Nicholas Dawes
@nicdawes.bsky.social
New York. Trace amounts of past lives at THE CITY, Human Rights Watch, Mail & Guardian, and Hindustan Times may be present. Slight risk of bicycles and mountains.
Many news orgs are "all-in" on AI, fearful of repeating the errors of the early digital era, but what if the real risk lies in handing chunks of our business, our civic function, and our values to a handful of hyperscalers? @alixdunn.com prodded me to think that through with her for @themaybe.org
The Maybe
www.themaybe.org
November 7, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Many news orgs are "all-in" on AI, fearful of repeating the errors of the early digital era, but what if the real risk lies in handing chunks of our business, our civic function, and our values to a handful of hyperscalers? @alixdunn.com prodded me to think that through with her for @themaybe.org
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
AP reporter Regina Garcia Cano looked into a few of the men killed in Trump's extrajudicial strikes on Caribbean boats.
"They were laborers, a fisherman, a taxi driver. Two were low-level career criminals. One was a local crime boss who contracted out smuggling services"
apnews.com/article/trum...
"They were laborers, a fisherman, a taxi driver. Two were low-level career criminals. One was a local crime boss who contracted out smuggling services"
apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump has accused boat crews of being narco-terrorists. The truth, AP found, is more nuanced
One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet.
apnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:05 PM
AP reporter Regina Garcia Cano looked into a few of the men killed in Trump's extrajudicial strikes on Caribbean boats.
"They were laborers, a fisherman, a taxi driver. Two were low-level career criminals. One was a local crime boss who contracted out smuggling services"
apnews.com/article/trum...
"They were laborers, a fisherman, a taxi driver. Two were low-level career criminals. One was a local crime boss who contracted out smuggling services"
apnews.com/article/trum...
Despite Zohran Mamdani's coalition-building among South Asian New Yorkers, caste barely figured in the campaign. @yashicadutt.bsky.social spoke with Dalit canvassers and parsed his legislative record on an issue that animates both supporters and his critics on the Hindu right.
What Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Says About the Quiet Erasure of Caste in US Politics
As temples become key sites for candidates’ visits, New York’s mayoral race has revealed broader tensions between Dalit advocates and the rising Hindu right
newlinesmag.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Despite Zohran Mamdani's coalition-building among South Asian New Yorkers, caste barely figured in the campaign. @yashicadutt.bsky.social spoke with Dalit canvassers and parsed his legislative record on an issue that animates both supporters and his critics on the Hindu right.
Vital work from @lighthousereports.com and Sudan War Monitor. sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-ethnic...
RSF Ethnic-Based killings in Fasher Estimated at 7000
The fugitives were pursued and either killed or captured while few escaped
sudanwarmonitor.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Vital work from @lighthousereports.com and Sudan War Monitor. sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-ethnic...
As Google's news czar Richard Gingras was a hugely influential presence in the conversation over journalism and big tech for 15 years, but he seldom faced more than mildly skeptical questioning. In Vienna last month @antelava.bsky.social flipped the script www.codastory.com/authoritaria...
The Werewolf game: an interview with Google's former news chief Richard Gingras - Coda Story
Richard Gingras spent 15 years shaping Google's relationship with journalism—funding conferences, building friendships, creating dependencies. At a Vienna conference, we asked him to account for the s...
www.codastory.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:07 PM
As Google's news czar Richard Gingras was a hugely influential presence in the conversation over journalism and big tech for 15 years, but he seldom faced more than mildly skeptical questioning. In Vienna last month @antelava.bsky.social flipped the script www.codastory.com/authoritaria...
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
I am taking particular pleasure in the complete collapse of trans-as-unbeatable-wedge-issue narrative this morning. It might be an 80-20 issue in voters minds, but it has to be on voters minds to matter. The results in VA demonstrate that it is very much not on voters minds.
November 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I am taking particular pleasure in the complete collapse of trans-as-unbeatable-wedge-issue narrative this morning. It might be an 80-20 issue in voters minds, but it has to be on voters minds to matter. The results in VA demonstrate that it is very much not on voters minds.
The most slept-on ballot question in NY was no. 1, allowing the expansion of xc ski facilities at Mt Van Hoevenberg in exchange for land being added to the Adirondack park. It looks like passing narrowly after supporters did almost nothing to explain its merits. spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-...
