May 29, 2025

Top stories

■ Paramount has offered $15 million to settle CBS lawsuit. Trump wants more. (Wall Street Journal) / Trump lawyers claim ‘60 Minutes’ Harris interview caused him ‘mental anguish ,’ argue that the ‘First Amendment is no shield to news distortion ’ in motion to deny Paramount bid to dismiss lawsuit (Variety)

■ Business Insider layoffs: 21% of staff cut in shift to AI, live events (Variety) / ‘Business Insider's employee union calls today's layoffs a "brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed ." ’ (Ben Mullin) / ‘NY NewsGuild responds to Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng’s memo announcing cuts...’ (Natalie Korach)

■ FCC commissioner sounds alarms about free speech 'chilling effect' under Trump (Los Angeles Times)

■ Trump hails ruling allowing case against Pulitzer Board to proceed (The Hill)

■ The New York Times’ first generative AI deal is with Amazon (The Verge)

■ Project Push creates an archive of news alerts from around the world (Nieman Journalism Lab)

■ CPB analysis shows overall growth in station revenue despite drop for radio

■ America’s top journalism schools may lose a generation of international talent (Poynter)

■ MSNBC is working to build its podcast portfolio . Next Up: A Nicolle Wallace show (Hollywood Reporter) / Jeff Adelson joins Data Journalism team (New York Times) / FOX weather signs Bayne Froney as an on-air meteorologist (FOX News)

■ Why some towns lose local news − and others don’t (The Conversation)

■ The long peak of newsletters (Columbia Journalism Review)

CRAFT

Beat reporting through an environmental lens

“When you’re doing a story that’s about economics or public health, think about the climate implications. For example, I did a story about the controversy around the sale of US Steel. That had been written about a lot from an economic perspective, from a political perspective, but very few reporters had thought about the environmental or climate impacts of it. And that is a big piece of it. I think that most stories are going to have a climate angle if you just spend a few minutes considering what that might be.”

-- Kiley Bense , reporter at Inside Climate News, excerpt from "Kiley Bense on climate journalism in a new information environment" (Columbia Journalism Review)

CAREER

Leadership Tip: Leveraging quality time with staff

“The adage ‘most meetings could be emails’ is popular because most meetings and interactions at work are information transactions. Save those for email and other text-based platforms. What can’t be an email is checking in on how someone is doing on a project they were struggling with, seeing how an employee whose parent is in the hospital is doing, or supporting someone who’s been overloaded. Make space for discussing how people are doing , not just what they do, in your real-time interactions.”

-- Zach Mercurio , researcher and adviser, excerpt from "Great leaders make people feel noticed" (Harvard Business Review)

COMMUNITY

National Press Club awards Sonja Woerner with the 2025 Richard G. Zimmerman Scholarship

The National Press Club has selected Sonja Woerner of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as the recipient of its 2025 Richard G. Zimmerman Journalism Scholarship. The $5,000 award is given to an exceptional high school senior who plans to pursue a career in journalism.

“I enjoy tackling issues of education and policy,” Woerner said in her application essay. “I want to dedicate my life to reporting the truth and to posing the important questions that people don’t always think to ask.”

As editor-in-chief of her school’s paper, The Torch, Woerner helped the publication receive several awards at the state and national levels. Woerner was also recognized as “Writer of the Year” by the Iowa High School Press Association and is a 2025 National Merit Scholarship Finalist. (Read more about her work .)

"Sonja is a promising emerging journalist who has shown fearlessness in pursuit of truth," said Mike Balsamo, National Press Club president. “We are honored to support her as she starts college in the fall and look forward to seeing her continue holding power to account.”

National Press Club scholarships are administered by the Institute, the non-profit affiliate of the Club. Support our student-focused programming with a donation today .

Resources

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, Elliot C. Williams, and Mitch Harle. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. 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.