I wish I could start this newsletter off with more excitement, but it’s been a bumpy start to the new year — both in journalism and outside of it. Thinking of everyone in Los Angeles and those who have loved ones there, and those impacted by early-year layoffs.

If you’re a journalist impacted by either, this list of emergency grants compiled by Adam Rose of the Los Angeles Press Club may be helpful. There’s a broader list of mutual aid needs for Los Angeles folks here.

(Relatedly: If you made a donation during our end-of-year fundraiser, thank you! Sending out posters and stickers is delayed as they’ll be coming from Los Angeles, so we appreciate your patience and we’ll share an update via email with donors as soon as we can.)

In this issue:

And also: The Fox News lawsuit involving Skip Bayless incites a sexist response, fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement about axing Meta’s fact-checking program, ongoing woes at the Washington Post, and U.S. newspaper programs intended to offer sources in minor crime stories a clean slate. Plus, our resource of the week is the TJA Workplace Guide.

—James Salanga

Reckon News shut down as of Tuesday, Jan. 7, stopping publication and laying off 11 staffers. The newsroom focused on reckonings in the U.S. with a particular focus on climate justice, reproductive rights, queerness and trans rights, Blackness, racial justice, and movements through the lens of marginalized communities' perspectives. Started in 2017 as an outgrowth of Alabama-based AL.com, Reckon then shifted to regional coverage of the Deep South and expanded to national news in 2022.

A note to newsletter subscribers was sent out Thursday, and the newsroom’s Black Joy vertical and newsletter will continue as part of New Jersey Advance Media, along with two Reckon employees. 

Advance Local has not issued a public-facing statement about the newsroom closure. Reckon previously laid off 10 employees in Feb. 2024 due to budget cuts, the majority of whom were Black.

While the Black Joy vertical is kept alive, the newsroom’s shutdown reflects a growing deprioritization of reporting prefaced on intersectional lived experience about race, class, sexuality, and more. Last summer, CNN disbanded its Race and Equity team, laying off one staffer and reassigning two others.

And newsrooms are becoming less diverse as leaders fail to support the journalists they hired during the “racial reckoning.” As Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier writes for the Local Media Association, not only are Black journalists being laid off, they’re quitting because of on-the-job racism.

Corquet-Lesaulnier recalls the 2022 Washington Post Guild report highlighting that 1 out of 3 Black staffers in the newsroom quit willingly. The union’s Black caucus also interviewed over 30 former and current Black Post workers, who cited a lack of representation in leadership and constant questioning of their work’s credibility and legitimacy.

And Reckon's shutdown is also bad news for fair, nuanced, and respectful coverage of trans stories, which are sorely lacking in mainstream publications. While anti-trans legislation continues to rise, the publication invested in a dedicated LGBTQ+ reporter who focused on right-wing rhetoric, legislation seeking to ban gender-affirming care, critique of the Biden administration, and the connections between LGBTQ+ justice and Palestinian solidarity with a focus on the Midwest and South.

"As one of the very few trans women of color covering LGBTQ politics at a national level—especially rampant anti-trans legislation, I stand by my work with a great deal of reverence," Denny, Reckon's former LGBTQ+ reporter, wrote on X.

Just a week into 2025, the closure of Reckon is just the latest installment in a pattern demonstrating a (perhaps predictable) decline in institutions truly fulfilling their commitments to the communities they suddenly purported to care for in 2020. This stands to further harm existing coverage, because the disparities and needs the so-called “reckoning” highlighted continue to persist — and are poised to be exacerbated by the incoming presidential administration.

—James Salanga

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On Thursday, Times leaders rejected the request from the sports news website’s staffers, so the unionization will go to an election. The Athletic has functioned as the paper’s de facto sports desk since late 2023. Read more.

Lawsuit against three big Fox News names spurs sexist response: On Jan. 3, former Fox News hairstylist Noushin Faraji filed a lawsuit accusing commentator Skip Bayless and network executive Charlie Dixon of unwanted sexual advances, also including Fox Sports 1 host Joy Taylor, who allegedly dismissed Faraji’s experiences. Despite the pattern of systemic abuse the lawsuit alleges, much resulting online backlash has fixated on Taylor. The complaint includes allegations on behalf of other anonymous Fox employees in California regarding unfair wages and illegal business practices.

📺 Read the story in Vox.

Fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to axe fact-checking across Meta: The social platform announced Tuesday it would be eliminating fact-checking in the U.S., moving to a system akin to Twitter/X’s user-submitted Community Notes. (That’s part of a more laissez-faire content moderation strategy that will allow more misogyny and homophobia.) Alexios Mantzarlis, who oversaw the Meta fact-checking program in its infancy, fact-checked the claims Zuckerberg made about sunsetting it — finding most flagged content is spammy clickbait prioritized by Meta algorithms.

🖥️ Read the story in Nieman Lab.

Washington Post layoffs indicate a continued deeper spiral for the newsroom: The newsroom laid off 4% of its workforce — primarily from PR and advertising — to pivot focus from traditional PR to a “star-talent unit” to promote Post stories. Meanwhile, those journalists are leaving the newsroom, especially after CEO Will Lewis’s 5-day-a-week return-to-office mandate and the Post’s choice not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 election.

📰 Read the story in NY Mag.

U.S. newspapers are deleting old crime stories to offer sources a ‘clean slate’: Old media coverage is one of the most damaging ways past run-ins with police can derail people’s lives. So some local newsrooms are launching programs to review archives and consider requests to remove names or delete old stories focused on people involved in minor crimes. “I just got tired of telling people no and standing on tradition instead of being thoughtful,” said Chris Quinn, who oversees one such effort as editor of Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer newspaper.

⏪ Read the story in The Guardian.

This week’s resource is the Trans Journalists Association Workplace Guide.

Created in part to answer questions from journalists looking to support their trans colleagues as President Trump prepares to take office, the guide lays out a holistic approach to creating safety, trans-inclusive workplace policies, and additional supplemental links. While the guide is designed with trans journalists in mind, much of the advice can be useful for any journalist.

“As with many elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion, creating a safer and more thoughtful environment for trans journalists will foster a more positive work environment for journalists of all identities,” the guide’s authors wrote.

For more style guides, journalism job boards, and tip sheets, check out The Objective’s resource list.

Thanks for reading. We appreciate you being here, and we’ll have more for you next week.

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