whitney
@heyitswhitney.bsky.social
durham, nc. | public media. | big nerd for journalism, music, boardgames, genre fiction, videogames. | online MADC student @ UNC-CH, beware grad school brain worms
USPS in Durham has really been not doing their job in 2026. I've gotten several scan excuses for not delivering on time, first time I got this one. Why can't we have nice things
February 18, 2026 at 12:33 AM
USPS in Durham has really been not doing their job in 2026. I've gotten several scan excuses for not delivering on time, first time I got this one. Why can't we have nice things
Reposted by whitney
This is the thing about “prompt engineering.” If engineering is intended to solve a problem, prompting cannot solve for the real problem: you ain’t got no ideas!
Let me get this straight.
He can’t even think of a PROMPT?
What part of this end result is something for which anyone should pay him? If you can’t even write the prompt, what is your contribution?
YOU’RE NOT EVEN TYPING.
He can’t even think of a PROMPT?
What part of this end result is something for which anyone should pay him? If you can’t even write the prompt, what is your contribution?
YOU’RE NOT EVEN TYPING.
AI filmmaking is completely unserious.
You've got people with $30k begging the internet for ideas by next week because they have nothing of their own to say, it's just slop for the sake of slop. Embarrassing state of affairs.
You've got people with $30k begging the internet for ideas by next week because they have nothing of their own to say, it's just slop for the sake of slop. Embarrassing state of affairs.
February 17, 2026 at 8:49 PM
This is the thing about “prompt engineering.” If engineering is intended to solve a problem, prompting cannot solve for the real problem: you ain’t got no ideas!
Reposted by whitney
Thinking today about tech literacy in our newsrooms and the rational ethics of rejecting an innovation:
kiesow.net/the-ethics-o...
kiesow.net/the-ethics-o...
The ethics of journalism tech
On the lecture circuit, I almost never repeat the same slide deck twice. Usually, events move too quickly for the exact lesson to be replayed.
The one exception: a discussion about the ethics of jour...
kiesow.net
February 17, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Thinking today about tech literacy in our newsrooms and the rational ethics of rejecting an innovation:
kiesow.net/the-ethics-o...
kiesow.net/the-ethics-o...
Reposted by whitney
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
February 16, 2026 at 12:13 PM
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
Color me intrigued by this sim game where you run a newspaper in the 1930s store.steampowered.com/app/1649950/...
News Tower on Steam
Develop your newspaper and become New York’s new media mogul! In this tycoon, build and manage your newspaper from printer to toilet. Create your editorial line and lead your journalists through uniqu...
store.steampowered.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Color me intrigued by this sim game where you run a newspaper in the 1930s store.steampowered.com/app/1649950/...
Reposted by whitney
Big thanks to everyone who came to yesterday's Audience Development Summit session! ICYMI this is KQED's deep dive on Trusted Voice Content and how we did it. current.org/2025/10/how-pro...
How promos can build audience, and trust, for public media journalism
When KQED began producing unscripted audio spots for news stories, the audience response revealed a new strategy for building digital engagement.
current.org
February 12, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Big thanks to everyone who came to yesterday's Audience Development Summit session! ICYMI this is KQED's deep dive on Trusted Voice Content and how we did it. current.org/2025/10/how-pro...
I started watching Shrinking from the beginning again with the new context that my dad recently shared his Parkinson's diagnosis with me. While we don't have a continent separating us, I don't have a child, and my dad isn't a career therapist, Paul and Meg's storyline resonates a lot ..
February 11, 2026 at 8:49 PM
I started watching Shrinking from the beginning again with the new context that my dad recently shared his Parkinson's diagnosis with me. While we don't have a continent separating us, I don't have a child, and my dad isn't a career therapist, Paul and Meg's storyline resonates a lot ..
Reposted by whitney
One of the nicer celebs I met as a journalist. Doesn't always mean anything, but he was genuinely kind and interested in my work the couple of times we chatted. Loved him in Don't Trust the B----. RIP
James Van Der Beek, who has been battling cancer, has died.
He was 48.
Per TMZ.
He was 48.
Per TMZ.
February 11, 2026 at 7:45 PM
One of the nicer celebs I met as a journalist. Doesn't always mean anything, but he was genuinely kind and interested in my work the couple of times we chatted. Loved him in Don't Trust the B----. RIP
I know the job market sucks right now but so does being on a human hiring committee and having to go through 182 applications manually, given the shotgunning people are doing assuming AI is doing all the screening.
February 11, 2026 at 7:15 PM
I know the job market sucks right now but so does being on a human hiring committee and having to go through 182 applications manually, given the shotgunning people are doing assuming AI is doing all the screening.
A bitch is in a prolonged profound funk
It's me, I'm the bitch
It's me, I'm the bitch
February 11, 2026 at 12:40 AM
A bitch is in a prolonged profound funk
It's me, I'm the bitch
It's me, I'm the bitch
Reposted by whitney
Reposted by whitney
The media need a media literacy course
I guess one thing about being a pro wrestling fan is you know how bullshit YouTube numbers are. The Turning Point halftime got 5 million global views, that *DOES NOT* mean 5 million people watched it. Media lacks experts & it's causing them to publish false information.
