Cheryl Phillips
@cephillips.bsky.social
Data/investigative journalism @Stanford, Founder @biglocalnews, sharing data & tools, building an infrastructure of support for local news.
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Worth paying attention to: community-driven media that breaks the traditional models for journalism and is really impactful in the process.
I’m not as involved with @triangleblogblog.bsky.social as I used to be - but I think it’s one of the best examples of creating and spreading civic joy. A really fun model that can be replicated.
November 5, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Worth paying attention to: community-driven media that breaks the traditional models for journalism and is really impactful in the process.
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
The people who build strategy from real, surprising insights gained from talking to real, human people will beat the people who build strategy from synthetic data. You can’t learn a defining insight from a probabilistic prediction.
November 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
The people who build strategy from real, surprising insights gained from talking to real, human people will beat the people who build strategy from synthetic data. You can’t learn a defining insight from a probabilistic prediction.
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
💰Ready to launch an impactful and financially sustainable newsroom?
Join the free online course “Launching Nonprofit Newsrooms: Practical Strategies for Funding and Growth.”
Learn strategies to build revenue and grow a sustainable newsroom.
🖱️https://f.mtr.cool/owqgwgyvko
#Journalism #News
Join the free online course “Launching Nonprofit Newsrooms: Practical Strategies for Funding and Growth.”
Learn strategies to build revenue and grow a sustainable newsroom.
🖱️https://f.mtr.cool/owqgwgyvko
#Journalism #News
November 3, 2025 at 5:55 AM
💰Ready to launch an impactful and financially sustainable newsroom?
Join the free online course “Launching Nonprofit Newsrooms: Practical Strategies for Funding and Growth.”
Learn strategies to build revenue and grow a sustainable newsroom.
🖱️https://f.mtr.cool/owqgwgyvko
#Journalism #News
Join the free online course “Launching Nonprofit Newsrooms: Practical Strategies for Funding and Growth.”
Learn strategies to build revenue and grow a sustainable newsroom.
🖱️https://f.mtr.cool/owqgwgyvko
#Journalism #News
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said
October 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Are you interested in local journalism research? Next Friday we are having a free online webinar bringing together a premium selection of UK-based industry leaders, policymakers, journalists, and academics to explore how research can shape the future of local media. Check the link for more!
Select tickets – Bridging the Gap – Local News Research Meets Practice – Teams
Bridging the Gap – Local News Research Meets Practice – Teams, Fri 17 Oct 2025 - Bridging the Gap – Local News Research Meets Practice
Hosted by: MeCCSA Local and Community Media (LCM) Section
Join us...
www.tickettailor.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Are you interested in local journalism research? Next Friday we are having a free online webinar bringing together a premium selection of UK-based industry leaders, policymakers, journalists, and academics to explore how research can shape the future of local media. Check the link for more!
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Former cop Jeffrey Kriv has pleaded guilty to lying under oath and forging reports to get out of speeding/other tickets.
And with his credibility at issue, prosecutors now have dropped 92 cases where he had been an arresting officer, @propublica.org found.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
And with his credibility at issue, prosecutors now have dropped 92 cases where he had been an arresting officer, @propublica.org found.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison
Retired officer Jeffrey Kriv acknowledged repeatedly lying under oath to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets. Prosecutors have dropped at least 92 cases in which Kriv was a key w...
www.propublica.org
October 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Former cop Jeffrey Kriv has pleaded guilty to lying under oath and forging reports to get out of speeding/other tickets.
And with his credibility at issue, prosecutors now have dropped 92 cases where he had been an arresting officer, @propublica.org found.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
And with his credibility at issue, prosecutors now have dropped 92 cases where he had been an arresting officer, @propublica.org found.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Chicago prosecutors have dropped nearly 100 pending cases against people accused of drunk and dangerous driving and other traffic offenses.
Why? The ex-Chicago cop involved in their arrests lied and forged records to dodge his own traffic offenses.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Why? The ex-Chicago cop involved in their arrests lied and forged records to dodge his own traffic offenses.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison
Retired officer Jeffrey Kriv acknowledged repeatedly lying under oath to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets. Prosecutors have dropped at least 92 cases in which Kriv was a key w...
www.propublica.org
October 2, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Chicago prosecutors have dropped nearly 100 pending cases against people accused of drunk and dangerous driving and other traffic offenses.
