The Latest: Breaking the ‘Cornell 7’ story; Disney lays off hundreds; NPR’s video-first future

Sept. 29, 2026

■ Trump's hand-picked, taxpayer-funded ads about to ramp up (Axios) / Homeland Security money financed pro-Trump television ads (Wall Street Journal)

■ News publishers accuse Trump admin of bias toward AI companies in copyright suit (POLITICO) / US appeals court upholds Thomson Reuters' landmark win in AI training lawsuit (Reuters) / Condé Nast, Hearst among 300 media execs to push federal ‘bad bots’ bill on AI scraping (Digiday)

■ Evan Gershkovich spent 491 days imprisoned in Russia . Now he’s telling his story. (Poynter) / The Russian prison that Evan Gershkovich carried home (New York Times) / Reporting from Inside: The new book from Evan Gershkovich is not just a prison memoir (Columbia Journalism Review) / 1-on-1 with Evan Gershkovich : ABC News exclusive (Good Morning America)

■ Disney laying off around 300 employees in latest cuts under new CEO Josh D'Amaro (CNBC) / ABC News weighs major shakeup at ‘Good Morning America’ after humiliating ratings loss to ‘Today’: Sources (New York Post)

■ Kansas City Star layoffs left the region with even less government accountability. It may get worse (KCUR)

■ Lee Enterprises acquires Great Falls Tribune from USA Today Co. (Montana Free Press) / Az Daily Star now entirely owned by newspaper giant USA Today (Tucson Sentinel) / Inside Craig Fuller’s overhaul of the Chattanooga Times Free Press (Columbia Journalism Review) / After 13 years, a revamped New Haven newspaper returns to print (Yale Daily News)

■ NPR, the quintessential audio news brand, adapts to a video-first future (Nieman Journalism Lab)

■ Veteran TV reporter who walked away from NBC News is making a comeback (New York Post) / Scripps taps Sean McGarvy to lead news strategy (Scripps) / MinnPost names Steve Yaeger executive director and publisher (MinnPost) / Former Washington Post reporter Ellison to write for POLITICO Magazine (Talking Biz News) / A new hire joins the London Breaking News Hub (New York Times) / Tynisha Jackson joins Spectrum News 1 Dallas (Mike McGuff) / Tech columnist Roose joining The Atlantic (Talking Biz News)

■ How student journalists broke the ‘Cornell Seven’ case (The Cut)

Public Health Journalism: Data and sourcing in public health reporting. (Oct. 20, 11 a.m. ET). Featuring public health experts, this session will surface trusted pathways to data at the local, regional, and state levels while offering practical guidance on how to validate and use it responsibly.

👀 Coming Soon: Data and sourcing in public health reporting

As federal data becomes harder to access — whether through resource constraints, shifting priorities, or outright disappearance — the challenge for journalists isn’t just analysis, it’s access.

Join the Institute for practical advice for reporters to navigate a rapidly changing data landscape, where the reliability, availability, and transparency of public health information can no longer be taken for granted.

🗓️ Tuesday, Oct. 20 | ⏱️ 11 a.m. ET | 📍Virtual via Zoom | 🎟️ Free

Featuring public health experts, this session will surface trusted pathways to data at the local, regional, and state levels while offering practical guidance on how to validate and use it responsibly.

We’ll explore how to identify credible data sources beyond federal agencies, verify what you find, and responsibly incorporate emerging tools — including AI-assisted analysis — without compromising rigor. The focus is practical: how to keep your reporting grounded in evidence, even when the evidence is harder to find.

Participants will learn:

How to identify credible public health data sources beyond federal agencies, with guidance from field experts
Tips to vet datasets, spot gaps or bias, and fact-check findings with confidence
How public health organizations are collaborating to keep data sources updated and accessible in spite of challenges

This program is part of the NPCJI’s monthly webinar series produced as part of the Public Health Reporting Fellowship. In partnership with the Common Health Coalition, the fellowship offers training and financial support for mid-career journalists to complete reporting projects focused on the intersection of public health policy and health care delivery.

Leadership Tip: Helping your team manage the news cycle

“In the collective pursuit of sustainably operating successful newsrooms, we are losing the most important element to the business — the journalists. We, as news leaders, are also losing ourselves. Managing the news cycle and our teams through years of attacks on press freedom is no easy task. It takes time, consistency and critical mass to foster a newsroom where mental health support is built into the culture . Both leadership and team members must collectively seek change, one consistent action and behavior at a time. While burnout, trauma and other mental health challenges can be exacerbated by the myriad stresses of modern journalism, most of us lack the power to completely change the organizations we work for.”

-- Lilly Chapa , editorial manager at API, excerpt from "Mental well-being in the newsroom" (American Press Institute)

Resources

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The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes First Amendment values by equipping journalists in Washington, D.C., and nationwide with the skills, knowledge, standards, resources and networks to empower and inform the public. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest. The Institute's tax ID number is 52-1750908.