Neel Dhanesha
@neeldhanesha.com
Staff writer @niemanlab.org, previously telling climate/science stories in text and audio at Heatmap/Vox/Audubon/Radiolab.
Loved talking to @knibbs.bsky.social and @dustingouker.bsky.social about the chaotic, fascinating, maddening work of reporting on prediction markets! www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/pred...
Prediction markets are breaking the news and becoming their own beat
"I wake up every day and I'm like, <i>this is the world. I'm still in the fever dream.</i>”
niemanlab.org
Was delighted to speak with @neeldhanesha.com from @niemanlab.org about the prediction market beat! www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/pred...
Prediction markets are breaking the news and becoming their own beat
"I wake up every day and I'm like, <i>this is the world. I'm still in the fever dream.</i>”
niemanlab.org
I wrote about the end of the U.S. Forest Service and the arrogance of trying to kill something like a forest: defector.com/the-trump-ad...
“Even more troublingly, other researchers say, the fake papers were then cited in peer-reviewed literature. Osmanovic Thunström says this suggests that some researchers are relying on AI-generated references without reading the underlying papers.”
John Rogers@johnrogers.bsky.social · 4mo agoBloody hell. Researchers invented a disease, published two fake papers to see if LLM’s would ingest them and kick them up as fact — and then it broke containment and all the major AI’s bought in. Information pollution. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
losing contact with the earth for 40 minutes sounds nice
Excited to say I'm in great company here, along with @hanaatameez.bsky.social!
Newhouse School of Public Communications@newhousesu.bsky.social · 4mo ago📰 The Newhouse School is excited to announce the finalists in the 2026 Mirror Awards competition, which honors the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit. Read more about the finalists: buff.ly/VvVPcMj
Loved reporting this story alongside @andrewdeck.bsky.social!
Nieman Lab@niemanlab.org · 5mo ago“If you’re a tech journalist, you can go in. If you’re a climate journalist, you can also go in. If you cover business or energy or if you’re a very local journalist — there’s a story for you." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/as-a...
Every day I am filled with hate because my heart overflows with my love of the computer. aftermath.site/ram-prices-h...
I’m Tired Of These Useless Jackasses Making The Computer Expensive
RAM, flash memory, and HDDs are unaffordable because of a bunch of greedy idiots that do not love the computer.
aftermath.site
Chris Person@papapishu.bsky.social · 6mo agoI understand framing the AI bubble RAM supply crisis in terms of stuff like video game consoles because nerds can conceptualize that but the framing does really undersell the sheer magnitude of how it's going to fuck up everything that even touches a computer.
Journalism coops give me — and most of the journalists I know — a lot of hope for the industry. But I've been curious: What's it like to actually work at one? I spent the last few months talking to a bunch of brilliant worker-owners to find out. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
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
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
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
theverge.com
I was one of the four people who got canned. In the interim, you can subscribe to my newsletter, Straight From The Hut. No paywall, but feel free to choose the pay to support model. I'm not going anywhere — the show goes on, and I'll be back on MSNBC Saturday night. straightfromthehut.substack.com
StraightFromThe Hut | Jake Lahut | Substack
A campaign and communications strategy newsletter, plus a home for Jake Lahut's freelance feature reporting and other notebook items (no paywalls, but pay to support). Click to read StraightFromThe Hu...
straightfromthehut.substack.com
max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 9mo agoNew: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
Hi! Today @quantamagazine.bsky.social published a special issue on climate science, featuring stories about how Earth's climate fundamentally works that I needed to read after covering climate impacts for so many years. I hope you'll check it out! <3 www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...
How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine
Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science — from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...
quantamagazine.org
This story — which asks what happened to all of those newsroom DEI jobs, committees, and promises from 2020 — is the hardest one I've ever worked on. I hope you'll spend some time with it today. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...
From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline
Diversity-related newsroom jobs haven't totally disappeared — but they also haven't stuck.
niemanlab.org
One thing that struck me about my conversation with @davejorgenson.bsky.social: I think he's having...fun? With journalism? In this economy? www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/with...
With Local News International, Dave Jorgenson becomes his own TikTok guy
The former Washington Post video star talks about launching a new company with old colleagues, the importance of media literacy, and building a Daily Show for the internet.
niemanlab.org
What it comes down to is: Should beautiful, interesting, entertaining things exist in the world, and should we spend our time making them?
There have been a ton of 20th anniversary "best of" podcast lists lately, and it has started to feel a bit like an obituary for an industry. [gift link] defector.com/the-future-o...
The Future Of Podcasting Is Here, And It Sucks | Defector
This week, Left Of Dial published its Essential Listening Poll, a compilation of the 100 best podcasts of all time, according to industry creators, writers, and scholars (Disclosure: I was invited to ...
defector.com
Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it
AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event
Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.
theatlantic.com
"workers are not allowed to wear masks on the front line, even if they want to" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/u...
Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying
nytimes.com
about two months ago, i reached out to @boringstein.bsky.social to ask if they'd be open to talking about the incredible videos they were making for Zohran Mamdani's election campaign it turned into a much bigger story than i expected
Selling Zohran | Defector
On a cool Sunday in November, a few days after Donald Trump’s re-election, Zohran Mamdani stood on a street corner in Jamaica, Queens, holding up a hastily drawn cardboard sign that read “DID YOU VOTE...
defector.com
I have studied the targeting of journalists for many years, but the scale and public display of these killings is truly shocking: “Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital“ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Anas al-Sharif, prominent Al Jazeera correspondent, among five journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza
Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital
theguardian.com
Shannon is one of the most talented reporters I know, I am SO excited for this book!
Shannon Osaka@shannonosaka.bsky.social · last yr.So so excited that my book on microplastics and the rise of plastic has been picked up by Harper 🥹🥹 Thank you to agent extraordinaire Alice Whitwham at @cheneyagency.bsky.social, amazing editor Sarah Haugen at Harper, and family & friends for believing in this project.
i wrote about the texas floods and climate anxiety and mercy defector.com/the-floodwat...
The Floodwaters Are Rising | Defector
It’s easy to forget that God’s covenant is limited. God makes a solemn promise to Noah that He will never flood the whole Earth again … however. “Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life,” ...
defector.com
A story that got less attention was the incredibly cynical primary of my amazing Councilwoman—the first Muslim woman ever elected to the NYC Council—by a billionaire, corporate-backed candidate also lobbing gross accusations of antisemitism. Anyway, the challenger got trounced. Hell yea.
Shahana Hanif@shahanafrombk.bsky.social · last yr.Thank you, Brooklyn! Getting to represent the neighborhoods that raised me is the greatest privilege of my life.
I'm in touch with a source in Cuomo's camp. They're all screaming and turning back into rats. Not looking good so far
A Muslim son of immigrants might become mayor of NYC in part because he cross endorsed and supported a Jewish candidate and Black candidate, and vice versa. It's a beautiful American story for the rest of us. A nightmare for all the right people ;) It's so New York.
Cuomo conceded New York City baby lets go Mets baby bodega cats pizza pie I love this city
