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Laura Hazard Owen

@laurahazardowen.bsky.social

13K followers 2.4K following 230 posts

Editor of @niemanlab.org / a fun mom in Cambridge, MA https://illberightback.substack.com/ Ebikes | Mysteries | Baking | Parent gossip | Public schools

illberightback.substack.com

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Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · 2d

bari weiss's cbs: "america"/"american," focus is "journalism" not the journalists themselves, doesn't dwell on standards, speed-focused, "uses all of the tools of the digital era"

newly independent msnbc: focus on journalists themselves, ethics, freedom of speech/1st Amendment, "the world," AI-wary

Bari Weiss’s CBS News and MSNBC both just laid out their new journalistic principles — and they’re fascinatingly different

Lot of news coming out of the networks this morning: Bari Weiss, founder of the pro-Israel, anti-woke Free Press, has sold the four-year-old news site to CBS parent company Paramount for a reported $1...

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · 27d

do read the fine print

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/trum...

Trump wants to knock prescription drug ads off of your TV (and billions out of news companies’ pockets)

While it has merit as a policy measure, it's the latest in a brutal series of administration actions that have hurt journalism.

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · 28d

. @hanaatameez.bsky.social puts data behind journalism's DEI vibe shift. From # of jobs posted, to products launched then shut down, to exhibiting at conferences — the racial reckoning is in retreat.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline

Diversity-related newsroom jobs haven't totally disappeared — but they also haven't stuck.

www.niemanlab.org

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · Aug 5

As a former homepage and engagement editor for NPR, I found @joshuabenton.com's latest Nieman Lab piece from their rankings of media (first local newspapers, then nonprofit news sites) takes a look at the top 25 local public media sites very insightful about the challenges ahead.

These public radio stations have built online audiences that’ll help them survive federal cuts

They may have been born on the airwaves, but these public media stations compete on the web as well. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local public media websites in the United States.

www.niemanlab.org

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Joshua Benton @joshuabenton.com · Jul 29

New by me —>

These are the 25 largest nonprofit news sites in the U.S. by web traffic.

Some you’d expect (like @propublica.org), others you might not (@ncronline.bsky.social, @sciencenews.bsky.social, @lapublicpress.bsky.social, @notusreports.bsky.social)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/nonp...

Nonprofit news sites are built to generate impact — but these are also generating audiences

In markets large and small, these nonprofit news organizations are achieving traffic numbers that many commercial outlets would envy. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news site...

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jul 23

"We're planting a seed in these cities."

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/good...

6AM City acquires Good Daily’s network of more than 350 AI-generated local newsletters

6AM City will continue to operate its "core" newsletters with human editors, but will treat Good Daily’s AI-generated newsletters as "seed markets."

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jul 23

New feature alert @niemanlab.org: Traffic rankings for the top U.S. news outlets in three categories — local newspapers, nonprofit news sites, and public radio stations. First up, local newspapers

by @joshuabenton.com

How did newspapers in places like Harrisburg, Birmingham, and Syracuse become some of America’s most-read online?

They share an owner that sometimes gets forgotten — but which dominates much larger peers in web traffic. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local newspaper websites in the United States.

www.niemanlab.org

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Sophie Culpepper @speppered.bsky.social · Jul 18

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

What went wrong at the Houston Landing?

“We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jul 17

WHAT went wrong at the Houston Landing? almost nobody wanted to talk about it, but after months of reporting, @speppered.bsky.social got the story anyway

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

What went wrong at the Houston Landing?

“We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jul 8

no more "click to cancel" www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/good...

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jul 7

"People could get a paid subscription in exchange for the worn top from the covered wagon that brought them across the plains." www.deseret.com/special-seri...

Deseret News through the eras: A story of grit, gumption and changes galore

The staying power and determination to continue to print Truth and Liberty, no matter what, is the legacy of the Deseret News.

www.deseret.com

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard @niemanfoundation.bsky.social · Jul 2

We’re pleased to welcome Samantha Henry as the new editor of @niemanreports.org. She says: “I am honored to continue Nieman Reports’ long tradition of standing for press freedom and shining light on the vitally important work of journalists around the world.” nieman.harvard.edu/samantha-hen...

