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Hope everyone’s been hanging in there. While news on the news continues to look grim, working on the Media 2070 Q&A published this week brought me a lot of hope, if you’re looking for a spot of that today.

In this issue: Two news stories, one about The Journalist’s Resource downsizing after several funders did not renew their grants, and the Q&A I mentioned with Media 2070, which is pushing for media reparations and a future where Black storytellers can own their work.

Plus, in the just more media section: Former Oregon Public Broadcasting journalists start investigative outlet, the scope of Washington Post layoffs is bigger than previously reported, churn continues at CBS News, Apple News receives Federal Trade Commission letter, and Hearst magazine workers could strike soon.

After “several funders did not renew their grants,” the Harvard-based hub making academia accessible to reporters cut its program director and managing editor positions.

“J[ournalist’s] R[resource] depends entirely on philanthropic donations,” program director and editor-in-chief Carmen Nobel said in a goodbye newsletter on Wednesday. “After several funders did not renew their grants recently, the Shorenstein Center had to make a difficult decision.”

That decision meant Nobel and managing editor Denise Ordway had their positions cut. Nobel, who formerly worked as senior editor for Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge, which made business professors’ research more legible for journalists, called her role as program director “the most important role I’ve held in my career as a journalist.”

Read more.

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Nearly six years ago, Media 2070 launched by outlining a vision for a future where Black communities received media reparations, from transforming the media system so Black people can tell their own stories to publications acknowledging and working to repair damage from their past and continued anti-Black reporting.

At the tail end of last year, in December 2025, Media 2070 became an independent initiative sponsored by Allied Media Projects.

The Objective spoke with two members of the team about what’s next for Media 2070, what it means to grow the project under a time of increased political attack on Black press and journalists, and more.

Read the Q&A.

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📈 Investigative journalists Ryan Haas and Leah Sottile are launching a new publication, The Western Edge, in the wake of what Haas called a “dream journalism job” shifting after Oregon Public Broadcasting hired a CEO who brought corporate media priorities into their public media newsroom. 

📉 While it was estimated that over a third of staff at the Washington Post were laid off last week, the Washingtonian reports that the Post eliminated closer to half of its staff. Tech staff at the Post also reported being locked out of their devices this week.

📝 A producer quit CBS News over Bari Weiss’ departure from objectivity. “Stories may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of idealogical expectations — a dynamic that pressures producers and reporters to self-censor or avoid challenging narratives that might trigger backlash or unfavorable headlines.” Reactions on Twitter from accounts with “America First” in bio and the editor-in-chief of the Federalist denigrated the criticism.

🚶‍♀️ More: Buyouts for the CBS Evening News team were offered in January. 

📱 The U.S. Federal Trade Commission wrote a letter to Apple citing research from right-leaning think-tank Media Research Center that Apple News was suppressing conservative outlets. 

✨ The Writers Guild of America East has authorized a strike against Hearst magazines (Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and more) if the company fails to approve the new contract today (Friday, February 13). The new contract would be concerned with sustainability, hybrid work exceptions, and use of generative AI.

Have a story you think we should include in this section of next week’s newsletter? Let us know here or by responding to this email.

Attacks on Black journalists isn't a new phenomenon. Mainstream media being captured by elite interest isn't a new phenomenon. These things have been happening. So to raise consciousness and awareness around that fact, and to point people to people-led and people-focused solutions versus profit-driven ones is exactly what's needed right now.

—Venneikia Williams, via The Objective: Q&A: ‘We're winning is when media reparations is common-sense’: Media 2070’s new chapter

This issue is by James Salanga and Marlee Baldridge. Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.

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