The Return of the Teen Mag?! At least one publication is launching a teen mag for Gen Alpha

The teen mag might be on its way back! substack.com/home/post/p-...

Teens deserve their own journalism A journey into reporting on the big issues in teen magazines

I learned so much about the world from teen mags. I wonder where kids get that context today? We dive into the serious journalism of teen mags in today’s Plucky open.substack.com/pub/pluckywi...

Final days to apply for this amazing opportunity!

We're on strike! Don't visit propublica.org on April 8

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today.

Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

Watching a rocket launch on TV, like the days of yore

The worst time of the year, and other lessons I've learned about freelancing Part ??? of a series on the writing life

It’s tax time and I’m in hell! Learn from me! Do better! open.substack.com/pub/pluckywi...

The New Reality for Toronto's Crossing Guards | The Local Once a job for local retirees backed by the police, today's crossing guards are poorly paid contract workers employed by private companies. As they confront growing road rage and speeding drivers, the...

Great story at @thelocal.to -- these folks are the real front line against everyday driver rage and asshole behavior and their poorly paid or protected. We do not care though. There has been no popular blowback to standard behavoir. Only the occasional high profile drunk gets people upset.

What comes next in journalism Lessons from Maria Ressa and How to Stand Up to a Dictator

In this week's Plucky: While reading Maria Ressa's How to Stand Up to a Dictator, I saw many similarities between the tech rush of the aughts and the AI rush of today. What is a journalism instructor to do? pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/what-comes...

Do we need a Girlosphere? Just kidding! Unless...

In today's Plucky: what if girls had their own media ecosystem? Something that helps them deal with their radicalized male classmates? Could it be some kind of...girlosphere? substack.com/home/post/p-...

COLM FEORE MENTION AT THE OSCARS 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Sporty Spice Women's sports are having a moment. It's not the first time.

In this week's Plucky, we travel back to the 90s to look at the first time women's sports had a big moment pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/sporty-spice

Lost Recipes | Defector In 1991, Spin magazine took the Compton rap collective N.W.A out to eat for a profile at the Russian Tea Room in Manhattan. The white author presents gangsta rap as a cynical enterprise, no different ...

I wrote about old rap magazines, the fight for the future of hip hop’s past, and the impact the digital age has had on history, for @defector.com
defector.com/lost-recipes

The winter of our creative discontent First in a ???-part series on the writing life

After a week off, I'm back with some thoughts on periods of intentional rest for creative types! pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/the-winter...

Girl Talk A reading list for understanding how people make their own narratives

New Plucky: I talked about some of the books I've read over the last few years that reclaim "girlie media." Also a small rant on people misunderstanding Carol J. Clover and the final girl pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/girl-talk

Actually new idea: get Andy Cohen on the line, we need a Olympics curling reunion

Trend Watch: Killing Journalism Democracy dies not in darkness, but when billionaires stab it in the back

Today in Plucky — journalism has always had a fundamental flaw: capitalism substack.com/home/post/p-...

It's insane we haven't yet had a goofy comedy about the curling world. Will Ferrell, you have work to do.

I’m a fan of whatever this is

These three better race by the end of this

Smart about Smut Begun, the romance book war has

This week, in Plucky: some thoughts about critically engaging with romance books! pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/smart-abou...

A Snow Day Plucky Notes Resources for supporting Minnesotans; what happens when the helpers are hurt

In today's newsletter: some reflections on what it means to look to the helpers, when the helpers are getting killed. And some resources for supporting Minnesotans open.substack.com/pub/pluckywi...

Notes on the Attention Apocalypse Are our brains meant to view this much pain at once?

Are our brains meant to view this much pain at once? I grapple with something I've been thinking about a lot in today's Plucky pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/notes-on-t...

Six Journalism Predictions for 2026 Return of the Luddites, the end of the Meta Ban, and the journalist as influencer

New Plucky: made six media and journalism predictions pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/six-journa...

What I loved in 2025 And what I'm looking forward to in 2026

Emerged from my food coma long enough to write a bit about what made me hopeful in 2025 pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/what-i-lov...

News Team, Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we

have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless. CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.

We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight. Sharyn

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

How a Teen Mag Obsession Starts Amazing the school-supplied agenda has held up this well

A pre-Christmas gift: a tour through my tween agenda (yes, that version we all had!) pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/how-a-teen...

I’m beginning to think Susan Faludi was a mystical prophet of some kind

A Spielberg alien movie where the main characters are being chased by the feds?!

bsky.app/profile/lett...

The Deluge of Letters A documentary about Ms. magazine, and why magazines exist at all

A brand new Plucky for you to read on a very cold Sunday (if you're in Toronto.) Today, some thoughts on what unifies Ms. magazine and the teen mags (really) open.substack.com/pub/pluckywi...

Writer vs AI Smackdown If the technology is so good, why do AI companies keep hiring writers?

Some thoughts about the creative efforts AI companies are putting into selling AI as a creative tool, in this weeks newsletter. (Thinking about writing longer on this, so HMU if you have thoughts or want to chat.) pluckywithhgwatson.substack.com/p/writer-vs-...