N.Y. voters split on ballot proposal on sports complex land deal in Adirondacks
The "yes" vote for the proposal was leading with 45% of the vote while the "no" vote garnered 42%.
spectrumlocalnews.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The most slept-on ballot question in NY was no. 1, allowing the expansion of xc ski facilities at Mt Van Hoevenberg in exchange for land being added to the Adirondack park. It looks like passing narrowly after supporters did almost nothing to explain its merits. spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-...
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
This NYT story about how Mamdani dealt with the opposition by the city's elites fails to mention one particular elite institution: The NYT editorial page, which last June railed against him as "uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges... lacks political savvy"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
1/
How Zohran Mamdani Beat Back New York’s Elite and Was Elected Mayor
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
This NYT story about how Mamdani dealt with the opposition by the city's elites fails to mention one particular elite institution: The NYT editorial page, which last June railed against him as "uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges... lacks political savvy"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
1/
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
NYT or THE CITY. You decide.
November 4, 2025 at 6:40 PM
NYT or THE CITY. You decide.
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
Total turnout is already near 1 million
As points of reference:
As points of reference:
November 4, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Total turnout is already near 1 million
As points of reference:
As points of reference:
This is a cute, savvy-seeming headline, confirmed by 3 Republican sources, and no-one else. It's also a woefully inadequate way to map the legal, fiscal, and messaging terrain that Trump and the next mayor will battle over.
Trump holds all the cards in New York’s mayoral contest
The leading candidates’ flaws will be easy pickings for the president to leverage.
www.politico.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
This is a cute, savvy-seeming headline, confirmed by 3 Republican sources, and no-one else. It's also a woefully inadequate way to map the legal, fiscal, and messaging terrain that Trump and the next mayor will battle over.
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
Federal agents many in masks at Broadway and Canal moments ago questioning a man, a bunch more agents just walked away. "Can i call my mom," the man asks, he's now being loaded into a car and being driven away. More TK @thecity.nyc
October 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Federal agents many in masks at Broadway and Canal moments ago questioning a man, a bunch more agents just walked away. "Can i call my mom," the man asks, he's now being loaded into a car and being driven away. More TK @thecity.nyc
Remember when the internet was this resilient, decentralized thing, designed to route around problems?
Your favorite thing is down because DynamoDB at Amazon's AWS US-EAST-1 Regionwoke up with Main Character Syndrome.
This is the default /legacy backbone for a ton of things.
Including Amazon's own stuff.
Massive outages.
Here's what's going on & what we know 1/
This is the default /legacy backbone for a ton of things.
Including Amazon's own stuff.
Massive outages.
Here's what's going on & what we know 1/
October 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Remember when the internet was this resilient, decentralized thing, designed to route around problems?
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
New in @niemanreports.org: Media watchers say recent court orders have given Gautam Adani, the Adani Group's billionaire owner, increasing censorship powers over his critics, representing a grave threat to press freedom in India.
niemanreports.org/india-lawfar...
niemanreports.org/india-lawfar...
India’s Powerful Turn to Lawfare to Stifle the Press - Nieman Reports
A spate of new legislation in India is aimed at curbing free expression, writes Vidya Krishnan for Nieman Reports.
niemanreports.org
October 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
New in @niemanreports.org: Media watchers say recent court orders have given Gautam Adani, the Adani Group's billionaire owner, increasing censorship powers over his critics, representing a grave threat to press freedom in India.
niemanreports.org/india-lawfar...
niemanreports.org/india-lawfar...
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
Anyone from the AI world who thinks ‘agentic AI will replace journalists’ should read this piece. Anyone who thinks ‘public service journalism is dead’ should read this piece (or revise their understanding of ‘public service’)
Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen...they promptly let the individual go."
The reality: Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
A must read from the very talented @nicolefoy.bsky.social:
The reality: Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
A must read from the very talented @nicolefoy.bsky.social:
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Anyone from the AI world who thinks ‘agentic AI will replace journalists’ should read this piece. Anyone who thinks ‘public service journalism is dead’ should read this piece (or revise their understanding of ‘public service’)
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
Lastly, from a business pov: this is such a dogshit deal. Spending $150 million for a publication that has fewer than 200k paid subs subscribers, no advertising, and revenue about $10 mill a year. This is not a money making business but instead an outrage making business.
