The Latest: Covering a weekend of gun violence; WaPo’s ‘error-ridden’ AI product; Publisher Jimmy Lai convicted

Dec. 15, 2025

Top stories

■ How journalists covered a weekend of mass shootings across two continents (Poynter) / Brown University mass shooting: Providence Journal's key coverage (Providence Journal) / CNN reporter interviews own son about lockdown during Brown shooting (Daily Beast)

■ Questions of accuracy arise as Washington Post uses AI to create personalized podcasts (NPR) / ‘WaPo staff are fuming about the new AI personalized pods , noting they have errors like misattributing/inventing quotes, inserting commentary…’ (Max Tani) / Washington Post stands behind AI podcast plan despite staff outcry (The Wrap) / ‘Iterate through’: Why The Washington Post launched an error-ridden AI product (Semafor)

■ Former Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai convicted in landmark national security trial (Associated Press) / Jimmy Lai remains beacon of Hong Kong press freedom , say ex-colleagues awaiting his sentencing (Reuters) / Statement on the conviction of Jimmy Lai (National Press Club)

■ New report: UNESCO warns of serious decline in freedom of expression and safety of journalists worldwide (UNESCO) / ‘A new report documents a hostile environment for US journalists this year , with 32 arrests and 170 assaults.’ Columbia Journalism Review)

■ Trump calls Black female reporter 'very aggressive' during White House Oval press conference (TheGrio) / Inside Donald Trump's fiery feud with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl (The List)

■ Big advertisers appear wary of CBS News' Bari Weiss town hall format (Variety) / Bari Weiss defends platforming Charlie and Erika Kirk on CBS News despite racism, sexism concerns: ‘That’s not the point’ (The Wrap)

■ ‘It’s not a coincidence’: Journalists of color on being laid off amid Trump’s anti-DEI push (The Guardian)

■ Wave of layoffs hit Billboard after Penske cuts at Variety, Rolling Stone (The Wrap)

■ Arkansas Public Television drops PBS (New York Times) / Arkansas PBS to rebrand as Arkansas TV , ends PBS affiliation in 2026 (The Hill) / WETA rolls out two programs to replace ‘PBS News Weekend’ (Current)

■ The Palisadian-Post prints its last edition (New York Times)

■ Axios CEO: US is in ‘post-news’ era (Semafor) / ‘Three years after selling to Cox, incentives for Axios’ co-founders have vested, opening the door to a possible exit — a scenario Cox execs have begun informally planning for.’ (Status)

■ Brian McGrory rejoins Boston Globe as editor (Boston Globe) / Veteran Associated Press political reporter takes helm of Arkansas Advocate (Arkansas Advocate) / Bloomberg taps Surane as managing editor for finance, investing, and wealth (Talking Biz News) / Eddie McGee named Houston Chronicle's director of video and visual storytelling (Houston Chronicle) / New editor on Photo’s Digital team (New York Times) / CNBC promotes Capoot to tech reporter (Talking Biz News) / ‘Yet another Fox News personality has joined the "centrist" network NewsNation . Katie Pavlich takes over the 10 pm hour that was previously hosted by Ashleigh Banfield, who was booted to podcasting last week.’ (Justin Baragona)

■ WSJ launches new opinion offshoot ‘Free Expression’ (Axios)

■ AP introduces AP Verify to strengthen, streamline online content verification (Associated Press)

Incorporating trauma-informed practices in your reporting

“In the context of trauma-informed reporting, informed consent means informing your sources about the nature of your story and having their consent to use their name and report on their experiences. While this is an important aspect of reporting many stories, trauma-informed reporting requires journalists to err on the side of overexplaining . … Give your sources the option to review their quotes or even to change their mind about being quoted before a story is published. … Journalists are trained not to let sources pick which questions they want to answer, see the questions ahead of the interview, or the story before it’s published. But when it comes to interviewing survivors of trauma, it’s OK to break those rules. Let your sources know that they have control of the situation.”

-- Naseem Miller , senior editor for health at The Journalist’s Resource, excerpt from "Trauma-informed journalism: What it is, why it's important and tips for practicing it" (The Journalist’s Resource)

3 tips to make your journalism grant and fellowship applications stand out

By Elliot C. Williams

To help pull back the curtain on applying for journalism funding, the Institute hosted a panel discussion earlier this year with Anne Godlasky, president of the National Press Foundation; Marina Walker Guevara, executive editor at the Pulitzer Center; and Monica Williams, an independent journalist and fellow at Reynolds Journalism Institute who is developing a grant tracking tool.

Here are their top strategies to help journalists find more funding opportunities, sharpen their proposals, and stand out among their peers:

Be clear about how you will use the funds . Don't sell your project short, but avoid inflating your proposed budget with unsupported numbers. When possible, look at what similar projects have cost to help guide your estimate.

Apply even if you don’t meet 100% of the requirements . There are ways you can show that your experience is relevant to your specific pitch, even if it’s not an exact match with the listed requirements. For example, if you have a background in technical writing, you might highlight examples of your work that would be useful to the reporting work.

Be mindful of how you use AI in the application process . In some cases, AI can be useful in the preparation stage — asking a chatbot to analyze your application for weaknesses or gaps, for example. But funders are looking for originality and can recognize the dullness of AI-generated writing, so the panelists strongly recommended against using it to write the proposal. Whatever you do, don’t copy and paste!

Watch the full discussion:

Resources

This newsletter is written and edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, and Elliot C. Williams. 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.