Barrett Holmes Pitner

Recent article by Shota Kincha is a great description of the troubling trend of abusive private lawsuits (SLAPPs) in Georgia. These lawsuits aim to silence critical voices, crack down on journalist investigations and restrict free speech. I’m thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this article to highlight the importance of defending press freedoms, especially amidst democratic backslide and risinf Russian influence in Georgia. For a deeper look into this issue and its implications, check out the full article: #PressFreedom #HumanRights #Georgia

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Dan Levine, a veteran investigative reporter for Reuters, earns the trust of sensitive sources by making sure they really understand how the editorial process works and know what they should expect to happen if they agree to participate. "Current and former government workers, corporate employees and victims of violence often take significant legal or physical risks to reveal harm or wrongdoing," Dan writes. "To earn sources’ trust, minimize their exposure and protect their safety, I always try to be as transparent as possible. This goes beyond conversations about on-the-record versus background. It involves a discussion about how the entire editorial process works. The back and forth not only benefits the source; it helps us maintain our own independence and credibility, and serves readers." You can learn more about how Dan approaches his relationships with sensitive sources in his guest column for the Ethics & Journalism Initiative (https://lnkd.in/dCMQ2NVB).

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New analysis from my colleagues at FiveThirtyEight. How do House members actually vote compared to their official caucus affiliations, and how are these new "clusters" defined? This was a fun one to visualize. https://lnkd.in/dZGibrhD

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While not as clear-cut as roads, clean water, and air, the democratic value to society of public interest journalism is, in my book and many others, a public good, writes Daily Maverick's Styli C.. "The recent tsunami of bad news about the news has raised an interesting question. Are we seeing the effects of a market failure playing out, or are we seeing the death of an industry that failed to innovate and keep up with the times?" #journalism #publicinterest #news #publishing

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It's #WorldPressFreedomDay, a time to reflect that journalism plays a central role in sustaining democracy. This excerpt from a message by Courtney Radsch, PhD, director of Center for Journalism and Liberty, reminds me that press freedom does not exist in a void: at the end of the day, journalists provide a public service in a market economy, and the policies that govern such market have always mattered for journalists to make a living and do their jobs free from fear of retaliation - be it coming from govts or the private sector. "News organizations and journalists around the world face not only a myriad of obstacles from authoritarian and autocratic regimes that seek to silence them, but also an information environment that is heavily controlled and concentrated in a handful of digital platforms. Competition policy plays a fundamental role in structuring media markets and business models that ensure the future of a strong and independent free press where journalists can make a living and work safely and without fear of reprisal, from government or corporations." #pressfreedom #digitaljournalism #informationintegrity I invite you to read the full message here:

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As I approach my third month at The Baltimore Banner, I have been thinking a lot about defining success. A mentor offered the following thoughts: For reporters, it is much easier to define success. Editors often need help seeing that their goals should be quite different than their reporters'. They need to see each of their reporters as individuals with different strengths and weaknesses. So editors need to meet each reporter at a different place and help them improve, and hopefully, thrive. Sometimes that means focusing on reporting or writing skills, sometimes it is helping a reporter figure out how to cover a beat, or how to distinguish their work from the competition. Editors of course are key to guiding coverage, whether it's breaking news or a more conceptual beat, when the goal has to be finding the front edge of the topic (for an education reporter, that might be new trends in teaching and for the city hall reporter it might be who are the emerging power brokers.) When it comes to editing copy, editors have to avoid rewriting stories, which can completely demoralize reporters, but they also can't send along stories that are confusing or take too long to get to the point. It takes awhile for editors to figure out that sweet spot between improving copy but not just rewriting it the way they would have written it. The hardest part of editing is probably dealing with difficult reporters and there is no easy answer for that. The only part of running a newsroom that I could advise on is running the coverage and for me, that was always driven by focusing on the big news of the day. You have to make sure that editors have put enough staffers on the big stories and are looking across the news cycle, e.g. what will we have to publish first thing tomorrow, and make sure some people are trained on the bigger, deeper questions that take a few days to report. If you are clear on your top priorities each day and the newsroom aligns behind those, then the smaller stories will take care of themselves. You will be judged by how the Banner did on the big things, not the small things.

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When the American Journalism Project launched five years ago, our mandate was to create the conditions for community-led nonprofit news organizations to sustainably provide the journalism our democracy requires. Today, I’m pleased to share our 2024 Impact Report, a look at the progress we’ve made since our inception. In the five years since our launch, we’ve raised $175 million from national and local philanthropy, and built a portfolio of 44 nonprofit local news organizations —  diverse in size, scope, reach and leadership. Some highlights from the report: -In the last year alone, our portfolio of 44 grantee organizations generated $86 million in revenue — a 36% increase over their 2022 revenue. -Year over year, the organizations in our portfolio are seeing a 58% median growth. -And this growth is leading to more journalism – last year, our portfolio of grantees employed 568 editorial and newsroom staff – an 18% increase over 2022. Organizations are growing, diversifying their revenue, adding journalists, and strengthening their communities. I’m proud of the progress the portfolio has made, and remain clear-eyed about the future. This report sheds light on how far we’ve come and sets the stage for what’s ahead. I hope you'll take a moment to read it. https://lnkd.in/eipwwhxN

