Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Aug 6

@leedsunimedia.bsky.social great work from our Int Journalism MA student Gabriel Kennedy

Gabriel Kennedy @gabrielkennedy.bsky.social · Aug 5

What happens when local journalism isn't really local, and isn't really journalism either?

The US pandemic of fake 'pink slime news' has gone global, threatening our communities.

My new investigation (linked below) for @pressgazette.co.uk explores how UK pink slime is on the rise.

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Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Jul 23

West Yorkshire Police “are sorry that the man involved is unhappy”…

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Ian Hislop calls arrest of man holding Private Eye cartoon at Gaza protest ‘mind-boggling’

Jon Farley arrested under Terrorism Act at Leeds demonstration for holding sign making joke about Palestine Action ban

www.theguardian.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · May 25

Hard to believe they’re talking about the same event.

Headline from the independent: Trump gives rambling speech about trophy wives, golf and the 'great late' Al Capone in politically-charged West Point address

Headline from the New York Times: Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era

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Ian Johnson @iandenisjohnson.bsky.social · Apr 15

An inspiring essay—in Chinese and English—by the legendary Chinese journalist 江雪 in @mjdanganguan on how, in the end, the silenced in China will have their say. Read it and subscribe (for free) on substack.

open.substack.com/pub/chinauno...

那些未被杀死的，终将开口说话——向承鉴自传《炼狱归魂》获2024年博登书屋“最佳历史回忆文献档案奖”

The Unsilenced Will Eventually Have Their Say

open.substack.com

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Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · Mar 29

I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.

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Brooke Jarvis @brookejarvis.bsky.social · Mar 3

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh.

This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

"Developing a device that could treat severe bleeding. It seems to have caught the committee’s attention for using the words “victims” — as in gunshot victims — and “trauma.”
Creating biosensors to detect infectious diseases. The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care” — that is, the place where people receive medical treatment — and “barrier,” referring to a part of the biosensor itself.
Designing eye-tracking technology for diagnosing and treating concussions. It appears to have gotten flagged for referencing “traumatic” brain injuries and the “status,” meaning the condition, of patients."

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Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Mar 3

I bet Juno is now celebrating the good riddance 😂

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Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Mar 2

Thank you for this gorgeous photo of them! Sorry they didn’t get to say goodbye but both, particularly Pingpong will for sure miss you too!

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Shannon McGregor, PhD @shannimcg.bsky.social · Feb 4

We here @citap.bsky.social, in collaboration w/ @mariher.bsky.social & Kristóf Szombati, put together a timely and important reading list. Authoritarian Politics: How to Understand It and How to Resist It.
We hope you'll read, reflect, and share this tool broadly. 1/ citap.unc.edu/wp-content/u...

citap.unc.edu

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Darby Saxbe @darbysaxbe.bsky.social · Feb 4

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · Jan 28

Trump White House redefines ‘the press’:

“Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster … if you are producing legitimate news content, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House”

Seems small, huge ramifications!

www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/whit...

White House will reserve front-row seats in press briefings for influencers, podcasters, and others in “new media”

When she took the podium for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, Karoline Leavitt became the youngest White House press secretary in history. The 27-year-old New Hampshire native is the sixth working...

www.niemanlab.org

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Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Jan 15

What’s happening on Xiaohongshu now is PHENOMENAL.
Ppl are tired of nationalistic doctrine from both sides, tired of being sandwiched between states and platform corporates, yearning for a borderless space for some authentic convo not orchestrated by either states or corporates, tho it won’t last

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Yuan Zeng @dryzeng.bsky.social · Nov 26

OMG Elon Musk is a Royal Society fellow?? @royalsociety.bsky.social

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Nov 25

Oxford scientist resigns from Royal Society over Elon Musk’s continuing fellowship

Prof Dorothy Bishop said fellowship was ‘a contradiction of all the values’ of UK’s national academy of sciences A leading scientist at the University of Oxford has resigned from the UK’s national academy of sciences over concerns about Elon Musk’s…

www.theguardian.com

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Louisa Lim @louisalim.bsky.social · Nov 19

Today 45 activists in HK were sentenced to a total of 245 years and six months in prison for trying to use democratic means (ie primaries) to contest an election. A generation of civil society leaders has been jailed.

hongkongfp.com/2024/11/19/b...

Benny Tai, Joshua Wong among 45 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists jailed up to 10 years in landmark national security case

Pro-democracy activist Benny Tai has been jailed for 10 years over organising an unofficial primary election in 2020, as Hong Kong’s High Court delivered sentences in the city’s largest…

hongkongfp.com

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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · Nov 18

Yessssss! Journal editors and board members let’s do this! Folks on academic org committees! We can make the case to at the very least change the “Your Twitter handle” box on everything to something like “Your social media profile” #commsky

I for one would be thrilled by “Share to Bluesky”

Altmetric @altmetric.com · Nov 18

We strongly suggest that academic publishers and other platforms that host research rapidly implement a Share to Bluesky button for their articles. Here's how:

docs.bsky.app/docs/advance...

#AcademicSky #HigherEd #Altmetrics

Action Intent Links | Bluesky

Authors, websites, and apps can use action intent links to implement "Share on Bluesky" buttons, or similar in-app actions. Logged-in users will be directed to the corresponding action view in the Blu...

docs.bsky.app

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Media and Communication @ University of Leeds @leedsunimedia.bsky.social · Nov 15

We are delighted to announce our next research seminar: "Algorithms of resistance: The everyday fight against platform power", with Tiziano Bonini and @emilianotrere.bsky.social
Wednesday 20 Nov, 3.45–5pm (UTC), ONLINE 💻
Details and registration: ahc.leeds.ac.uk/events/event...

Research Seminar: Algorithms of resistance: The everyday fight against platform power

This talk dives into how global workers and activists navigate and subvert platform power, revealing our resistance to algorithmic dominance while cautioning against romanticizing these efforts

ahc.leeds.ac.uk

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