May 28, 2025

Top stories

■ Termination notices expected to go out to all remaining Voice of America employees this week (POLITICO)

■ One Washington wants to eliminate the press . The other Washington wants to save it. (Poynter) / Journalism under pressure amid fear of retribution (Axios) / How Wired editor signed up 62,000 subscribers in 2 weeks: Q&A (Business Insider)

■ ‘When Trump signed an order to defund NPR, the network faced a choice over how it would respond — but CEO Katherine Maher made one thing clear from the start: There would be no backroom negotiations .’ (Status) / NPR CEO Katherine Maher on suing Trump administration over order to cut funding (NPR)

■ C-SPAN faces a funding crisis amid cord cutting, even as DC’s drama makes its mission ever more important (Deadline)

■ Will Shari Redstone face bribery charges if she settles Trump's $20 billion ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit? (The Wrap) / CBS News’ Scott Pelley issues a warning about the Trump administration (Poynter) / ‘CBS Evening News is seeing rise in viewers over past three weeks, moving to 3.9M viewers from 3.76M last week and 3.64M previous’ (Brian Steinberg)

■ New York Post reporter suspended after accusing editor of killing story about Trump nominee (Mediaite)

■ CNN bets more of Kaitlan Collins’ White House news hustle can power ‘The Source’ (Variety)

■ Former Times reporter sues Villanueva, L.A. County , alleging 1st Amendment violation (Los Angeles Times)

■ This owner thinks newspapers are better off diminished than dead (Nieman Journalism Lab) / Hedge fund buys sixth major Bay Area newspaper , 'fear' sets in (SFGATE) / Northwest Minnesota newspaper closures ‘like a death in the family’ (Twin Cities)

■ Increase in local members and topical news coverage: Highlights from the 2025 INN Index survey (Institute for Nonprofit News) / At the nonprofit Salt Lake Tribune, a turnaround and now a big gamble (Poynter)

■ David Leavy, CNN’s chief operating officer, will return to Warner Bros. Discovery (Variety) / Scripps names Sean McGarvy senior director of digital news & content strategy (TVNewsCheck) / Business Insider names Morris its Singapore bureau chief (Talking Biz News) / Vanuzzo named Western Europe breaking news deputy team leader at Bloomberg (Talking Biz News) / The New York Times: Teddy Rosenbluth is joining Well (New York Times)

■ A journalist was killed while writing a book on the Amazon. Here's how friends completed his work (Associated Press)

CRAFT

How to combat news fatigue and build trust

“Leaning into local identity and history can move our journalism from ‘we provide facts alone’ to ‘we provide facts and serve other important community functions.’ Too often, as journalists, we focus exclusively on the news values of accuracy, trustworthiness, independence, fairness, etc. We rarely have the time to step back and consider how our news organizations contribute additional value — that is, other impact — to our community and its members. But we know local media do more. Local news can add value to our communities by helping people make informed decisions, building connections between the past and present, enriching conversations through complexity or nuance, and bridging individual differences.”

-- Samantha Ragland and Kevin Loker , excerpt from "News leaders: Embrace local identity and history to create added value" (American Press Institute)

CAREER

Self-care tip: Lean into your network for support

“If you’re in a newsroom or office where you’ve got colleagues around you, you have opportunities to vent straight away and say: ‘Oh, my goodness, this is just awful. I can’t believe this is happening.’ But if you’re working by yourself or isolated in your own home, you don’t have those people immediately around you to have that moment. One of the things that I found really effective is to have a few colleagues who I have regular drop-ins with once every couple of weeks . We might talk about nice stuff. But then we’ll also talk about things we have found challenging over the last couple of weeks.”

-- Natasha Hirst , freelance photographer, excerpt from “Vicarious trauma guide for journalists ” (Headlines Network)

COMMUNITY

National Press Club awards Antara Gangwal the 2025 Julie Schoo Scholarship for Diversity in Journalism

The National Press Club has chosen Antara Gangwal of San Jose, California, as the winner of its 2025 Julie Schoo Scholarship for Diversity in Journalism. The award totals up to $20,000 over four years from the world’s leading professional organization for journalists.

“Often, U.S. journalism is focused on divisive stories about hatred, crime, and war. But humanity needs hopeful stories too,” Gangwal said in her application essay. “ As a South Asian woman journalist, I will bring diversity to U.S. journalism by covering stories about marginalized communities reclaiming joy.”

In summer 2024, Gangwal participated in the Mosaic Journalism Program. During the previous summer, she was a student reporter at the School of the New York Times, where she reported on climate change and the environment. (Read more about Gangwal's work.)

“Antara has already shown a commitment to amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities through her journalism,” said Mike Balsamo, National Press Club president. “Her passion for multimedia storytelling shines brightly, and we’re excited to see what comes next for her as she enters college in the fall.”

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.

Get this from a friend? Subscribe, and view the archives.

Youtube

DONATE TO THE INSTITUTE

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.