And now it’s CBS.
And now it’s CBS.
October 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Lastly, from a business pov: this is such a dogshit deal. Spending $150 million for a publication that has fewer than 200k paid subs subscribers, no advertising, and revenue about $10 mill a year. This is not a money making business but instead an outrage making business.
And now it’s CBS.
And now it’s CBS.
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Peak college application season for high school seniors and their families, and some pretty clear signaling from UMich in this full page ad in the print edition of today's Times.
October 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Peak college application season for high school seniors and their families, and some pretty clear signaling from UMich in this full page ad in the print edition of today's Times.
And what has consistently fueled popular resistance to authoritarian leaders from Kenya to Ukraine and beyond? Corruption.
I’m starting to notice a trend in the polling data…
—Top Public Worry: Corruption
—Biggest problem in Fed Gov: Corruption
—Top fear: Corruption
—What one word would you use to describe American government?: “Corrupt”
It’s almost like voters are trying to tell us something.
—Top Public Worry: Corruption
—Biggest problem in Fed Gov: Corruption
—Top fear: Corruption
—What one word would you use to describe American government?: “Corrupt”
It’s almost like voters are trying to tell us something.
October 4, 2025 at 2:42 PM
And what has consistently fueled popular resistance to authoritarian leaders from Kenya to Ukraine and beyond? Corruption.
This likely won't be the last deportation for committing an act of journalism, and it is a warning that indiscriminate arrests by local police around protests will be used as tools and pretexts.
Journalist Mario Guevara has been deported. He spent three-plus months in ICE custody after livestreaming a protest, before being flown out of the U.S. on Oct. 3.
In a recent post, he wrote: “My dedication to my work cost me my freedom.”
In a recent post, he wrote: “My dedication to my work cost me my freedom.”
Spanish-language reporter arrested at Atlanta-area protest; faces deportation
Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration issues, was arrested at an anti-Trump protest in Chamblee, Georgia, near Atlanta, …
pressfreedomtracker.us
October 3, 2025 at 7:08 PM
This likely won't be the last deportation for committing an act of journalism, and it is a warning that indiscriminate arrests by local police around protests will be used as tools and pretexts.
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
Georgia (the country) is on the frontlines of resisting Russian style repression. Aggressive tactics targeting the independent media have continued escalating, including the case of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli (see thread).
cpj.org/2025/10/geor...
cpj.org/2025/10/geor...
Georgian authorities probe press organizations under foreign funding laws - Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, October 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Georgian authorities to repeal restrictive new laws covering foreign donor grants as Georgian authorities open investigations in...
cpj.org
October 3, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Georgia (the country) is on the frontlines of resisting Russian style repression. Aggressive tactics targeting the independent media have continued escalating, including the case of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli (see thread).
cpj.org/2025/10/geor...
cpj.org/2025/10/geor...
In the absence of BLS data, we are reliant on a patchwork of less rigorous fallbacks, and they aren't any cheerier than the official numbers www.linkedin.com/pulse/octobe...
October US Jobs Report
Consensus estimates suggest nonfarm payrolls rose by about +50K in September, above August’s gain. LinkedIn data points to a similar gain of +55K.
www.linkedin.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:41 PM
In the absence of BLS data, we are reliant on a patchwork of less rigorous fallbacks, and they aren't any cheerier than the official numbers www.linkedin.com/pulse/octobe...
Reposted by Nicholas Dawes
BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.
Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
October 2, 2025 at 10:42 PM
BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.
Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
This is what the Indian government does to civil servants it doesn't like and can't fire.
NEWS: The federal govt is sending NYC’s top disease control official to Arizona for a months-long stint at an Indian Health Service facility.
That could complicate local infectious disease response efforts.
“If we have an outbreak, then we’re fucked,” a city health department staffer told me.
That could complicate local infectious disease response efforts.
“If we have an outbreak, then we’re fucked,” a city health department staffer told me.
October 1, 2025 at 9:10 PM
This is what the Indian government does to civil servants it doesn't like and can't fire.