AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
@abbyohlheiser.bsky.social
Doom beat journalist who writes goth blogs for a bunch of places.
they/them 💛🤍💜🖤
https://linktr.ee/abbyohlheiser | awohlheiser@proton.me
they/them 💛🤍💜🖤
https://linktr.ee/abbyohlheiser | awohlheiser@proton.me
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:00 PM
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
I've got a "Democracy Dies in Darkness" t-shirt and a Washington Post mug with a "#freepress" hashtag printed on it from my time working there.
Both have faded to the point of being basically unreadable over time, just astronomical levels of prescience emanating from them.
Both have faded to the point of being basically unreadable over time, just astronomical levels of prescience emanating from them.
February 4, 2026 at 4:58 PM
I've got a "Democracy Dies in Darkness" t-shirt and a Washington Post mug with a "#freepress" hashtag printed on it from my time working there.
Both have faded to the point of being basically unreadable over time, just astronomical levels of prescience emanating from them.
Both have faded to the point of being basically unreadable over time, just astronomical levels of prescience emanating from them.
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
Former executive editor @postbaron.bsky.social says the Post is "a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction." www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
February 4, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Former executive editor @postbaron.bsky.social says the Post is "a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction." www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
The auteur lens of the creator economy too-often makes invisible the infrastructure necessary to do most work well.
That is exponentially more true for work like journalism & scholarship that needs institutional memory, costly databases, EDITORS, fact-checking, & when really vital/risky, LAWYERS.
That is exponentially more true for work like journalism & scholarship that needs institutional memory, costly databases, EDITORS, fact-checking, & when really vital/risky, LAWYERS.
A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
February 4, 2026 at 2:57 PM
The auteur lens of the creator economy too-often makes invisible the infrastructure necessary to do most work well.
That is exponentially more true for work like journalism & scholarship that needs institutional memory, costly databases, EDITORS, fact-checking, & when really vital/risky, LAWYERS.
That is exponentially more true for work like journalism & scholarship that needs institutional memory, costly databases, EDITORS, fact-checking, & when really vital/risky, LAWYERS.
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
WaPo laid off:
-- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism
-- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter
-- the race and ethnicity beat reporter
-- ... the Amazon beat reporter
In addition to so many others
-- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism
-- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter
-- the race and ethnicity beat reporter
-- ... the Amazon beat reporter
In addition to so many others
February 4, 2026 at 3:58 PM
WaPo laid off:
-- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism
-- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter
-- the race and ethnicity beat reporter
-- ... the Amazon beat reporter
In addition to so many others
-- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism
-- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter
-- the race and ethnicity beat reporter
-- ... the Amazon beat reporter
In addition to so many others
Furious for the friends and journalists I admire still working at WaPo, this is such a sad and extremely avoidable situation
February 4, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Furious for the friends and journalists I admire still working at WaPo, this is such a sad and extremely avoidable situation
Anyway here's something I wrote a couple years ago on how Huberman plays the role of an illusionist in the MAHA landscape www.vox.com/technology/2...
January 27, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Anyway here's something I wrote a couple years ago on how Huberman plays the role of an illusionist in the MAHA landscape www.vox.com/technology/2...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
"Believe your eyes" - great piece from @cwarzel.bsky.social @theatlantic.com on people risking their lives to document ICE.
Includes an interview with @startribune.com photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Includes an interview with @startribune.com photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Believe Your Eyes
People are risking their lives to document agents in Minneapolis.
www.theatlantic.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:13 PM
"Believe your eyes" - great piece from @cwarzel.bsky.social @theatlantic.com on people risking their lives to document ICE.
Includes an interview with @startribune.com photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Includes an interview with @startribune.com photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
I guess one good thing to say about being online this week is that we learned that the war guy also has terrible form on kettlebell swings
January 9, 2026 at 7:19 PM
I guess one good thing to say about being online this week is that we learned that the war guy also has terrible form on kettlebell swings
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
“It’s a story about volume, value, and what journalism becomes when “content” grows functionally infinite.” - @davey.bsky.social
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
December 11, 2025 at 2:02 PM
“It’s a story about volume, value, and what journalism becomes when “content” grows functionally infinite.” - @davey.bsky.social
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
December 4, 2025 at 3:47 AM
people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
SCOOP from me + @makenakelly.bsky.social: despite recent reports, DOGE isn’t dead—it’s actually everywhere. @wired.com
www.wired.com/story/what-i...
www.wired.com/story/what-i...
