Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jun 17

Fellowship opportunity for journalists — berthafoundation.org/story/bertha...

Bertha Challenge 2026

Bertha Challenge 2026 Fellowship program for activists, investigative journalists, filmmakers and lawyers - application page

berthafoundation.org

Reposted by Sue Valentine

Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Mar 18

Among the lost positives consigned to the dusty corners of the dictionary is ‘reck’, meaning ‘care’, ‘heed’, and ‘consideration’. Which means we can be reckful instead of reckless (and feckful, gormful, ruthful, ept, kempt, couth, consolate, and many more).

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WIRED @wired.com · Mar 18

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow

As the administration does its best to hide public records from the public, Wired magazine is stepping up to help stem the secrecy

freedom.press

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Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Feb 12

And especially dangerous for freelancers who account for 1 in 3 of journalists killed.
cpj.org/2025/02/dead...

Deadliest year on record for journalists; 70% killed by Israel - Committee to Protect Journalists

Journalist killings reached unprecedented toll in 2024 Freelancers account for one in three killings worldwide New York, February 12, 2025 — A record number of journalists were killed worldwide in 20...

cpj.org

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Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 31

Loved ‘Broken English’.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Jan 30

Marianne Faithfull was a towering artist, not just the muse she was painted as

The late singer made her share of bad decisions – but someone this artistically adventurous and unafraid was never going to have an ordinary life • News: Marianne Faithfull, singular icon of British pop, dies aged 78 It is difficult to think of a moment…

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Sue Valentine

Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · Jan 31

DeepSeek took off in part because, in a first, it offered a reasoning model that explains to you what it's doing. Its success shows how little AI product teams have done so far to make their products appealing to normal people: www.platformer.news/deepseek-des...

How else could chatbots be made more appealing? The popularity of r1’s chain of thought suggests that they should communicate more about their process, and in particular offer the user guidance on how to refine their queries when they don’t get the answer they’re looking for. Just telling users how a chatbot understood their question seems to build an outsized amount of trust.

I also think there’s something appealing about r1’s humility — in conveying its own lack of certainty, it sounds less like the authoritative robots we have come to expect and more like Star Wars’ C-3PO. That’s somewhat counterintuitive — I don’t know many people who think the final form of superintelligence is a bumbling droid — and yet too often we forget how alien and unapproachable these systems remain to all but the most devoted AI nerds.

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Scott Galloway @profgalloway.com · Jan 31

Ladies and gentlemen… @jessicatarlov.bsky.social, my co-host on the @ragingmoderates.bsky.social podcast. 💥💥💥

Vince D. Monroy @vincedmonroy.bsky.social · Jan 30

Tarlov: When you talk about staffing issues, sure, the control room is a problem, but you know what else is a problem? That there is no head of the FAA. Elon Musk has been trying to push him out… And they have in the first week in office gutted this key aviation safety advisory committee.

🎥: 1/2

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Columbia Journalism Review @columjournreview.bsky.social · Jan 31

The Right Takes Aim at Wikipedia: Disputes around edits are nothing new, but the rise of partisanship has added fuel to the fire. By Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen of @towcenter.bsky.social www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

The Right Takes Aim at Wikipedia

Disputes around edits are nothing new, but the rise of partisanship has added fuel to the fire.

www.cjr.org

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Wessel van Rensburg @wildebees.bsky.social · Jan 31

"On Thursday, Ai2, a nonprofit AI research institute based in Seattle, released a model that it claims outperforms DeepSeek V3, one of Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s leading systems.

Moreover, unlike GPT-4o (and even DeepSeek V3), Tulu 3 405B is open source."

techcrunch.com/2025/01/30/a...

Ai2 says its new AI model beats one of DeepSeek's best | TechCrunch

Move over, DeepSeek. Seattle-based nonprofit AI lab Ai2 has released a benchmark-topping model called Tulu3-405B.

techcrunch.com

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · Jan 31

The way news reporting has changed over the past decades has been deeply unhelpful to good governance. Specialist journalists have been slashed. Everything is covered by the ‘lobby’—which is going feral, writes @samfr.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

The press lobby is going feral—ignore it

Given the pressures of 24-hour news, lobby journalists cannot plausibly understand policy detail. Their skillset is to nose around and cause trouble

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Emily Bell @emilybell.bsky.social · Jan 30

Meta paid Donald Trump $25m … for suspending his social media accounts. The same company that has stripped all news links from its Canadian website to avoid paying journalists for reporting ….. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Exclusive | Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle 2021 Trump Lawsuit

The president had sued the social-media company after his accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

www.wsj.com

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Arena for Journalism in Europe @journalismarena.eu · Jan 31

📢 Our monthly newsletter is out!

🔬 The #ForeverLobbying Project – How lobbyists push back on the EU #PFAS ban.
📝 #IJ4EU grants – Apply now for funding & join Arena’s masterclass on 11.02.
🎟️ #Dataharvest 2025 – Sold out! Join the #EIJC25 waiting list!

