Sophie Culpepper
LightNews LightNews
speppered.bsky.social
Sophie Culpepper
@speppered.bsky.social
940 followers 200 following 9 posts
Staff writer @niemanlab.org, sophie@niemanlab.org. Local news enthusiast, midnights become my afternoons
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Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
jwherrman.bsky.social
I don't love making broad predictions but I feel this one in my bones
It's interesting - I'II stop short of saying fun - to think about how far all this might go, and what that comprehensively "financialized" information environment would be like to live in. I dont think that you need to move very far in that direction before widespread participation in prediction markets starts to meaningfully influence how people engage with the democratic process. To make that more specific, in the spirit of this package: If enough people see their responsibility during an election as guessing who'll win, it seems reasonable to expect that they II start to vote differently, as will a public increasingly convinced of and/or confused about the value of aggregated prediction. And to put a human face on it: Have you spent much time talking politics with young traders? Or consuming their favorite sources of news? Or even just eavesdropping on their bubble on X? Living and working in service and fear of prediction does some specific and fascinating things to your view of the world! (And that's not even getting into the insider-ish trading-ish possibilities, which | suppose a prediction market true believer would tell you are an information-revealing feature, not a bug.) Prediction markets pitch themselves as a corrective for the media and a replacement for punditry, toward which their proponents usefully and I think honestly perform contempt - hating the media is good marketing, making fun of the media is good politics, and trying to replace it is good business. (Kalshi and Polymarket are both getting into media in their own ways, beyond just partnerships.) But I'm not sure anyone, including blackpilled MAGA-curious founders, has less respect for the profession than political media executives and our most sociopathic pundits, who'll be happier than anyone to have an additional layer of game-like abstraction between their brains and the processes that determine, for example, who lives and dies in America.
December 11, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
brooklinenews.bsky.social
Nuno Loureiro, the Brookline resident and father of three who was killed in a shooting Monday, was funny, smart, personable and an "extraordinary" scientist, according to colleagues and others who knew him.

Neighbors gathered at a vigil last night holding candles.

brookline.news/as-homicide-...
As homicide investigation continues, neighbors, colleagues gather to remember 'extraordinary' Brookline scientist - Brookline.News
Nuno Loureiro was shot and killed at his Gibbs Street home on Monday night.
brookline.news
December 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
speppered.bsky.social
projects.browndailyherald.com/2025/12/16/t... proud of and heartsick for the students doing this work while grieving. This would have been my worst nightmare as a student AND student journalist.

This shooting happened barely one week after The Herald's new editorial board assumed leadership.
‘Unimaginably tragic’: Tracing the 50 hours after the shooting at Brown
Brown Daily Herald article constructing a timeline of events that followed Saturday’s shooting at Brown University.
projects.browndailyherald.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
bostonglobe.com
Ella Cook was a leader in the college Republicans club. MukhammadAziz Umurzokov dreamed of becoming a doctor. Both saw their lives cut short on Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Brown University.
He dreamed of being a doctor. She was a leader in the college Republicans club. What we know about Brown shooting victims. - The Boston Globe
Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were attending a review session for a popular economics class when a gunman came into the classroom and opened fire.
trib.al
December 16, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
Stumped on what to get the journalist in your life this year? Start here.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
The 2025 gift guide for journalists
Coffee (faster!), #tradwife murder mysteries, heated mattress pads, Prohibition-era video games, and much more.
www.niemanlab.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
The @sltrib.com has budgeted nearly zero subscription income in 2026 because of its plans to drop its paywall and adopt a membership model.
How The Salt Lake Tribune spent 2025 preparing for a 2026 without subscription revenue
Personally, my favorite form of journalistic impact is when the reporting becomes a central plot point on a Real Housewives franchise. In the Season 6 premiere of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake…
www.niemanlab.org
November 24, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
laurahazardowen.bsky.social
"A lot of people have been hurt over this strike financially [and] emotionally. I want to make sure that has its due. But we’re going to have to work through that very quickly and get back to work."

by @sarahscire.com
What newsroom organizers learned from the years-long strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The importance of coordination, how digital news consumption patterns limit the effectiveness of public shame, and more.
www.niemanlab.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/at-f...
At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets
"We no longer begin with the idea that we're a local podcast network, even though that is the most familiar thing to most people.”
www.niemanlab.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
andrewdeck.bsky.social
Last week, Suncoast Searchlight's four reporters wrote a letter to their board. Their editor-in-chief had secretly been using ChatGPT and inserting hallucinated quotes into their drafts.

