Joshua Benton
@joshuabenton.com
21st-century media and the 19th-c American South. Founded and ran @niemanlab.org at @harvard.edu for 12 yrs; now the senior writer there. Cajun, dad of two, husband of one. Journalist with a history problem. Also: @theatlantic.com, @washingtonpost.com, etc
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Traffic data for the United States’ largest local newspapers shows big gains for Gannett, the impact of national news on local sites, and one way the Rust Belt still beats out the Sun Belt. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/rust...
Rust Belt cities may have shrinking populations, but their newspapers have a big traffic edge over Sun Belt peers
Plus some excellent numbers for Gannett. Here’s our monthly ranking of the top 25 local newspaper websites in the United States.
www.niemanlab.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Traffic data for the United States’ largest local newspapers shows big gains for Gannett, the impact of national news on local sites, and one way the Rust Belt still beats out the Sun Belt. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/rust...
The strangest thing to me about this piece — on detecting cheating-via-AI — is its central conceit that writing about a 1800 slave rebellion "from a Marxist perspective" is some wild, nutty idea that could only originate in ChatGPT
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
November 25, 2025 at 9:20 PM
The strangest thing to me about this piece — on detecting cheating-via-AI — is its central conceit that writing about a 1800 slave rebellion "from a Marxist perspective" is some wild, nutty idea that could only originate in ChatGPT
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
"Cameo, the service that gives purpose to has-beens..."
Good line, @trixbsky.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/news/827408/...
Good line, @trixbsky.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/news/827408/...
OpenAI can’t say “Cameo” for one month.
Cameo, the service that gives purpose to has-beens, has secured a temporary restraining order that prohibits Altman and Co from using “Cameo” to name a Sora feature that lets people insert themselves ...
www.theverge.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
"Cameo, the service that gives purpose to has-beens..."
Good line, @trixbsky.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/news/827408/...
Good line, @trixbsky.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/news/827408/...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I talk a lot abt the category error in defining opposition to fascism as Democratic. This guy--a guy on a scooter standing up for immigrants--is an example of why.
With bonus gratuitous potty mouth.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
With bonus gratuitous potty mouth.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I talk a lot abt the category error in defining opposition to fascism as Democratic. This guy--a guy on a scooter standing up for immigrants--is an example of why.
With bonus gratuitous potty mouth.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
With bonus gratuitous potty mouth.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
"ha ha bitches, I got a new scooter" is a Top 20 line of the 21st century
I love him. “The first time I caught up to [ICE], I could tell that they already knew who I was. They had seen me before, so they thought they were just going to speed away. I was like, ‘Ha ha, bitches, I got a new scooter!’”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
"ha ha bitches, I got a new scooter" is a Top 20 line of the 21st century
Reposted by Joshua Benton
“I want their morale as low as possible, because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter, patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe, and makes federal agents uncomfortable.
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter, patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe, and makes federal agents uncomfortable.
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:00 AM
“I want their morale as low as possible, because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter, patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe, and makes federal agents uncomfortable.
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter, patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe, and makes federal agents uncomfortable.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Status update: fiber cut between data centers - trucks are rolling. Services are slow but functional, except for the Wayback Machine, which is still offline.
The Wayback Machine, openlibrary.org, and some other archive.org functions are offline because some network gear has failed.
We apologize and are working on it. More as it happens.
We apologize and are working on it. More as it happens.
November 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Status update: fiber cut between data centers - trucks are rolling. Services are slow but functional, except for the Wayback Machine, which is still offline.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I recently learned about Manhattan geometry (also called taxicab geometry) and I can’t stop thinking about it, in particular the idea that pi is exactly four en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab...
Taxicab geometry - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I recently learned about Manhattan geometry (also called taxicab geometry) and I can’t stop thinking about it, in particular the idea that pi is exactly four en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Not a consolidated autocracy
The move comes days after the Times Union revealed abrupt cancellations in at least seven counties, sparking bipartisan criticism and demands for answers.
USCIS reverses course, reinstates halted naturalization ceremonies across New York
The move comes days after the Times Union revealed abrupt cancellations in at least seven counties, sparking bipartisan criticism and demands for answers.
bit.ly
November 21, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Not a consolidated autocracy
Reposted by Joshua Benton
A great reminder of the dangers of teaching a sanitized history www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Spain has too rosy a view of Franco’s regime. Let’s remind ourselves of its horrors | Giles Tremlett
Little is taught about the murderous, incompetent dictatorship – and now almost one in five young people say Franco was good for the country, says historian Giles Tremlett
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 AM
A great reminder of the dangers of teaching a sanitized history www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
If anyone takes this much care to help you with your writing, you are truly blessed.