Why? The ex-Chicago cop involved in their arrests lied and forged records to dodge his own traffic offenses.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Why? The ex-Chicago cop involved in their arrests lied and forged records to dodge his own traffic offenses.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Switzerland just voted to create a new electronic ID card (the Swiss introduced physical ones in 1955). It's stored locally on your device, you personally approve requests for your data, and is designed to prevent profiling. Contrast to, for example, Britain's centralized proposal.
The Electronic Identity (e-ID)
The e-ID is the digital form of an ID card
www.eid.admin.ch
September 29, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Switzerland just voted to create a new electronic ID card (the Swiss introduced physical ones in 1955). It's stored locally on your device, you personally approve requests for your data, and is designed to prevent profiling. Contrast to, for example, Britain's centralized proposal.
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
For smaller newsrooms, it's not enough to just hand over some data- there needs to be a capacity to make effective use of it for impactful stories, says @cephillips.bsky.social #datajconf
September 10, 2025 at 7:23 AM
For smaller newsrooms, it's not enough to just hand over some data- there needs to be a capacity to make effective use of it for impactful stories, says @cephillips.bsky.social #datajconf
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Removing friction points is part of the process of enabling data journalism - eg. by offering reporting recipes or regular 'office hours' for tech support, says @cephillips.bsky.social #datajconf
September 10, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Removing friction points is part of the process of enabling data journalism - eg. by offering reporting recipes or regular 'office hours' for tech support, says @cephillips.bsky.social #datajconf
Glad to see this work by Sammy Sussman in The NYT and very glad @shcohen.bsky.social and @biglocalnews.bsky.social could contribute! www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...
In New York, Some Police Officers Can Drink, Drive and Avoid Charges
www.nytimes.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Glad to see this work by Sammy Sussman in The NYT and very glad @shcohen.bsky.social and @biglocalnews.bsky.social could contribute! www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
We're back after a lovely lunch, and our second keynote is underway! Marc Lavallee, on Finding your AI Frontier #datajconf
September 9, 2025 at 11:15 AM
We're back after a lovely lunch, and our second keynote is underway! Marc Lavallee, on Finding your AI Frontier #datajconf
Getting gas late tonight and I am reminded of the time I wrote a story at The Detroit News in the 1990s that talked about how soon, remote pay gas stations would be commonplace. 🙂
August 20, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Getting gas late tonight and I am reminded of the time I wrote a story at The Detroit News in the 1990s that talked about how soon, remote pay gas stations would be commonplace. 🙂
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Exclusive: An internal planning road map obtained by The Post shows the strategy behind ICE’s breakneck expansion, a chaotic effort that has already triggered lawsuits and accusations of cruelty. wapo.st/41FWkck
August 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Exclusive: An internal planning road map obtained by The Post shows the strategy behind ICE’s breakneck expansion, a chaotic effort that has already triggered lawsuits and accusations of cruelty. wapo.st/41FWkck
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
“Inside California’s new police records database” - Spend a few minutes watching an interview with Cheryl Phillips (@cephillips.bsky.social) on KTVU Fox 2 (@ktvufox2.bsky.social) to hear more about the new database.
www.ktvu.com/video/1686149
#AI #UCBerkeley #Stanford #localnews
www.ktvu.com/video/1686149
#AI #UCBerkeley #Stanford #localnews
Inside California’s new police records database
Cheryl Phillips, founder and co-Director of Big Local News at Stanford University, gives insight on new database giving Californians access to nearly one-point-five million pages of internal police re...
www.ktvu.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:49 PM
“Inside California’s new police records database” - Spend a few minutes watching an interview with Cheryl Phillips (@cephillips.bsky.social) on KTVU Fox 2 (@ktvufox2.bsky.social) to hear more about the new database.
www.ktvu.com/video/1686149
#AI #UCBerkeley #Stanford #localnews
www.ktvu.com/video/1686149
#AI #UCBerkeley #Stanford #localnews
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
scoop: @charterworks, the media startup co-founded by WSJ alum @delaney, has sold to @sfstandard. Behind the deal is Michael Moritz, the SF billionaire who placed early bets on Google and PayPal and is now investing in news.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/b...
He Made Billions on Google and PayPal. Now, He’s Betting on News.