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1) The membership of this work group contains no one from commercial publishing, in other words, the group that creates most of what the other groups consume. 2) Contrary to the contention that the comments are "out of scope", legality is an absolutely critical requirement that is in scope by definition. Does the NISO's enabling legislation even allow it to promulgate a standard that is known to be illegal? Todd Carpenter 3) The signatories are a Murderer's Row of organizations representing every aspect of commercial book publishing including agents, authors, and publishers from most parts of the world. In short, it looks to an outsider like the problem is that this group was convened with the wrong charter and the wrong membership. As Ms. Halperin suggests, it's a pity the process was allowed to waste two years of everyone's time.

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A brilliant new column in Observer by Roy Swan that will unpack how we can strive for a better form of capitalism that can work for all of us, rooted in innovation, prosperity, and fairness. Check it out!!

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Exploring the decisive power of just 6% of voters in six key states on LBCI ‘s main #newscast. Dive into a detailed analysis of how these battleground states could sway the upcoming U.S. elections, reflecting on past outcomes and current polling trends. 🗳️🇺🇸 #ElectionAnalysis #USPolitics #BattlegroundStates

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You're probably already taking in a lot of information on how to cover this year's elections. These guides are aimed at helping you talk through that information with your news organization, and strategize or decide on how you'll navigate different scenarios long before they arise and leave you thinking, "I wish we'd talked about how we'd actually handle this." Our first two guides help you consider your coverage of misinformation and polling, and we've got more in the works! Let us know if there are other topics you'd like to see addressed.

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Public perceptions of crime don't always match reality, a problem fueled by dodgy campaign rhetoric and (drum roll, please) ... old and incomplete crime data. Unlike readily available data on inflation and unemployment trends, national crime data lag by many months. The consequences? Here's what our Crime Trends Working Group says in its new report outlining a roadmap for progress: “Even small discrepancies can have big consequences in the policy and political environment. The potential fallout can be huge — in terms of crime tactics and strategies, whether the police chief stays on the job or gets fired, even whether the mayor or prosecutor is re-elected or driven from office. At stake are billions in government spending on public safety and criminal justice, the viability of businesses and urban centers, and the extent to which Americans are safe, and feel safe, in their homes and communities.” Tom Jackman of The Washington Post wrote a thoughtful summary of the problem and our group's recommendations this week. https://lnkd.in/gj4yXqje And please see the post below before turning on the TV tonight:

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Four veteran senators are calling on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and his AI working group to develop a framework for addressing extreme risks posed by artificial intelligence, “including biological, chemical, cyber, and nuclear threats,” while offering several options for oversight of AI frontier models. “Congress should consider a permanent framework to mitigate extreme risks. This framework should also serve as the basis for international coordination to mitigate extreme risks posed by AI. This letter is an attempt to start a dialogue about the need for such a framework, which would be in addition to, not at the exclusion of, proposals focused on other risks presented by developments in AI,” according to the April 16 letter from Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Angus King (I-ME). READ MORE: #artificialintelligence

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Baltimore-area readers: SAVE THE DATE! July 6, 2024, from 6:30-8 pm, at Snug Books in Baltimore, author John Maly will read from his debut novel, JURIS EX MACHINA. Audience discussion about the implications of AI will follow. Register today for free tickets at www.snugbooks.com Here's a teaser: With a click, the bread fell into the toaster. One circuit fired the heating coils. Others monitored bread temperature and color. Yet another circuit was quite unlike all the rest- as exotic as it was sinister; when it activated, 368 people would die. In the 22nd century, the justice system is airtight in the domed city of Arcadia. Human error has been removed. Yet somehow, a well-intentioned young kleptomaniac named Rainville falls through the cracks and is wrongfully convicted of mass murder. He is exiled to Wychwood Prison, a crumbling necropolis beyond the dome where the dead outnumber the living, where the inmates are also the guards. News of the crime follows him, and he becomes a marked man. Rainville's only hope for survival is becoming the first inmate in history to escape Wychwood. Can he do it? The fate of Arcadia depends on it. Can't make the event? You can grab your copy today at https://lnkd.in/ewRP8SP4, which also benefits Snug Books, an independent, woman-owned bookstore. #whattoread #ai #artificialintelligence #scifinovel #cyberpunk

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I get a lot of push back from readers on #Israel and #Gaza, much of it thoughtful. I've tried to address it here. My column for Bloomberg Opinion

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There's a lot of excitement about "peer support," as one tool to help address colleague burnout, stress and trauma. In journalism, big news organizations are implementing formal peer networks (CBC, BBC, Reuters, ABC Australia). But it can be less formal, and easy to do in smaller teams. It's "colleagues helping colleagues." If you're looking for a little training on what to do if a colleague in distress comes to ... here's how you can "Be There" for them. https://lnkd.in/g4MCTjS2 #journalism #mentalhealth #peersupport #wellbeinginnews

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50 States and Beyond: This Week's States

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