Ok, however much you've thought about this Nuzzi business, I promise I've thought about it more.
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/note...
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/note...
Notes on Your American Canto Draft
I read it. Everyone deserves a good editor, even people who don’t get one. Olivia, Thank you so much for this. I’m impressed with the scope of your ambition...
newsletter.anamariecox.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM
If anyone takes this much care to help you with your writing, you are truly blessed.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
!!! Three more organisations have joined the global #OurFutureMemory movement!
* @iua-official.bsky.social Librarians’ Group (IUALG)
* Boston Library Consortium
* @libraryfutures.bsky.social
🔗 Full announcement: www.internetarchive.eu/2025/11/21/t...
🔗 Promote the campaign: ourfuturememory.org
* @iua-official.bsky.social Librarians’ Group (IUALG)
* Boston Library Consortium
* @libraryfutures.bsky.social
🔗 Full announcement: www.internetarchive.eu/2025/11/21/t...
🔗 Promote the campaign: ourfuturememory.org
November 21, 2025 at 10:05 AM
!!! Three more organisations have joined the global #OurFutureMemory movement!
* @iua-official.bsky.social Librarians’ Group (IUALG)
* Boston Library Consortium
* @libraryfutures.bsky.social
🔗 Full announcement: www.internetarchive.eu/2025/11/21/t...
🔗 Promote the campaign: ourfuturememory.org
* @iua-official.bsky.social Librarians’ Group (IUALG)
* Boston Library Consortium
* @libraryfutures.bsky.social
🔗 Full announcement: www.internetarchive.eu/2025/11/21/t...
🔗 Promote the campaign: ourfuturememory.org
Reposted by Joshua Benton
This guy spent years chasing me through the Guardian complaints system. I'd reported that his news agency had spread a wildly viral but denied claim that a Dutch teenager was legally euthanised at a clinic. He was so unhappy after his complaint was rejected he launched his own media regulator.
AI has helped break news ecosystem, but could also fix it – says agency boss. Michael Leidig's NewsX is a bid to make on the ground reporting pay again. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/w...
AI has helped break news ecosystem, but could also fix it - says agency boss
Michael Leidig's NewsX is a bid to make on the ground reporting pay again.
pressgazette.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 10:40 AM
This guy spent years chasing me through the Guardian complaints system. I'd reported that his news agency had spread a wildly viral but denied claim that a Dutch teenager was legally euthanised at a clinic. He was so unhappy after his complaint was rejected he launched his own media regulator.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
“‘He’s an extremely powerful man w/an enormous network of people who have learned from him, been mentored by him. He’s powerful in DC, powerful at Harvard. That counts for a lot, & that explains a lot,’ said Susan Dynarski, a well-known Harvard economist affiliated w/its Grad School of Education.“
November 21, 2025 at 3:50 AM
“‘He’s an extremely powerful man w/an enormous network of people who have learned from him, been mentored by him. He’s powerful in DC, powerful at Harvard. That counts for a lot, & that explains a lot,’ said Susan Dynarski, a well-known Harvard economist affiliated w/its Grad School of Education.“
Reposted by Joshua Benton
there is one word for what is needed here:
JAIL. Put Bovino in jail!
Hold him in contempt.
Hold him in jail while a jury trial is convened. Let the president try to pardon him.
Trump lackeys lying to courts without consequences are a big component of our crisis of elite accountability!
JAIL. Put Bovino in jail!
Hold him in contempt.
Hold him in jail while a jury trial is convened. Let the president try to pardon him.
Trump lackeys lying to courts without consequences are a big component of our crisis of elite accountability!
Judge Ellis derides Greg Bovino as a serial fabulist who brazenly lied on the stand and seemingly considered it funny to perjure himself. cst.brightspotcdn.com/49/34/daecfb...
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 AM
there is one word for what is needed here:
JAIL. Put Bovino in jail!
Hold him in contempt.
Hold him in jail while a jury trial is convened. Let the president try to pardon him.
Trump lackeys lying to courts without consequences are a big component of our crisis of elite accountability!
