Sophie Culpepper
@speppered.bsky.social
Staff writer @niemanlab.org, sophie@niemanlab.org. Local news enthusiast
Press Forward gave $20 million to 205 local newsrooms over two years. Here’s how some of them spent it. buff.ly/ont3Reu
Press Forward gave $20 million to 205 local newsrooms over two years. Here’s how some of them spent it.
The unrestricted funding helped small outlets plug holes and try new things, but publishers ran up against the limits of what two $50,000 grants could accomplish, especially when it came to hiring.
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ChatGPT is adding the signatures of real New Yorker cartoonists to its AI-generated images. So far, I've found the signatures of more than 15 contributors. "It’s slop, and unlike the other slop that I’ve encountered, this is slop that’s pretending to be me." www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/chat...
The recent McClatchy layoff announcement makes painfully clear where most metro newspapers are heading. This week’s Second Rough Draft newsletter dicktofel.substack.com/p/mcclatchy-...
McClatchy, Cutting Newsrooms, Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
A timely reminder of where hedge fund ownership is leading
dicktofel.substack.com
"Largest theft of labor in human history." A "doom loop" in the making. An "existential threat" for publishers. Court records show what Microsoft and OpenAI actually thought about AI training buff.ly/dilrt1D
“An astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions”: Court records show what Microsoft and OpenAI actually thought about AI training
Would you call large language models training on an internet's worth of content "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions"? Or perhaps you prefer the "largest theft of labor in human…
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“Respondents showed clear distrust of AI in the news-gathering process. Discomfort with AI was widespread.” buff.ly/9DpplnF
News consumers are wary of most AI use in local news, a Chicago-based report finds
Local news providers weighing AI use in the newsroom should think twice, according to a new survey from the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern. "The Medill survey provides a warning to news…
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"even if we could rebuild every newsroom that has disappeared, we would still have a problem: a community can have professional journalism and still remain disconnected from its historical, community-centric knowledge base" www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/the-... Must-read on The Library Newsroom Project!
The Library Newsroom Project could be coming to a library near you
"Journalism can live inside the public library and allow people to take part in it together."
niemanlab.org
"More than seven years later, I still remember leaving that first public gathering and thinking: This is it. This is what I want to do." buff.ly/YSUP33W
The Library Newsroom Project could be coming to a library near you
"Journalism can live inside the public library and allow people to take part in it together."
buff.ly
an all-too-rare feat! @lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social is profitable thanks to local ads and paid memberships. www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/many...
“Many have said it couldn’t be done”: Local news site Lookout Santa Cruz is profitable thanks to ads and memberships
Buried in an opinion piece about California's Community NEWS Act is the announcement that Lookout Santa Cruz has achieved something remarkable (and rare) in local news: It's profitable. Six years aft...
niemanlab.org
"McClatchy will invest in journalism that “is differentiated, consequential and difficult to replicate; reporting rooted in our communities and strengthened by sources, investigation, verification, context and judgment." That is what all of us who got fired do. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/b...
McClatchy Makes Deep Job Cuts to Newspapers Around the Country
The owner of The Miami Herald said subscriber interest did not support its current level of investment. One employee called the layoffs a “blood bath.”
nytimes.com
New from me: McClatchy laid off 12 journalists at the Lexington Herald-Leader and a majority of its positions, as a part of its deep, nationwide layoffs.
McClatchy guts Lexington Herald-Leader newsroom, among nationwide layoffs
McClatchy laid off 12 journalists at the Lexington Herald-Leader, a majority of its positions, as a part of its deep, nationwide layoffs.
lpm.org
At three, Deep South Today threads the needle between “lean and mean” and “aggressive expansion” www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/at-t...
At three, Deep South Today threads the needle between “lean and mean” and “aggressive expansion”
The nonprofit news network will expand to Arkansas with the launch of its fourth newsroom later this year.
niemanlab.org
It was great to talk to @joshuabenton.com about ProPublica’s expansion into California. Go west: With a new operation in California, ProPublica continues its expansion outside Manhattan
Go west: With a new operation in California, ProPublica continues its expansion outside Manhattan
"I think with Trump's first election in 2016, it became painfully clear to the media broadly that you can't just look at the world primarily from the coasts."
niemanlab.org
With acquisition of Vermont newspapers, the National Trust for Local News expands to a fourth state www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/with...
With acquisition of Vermont newspapers, the National Trust for Local News expands to a fourth state
The nonprofit National Trust for Local News is acquiring the Vermont Community Newspaper Group in a deal that will close this month, the Trust announced Thursday. The deal, which will add five weekly…
niemanlab.org
“This is a community platform, not a news site — it’s very much not a news site.” www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/can-...
