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The losses are particularly stark on the @eenews.bsky.social POLITICO Pro #Energy teams, whose remaining staff will still collectively produce six profitable publications daily despite the losses. 2/4

PEN Guild @pen-guild.bsky.social · 5mo ago

At least 19 of our @eenews.bsky.social Politico Pro colleagues have decided to take the buyout and leave us this week. It's no small amount. Not everyone was offered a buyout @politico.com 1/4

NYT Tech Guild @nytguildtech.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today, NYT celebrates their successes from the past year, but we are witnessing a major failure of leadership: @nytimes.com mgmt is denying one of our members, Rich Quan, permission to continue working remote, even as a certified caregiver for his 96-year-old father, who suffers from Alzheimer's.

Ariel Wittenberg @arielwittenberg.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Trump wants more data centers to generate their own power. But living next to tech industry gas turbines has made this VA neighborhood "unbearable" due to noise. One resident is taking sleeping pills, another can't walk his dog. My latest for @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/one...

One obstacle for Trump’s AI power pledge: The neighbors

Getting data centers to generate their own electricity may ease one obstacle to public acceptance of data centers. But it creates new hurdles.

eenews.net