February 9, 2026 at 3:10 PM
The media need a media literacy course
Reposted by whitney
Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
WE BOUGHT A SUPER BOWL AD.
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by whitney
Bad Bunny's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show
YouTube video by NFL
youtu.be
February 9, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Grabbed a print of the zine from @404media.co and it's fire 🔥
Love to see journalist-owned outlets doing projects like this
Love to see journalist-owned outlets doing projects like this
February 9, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Grabbed a print of the zine from @404media.co and it's fire 🔥
Love to see journalist-owned outlets doing projects like this
Love to see journalist-owned outlets doing projects like this
Reposted by whitney
Nothing “suspected” about it. All art is political.
The fragiles over at Fox are doing their thing … Self parody.
February 9, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Nothing “suspected” about it. All art is political.
Reposted by whitney
As journalism re-embraces community as a core component of audience work, we’re going to see publishers make the cardinal sin of community management:
Believing they own the community.
You can never own the community. You can host it, sure. You can - and should - serve it.
But you never own it.
Believing they own the community.
You can never own the community. You can host it, sure. You can - and should - serve it.
But you never own it.
February 9, 2026 at 10:07 AM
As journalism re-embraces community as a core component of audience work, we’re going to see publishers make the cardinal sin of community management:
Believing they own the community.
You can never own the community. You can host it, sure. You can - and should - serve it.
But you never own it.
Believing they own the community.
You can never own the community. You can host it, sure. You can - and should - serve it.
But you never own it.
Reposted by whitney
Next, Bezos can sell or set the Post as a nonprofit
BREAKING: Washington Post publisher Will Lewis said Saturday that he’s stepping down, three days after the troubled newspaper said that it was laying off one-third of its staff.
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis says he's stepping down, days after big layoffs at the paper
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis says he’s stepping down, three days after the troubled newspaper said that it was laying off one-third of its staff.
bit.ly
February 7, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Next, Bezos can sell or set the Post as a nonprofit
👀
With legacy newsrooms struggling creating stability and positive work cultures, most of the best will leave.
Great write-up for one of the options that are now easier to create (still hard, but easier): journalism co-ops: www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
Great write-up for one of the options that are now easier to create (still hard, but easier): journalism co-ops: www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
February 7, 2026 at 1:35 PM
👀
I'm gonna do another big boardgame cull but also I'm feeling tempted to get Return to Dark Tower 👀
February 6, 2026 at 1:56 AM
I'm gonna do another big boardgame cull but also I'm feeling tempted to get Return to Dark Tower 👀
Reposted by whitney
Put me in the “don’t overreact and don’t spread panic” camp on this one. The concentrated “enforcement” seen in MPLS is the absolute extent of their capabilities and it doesn’t scale.
Not saying they won’t try some shit but don’t help them scare people away from the polls.
Not saying they won’t try some shit but don’t help them scare people away from the polls.
🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections
Trump doubled down on his comments to nationalize voting Tuesday during an Oval Office press conference. “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” Trump sai...
www.democracydocket.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Put me in the “don’t overreact and don’t spread panic” camp on this one. The concentrated “enforcement” seen in MPLS is the absolute extent of their capabilities and it doesn’t scale.
Not saying they won’t try some shit but don’t help them scare people away from the polls.
Not saying they won’t try some shit but don’t help them scare people away from the polls.
Reposted by whitney
Up now on @indyweek.bsky.social, an excerpt from this essential new @uncpress.bsky.social release. It tells the story of Wyatt Outlaw - a voting rights crusader and Graham’s first Black elected official. He was lynched in 1870. There are no public markers for his life yet, but now there’s a book.
Welcome to Alamance County, North Carolina
An excerpt from "The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw: From Reconstruction through Black Lives Matter" by Sylvester Allen Jr. and Belle Boggs.
indyweek.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Up now on @indyweek.bsky.social, an excerpt from this essential new @uncpress.bsky.social release. It tells the story of Wyatt Outlaw - a voting rights crusader and Graham’s first Black elected official. He was lynched in 1870. There are no public markers for his life yet, but now there’s a book.
Everyone should subscribe to @51st.news
February 4, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Everyone should subscribe to @51st.news
Reposted by whitney
bosses keep telling journalists to "do more with less" and it has never, ever worked
February 4, 2026 at 3:26 PM
bosses keep telling journalists to "do more with less" and it has never, ever worked
Reposted by whitney
The @51st.news exists
Spitballing/bargaining stage of grief: A “Washington Banner” outlet, spun off the successful Baltimore Banner and taking advantage of its backend, built out of laid off Washington Post Metro and Sports staffers and funded via a mixed nonprofit and subscription model…
February 4, 2026 at 1:27 PM
The @51st.news exists