The next day, one of those reporters was fired. My latest for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...
Florida nonprofit news reporters ask board to investigate their editor’s AI use
Suncoast Searchlight’s four reporters told the board their editor-in-chief was using AI editing tools and inserting hallucinations into drafts. The next day, one of the reporters was fired.
www.niemanlab.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
A rapidly multiplying number of new media upstarts are entering the fray in Los Angeles — from driven local journalists to national commercial and philanthropic institutions that sense opportunity. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more...
“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game
A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids…
www.niemanlab.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
brizzyc.bsky.social
Finally some good journalism news out of LA, where lots of new news orgs are popping up www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more... by @speppered.bsky.social
“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game
A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids ...
www.niemanlab.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/a-wi...
A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston
The Boston University Newsroom has published nearly 400 news articles in hyperlocal outlets in and around the city.
www.niemanlab.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
sarahscire.com
the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors
After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the P...
www.niemanlab.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
The Southern Utah Tribune is not intended to be [an offshoot] of Salt Lake City’s newsroom...this is a local news product for Washington County; its form and content are rooted in what residents told the Tribune they wanted, and it has two full-time reporters living in the county. buff.ly/4v5EaSu
The Salt Lake Tribune, preparing to drop its paywall, launches a free, monthly print newspaper for Southern Utah
“We believe that the first thing we have to do is build something that people want.”
www.niemanlab.org
October 29, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
"Digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast swaths of the country with little to no access to local news.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/in-m...
In Medill’s latest State of Local News report, a “festering, 20-year-old problem” looms larger than ever
“Digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast…
www.niemanlab.org
October 22, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
hanaatameez.bsky.social
NEW: @andrewdeck.bsky.social and I found the @waybackmachine.bsky.social has been archiving news homepages less frequently for the past 5 months.

The result: an 87% drop in homepage snapshots across 100 news outlets during a very newsy year. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/the-...
The Wayback Machine’s snapshots of news homepages plummet after a “breakdown” in archiving projects
Between May and October 2025, homepage snapshots fell by 87% across 100 news publications.
www.niemanlab.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
laurahazardowen.bsky.social
For the past few months, the Wayback Machine has been showing many fewer snapshots of news publishers' homepages than it used to. Something happened on May 16, but what?

@hanaatameez.bsky.social and @andrewdeck.bsky.social investigate

www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/the-...
The Wayback Machine’s snapshots of news homepages plummet after a “breakdown” in archiving projects
Between May and October 2025, homepage snapshots fell by 87% across 100 news publications.
www.niemanlab.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
The variety in these newsletters, and their creators, is an indicator of the ever-blurrier lines around what counts as news and who counts as a journalist.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/are-...
Are these local newsletters local <em>news</em>? (And does it matter?)
Meet a few of the entrepreneurs and hobbyists building community — and sometimes, making real ad money — from newsletters aggregating local events.
www.niemanlab.org
October 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
"While we heard throughout the research that people value the role of local news, the word 'journalism' can evoke partisanship or elitism for some audiences, while 'media' sounds like entertainment to many people." www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/dont...
Don’t dwell on “democracy,” and other new findings about how to market local news
"Here’s the paradox: 93% of people believe reliable local news is necessary for democracy, yet many of these same people react negatively to explicit 'democracy' messaging."
www.niemanlab.org
October 2, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
sarahscire.com
The Banner (@thebaltimorebanner.com) is one of the most promising local news nonprofits out there. I talked to the incoming editor-in-chief, CEO, and founder-backer for @niemanlab.org
September 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
joshuabenton.com
New by me yesterday —>

How about some good news? Could you use some good news today?

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/dall...
Dallas Morning News shareholders vote to deny the hedge fund Alden Global Capital
Is a newspaper a financial asset or a community trust? This particular standoff ended with an increasingly uncommon answer.
www.niemanlab.org
September 24, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
sarahscire.com
The average household income in Montgomery County is the 20th-highest among U.S. counties.

The county has the highest percentage (29.2%) of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate degrees. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/nonp...
Nonprofit news site The Banner expands beyond Baltimore
The Banner, the three-year-old Maryland news nonprofit that earned national recognition with a Pulitzer win this year, is launching a news bureau in Montgomery County. The expansion into Maryland's mo...
www.niemanlab.org
September 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
“If there’s an idea here that you like, you are welcome to it, just take it — do it in your town." www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/the-...
The Current wants other local publishers to steal its event ideas
“We started as an agency thinking of ourselves as feisty investigative journalists, and now we’re just feisty investigative journalists who also produce two events.”
www.niemanlab.org
September 17, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
hanaatameez.bsky.social
This story — which asks what happened to all of those newsroom DEI jobs, committees, and promises from 2020 — is the hardest one I've ever worked on. I hope you'll spend some time with it today.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...
From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline
Diversity-related newsroom jobs haven't totally disappeared — but they also haven't stuck.
www.niemanlab.org
September 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
neeldhanesha.com
One thing that struck me about my conversation with @davejorgenson.bsky.social: I think he's having...fun? With journalism? In this economy?

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/with...
With Local News International, Dave Jorgenson becomes his own TikTok guy
The former Washington Post video star talks about launching a new company with old colleagues, the importance of media literacy, and building a Daily Show for the internet.
www.niemanlab.org
September 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM