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Stories of interest
Savannah Guthrie in NBC News interview appeals for help finding her missing mother
By DAVID BAUDER
A tearful Savannah Guthrie, in her first interview since her 84-year-old mother was apparently abducted from her Arizona home, said that “someone needs to do the right thing” and come forward with information to help the investigation.
“We are in agony,” she told NBC News colleague Hoda Kotb in a portion of the interview aired Wednesday on the “Today” show. She said she wakes up in the middle of each night thinking of what her mother went through.
NBC said Wednesday that a full interview with its “Today” show host will air on the program Thursday and Friday. It is Guthrie’s first interview since her mother was reported missing on Feb. 1. Based on security footage, authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped or otherwise taken against her will.
Both Guthrie and Kotb were crying during the brief portion of the interview aired on Wednesday. Kotb, Guthrie’s former co-host, has returned to “Today” while her former colleague has been away.
Read more here.
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Obituary - S. Griffin (Griff) Singer
Griff Singer was a printer, a reporter, editor, teacher and newspaper consultant. And even though he technically retired in 2003 after 34 years of working, he stayed quite busy in journalism up until his passing.
In his teaching career, all at The University of Texas at Austin, Singer taught courses in reporting, copyediting, newspaper layout, and design. He made the transition from hot type to computers to digital during that time and organized and team-taught the first offering of computer-assisted reporting and later sports reporting. Singer holds Bachelor of Journalism (1955) and Master of Arts in communication (1972) from UT Austin.
While an undergraduate student at UT, he was a reporter and day editor for The Daily Texan for two years. Then at 6 p.m., five nights a week, he changed from a clean shirt and pants and donned jeans, a T-shirt and printers’ apron to work as a printer in the composing room of The Daily Texan.
His first journalism job after serving out his Army Reserve commitment was news editor at the Arlington (Texas) Citizen-Journal (1956-59).
Read more here. Shared by Linda Sargent.
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US newspaper circulations 2025: Washington Post print declines 21% in a year
By Alice Brooker
PressGazette
The combined average daily print circulation at 25 of the largest audited newspapers in the US fell by 12.5% in the six months to the end of September 2025, according to new data from Alliance for Audited Media (AAM).
Figures supplied exclusively to Press Gazette show that only one title among the top 25 by combined print and digital circulations saw a rise in print circulation year on year.
However, AAM has flagged that its circulation data does not include all digital newspaper subscriptions, and the non-profit organisation rolled out new digital reporting rules in February 2026.
The largest year-on-year decline was at The Washington Post, which saw its average daily print circulation down by 21.2% to 87,576 in the six months to 30 September 2025, from 111,171 a year earlier.
During this period, the paper saw “significant subscription cancellations”, alongside the Los Angeles Times, after its owners decided not to endorse a candidate in the presidential race.
Read more here. Shared by David Egner.
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New York Times Accuses Pentagon of Defying Court Order
By Erik Wemple
The New York Times
The New York Times accused the Defense Department on Tuesday of defying a federal court ruling that had declared major parts of the department’s press rules unconstitutional.
The company said in a legal filing that the department sought to fashion an “end run” when it issued revised media rules on Monday.
The revised policy, The Times said, was “nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to flout this court’s ruling and prevent journalists and news organizations whose editorial viewpoints defendants dislike from engaging in independent, protected news gathering and reporting at the Pentagon.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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BBC names ex-Google executive Matt Brittin its new director-general as it faces a feud with Trump
By Jill Lawless
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Former Google executive Matt Brittin was named as the BBC’s new director-general on Wednesday, taking the helm at the U.K.’s national broadcaster as it faces an uncertain future and a $10 billion lawsuit from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Brittin, 57, who has a background in tech, rather than traditional broadcasting, spent almost two decades at Google, becoming the company’s president in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He is also a former consultant at management consultancy McKinsey,
Brittin, who will start his new role on May 18, succeeds Tim Davie, who resigned in November over criticism of how the broadcaster edited a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, before some of the president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Rebels in Congo used containers to hold journalists in brutal conditions, advocacy group says
By Mark Banchereau
The Associated Press
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A rebel group in eastern Congo has detained civilians, including two journalists, in metal shipping containers without light or ventilation, an advocacy group said Tuesday.
Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said the Rwanda-backed M23, which controls parts of eastern Congo, used the containers in the city of Goma as makeshift detention cells under “inhumane” and “degrading” conditions.
Using witness accounts, satellite imagery and photos collected in 2025, RSF said at least two journalists were among those detained in the containers, which were installed at the compound of the provincial legislative assembly in Goma. Witnesses’ identities have been withheld for security reasons.
As many as 80 detainees at a time were placed inside a container, without light or ventilation and allowed out only once a day. Witnesses said they received minimal food, while some reported routine beatings. According to the testimonies, conditions were extreme — suffocating heat by day and cold at night — with deaths reported. Survivors were often held for weeks before being transferred to other locations.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Hong Kong bookstore staff reportedly arrested for selling Jimmy Lai’s biography
By Kanis Leung
The Associated Press
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong bookstore owner and his staff were reportedly arrested on suspicion of selling seditious publications, including a biography of jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, sparking fresh concerns about the city’s eroding freedoms.
Separately, officials on Tuesday ordered three companies linked to Lai’s now-shuttered newspaper, Apple Daily, removed from the city’s companies registry. A government statement said the companies were dissolved and became “prohibited organizations,” warning that anyone associating with them would violate a national security law introduced in 2024.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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AI Used to Promote Non-Existent Evacuation Flights From the Middle East
By Foeke Postma
Bellingcat
The Netherlands’ largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, recently published an interview with a woman claiming to organise her own evacuation flights from Dubai, selling seats at €1,600 (US$ 1850) each. Four days later, her photo was removed from the article, though the interview remained.
Bellingcat has found that the original image not only includes artefacts commonly associated with generative AI, but that the flights referenced in the article do not appear to exist.
The Dutch minister of foreign affairs was confronted with this headline during a television interview, in which he described ongoing efforts by the Dutch government to repatriate citizens to the Netherlands.
However, several discrepancies in Harema’s photo, published in the original article, suggest it was AI-generated. No trace of a person matching Harema’s face or profile could be found, and flight-tracking data suggests no such plane took off.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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When covering a protest leads to arrest, what protections do journalists really have?
By Jason Collins
Poynter
What started as a routine reporting assignment ended with Fox 7 photojournalist Carlos Sanchez face-down on the ground, surrounded by police officers and zip-tied at the wrists — and a press freedom dispute unfolding in real time.
In April 2024, Sanchez was covering a pro-Palestine protest at the University of Texas at Austin. Footage soon appeared online showing police officers pushing him to the ground while he was holding his camera. He was detained and charged with criminal trespassing.
The arrest sparked widespread outcry and raised questions that remain relevant today about the protections journalists are supposed to have when reporting on the ground. Journalism is a constitutionally protected activity, yet what was supposed to be routine protest coverage resulted in criminal charges.
It’s not an isolated incident. Less than two years later, journalists are still being arrested while covering protests.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
The Final Word
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