DOGE Isn’t Dead. Here’s What Its Operatives Are Doing Now
Contrary to popular reports, DOGE has “burrowed into the agencies like ticks,” government sources tell WIRED.
www.wired.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:37 PM
SCOOP from me + @makenakelly.bsky.social: despite recent reports, DOGE isn’t dead—it’s actually everywhere. @wired.com
www.wired.com/story/what-i...
www.wired.com/story/what-i...
I really wanna know nuzzi's salary at vanity fair esp given recent layoffs
maybe the NYT could have tracked down info like that instead of taking beach pics i dunno
maybe the NYT could have tracked down info like that instead of taking beach pics i dunno
November 14, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I really wanna know nuzzi's salary at vanity fair esp given recent layoffs
maybe the NYT could have tracked down info like that instead of taking beach pics i dunno
maybe the NYT could have tracked down info like that instead of taking beach pics i dunno
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...
www.nobelprize.org
October 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
if the state of journalism and its capture by the right wing also has you in despair, a real, tangible thing you can do to push back is support/subscribe to worker-owned indie news media!!
@coyotemedia.org (bay area)
@51st.news (dc)
@racketmn.com (mn)
@autonomynews.co
@505omatic.bsky.social (nm)
@coyotemedia.org (bay area)
@51st.news (dc)
@racketmn.com (mn)
@autonomynews.co
@505omatic.bsky.social (nm)
October 3, 2025 at 3:14 PM
if the state of journalism and its capture by the right wing also has you in despair, a real, tangible thing you can do to push back is support/subscribe to worker-owned indie news media!!
@coyotemedia.org (bay area)
@51st.news (dc)
@racketmn.com (mn)
@autonomynews.co
@505omatic.bsky.social (nm)
@coyotemedia.org (bay area)
@51st.news (dc)
@racketmn.com (mn)
@autonomynews.co
@505omatic.bsky.social (nm)
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
“The injections Suza needed had traveled thousands of miles to the Central African nation, USAID and other records show, only to be stranded in a regional distribution warehouse in the same city where she was gasping for air.” wapo.st/489jGvd
Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.
USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...
wapo.st
October 1, 2025 at 12:25 PM
“The injections Suza needed had traveled thousands of miles to the Central African nation, USAID and other records show, only to be stranded in a regional distribution warehouse in the same city where she was gasping for air.” wapo.st/489jGvd
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day
Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.
www.404media.co
September 30, 2025 at 9:52 PM
New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
Response from @karenattiah.bsky.social counsel, @normeisen.bsky.social et al, at @democracydefendersfund.org:
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
September 24, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Response from @karenattiah.bsky.social counsel, @normeisen.bsky.social et al, at @democracydefendersfund.org:
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
"She did precisely the job you hired her to do as an opinion writer ... She spoke truthfully and forcefully about ... difficult truths at a challenging time"
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment. The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new AI video generator tool.
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI-Generated YouTube Channel Uploaded Nothing But Videos of Women Being Shot
YouTube removed a channel that posted nothing but graphic Veo-generated videos of women being shot after 404 Media reached out for comment.
www.404media.co
September 23, 2025 at 10:20 PM
YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment. The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new AI video generator tool.
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...
Reposted by AW (Abby) Ohlheiser
If someone goes from a media outlet to a government agency and then implements a policy attempting to prevent the media from reporting on the agency, what does that tell you about their media outlet?
NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com
Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 20, 2025 at 12:15 AM
If someone goes from a media outlet to a government agency and then implements a policy attempting to prevent the media from reporting on the agency, what does that tell you about their media outlet?
If you use Facebook and are seeing surprising recommendations in your suggested groups when they come up in the News Feed, could you do me a favor and 1) screenshot them 2) click through to see if those groups show up on your full list of suggested groups and 3) DM me? I'm curious about something.
September 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
If you use Facebook and are seeing surprising recommendations in your suggested groups when they come up in the News Feed, could you do me a favor and 1) screenshot them 2) click through to see if those groups show up on your full list of suggested groups and 3) DM me? I'm curious about something.