The Latest: More limits on press pool; L.A. Times buyout update; Interviewing conspiracy theorists

Feb. 26, 2025

■ Trump’s lawsuits against the press are about power, not winning (Poynter) / Behind the Curtain: Trump's media-control strategy (Axios) / How Donald Trump could change free speech as we know it (Business Insider)

■ Bezos remakes Washington Post opinion page in defense of ‘personal liberties and free markets’ (POLITICO) / Bezos’ directive for Washington Post opinion pages leads to editor David Shipley’s exit (New York Times) / Top WaPo journalists blast Jeff Bezos for ‘massive encroachment’ into opinion section, threaten to resign if he interferes with news side (Mediaite) / ‘In an email to staff today, WaPo exec editor Matt Murray reassured staff that Jeff Bezos’ changes to the opinion section will not apply to reporters in the newsroom.’ (Max Tani) / The Washington Post’s strategy is to do whatever Jeff Bezos wants (New York Magazine)

■ Federal funding crackdown imperils global newsrooms (New York Times)

■ MSNBC taps WHCA President Eugene Daniels for weekend show (The Wrap)

■ ‘Update from a source on the L.A. Times buyouts: Roughly 48 people in the newsroom took buyouts , with the largest group (~16 people) coming from the reporting ranks. About eight are managers. This is a pretty significant chunk of the remaining staff.’ (Ben Mullin)

■ NPR's chief diversity officer to retire , with DEI in the political spotlight (NPR)

■ CBS News mulls veteran Tom Cibrowski for senior role (Variety)

■ The New York Times: Data Journalism team expands (New York Times) / Rachel Dry joins the Styles desk at The New York Times (New York Times) / POLITICO hires DiFeliciantonio to cover AI policy in California (Talking Biz News)

■ Journalists vote to walk out at three NJ-owned Gannett newspapers (New Jersey Globe)

■ BBC News announces new international model to focus on growth (TV News Check)

■ Status to launch podcast , unveils redesign (Talking Biz News)

■ Vulture to release Telematrix , TV version of trivia game Cinematrix (Axios)

Interview Tip: How to report on conspiracy theorists

“When you’re communicating with a conspiracy theorist, it’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, it’s difficult, because there’s no amount of research you can do that will prepare you. They’re always, at some point, going to bring up something you don’t know about or can’t go as deep on. At some point, you won’t be able to satisfy their every tangent. … The mistake I made early on is just thinking, ‘Oh, you read the wrong thing, and now I just need to send you the right thing. I just need to provide you with the right fact and you’ll be set.’ That’s not how it works. The first thing you have to do is be a little curious and be a little empathetic and try to understand how this person came to these beliefs, and what these beliefs are doing for them.”

-- Zach Mack , host of Alternate Realities, a series from NPR's Embedded, excerpt from interview with Columbia Journalism Review

The Dennis & Shirley Feldman Fellowship: Opportunity for graduate student journalists. Deadline for 2025 applications is March 16.

Considering graduate school? Check out this NPC fellowship

The National Press Club and the Institute are accepting applications for the Dennis and Shirley Feldman Fellowship . This opportunity recognizes a student or professional journalist pursuing graduate studies in journalism with a one-time stipend of $5,000 to help defray tuition costs.

Applications are due on Sunday, March 16. Applicants are not required to have published journalism work samples but should be prepared to demonstrate commitment to the field. Learn more here .

Journalists Recovery Network: A community to educate and support

Editor’s Note: The National Press Club Journalism Institute is committed to providing journalists resources and connections that support their personal and professional lives. In 2025, we are collaborating with several groups to widen those networks of support.

My name is Taylor Six , and I am an alcoholic. I am also a crime and courts journalist at the Lexington Herald-Leader. But when I began my recovery three years ago, I was surprised and disappointed to find that the journalism profession has few — if any — resources to help people like me find information, mentors, and community to help continue to do the work that I love while staying sober.

Sharing my story and struggles with addiction is what I had in mind when in 2024 I created the Journalists Recovery Network, a group designed to educate, empower, and support journalists in recovery by connecting them with a community and offering resources.

JRN aims to help journalists navigate the particular issues those of us in recovery may face as we do our work:

What if a source asks me out for a beer?
How will I navigate an alcohol-steeped conference?
Is my lived experience a bias or a benefit?
How do I fit into a newsroom in which social occasions revolve around alcohol?
And what about that persistent myth so many of us must grapple with — that our creativity and writing skills will dim or vanish without alcohol or drugs to fuel them?

These are all the questions our group aims to discuss and offer support to grapple with.

The JRN also offers support to other journalists in recovery with lived experience and expertise on navigating these matters. We are available to help and to recommend resources that we have found valuable in our own path to navigating sobriety in the industry.

Read on to learn more about JRN's work.

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.