Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
>  Can you share the same subscription with someone in your "apple
family" 

Yes, if you're paying for the Apple One Family Plan, you can share
subscriptions.
  

    
Thanks Jon.

This is interesting. I ran across it while doomscrolling because
I've been unable to do much of anything else today.

Tiny News Collective

>>Our mission is to support the voices historically excluded from
media and media ownership.
We provide the tools, resources and community of learning to help
people build sustainable news organizations that reflect and serve
their communities.<<

<https://www.tinynewsco.org/>
  

    
Thanks for that pointer, Larry. I’m reading one of the profiles, of
Samantha Carrillo. What’s striking - speaking especially from the
pov of having tried to turn a Substack newsletter into a revenue
generating venture several years ago- is how much collaboration is
involved. It started out as the newsletter of the New Mexico Black
Leadership Council, and is evolving into a community news outlet
with the help of Tiny News Collective and the New Mexico Local News
Fund. 

It’s the antithesis of operations like Patch, which adopt an air of
local news but are about diverting community resources (attention,
effort, ad dollars) to themselves.

There’s a great organization, Local Independent Online News (LION),
that’s been working in this space as well, for years.
  

    

On a different topic: I have spent about five hours so far this week
hardening my security, and reconsidering my earlier answer to Jon’s
question about whether US journalists may need to flee the country.

I still think that’s unlikely, but I didn’t account for how much
federal power the oligarchs could grab over the next year, and use
on top of their wealth to bully, pressure and frighten the press.
  

    
I don’t think it’s unlikely. Once the constitution is suspended
anything can happen.
  

    

So I guess that’d be on of the big stories of 2025.
  

    
Except who would be around to write/record/broadcast it?
  

    
The guardian. 

Signal will be important. 
  

    
re: <63>, this interview might be of interest for anyone who wants
to know more about Community Notes, which Facebook wants to copy:

The Making of Community Notes
<https://asteriskmag.com/issues/08/the-making-of-community-notes>

They're talking their own book, so it should be taken with a grain
of salt, but I'm under the impression that Community Notes is
generally well-regarded, despite all the other crap that happened
after Twitter became X.

They could still screw it up, but it seems promising that Facebook
is going to try to copy something that seems to be working.
  

    
Community notes was a very intriguing project when Jack Dorsey was
running Twitter, and I had fairly strong hopes for it. 

Unsurprisingly, the project has gone sour under Musk. Three of the
WashPost's tech reporters did a deep dive, and their conclusions
(based on data that looks solid to me) are bad news for folks who
thought Musk was serious about facts winning out over lies.

Here's a no-paywall link: https://wapo.st/4jfjE8d
  

    
> folks who thought Musk was serious about facts winning out over
lies

those folks are idiots
  

    
For those of you interested in the use of AI in journalism, you
might find this report from the Open Society interesting. Their
scenario planning approach is provocative and changed my thinking on
how I'm  approaching AI for creative workflows.

"The AI in Journalism Futures (AIJF) project explored how artificial
intelligence (AI) might fundamentally transform our information
ecosystem over the next five to 15 years. Engaging nearly 1,000
global participants, including journalists, technologists,
academics, and civil society advocates, the project’s objective was
to understand the range of possibilities for long-term impact of AI
on journalism using a scenario planning approach. An open call for
applications produced short scenarios from 880 participants, from
which 40 were selected to participate in a
scenario planning workshop held in Piedmont, Italy, in April 2024. 

This workshop facilitated the refinement of five robust and
plausible future scenarios."

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/ai-in-journalism-futures-2
024
  

    
Another useful and relevant essay is this one from Matt Webb, one of
my favourite tech and product thinkers.  He's suggesting that
nations need to start thinking about protecting sovereign data
sources in the face of a less regulated corporate AI world in the US
and elsewhere.  

He calls it a "Strategic Fact Reserve"

https://interconnected.org/home/2025/01/17/facts 
  

    
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2025.
  

    
I meant to mention the Byline Network (https://bylinesnetwork.co.uk/) of
local UK online newspapers. Not sure how old it is; I only just recently
stumbled across it. But I know several people contributing to it.

wg
  

    

just wanted to throw in a thumbs-up to High Country News, hcn.org . it
covers mainly rural issues throughout the West: water, fire, politics, a
bit of history, Native issues. nonprofit and very much worth a look,
subscription, or donation. 

a few years back, HCN took a turn for the much more woke (it had always
been pretty blue ish). the coverage is often really good, investigative. it
does concern me that the superwoke coverage may not be reaching across any
aisles. hard to say.

as someone who lived in blue bubble cities for many years, but has been in
a rural and semi-rural area for closing in on a decade, i wish HCN were
required reading for city, suburban, and college-town dwellers.
  

    
Reaching across the aisle is overrated and frustrating. The other
side (MAGA republicans, which is all republicans) have no interest
in it unless it's us doing the reaching.

Anyway, I'm already following High Country News because I followed
all the accounts on this starter pack <https://go.bsky.app/SMBFkU2>

>>Independent News Outlets
Starter pack by &#8234;@newseye.bsky.social&#8236;
For those who prefer to get their news away from MSM, here are some
major independent, non-profit or citizen-led media outlets. All
verified, all valuable. #News<<
  

    
Keeping these nonprofits functioning will be an important mission --
maybe not all of them, but many. 

So I'm heartened that Columbia Journalism School is raising money
for a program that will forgive some part of students' loans if they
go to work for a nonprofit newsroom. 
  

    
That is very exciting to hear!

Half the next class of the the Newmark/CUNY Graduate School of
Journalism will attend tuition-free, and they are aiming for the
entire school within two years. 

It is taking a long time to clear the wreckage and build back local
journalism, though. I don’t get the impression that 2025 will be the
year when that’ll catalyze across the county.
  

    
another thumbs up for hcn
  

    

our own Craig Newmark has done some good, hasn't he. after realizing what
Craigslist had wrought. is he still on The Well?
  

    
He is not, but he was an early member.
  

    
He used tolive in my Inner Sunset 'nabe, I wonder if he still does. Anyway,
righteous human.
  

    

Good morning, all. 

That said, clearly it's far from a good morning at all for many of
us.

Amid the tsunami of terrible events that's about to wash over us, I
ask that this public discussion, which continues for another week,
remain centered on the state of the news, rather than the news
events themselves or the people driving them.

Thanks much.
  

    


So, as a measure of what the coming weeks and months may be like for
many U.S. journalists and publications, Biden's preemptive pardons
this morning — of people known to be on Trump's "enemies list" —
bode very badly: 

"...these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good
conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated
investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial
security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when
individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right
thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being
investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and
finances.


"That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to
pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of
Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S.
Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before
the Select Committee. The issuance of these pardons should not be
mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any
wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of
guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt
of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country."