Nieman Lab

As AI data centers scale, investigating their impact becomes its own beat Three journalists shed new light on the windowless warehouses powering a tech revolution.

“If you’re a tech journalist, you can go in. If you’re a climate journalist, you can also go in. If you cover business or energy or if you’re a very local journalist — there’s a story for you." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/as-a...

A lot of journalism folks are offering editing advice as Grammarly’s AI “experts” Grammarly's AI-powered "Expert Review" promises "writing feedback by subject-matter experts," and if you write about journalism, there's a good chance that includes you.

Naturally, I wanted to know if I could find Nieman Lab–adjacent people in Expert Review. Turns out you all have been busy! www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/a-lo...

It’s time for local news funders to pick winners, scale up, and force mergers, a new report argues "I don’t think we’re in a stage, any longer, of innovation. It really is a challenge of what are the scaling solutions."

"One of the challenges of being in a predominantly nonprofit field is that there aren’t market mechanisms for things that are not working to stop. It’s very rare that things close or end." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/its-...

After Mexico’s most-wanted cartel leader was killed, OSINT helped fuel both clarity and confusion online Many OSINT analysts are experts in their fields and take care to verify information before publishing, but even well-intentioned accounts may inject more noise than clarity into an already tense…

After Mexico’s most-wanted cartel leader was killed, OSINT helped fuel both clarity and confusion online www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/afte...

With Washington Post Local diminished, other news sites step up their D.C. coverage The 51st, City Cast, and The Baltimore Banner are among the outlets to announce expansions of Washington, D.C. metro area coverage since the Post layoffs.

“The Post was always the thousand-pound gorilla in local reporting." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/with...

Traffic to top tech publications has plummeted since 2024, new analysis shows Organic search traffic to some of the internet’s most-read tech publications has dropped by 58% since 2024, according to a new analysis from the SEO and GEO marketing firm Growtika. The report pulled…

Traffic to top tech publications has plummeted since 2024, new analysis shows www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/traf...

Newsonomics: Will national news shrink even faster than local news did? "The sweep of changes we see has one main cause: the political effort to stifle robust national journalism."

"The sweep of changes we see has one main cause: the political effort to stifle robust national journalism." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/news...

“Podcast” meant nothing and everything at On Air Fest "Social media is turning into TV, but TV is turning into radio."

"Social media is turning into TV, but TV is turning into radio." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/podc...

AI-powered search is fueling a wave of Epstein Files transparency projects Newsrooms have long used AI to sift through document dumps. Now that same tech is being used to build search tools for readers.

Newsrooms have long used AI to sift through document dumps. Now that same tech is being used to build search tools for readers. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/ai-p...

The feature, which launched in August, claims to help you “sharpen your message through the lens of industry-relevant perspectives.” When users select the “expert review” button in the Grammarly sidebar, it analyzes their writing and surfaces AI-generated suggestions “inspired by” related experts. Those “industry-relevant perspectives” include the likes of Stephen King, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Carl Sagan, among many others. The Verge found numerous other tech journalists named in the feature, as well, including former Verge editors Casey Newton and Joanna Stern, former Verge writer Monica Chin, Wired’s Lauren Goode, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Jason Schreier, the New York Times’ Kashmir Hill, The Atlantic’s Kaitlyn Tiffany, PC Gamer’s Wes Fenlon, Gizmodo’s Raymond Wong, Digital Foundry founder Richard Leadbetter, Tom’s Guide editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer, former Rock Paper Shotgun editor-in-chief Katharine Castle, and former IGN news director Kat Bailey. The descriptions for some experts contain inaccuracies, such as outdated job titles, which could have been accurately updated had Superhuman asked those people for permission to reference their work.

The endpoint of journalism is that an AI startup turns you into a fake "editor" without telling you and against your will www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

X will demonetize users who post AI-generated videos of war (but not other kinds of disinformation) On Tuesday Nikita Bier, head of product at X, announced that users who post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without disclosing they were AI-generated will suspended from the site's…

X will demonetize users who post AI-generated videos of war (but not other kinds of disinformation) www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/x-wi...

With Washington Post Local diminished, other news sites step up their D.C. coverage The 51st, City Cast, and The Baltimore Banner are among the outlets to announce expansions of Washington, D.C. metro area coverage since the Post layoffs.