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 6:02 PM
scoop: @charterworks, the media startup co-founded by WSJ alum @delaney, has sold to @sfstandard. Behind the deal is Michael Moritz, the SF billionaire who placed early bets on Google and PayPal and is now investing in news.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/b...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Hello #IRE25! I'll be presenting tomorrow on a panel about localizing data for investigative reporting. @cephillips.bsky.social, Samantha Sunne and Nicole Lewis are all on the panel as well! Not to be missed.
schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...
schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...
June 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Hello #IRE25! I'll be presenting tomorrow on a panel about localizing data for investigative reporting. @cephillips.bsky.social, Samantha Sunne and Nicole Lewis are all on the panel as well! Not to be missed.
schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...
schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
“… it seemed that the news industry was in fact sitting on a treasure trove that the tech companies would need to pay for to keep scaling up their models: fresh, human-authored data.”
@nickdiakopoulos.bsky.social’s primer on model collapse:
@nickdiakopoulos.bsky.social’s primer on model collapse:
Rethinking Model Collapse and What that Means for the Value of News Data
What is model collapse and what does it mean for news organization strategy?
generative-ai-newsroom.com
June 16, 2025 at 12:26 PM
“… it seemed that the news industry was in fact sitting on a treasure trove that the tech companies would need to pay for to keep scaling up their models: fresh, human-authored data.”
@nickdiakopoulos.bsky.social’s primer on model collapse:
@nickdiakopoulos.bsky.social’s primer on model collapse:
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
And yes, this is effectively me trying to get the world to care about prompt injection by trying out a new term for a subset of the problem!
I hope this captures the risk to end users in a more visceral way - particularly important now that people are mixing and matching MCP servers themselves
I hope this captures the risk to end users in a more visceral way - particularly important now that people are mixing and matching MCP servers themselves
June 16, 2025 at 1:28 PM
And yes, this is effectively me trying to get the world to care about prompt injection by trying out a new term for a subset of the problem!
I hope this captures the risk to end users in a more visceral way - particularly important now that people are mixing and matching MCP servers themselves
I hope this captures the risk to end users in a more visceral way - particularly important now that people are mixing and matching MCP servers themselves
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
If you use "AI agents" (LLMs calling tools in a loop) you need to be aware of the Lethal Trifecta
Combine access to private data, exposure to untrusted content and the ability to externally communicate and an attacker can trick the system into stealing your data simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/16/...
Combine access to private data, exposure to untrusted content and the ability to externally communicate and an attacker can trick the system into stealing your data simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/16/...
The lethal trifecta for AI agents: private data, untrusted content, and external communication
If you are a user of LLM systems that use tools (you can call them “AI agents” if you like) it is critically important that you understand the risk of …
simonwillison.net
June 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM
If you use "AI agents" (LLMs calling tools in a loop) you need to be aware of the Lethal Trifecta
Combine access to private data, exposure to untrusted content and the ability to externally communicate and an attacker can trick the system into stealing your data simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/16/...
Combine access to private data, exposure to untrusted content and the ability to externally communicate and an attacker can trick the system into stealing your data simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/16/...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
A DOGEr with no government or contracting experience used an LLM to identify contracts for cancelation — or “munching,” in his terms — at the VA. It did not go well. We have the scoop:
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts
We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wron...
www.propublica.org
June 6, 2025 at 11:31 AM
A DOGEr with no government or contracting experience used an LLM to identify contracts for cancelation — or “munching,” in his terms — at the VA. It did not go well. We have the scoop:
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
Product development is built on a foundation of trust - A conversation with Elite Truong, VP of Product Strategy rjionline.org/news/product...
Product development is built on a foundation of trust
A conversation with Elite Truong, VP of Product Strategy The vice president of product strategy at the American Press Institute and board secretary for the News Product Alliance, Elite Truong, has…
rjionline.org
May 10, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Product development is built on a foundation of trust - A conversation with Elite Truong, VP of Product Strategy rjionline.org/news/product...
Reposted by Cheryl Phillips
NEW: The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.
Under Texas’ Abortion Ban, Where a Woman Lives Can Determine Her Risk of Developing Sepsis
While the rates of dangerous infections spiked across the state after it banned abortion in 2021, women in Houston fared far worse than those in Dallas, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind ana...
www.propublica.org
May 7, 2025 at 8:31 PM
NEW: The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.