Laura Hazard Owen
@laurahazardowen.bsky.social
Editor of @niemanlab.org / a fun mom in Cambridge, MA https://illberightback.substack.com/ Ebikes | Mysteries | Baking | Parent gossip | Public schools
We’re pleased to announce that veteran journalist Henry Chu has been named curator of Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. A longtime foreign correspondent and editor who has reported from more than 30 countries, Chu will be Nieman’s ninth curator. hvd.gs/431352
Henry Chu named curator of Nieman Foundation for Journalism — Harvard Gazette
Prize-winning veteran foreign correspondent, editor aims to focus on challenges facing industry, including AI, press freedom, polarization.
hvd.gs
New by me —> Now we're getting AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news! How a fake news site splits its energy between (a) the imagined closure of real US newspapers and (b) Chinese-friendly takes on Taiwan www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/now-...
Now we’re getting AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news
Did 47 Alabama newspapers die on a single day and no one noticed? (Hint: No, they didn't.)
niemanlab.org
NEW: More than 340 U.S. local news outlets are restricting Internet Archive access. @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I mapped out the full list, showing just how dire this trend is for the future of local news archives. www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/more...
More than 340 local news outlets are limiting the Internet Archive’s access to their journalism
McClatchy, Advance Local, Tribune Publishing and other major newspaper chains are restricting the nonprofit's archiving bots.
niemanlab.org
"'What kinds of editorial businesses can only be built around a human being' feels like it is going to become a more and more important question." I spoke with @caseynewton.bsky.social about how he's revamping his newsletter to compete with AI:
More scoops, less aggregation and analysis: How Casey Newton is revamping his newsletter to compete with AI
"'What kinds of editorial businesses can only be built around a human being?' feels like it is going to become a more and more important question."
niemanlab.org
Scoop: Mediaite has suspended its founding editor Colby Hall after a series of instances we raised about significant errors and outright fabrications in his work. Full story in @status.news tonight.
Do links hurt publishers on Twitter? Our new analysis says yes. (+ some data coming for Bluesky!)
so excited that 2 @niemanlab.org stories are Mirror Award finalists: @hanaatameez.bsky.social's "From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline, and @neeldhanesha.com's "How tribal radio stations are preparing for a future without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting"
Mirror Award Finalists
The Newhouse School has recognized the best in media industry reporting since 2007.
newhouse.syracuse.edu
update www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...
Laura Hazard Owen@laurahazardowen.bsky.social · 6mo agoI was stunned by Elizabeth Bruenig's @theatlantic.com essay, "This Is How a Child Dies of Measles." Then I was struck by the disclaimer at the bottom: "This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews with physicians, including those who have cared directly for patients with measles."
I was stunned by Elizabeth Bruenig's @theatlantic.com essay, "This Is How a Child Dies of Measles." Then I was struck by the disclaimer at the bottom: "This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews with physicians, including those who have cared directly for patients with measles."
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
theatlantic.com
"Built in-house and known internally as the 'Manosphere Report,' the tool uses large language models to transcribe and summarize new episodes of dozens of podcasts." www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-... by @andrewdeck.bsky.social
How The New York Times uses a custom AI tool to track the “manosphere”
The daily podcast round-up is just one way the Times is adopting in-house AI transcription and summarization tools.
niemanlab.org
"I don’t pay to go to church, to get a spiritual message, you know? And if you’re true, and your mission is to relay facts that are fundamentally important for people’s well-being, do I need to pay you for that?"
Most Americans don’t pay for news and don’t think they need to
For a new report released Wednesday, the Pew Research Center surveyed 3,560 U.S. adults in December 2025 about their relationship to the news and how they perceive its value in everyday life. Pew aThe...
niemanlab.org
Medill posits that folks living in news deserts are happy enough because "residents get so used to feeling thirsty that they no longer realize there is a different way to live" www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/many...
You too may become a "postal guru" after reading this story www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/terr...
“Terribly frustrating”: After USPS changes, more newspapers aren’t reaching subscribers on time
Newspaper delays are just one consequence of cost cuts and changes to a fraying 250-year-old system.
niemanlab.org
🗞️ Nieman Lab republished the piece Scott Klein and I put together analyzing the decline of open-source news. If you haven't checked it out yet, here's another chance. https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/journalism-lost-its-culture-of-sharing-heres-how-we-rebuild-it/
Journalism lost its culture of sharing. Here’s how we rebuild it
The data are clear: The open-source culture that defined an earlier era of online journalism has collapsed.
niemanlab.org
you guys have been posting a lot. i harvested it into nieman lab content www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/30-t...
