2/ The Standard joins the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship, a collective of 10 news orgs exploring how AI can drive better business and news outcomes. Each outlet in the Collaborative embeds AI engineers and receives support from OpenAI and Microsoft www.lenfestinstitute.org/institute-ne...

Lenfest Institute announces $150,000 grant to The San Francisco Standard to invest in Mode 2 AI experimentation

The San Francisco Standard will create an AI-powered news app to reimagine how audiences interact with local news and information.

lenfestinstitute.org

1/ Today, we’re announcing a $150K grant to @sfstandard.com to develop an AI-powered news app that reimagines how audiences interact with local information, moving beyond static articles and allowing readers to engage with local reporting in real time. www.lenfestinstitute.org/institute-ne...

Lenfest Institute announces $150,000 grant to The San Francisco Standard to invest in Mode 2 AI experimentation

The San Francisco Standard will create an AI-powered news app to reimagine how audiences interact with local news and information.

lenfestinstitute.org

From today’s PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: “All those who report and edit the news, all who stand ready to defend their words in the courts or in the court of public opinion, everyone who helps fund local journalism deserves our thanks — and these days, our prayers.” (Gift Link in Comments)

From this morning’s Chicago Sun-Times…

Very much worth reading, for @usatoday.com by @kathykiely.bsky.social

Kathy Kiely@kathykiely.bsky.social · last yr.

OK so #Trump doesn’t like the #freepress. But does he really want to go down in history as a 21st century Judas Iscariot?Save yourself, Donald, by saving the #journalists #VOA #RadioFreeEurope #RadioFreeAsia #RadioMarti

From this morning’s The Philadelphia Inquirer, a warning that President Trump’s shuttering of Voice of America portends ever more repressive assaults on journalism here in the United States…

“The Trump decision to shutter #VoiceOfAmerica is a disturbing and self-defeating retreat for American influence abroad. It also portends ever more troubling repression of independent journalism right here in the United States.”

American journalists are in a bind No one could've imagined a month ago! Reporters are being bounced out of the Pentagon the White House, Air Force One and other places. What should be done? Check out what former @wsj.com exec Jim Friedlich recommends #Journo5 www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

Amid intensifying assaults on the press, is it time for a 'NATO for news'? | Opinion

To protect the free press in America, we need to agree that "an attack on one is an attack on all."

inquirer.com

Dean Baquet, former @nytimes.com executive editor, still believes in the on-the-ground, aggressive fact-gathering work that is reporting. At the same time, “we also have to figure out a way to inject more fun and joy into the reports.”

Dean Baquet: Local journalism is the foundation for the future

Reporting itself — the act of going out with an open mind, not knowing what you will find — is under threat.

lenfestinstitute.org

Although many communities are still becoming news deserts, there are growing news rainforests: media-rich areas that still attract local news startups. Our Executive Director and CEO Jim Friedlich spoke with @poynterinstitute.bsky.social about this phenomenon in Philadelphia 🌱

In a nation of news deserts, are there news rainforests, too? If so, where? - Poynter

Even idealistic digital startups tend to head where the money is.

poynter.org

“A neighborhood focus for the deployment of reporters is an idea we ought to reckon with more seriously,” writes @dicktofel.bsky.social after attending the Local News Summit. He shared the most thought-provoking propositions for reinventing local news from the event ⬇️

Richard J. Tofel: At the Local News Summit, talk of ‘reinventing local journalism’

Many of us have the sense that local news needs not just to be reengineered as a business matter but also to be reinvented editorially.

lenfestinstitute.org

“We will be defending not only our own rights, but the rights of all Americans — to be informed and to access information they choose.” Joel Simon of @newmarkjplus.bsky.social calls for journalists to focus on playing defense against growing threats to the free press.

Joel Simon: We are playing defense

Journalists are not on offense — fighting to change the narrative. We are playing defense, fighting to protect our rights.

lenfestinstitute.org

Millennials and Gen Z are the largest demographic groups in Philly, but their voter turnout rates are dwarfed by older generations. Members of the Every Voice, Every Vote coalition are working to change that through civics-related programming and content ⬇️

Gen Z and Millennial voting turnout lags that of their elders. These ‘Every Voice, Every Vote’ partners hope to change that | Every Voice, Every Vote

“When you give them the tools to feel empowered to make a difference on those issues, they show up."By Jared Council, The Lenfe

everyvoice-everyvote.org

“The domestic threat to U.S. public media has become even more apparent as the administration chooses to shutter American media abroad,” writes our Executive Director and CEO Jim Friedlich in response to the decision to silence Voice of America. Read his full op-ed for @inquirer.com ⬇️

With Voice of America silenced, could U.S. public media outlets be next? | Opinion

The president's decision to shutter the global news organization portends ever more troubling repression of independent journalism in the United States, Jim Friedlich writes.

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“Now this is something I can get behind,” says @jayrosen.bsky.social of the notion of “NATO for News…An attack on one is an attack on all.”

Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · last yr.

Now this is something I can get behind. www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm... Newsrooms need to agree that "an attack on one is an attack on all." Yes. "What is surprising — and disappointing — is the lack of collective action and response on the part of the press itself," writes Jim Friedlich.

“Now this is something I can get behind,” says @jayrosen.bsky.social of the notion of “NATO for News…An attack on one is an attack on all.”

Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · last yr.

Now this is something I can get behind. www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm... Newsrooms need to agree that "an attack on one is an attack on all." Yes. "What is surprising — and disappointing — is the lack of collective action and response on the part of the press itself," writes Jim Friedlich.