📩 Subscribe: https://buff.ly/4hcwG4F

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Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 31

Public interest journalism in Europe - grants applications are open. civitates-eu.org/funding-oppo...

Call for Proposals: Strengthening independent public interest journalism in Europe - Civitates

Open call to support independent public-interest media outlets in Europe.

civitates-eu.org

Reposted by Sue Valentine

Rebecca MacKinnon @rebecca-mackinnon.bsky.social · Jan 14

www.cnn.com/2025/01/14/b...

In a minefield of glitchy AI search and social media, Wikipedia has suddenly become the most reliable place on the internet | CNN Business

Over the past two decades, the free-to-use online encyclopedia has carried on with its mission, expanding its global community of volunteer editors, known as Wikipedians, and ultimately resisting the ...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Index on Censorship @indexoncensorship.org · Jan 14

Deeply troubled by this news. Last year was the deadliest on record for journalists in Palestine, and this year is already starting no better. Safe passage must be guaranteed for Fadi al-Wahidi, and journalists in #Gaza must be protected:
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘Fadi is fighting for his life’: Israel blocks evacuation of cameraman shot in Gaza

Fadi al-Wahidi’s condition is deteriorating, say hospital staff, who do not have medication needed to treat him

www.theguardian.com

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Index on Censorship @indexoncensorship.org · Jan 14

When Evgenia Kara-Murza's husband, @vkaramurza.bsky.social, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in #Russia, she campaigned tirelessly for his release, which came in August 2024. Read our interview with Kara-Murza, winner of Index's 2024 Free Expression Award: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

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Michael Markovitz @michaelmarkovitz.bsky.social · Jan 11

'Legacy media' still shoulder huge financial & regulatory burden of meeting journalistic standards while tech oligarchs totally abandon their duty of care to the public. Platform recklessness also makes support for independent public media even more urgent www.publicmediaalliance.org/meta-fact-ch...

Why Meta fact-checking cuts highlights vital role of public media - Public Media Alliance

Cuts to Meta fact-checking in favour of community notes is deeply concerning and highlights the need to better support public media.

www.publicmediaalliance.org

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Emily Bell @emilybell.bsky.social · Jan 11

This by @bostonjoan.bsky.social is excellent www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Meta never cared about factchecking. What it wants is friction-free oligarchy

The company’s plan to end its factchecking program is about appeasing Trump. That signals the making of a mafia state

www.theguardian.com

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Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 11

Let’s hope so.

Unscrambled @strandloper.bsky.social · Jan 11

One day people will remember this

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jan 10

Biden: "In four years, the economy created 16.6 million new jobs, the most in any single presidential term. We've created jobs every single month I was in office ... the economy I'm leaving is the best in the world."

Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 10

Critical context & corrections. Thank you @rosatkins.bsky.social

Ros Atkins @rosatkins.bsky.social · Jan 10

Elon Musk has had a lot to say about the grooming gangs scandal. With colleagues from BBC Verify, I've looked at 24 hours on Musk's X timeline. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Ros Atkins on...24 hours on Elon Musk's X timeline

The BBC's Analysis editor, Ros Atkins, investigates Elon Musk's recent posts on X about grooming gangs - and looks at how one day unfolded on his timeline.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 10

😂

Reposted by Sue Valentine

Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · Jan 10

NEW: Meta just killed its diversity, equity and inclusion program. Employees aren't buying the company's argument that it's the result of a 'shifting legal landscape.' What they're saying inside the company ➡️ www.platformer.news/meta-kills-d...

Another employee noted in an internal post how reactive the company had become, dramatically changing policies and positions based on one relatively close election. "It's a bit crazy, just thinking that if the election result was different — none of this would happen? Does it mean we were doing things that we did not believe in? Are we going to have such big changes every time power shifts?"
Responded another employee: "Apparently the current direction of the wind is the way we 'lean in.'"

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Reposted by Sue Valentine

Internet Archive @archive.org · Jan 9

Internet Archive's founder, @brewster.kahle.org, spoke with @wbur.org's Megna Chakrabarti about the lawsuits against the Internet Archive, the importance of archiving the web, and the "constantly renewed mythological goal" of the Library of Alexandria.

🎧 Listen now: www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

The Internet Archive is in danger

More than 900 billion webpages are preserved on The Wayback Machine, a history of humanity online. Now, copyright lawsuits could wipe it out.

www.wbur.org

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Sue Valentine @suevalentine.bsky.social · Jan 10

No! So sorry. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Enjoy the ambassadorial escort! :)

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · Jan 10

Training materials obtained by @theintercept.com include specific examples of permitted hate speech that “demonstrate that Meta’s policy changes are political in nature and not intended to simply allow more freedom of expression,” EFF’s @jillian.bsky.social said.

Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral”

Facebook now allows attacks on immigrants and trans people, and posts like “Mexican immigrants are trash!” and “I’m a proud racist.”

theintercept.com

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