Can public media build its own social network? Chicago Public Media teams up with New_Public to try
"This is a community platform, not a news site — it's very much not a news site."
niemanlab.org
For the @bostonglobe.com magazine, I visited Maine to profile @hcrichardson.bsky.social, the historian and Substack star who has amassed millions of followers for her distillation of contemporary American politics. Can her rallying cry for democracy help save it? www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/11/m...
From a small town in Maine, Heather Cox Richardson has built a following of millions. She still thinks America can be saved. - The Boston Globe
Her newsletter, Letters from an American, is quick to call out MAGA. Her critics say she's less tough on Democrats.
bostonglobe.com
NEW: At least five media companies are using algorithmic pricing to decide how much news subscribers should pay. If you've been told that your news subscription price was determined by an algorithm using your personal data, please take the survey at the end: www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/this...
“This price was set by an algorithm”: News subscribers are surprised by a new line in their renewal emails
Outlets like Wired, NJ.com, and The Wall Street Journal are setting renewal prices just for you — and being forced to disclose it.
niemanlab.org
"What is the thing that only you can offer to your audience? That’s the thing to build your event around.” www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/want...
Want to build audience and revenue through live events? These five news nonprofits have some ideas to get you started
A community run? A block party? A trivia night? There are options for newsrooms of all stripes and sizes.
niemanlab.org
⚽️ Local news sites are going all in on the World Cup. From interactive city guides and podcasts to sticker book giveaways, here's what they're up to: www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/loca...
Local news went all in on the World Cup. Here’s what worked.
From sticker swaps in Boston to interactive guides in L.A., news outlets are using the tournament to test new ways of reaching audiences.
niemanlab.org
"It’s not something that Vox has ever done before. I’m not sure any newsroom has tried to discover a species like this. Which is exciting, but also makes it a little bit daunting.” www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/ther...
There are millions of undiscovered species on Earth. Vox is trying to find one.
"It’s an indication of how unexplored our world is. If you can find a new species in New York City, think how many more there must be out there."
niemanlab.org
“Our hope is that The Local: Twin Cities can serve as a model for similar future efforts elsewhere around the country.” www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/the-...
The New York Times will launch a local newsletter pilot in the Twin Cities next month
The New York Times: It wants to be your one-stop shop for cooking, games, sports...and next, perhaps, local news? On Wednesday, the Times announced it will soon launch The Local, "a new journalism…
niemanlab.org
Rebuild Local News’ Matt Pearce is trying to help journalists and lawmakers speak the same language www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/rebu...
Rebuild Local News’ Matt Pearce is trying to help journalists and lawmakers speak the same language
"In the local journalism world, we are not super-duper experts at the political process."
niemanlab.org
"The study is a reminder that the effects of media and political identity are not always visible in what people believe or what they know. Sometimes they show up in what people prefer, who they admire, what public figures they feel drawn to." www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/what...
What short news videos reveal about the Messi–Ronaldo debate — and news distribution today
"People don't choose to have their media diet and their football allegiances bundled together. The feed does that for them."
niemanlab.org
We chatted with NiemanLab about the Porter Square Review of Books!!
Book reviews are an endangered species. So this independent bookstore decided to start publishing its own.
“We’re not just going to complain about it!”
niemanlab.org
“For us at the Globe, it’s been a reminder that we are a media organization, but we’re also part of the fabric of this region." www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/the-...
The Boston Globe published a full-page ad thanking the Tartan Army for “the laughter, the bagpipes, and the memories”
You've seen the headlines, or TikToks — the traffic cones on statues, the pubs drunk dry, the throngs of men in kilts. The Tartan Army took Boston by storm in the best possible way last week during…
niemanlab.org
A lack of books coverage, including book reviews, “hurts everyone in the books ecosystem: readers, writers, publishers, and, of course, bookstores,” Porter Square Books said in its Book Review announcement. www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/book...
Book reviews are an endangered species. So this independent bookstore decided to start publishing its own.
“We’re not just going to complain about it!”
niemanlab.org
"Willingness to pay in attention is really different than willingness to pay in dollars." - @joshuabenton.com at Nieman www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/what...
What kind of stories are best at turning local news readers into subscribers? It’s hard news, not the soft stuff
An analysis of billions of visits to a metro newspaper's website finds that entertainment and sports stories might generate lots of pageviews, but it's topics like government, transportation, and heal...
niemanlab.org
The program turns community residents into local journalists. www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/with...
With Monitor Local, The Maine Monitor expands to civic news — written by local residents — for rural counties
The investigative nonprofit newsroom’s local reporting initiative relies on freelance correspondents to fill local news gaps in downeast and western Maine.
niemanlab.org
The Local News Research Hub formally launches on Thursday. The new database will make academic research on local news searchable for policymakers, funders, and working journalists. www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/here...
Here’s a new database for local news research, from Syracuse University and Rebuild Local News
The Local News Research Hub aims to make academic research more accessible to audiences including policymakers, funders, and journalists.
niemanlab.org