30+ things The Washington Post did wrong and 19+ things they could do to fix it
"@mackenziescott you have the opportunity to do an extremely funny (and genuinely heroic) thing right now."
niemanlab.org
doing a gigantic thread of ppl's advice for the washington post and/or diagnoses of what went wrong so if you've seen good posts lmk
Jeff Bezos used to say interesting things about the Post and showed genuine curiosity in newspaper owning! in 2013, he talked about the importance of bundles and daily habits & so on that language changed a lot over the last few years. by 2024 it's "small inventions" and "stay tuned"
“Something I will be most proud of when I’m 90”: How Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post, and what’s changed
Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post with real curiosity, and the things he said were interesting and specific. Over time, that changed.
niemanlab.org
eliminating the books department when you have the whole amazon/goodreads thing does not make sense, to me!
"You have this vision of your perfect job: Finally, you’re out of the thumb of the traffic-obsessed boss, and you can do your big investigations. But the reality is that now you have all these other jobs that [other] people used to do, and now you have to do them too." by @neeldhanesha.com
Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one?
"If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."
niemanlab.org
NEW: News publishers are limiting Internet Archive access to prevent AI crawlers from using the digital library as a backdoor to their content. @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I confirmed The Guardian and The New York Times have put in place new restrictions. www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...
News publishers limit Internet Archive access due to AI scraping concerns
Outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times are scrutinizing digital archives as potential backdoors for AI crawlers.
niemanlab.org
this Q&A by @neeldhanesha.com about what federal agents are using in MN, is alarming, but also really interesting. The pepper spray in use today is hotter & clingier than it used to be. "Less than lethal" rounds are larger & faster, and standard eye protection doesn't protect against them.
What a safety expert thinks journalists should know about “less than lethal” rounds and chemical irritants used by ICE
"The consideration that we make with all of our recommendations is, 'What is the safest thing you can use while still getting your assignment done?’"
niemanlab.org
"Back in the day, you’d have [riot police using] beanbag guns, or Nerf or sponge rounds that were moving at 150 to 200 feet per second. The newer 'less than lethal' rounds move 450 to 500 feet per second." www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/what...
What a safety expert thinks journalists should know about “less than lethal” rounds and chemical irritants used by ICE
"The consideration that we make with all of our recommendations is, 'What is the safest thing you can use while still getting your assignment done?’"
niemanlab.org
two great stories from @niemanlab.org today. One, on a storyshare run by a tiny NH news co-op " Brannon praised Bassett for listening so attentively to local newsrooms — including some of the smallest newsrooms and newspapers with clunky tech in her cohort" by @sarahscire.com
A scrappy story-sharing tool with local newsroom DNA gains traction
Plucky Wire was incubated in an unlikely place for a journalism technology: the tiny Granite State News Collaborative. Now, it's being used by hundreds of outlets countrywide.
niemanlab.org
the work @bellingcat.com is doing in Minneapolis is essential. I spoke with @eoghanmacguire.bsky.social about the site's U.S. strategy www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/in-m...
In Minneapolis and other U.S. cities, Bellingcat supplements local news by “zooming in with a forensic lens”
Partnerships with local news outlets help "bring our stories to the audiences who need to see them most."
niemanlab.org
he says other journalism funders should ask themselves 2 questions: 1. Do the organizations have real plans to grow their audiences outside of their most faithful followers? 2. Do they understand how to defend themselves and their work from bad actors? www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/crai...
Craig Newmark explains why he’s pulling back on funding journalism
One question he says other funders should ask: "Do the organizations have real plans to grow their audiences outside of their most faithful followers?"
niemanlab.org
"In the aftermath of Good’s killing by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, it’s clear some news organizations were better equipped than others to analyze the visual evidence provided from bystander videos," writes @laurahazardowen.bsky.social for @niemanlab.org.
When just showing the video isn’t enough: Minneapolis shooting puts news organizations to the test
When everyone has seen the same videos, what service do news sites provide?
niemanlab.org
ok these gifts will not save journalism. BUT they will caffeinate, entertain, feed, and snuggle journalists www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
The 2025 gift guide for journalists
Coffee (faster!), #tradwife murder mysteries, heated mattress pads, Prohibition-era video games, and much more.
niemanlab.org
so many news sites are making you log in with an email + a 6-digit code sent to your email and this is not less annoying?