Samantha Henry named editor of Nieman Reports - Nieman Foundation

She previously worked as Nieman’s assistant director for programming and special projects.

nieman.harvard.edu

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jun 18

we've made some updates to the "What We're Reading" section of @niemanlab.org's daily newsletter...more quotes, more numbers, more pictures (all design work by @joshuabenton.com) & I think you'll love it so subscribe here if you don't already! www.niemanlab.org/subscribe/

How to subscribe to our work

The Daily Digest Nearly 70,000 people get our newsletter, The Daily Digest, which goes out at 3 p.m. ET Mondays through Thursdays. It includes both our own stories and our curated rundown of the most...

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jun 5

got it ok

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Jun 3

So far I've seen these on articles from the Wall Street Journal, Boston.com, and MarketWatch.

Google Discover adds AI-generated bullet points to some news articles

When I was scrolling through Google Discover this week, I noticed something new: AI-generated bullet points teasing or summing up some articles in the feed. The bullet-pointed articles appear somewha...

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 28

Diminished. Decimated. Devastated.

Swap in whatever adjective you want, but here's the question: Is even a _____ newspaper better than no local newspaper at all?

www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/this...

This owner thinks newspapers are better off diminished than dead

“It's just kind of the way it is. Do we have the watchdog role? Can we do that now in all these areas? No. I think that's obvious."

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 20

Richard Gingras to the news industry: "I would be very, very cautious not to see licensing by language models as being, somehow, the path to sustainability. There's not going to be a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow."

Google’s chief emissary to the news business is stepping down — and looking back

"If there's a regret, it's that I was not as effective as I would have liked to be in influencing and driving change across the board."

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 15

gawker leaderboard but for chatGPT use, fun!!! (don't just ask me, ask BI's spokesperson who indeed calls it "fun")

Business Insider is tracking employees’ ChatGPT usage as part of a new AI push

An enterprise version of ChatGPT is now available to all staff, with 70% using the tool “regularly.”

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 14

"precisely the outcome the National Trust for Local News was founded to prevent"

National Trust for Local News sells 21 newspapers to a company with a history of gutting local outlets

The Times Media Group is an out-of-state, for-profit media company with a history of reducing roles in local newsrooms.

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 9

Looks like the students won: www.alxnow.com/2025/05/09/f...

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 8

"If you’re going to have the principal as editor of the paper, it’s simply an extension of the district’s PR office. It’s absolutely not a student newspaper." www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/insi...

Inside a high school newspaper’s fight for editorial independence

The Alexandria, Virginia school board says it wants to “help students grow as journalists." Theogony's student journalists wonder who, exactly, the board is protecting.

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · May 7

working on a story on this and just DM'd you :)

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Hanaa’ Tameez @hanaatameez.bsky.social · Apr 24

SOURCE REQUEST 🚨

I'm working on a @niemanlab.org story about what’s come of media companies' 2020 DEI promises.

How have newsrooms' DEI priorities changed over the last 5 years? What impact have DEI initiatives had on journalism/journalists?

DM me here, on Signal, or email ([email protected]).

Scan this QR code with your phone to chat with me on Signal.

Reposted by Laura Hazard Owen

Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · Apr 17

1/ This story triggered a though I've had the past couple of months about the value of the news in times of information chaos. Simply, the U.S. is dismantling whole swaths of the government tasked with providing reliable data for the public. I do think Trump's folks think if we have no data ...

Eggs are <em>how</em> much? News outlets launch grocery price trackers

Tracking the prices of supermarket staples over time is a service to readers — and a way to keep an eye on the national economy.

www.niemanlab.org

Laura Hazard Owen @laurahazardowen.bsky.social · Apr 17

the news outlets I spoke with aren't using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for this. instead they're turning to market research firms.
there are multiple reasons for that. but one is concerns that the BLS data won't be reliable post-DOGE