Layoffs at Them reduce diverse trans reporting as anti-trans bills rise Resources to cover U.S. queer and trans news are shrinking as the number of anti-trans bills outpaces last year.

“I could make my living on this for a number of years, and that is an increasingly rare prospect for queer journalists," said Samantha Riedel, a former long-time contributing writer for Them. @transjournalists.org estimates around half of its members are freelancers.

buff.ly/I5jcAGL

Layoffs at Them reduce diverse trans reporting as anti-trans bills rise Resources to cover U.S. queer and trans news are shrinking as the number of anti-trans bills outpaces last year.

National media outlets are withdrawing their investment in LGBTQ+ news and queer reporters at a time when trans rights are being increasingly targeted, @bokchoy-baobei.bsky.social reports. objectivejournalism.org/2026/04/equa...

Ravenous is the newest publication in a growing menu of food journalism co-ops As corporate media instability shifts the landscape of culture reporting, new worker-run food publications feed cravings for long-form writing.

ICYMI: @weareravenous.com, @gourmetlives.bsky.social, and a growing wave of worker-owned publications are cooking up independent food reporting, saying long-form writing is the main dish — not a side.

objectivejournalism.org/2026/04/rave...

Ravenous is the newest publication in a growing menu of food journalism co-ops As corporate media instability shifts the landscape of culture reporting, new worker-run food publications feed cravings for long-form writing.

Hungry for better food journalism? New worker-owned outlets like @weareravenous.com are dishing it up. objectivejournalism.org/2026/04/rave...

Caring about democracy means equitably funding the Black press Looking to historical models can provide inspiration in an environment once again hostile to funding Black journalists and the Black press.

For The Objective, Daniel Johnson argues that organizations that support democracy and freedom of the press must equitably fund Black journalists, Black outlets, and the Black press if they want to act on their values.

Black journalists at Baltimore CBS station call for accountability over alleged discrimination Black journalists have been especially impacted by industry shifts, raising concerns about local journalism's future in majority-Black cities like Baltimore.

Grateful to @objectivejournos.bsky.social to sharing this piece in their newsletter. I was on my way to share it with them and saw they already shared on their newsletter!

objectivejournalism.org/2026/04/blac...

Local News Day A National Day of Action Connecting Communities with Trusted Local News

i'm grateful to have gotten my start in local news, and local reporting is something i still hold close to my heart. i'm glad the inaugural @localnewsday.bsky.social offers a chance to highlight the work local newsrooms do :)

find and support local news outlets near you at localnewsday.org 📰

this #localnewsday, i'm grateful that @objectivejournos.bsky.social can amplify the work of local newsrooms publishing strong accountability reporting that makes journalism better — we recently repubbed this story from @baltimorebeat.bsky.social in that vein: objectivejournalism.org/2026/04/blac...

ProPublica union workers launch one-day strike Union workers at the U.S.'s largest investigative newsroom are striking over AI guardrails, wage parity, and standards around layoffs.

Workers at the U.S.'s largest investigative newsroom are on the first work stoppage in the country over guardrails around generative AI today. They're also calling for greater wage parity across teams and regions and due process protections.

Native Hawaiians, new newsrooms aim to shift journalism on Hawai’i Legacy journalism on the Hawaiian Islands has long excluded Native Hawaiians. New community-stewarded media looks to change that.

Hawaiian storytelling models have been pushed out through colonization, as with the 90-year school ban of the ʻŌlelo Hawai‘i language.

objectivejournalism.org/2026/03/lega...

'All journalism advocates': Anita Varma on solidarity journalism Anita Varma on her forthcoming book, Solidarity in Journalism, the limits of the advocacy vs. journalism conversation, and more.

In this Q&A with The Objective, Anita Varma discusses SOLIDARITY IN JOURNALISM and how objectivity limits who can be considered credible as a source. #ReadUP buff.ly/U8Bp6Ct @objectivejournos.bsky.social

Remember the Plain Dealer column? I wrote a response arguing why newsrooms should be critical of AI, and listen to students when they raise concerns.

Mobtown Redux: Remembering Logan Hullinger – Scalawag Logan's work emphasized the need for decriminalization, pinpointed anti-Black racism at the heart of the War on Drugs, and interrogated policies sustaining the overdose crisis.

Another beautiful tribute from our friends at Scalawag: scalawagmagazine.org/2026/03/mobt...

Logan’s work at @baltimorebeat.bsky.social was deeply impactful and necessary. His clear-eyed focus on drug user liberation and harm reduction was exemplary and beautifully human. His death is a huge loss for movement journalism and for anyone who met him.

We owe him our continued effort.

It was clear that Logan's work was very important to him and to a wider audience. I am grateful that we got to know him a little bit at our Movement Media Alliance convening. He started working on pieces for Prism, @truthout.org , and was working with Scalawag and @objectivejournos.bsky.social

In memory of Logan Hullinger Logan Hullinger, founder of news blog Mobtown Redux and one of Baltimore Beat’s most dedicated contributors, passed away unexpectedly on March 6. He would have turned 30 on March 10, 2026.  Logan was ...

