Today’s digest examines the nuances of going independent for Black journalists, particularly as personal newsletters and indie newsrooms take off — they’re not a simple solution to the problems of the industry. And we also look at the uneven terrain of guidelines around artificial intelligence, with both tech reporters and journalism support organizations lacking consensus.

An abbreviated version of our media links is on Instagram each week, focusing on what a handful of those stories say about how power and identity impact journalism. (Previous week’s here.)

—James Salanga

Veteran reporter Amber Ferguson was one of the only senior journalists left at the Washington Post, meaning “the grief began before the actual layoffs started.”  

Ferguson was laid off earlier this year with an email that didn’t even contain her name. Her experience represents the current industry landscape for many Black journalists: countless experiences enveloped in uncertainty amid a shifting media climate.

In light of the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs beginning in January 2025, several legacy media organizations eliminated their identity-focused verticals and DEI initiatives, resulting in numerous layoffs among BIPOC journalists and newsroom workers.

After the success of Black journalists like Don Lemon or Joy Reid who have gone independent, it might be simple to suggest that reporters launch a Substack or an independent newsroom when laid off from corporate media. However, those career pivots cost more than just money, and most Black independent journalists have to start from scratch.

Read the full story.  

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The Society of Professional Journalists is in the process of revising its code of ethics for the first time since 2014, and AI is sure to be on the agenda, following a short 2023 statement from national president Claire Regan: “While there is no need for a ban on artificial intelligence in journalism, its use is best limited and considered on a case-by-case basis.”

The practical logistics of coverage are colliding with other ethical concerns about the expansion of generative AI, from its potential infringement on journalists’ jobs in an already-unstable job market to the methods and means used to train large-language models like ChatGPT — including the water usage of data centers built in rural communities, the workers in the Global South helping train these models, and encoded bias in the algorithms used in these models.

Reporters covering artificial intelligence as part of their beats are left to develop a code of ethics as they go, but much like newsrooms, not every journalist has similar ideas on what’s required to understand how the technology works.

Read the full story.

💰 James Murdoch (son of Rupert Murdoch) is reportedly in talks to purchase New York magazine and Vox’s extensive podcast network, which includes shows like Gastropod and This is Love.

🏛 In 2025, a white male editor at the New York Times was passed over for a promotion to deputy real estate editor. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is now suing the Times on his behalf. EEOC chair Andrea Lucas has been explicitly anti diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in alignment with Trump policies, and brings this case while the Trump administration is suing the Times for defamation.

📝 The International Women’s Media Foundation released their 2026 analysis on safety for women and nonbinary journalists, and found increased physical violence and digital threats were among the risks they had to contend with to work in the field.

🤖 The Seattle Times management has rejected its union’s proposals for guardrails around use of AI in reporting. Management rejected making guarantees no one would lose their job to AI, transparency to readers when something is written with the assistance of AI, and a reporter’s right to choose when and how AI would be implemented in the reporting process. This comes after the staff of the Times was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of catastrophic flooding in December 2025.

👉 FOLLOW UP: In other Pulitzer finalist news, the New York Times podcast The Protocol was also a finalist in the Audio Reporting category. Last year, The Objective covered how it failed to include any trans sources until the last episode of the series. (On a more celebratory note: h/t to Objective contributor Jireh Deng for noting trans journalists were also Pulitzer honorees this year: M Gessen won the award for Opinion Writing for their work at the Times, and photographer Salgu Wissmath had work recognized as a finalist for Wall Street Journal’s breaking news reporting on deadly Texas flooding).

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.

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

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