May 21, 2025

■ Senators question Shari Redstone over efforts to reach CBS settlement with Trump (Wall Street Journal) 

■ EU to give Radio Free Europe 5.5 million euros after Trump funding freeze (Reuters) 

■ ‘Kristi Noem is hooking up her employees to polygraph machines to try and find out if they're leaking to the press, per the WSJ’ (Sam Stein) / Inside Kristi Noem’s polygraph operation (Wall Street Journal) 

■ Donald Trump says Comcast ‘ought to be investigated’ after Peter Alexander asks POTUS question about Qatar’s gifting of a $400 million jet (Deadline) / Trump snaps at reporter in viral clip: ‘Get a real job’ (Daily Beast) 

■ ‘In Feb, federal agencies "lost" many FOIA requests but you probably had no idea. It turns out that the FOIAs disappeared due to an "insider threat attack" by 2 employees at a software company who were previously convicted of hacking into the State Dept’ (Jason Leopold)

■ Journalists attest to experiences of sexual misconduct with Wesley Lowery (Columbia Journalism Review)

■ Sioux Falls City Councilors to decide city’s official newspaper in June (Dakota News Now) 

■ Newspaper apologizes for AI-generated summer reading list with nonexistent books (The Hill) / Journalists at Chicago newspaper ‘deeply disturbed’ that ‘disaster’ AI slop was printed alongside their real work (Futurism) 

■ Will writing survive AI? The media startup Every is betting on it. (New York Times) / Google is bringing ads to AI Mode (TechCrunch) / OpenAI unites with Jony Ive in $6.5 billion deal to create AI devices (New York Times) 

■ Major Garrett’s ‘The Takeout’ to debut on streaming channel CBS News 24/7 (Deadline)

■ NBC bringing back Gold Zone for 2026 Winter Olympics, Scott Hanson to return as host (Hollywood Reporter) 

■ Commissioners select interim Arkansas PBS director (Current) / The New York Times announces updates on video team in London (New York Times) / MinnPost hires visual journalist Ellen Schmidt in partnership with CatchLight and Report for America (MinnPost) / Houston Chronicle hires Haajrah Gilani as religion reporter (Houston Chronicle) / Bloomberg names Capel its European capital markets editor (Talking Biz News)

■ How TheSkimm, once deemed ‘the Ivanka Trump of newsletters,’ grew into a must-read for political leaders on the left—and right (Vanity Fair) 

■ Local journalism thrives on ambition and optimism (Columbia Journalism Review) / The second location of Lookout Local launches in Eugene, Oregon (Nieman Journalism Lab)

Covering rural & urban health disparities: Free webinar, May 27

Research shows large and growing disparities between rural and urban communities in their access to quality and consistent health care — especially in treatment for cancer maternal health. Covering these inequities, as well as solutions to them, comes with challenges.

Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute at noon ET on Tuesday, May 27, for an instructional session focused on solutions-journalism approaches to covering rural health issues.

This program is part of the Institute’s inaugural Public Health Reporting Fellowship, funded by the Common Health Coalition. It’s being opened to the public at no cost.

Resources

• 5 free open source digital tools to combat disinformation (Global Investigative Journalism Network) 
• Trust Tip: Ask sources what they are afraid you might get wrong (Trusting News) 
• Reporting on Reports: How journalists harness hundred-page documents (The Open Notebook)

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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