Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Damon Kiesow

@damon.kiesow.net

4.9K followers 3.5K following 4.1K posts

Knight Chair in Journalism at Mizzou. Authored first textbook for News Product Management. Previously: Director of Product at McClatchy. Big @newsproduct.org fan.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · Nov 12

Who am I following here?

People who create, develop and protect knowledge.
Who study history and democracy.
Who take a critical eye to technology.
Who monitor public health, labor, supply chains.

1 5 66

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 12h

But Obama once wore a tan suit. Now that was a scandal.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 13h

Just opened up TikTok and I think is is all Sora-generated fiction now? That ought to end well.

1 1 1

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 14h

Yes - it definitely sends the message that "nothing out of the ordinary to see here." That is if we believe at all in media efects.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 15h

I see a lot of "Here's what you need to know about X" headlines, when "X" is somthing objectively illegal and unprecedented. That is actually journalistic malfesance.

1 1

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 15h

MIT refuses suicide pill, other schools weighing options.

Reuters @reuters.com · 17h

MIT refuses to accept White House terms for funding, other schools still mulling reut.rs/471tkNZ

MIT refuses to accept White House terms for funding, other schools still mulling

Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth on Friday said she "cannot support" a memo that the White House sent to nine elite U.S. universities last week detailing policies they should follow to get preferential consideration for federal funding.

reut.rs

4 15 110

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 16h

Adding this to the list of things that absolutely never happened.

Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 16h

Jfc

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 18h

UPDATE: In emailed statement to me / @reason.com, DHS alleges that WGN-TV producer Debbie Brockman "threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer."

1 1 9

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 21h

For instance - deadly force aganst someone breaking through a window to bypass a barricaded door and gain access to the Speaker's Lobby?

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 21h

EXCLUSIVE — DHS Acting General Counsel sent out a memo Wednesday to all Federal Protective Service staff (the sub-agency that guards federal buildings) letting officers know they could take any action necessary "in the vicinity" federal property to protect themselves.

The Handbasket reports:

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 22h

Treating professional journalists like second graders provides a key insight into the future.

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 1d

News: Bari Weiss just sent a memo to staffers at CBS News asking them to produce a memo explaining "how you spend your working hours—and ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of."

One CBS News staffer puts it like this to me: "We just got Elon Musked."

1 3 11

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 1d

He did not say this but I interpreted it: There is a lot of busy work in most offices that people write and no one reads. So is the future - this meeting could have been an email could have been an AI-written email.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 1d

Paraphrasing @lavallee.bsky.social who argues we need to experiment more aggressively with AI: No mistake from an experiment so far has been as bad, for example, as the human decision to withhold an endorsement and loose 250,000 subscriber.

2 1 4

Reposted by Damon Kiesow

Missouri School of Journalism @mujschool.bsky.social · 1d

@damon.kiesow.net, Knight Chair in Journalism Innovation, speaks to The Midwest Newsroom about the economics of print, eliminating Monday print editions, corporate takeovers and "leaning into sports coverage." #MissouriMethod #MizzouMade www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...

The Iowa-based owner of 75 hometown newspapers is in pain. That hurts communities

Staff cuts, the closure of regional printing presses and cuts to printed editions characterize Lee Enterprises as it tries to expand its digital subscriber base while keeping existing print customers ...

www.iowapublicradio.org

1 2

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 3d

Rumor has it she disappeared... on an island...

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 3d

So... You are saying you gave at the office?

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 4d

Everyone knows real editors have bumper sticker sayings more like, “No self-actualization before deadline.“

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 4d

Moonnight.

The moon lights up clouds and sky framed by pitch black trees in the suburbs.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 4d

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. This is objectivity as blinders. As irony. As surrender.

Paramount's new chairman and chief executive, David Ellison, appears to have plucked Ms. Weiss from this world to help
reclaim CBS's relevance.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 4d

If you are living in CoMo and thinking of starting a punk band, my suggested name is "Home before Midnight."

IYKYK

Damon

1 1

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 5d

When the intent is to dismantle not to uphold.

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 5d

Definitely the experience running a little substack-subsidized blog nobody outside the fever swamps has ever read is the background needed to run an enormous, byzantine, corporate news organization. Should go great. Godspeed.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 5d

Bari Weiss is now officially the top editor of CBS News.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Reposted by Damon Kiesow

Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 5d

“How is your reporting increasing empathy,” Murphy said, “and building social cohesion in your communities?” www.niemanlab.org/2025/06/beyo...

Beyond pageviews: Small news nonprofits develop their own metrics to measure impact

“If you don’t decide how you’re going to measure your success, somebody else will decide for you.”

www.niemanlab.org

7 29

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 5d

It is really a Ship of Theseus question. The answer being yes, not all at once, not all the time, but more recently than not.

Reposted by Damon Kiesow

Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 5d

Because focusing on “Is our country a fascist country?” is really a question of “How much ethnic cleansing/secret policing/enslavement/etc. can we say is acceptable?”

The answer should be “none.”

1 39 170

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 5d

How much to never have to watch another advertisement?

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 5d

Liverpool in 7 games: Winning goals at 27' and 83' and every other league win/loss in injury time.

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 8d

I ain’t reading all that.
Happy for you though.
Or, sorry that happened.

An Update About CNN Max
Hi Damon, Starting on November 17, 2025, the CNN Max
live news feed will no longer be available on
HBO Max.

1 1 7

Damon Kiesow @damon.kiesow.net · 8d

Luckily it just grows back.