This weekend @prismreports.org and our friends at the Movement Media Alliance learned that journalist Logan Hullinger died of an overdose. Logan was very open about his struggle and would have wanted people to know what happened. baltimorebeat.com/in-memory-of...

It’s healthy for student journalists to raise concerns about AI Generative AI isn’t a real solution to the issues facing newsrooms. Student journalists are right to point that out.

"Newsrooms seeking to build trust ... should be encouraging critical reflection on generative AI rather than putting down students hesitant to welcome it with open arms — especially when data shows readers aren’t sold on the technology’s promise." -@eksbainbridge.bsky.social.

'All journalism advocates': Anita Varma on solidarity journalism Anita Varma on her forthcoming book, Solidarity in Journalism, the limits of the advocacy vs. journalism conversation, and more.

Solidarity reporting is more truthful about issues placing people’s basic dignity at stake than “objective” reporting that defers to those who don’t know the lived truth of what’s at hand, @anitavarma.bsky.social says in a Q&A about her upcoming book.

tinyurl.com/4cu64258

Fort Worth Report could become Texas’s sixth unionized newsroom The Fort Worth Reporters Guild will vote on unionization next week after management decided not to voluntarily recognize the union.

Update on a story from last week: Fort Worth Report is now Texas's sixth unionized newsroom and second in Tarrant County after eligible staff voted 11-1 to unionize as the Fort Worth Reporters Guild.

It’s healthy for student journalists to raise concerns about AI Generative AI isn’t a real solution to the issues facing newsrooms. Student journalists are right to point that out.

"Newsrooms seeking to build trust ... should be encouraging critical reflection on generative AI rather than putting down students hesitant to welcome it with open arms — especially when data shows readers aren’t sold on the technology’s promise." -@eksbainbridge.bsky.social.

“Management is constantly telling us to work harder, take on new responsibilities, and give up our rights,” @baltsunguild.bsky.social told The Objective, “so to see our hard work suddenly replaced by incoherent slop one day is just extra demeaning.”

Baltimore Sun turns to generative AI for political analyses The Baltimore Sun ”once again disparaged … human reporters and their work", the newspaper’s union said.

ICYMI — @madisyn-writes.bsky.social on the latest front in the @baltsunguild.bsky.social labor battle:

Baltimore Sun turns to generative AI for political analyses The Baltimore Sun ”once again disparaged … human reporters and their work", the newspaper’s union said.

The Baltimore Sun’s AI usage is an extension of a power struggle that’s been brewing inside the nearly 200-year-old paper’s newsroom since it was acquired by JTF Publications back in 2024.

@madisyn-writes.bsky.social reports: objectivejournalism.org/2026/02/when...

Reckoning with the Federal Communications Commission’s history of structural racism Since the agency’s inception, FCC policies have undermined the 14th Amendment rights of Black people and Black communities.

Since the agency's inception, FCC policies have undermined Black communities.

@josephtorr.bsky.social explains how the FCC plays a critical factor for those fighting for racial justice and against Trump's authoritarianism regime via @objectivejournos.bsky.social:

Journalist's Resource downsizes After “several funders did not renew their grants," the Harvard-based hub helping make academia accessible to reporters cut two positions.

Last year, The Journalist's Resource published 80 tip sheets across topics from immigration and higher education to sports betting and preserving federal data.

Washington Post lays off race and ethnicity reporters The Washington Post says it will concentrate on “areas that demonstrate authority” — with a national reporting desk that is now overwhelmingly white.

"I think one worries about the pipeline. It’s not just Black journalists, now young journalists, diverse journalists don’t see a place for themselves at these papers.” —@karenattiah.bsky.social last October

objectivejournalism.org/2026/02/wash...

How disaster reporting hit home for two Appalachian journalists after Helene We can make vital, but potentially traumatizing disaster reporting better by treating disaster survivors — and ourselves — with more humanity.

Two @blueridgepublic.bsky.social reporters reflect on how their Hurricane Helene experience shaped their standards and practice for disaster reporting.

Washington Post lays off race and ethnicity reporters The Washington Post says it will concentrate on “areas that demonstrate authority” — with a national reporting desk that is now overwhelmingly white.

When the race and ethnicity reporting positions were created in 2020, then-CEO and publisher Fred Ryan said the Washington Post intended "to use our powerful platform to address issues of race in this historic moment and over the long-term.”

(Reposting due to issue with tags!)

National, local news ignores trans people amid 2025's anti-trans attacks Newsrooms' failure to substantively cover anti-trans legislation have compounded over the first year of Trump's second term in office.

@erininthemorning.com: “Sometimes these [mainstream] outlets have this sort of institutional skepticism ... but whenever it applies to transgender people ... it’s almost like they don’t believe that something is happening to us until it actually happens.”

objectivejournalism.org/2026/02/nati...