JAIL. Put Bovino in jail!
Hold him in contempt.
Hold him in jail while a jury trial is convened. Let the president try to pardon him.
Trump lackeys lying to courts without consequences are a big component of our crisis of elite accountability!
huh, what a weird coincidence
ICE’s Detention Center outside Chicago was sued on October 30 for allegedly abusing detainees. One day later, a "system crash" lost all video footage that could have shown how detainees were being treated. trib.al/QwT3aqI
November 21, 2025 at 12:38 PM
huh, what a weird coincidence
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Tbh I'm surprised there are still scientists who didn't give up on online surveys 10+ years ago. Kids in my high school were using survey bots to make money, and the bot detectors were always a step behind!
🧪 A new AI agent successfully bypasses 99.8% of survey bot detectors. By simulating human keystrokes and typos, the tool demonstrates how easily synthetic respondents can poison scientific data and manipulate polling results.
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely On
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
www.404media.co
November 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Tbh I'm surprised there are still scientists who didn't give up on online surveys 10+ years ago. Kids in my high school were using survey bots to make money, and the bot detectors were always a step behind!
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Great week for new frontiers in prosecutorial misconduct / incompetence
A senior ICE official just admitted in an evidentiary hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case that someone else drafted his declaration in the case and he didn’t know what certain words meant.
November 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Great week for new frontiers in prosecutorial misconduct / incompetence
Reposted by Joshua Benton
An important reminder that when you see the term "anti-woke" it is often a euphemism for "contains material from Stormfront"
Cornell researchers: xAI's Grokipedia cites neo-Nazi website Stormfront 42 times, Infowars 34 times, and white nationalist website VDare 107 times (David Ingram/NBC News)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
November 20, 2025 at 5:22 PM
An important reminder that when you see the term "anti-woke" it is often a euphemism for "contains material from Stormfront"
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Somehow I spoke to more anthropologists for my silly little podcast than Yuval Harari did for his bestselling book
Really enjoyed chatting with @michaelhobbes.bsky.social for this episode! In addition to being a delight to talk to, Michael was _extremely_ committed to getting the facts right & engaged very earnestly with our feedback. A scientist's dream.
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
November 20, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Somehow I spoke to more anthropologists for my silly little podcast than Yuval Harari did for his bestselling book
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Claude gets sandboxing.
claude.com/blog/beyond-...
claude.com/blog/beyond-...
Beyond permission prompts: making Claude Code more secure and autonomous | Claude
In Claude Code, Claude writes, tests, and debugs code alongside you, navigating your codebase, editing multiple files, and running commands to verify its work.
claude.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Claude gets sandboxing.
claude.com/blog/beyond-...
claude.com/blog/beyond-...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Gemini 3.0 image (left) vs. 2.5 (right), on a long, non-provided text ("Photo of the first 300 words of the King James Bible, written in refrigerator magnets."). And Gemini 2.5 was already arguably the best out there.
The only minor thing I have to critique is that did a bit more than 300 words.
The only minor thing I have to critique is that did a bit more than 300 words.
November 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Gemini 3.0 image (left) vs. 2.5 (right), on a long, non-provided text ("Photo of the first 300 words of the King James Bible, written in refrigerator magnets."). And Gemini 2.5 was already arguably the best out there.
The only minor thing I have to critique is that did a bit more than 300 words.
The only minor thing I have to critique is that did a bit more than 300 words.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
patton oswalt has been suspended from bluesky for saying that megyn kelly should be fed to a woodchipper for justifying the sexual abuse of minors
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM
patton oswalt has been suspended from bluesky for saying that megyn kelly should be fed to a woodchipper for justifying the sexual abuse of minors
Whoa, 23 years after "The Meadowlands," we *finally* have a new Wrens album
pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
WRENS: Half of What You See
Read Jude Noel’s review of the album.
pitchfork.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Whoa, 23 years after "The Meadowlands," we *finally* have a new Wrens album
pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
PTFO collaborated with @msjpauly.bsky.social and @motherjones.com on an investigation into Riley Gaines.
Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.”
But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...
Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.”
But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...
Riley Gaines Investigated: The Lia Thomas Race, the Coach & Why She "Doesn't Even Like" Trump | PTFO
YouTube video by PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
PTFO collaborated with @msjpauly.bsky.social and @motherjones.com on an investigation into Riley Gaines.
Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.”
But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...
Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.”
But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...