These models — a worker-owned coop, a for-profit outlet that’s part of a national network, and a powerhouse nonprofit — reflect the patchwork range of news orgs attempting to take up the mantle of local coverage when metro dailies buckle. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/with...

It’s time for local news funders to pick winners, scale up, and force mergers, a new report argues "I don’t think we’re in a stage, any longer, of innovation. It really is a challenge of what are the scaling solutions."

"I think the challenges now are so systemic that the only way to do responsible, impactful funding going forward is to look at system solutions rather than newsroom-based ones." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/its-...

AI-powered search is fueling a wave of Epstein Files transparency projects Newsrooms have long used AI to sift through document dumps. Now that same tech is being used to build search tools for readers.

In the vacuum left by the DOJ's faulty Epstein Files search, journalists and engineers have stepped in to build alternatives for readers.

"[When] people feel the government’s not being transparent, it’s even more important for media outlets to provide that service" www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/ai-p...

Traffic to top tech publications has plummeted since 2024, new analysis shows Organic search traffic to some of the internet’s most-read tech publications has dropped by 58% since 2024, according to a new analysis from the SEO and GEO marketing firm Growtika. The report pulled…

Organic search traffic to ten of the internet’s most-read tech publications has dropped 58% since 2024, according to a new report. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/traf...

AI-powered search is fueling a wave of Epstein Files transparency projects Newsrooms have long used AI to sift through document dumps. Now that same tech is being used to build search tools for readers.

In the vacuum left by the DOJ's faulty Epstein Files search, journalists and engineers have stepped in to create alternative AI databases. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/ai-p...

Newsonomics: Will national news shrink even faster than local news did? "The sweep of changes we see has one main cause: the political effort to stifle robust national journalism."

I hadn't really considered how damaging the lost of CNN could be to common knowledge

CNN is the only TV news agency everyone agrees should be on the monitors at airports, gyms, hotels, etc.

This is one of the most insightful pieces I've read on the current state of US media consolidation

X will demonetize users who post AI-generated videos of war (but not other kinds of disinformation) On Tuesday Nikita Bier, head of product at X, announced that users who post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without disclosing they were AI-generated will suspended from the site's…

X will demonetize users who post AI-generated videos of war (but not other kinds of disinformation) www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/x-wi...

New York Times runs in-house ad asking listeners to “support any news organization dedicated to original reporting” The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has voiced a new ad encouraging listeners to support any news organization dedicated to original reporting — even if it's not the Times. It's Sulzberger's…

"Normally, in these ads, we talk about the importance of subscribing to the Times. I’m here today with a different message." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/new-...

New York Times runs in-house ad asking listeners to “support any news organization dedicated to original reporting” The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has voiced a new ad encouraging listeners to support any news organization dedicated to original reporting — even if it's not the Times. It's Sulzberger's…

You don’t hear publishers using ad time to encourage their audience to subscribe to other news outlets very often. But the Times can afford to be generous. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/new-...

After Mexico’s most-wanted cartel leader was killed, OSINT helped fuel both clarity and confusion online Many OSINT analysts are experts in their fields and take care to verify information before publishing, but even well-intentioned accounts may inject more noise than clarity into an already tense…

The death of cartel leader "El Mencho" underscored that “OSINT-looking” content can also contribute to online misinformation when it lacks context or verification. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/afte...

AP to provide Kalshi its gold standard elections data ahead of primaries | The Associated Press The Associated Press today announced that it will provide its U.S. elections results to Kalshi, the world’s largest prediction market. AP will provide

“Ingesting AP’s live vote data in addition to the native forecasts will provide Kalshi users with a new and improved way to engage with American democracy and the electoral process," the AP says. www.ap.org/media-center...

“Podcast” meant nothing and everything at On Air Fest "Social media is turning into TV, but TV is turning into radio."

At this year's On Air Fest, most of the programming consisted of live episode tapings rather than discussions of craft, @neeldhanesha.com found, and he heard the term “creator” just as often as “journalist."

www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/podc...

A Complimentary Profile Of Jason Lee That Was Surprisingly Difficult To Publish | Defector If you walked down Colorado Boulevard in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles at some point in the past three years, you might have noticed a modest, pueblo-style beige building with “PHOTO”…

"He wanted to know why I felt it was appropriate, journalistically, to ask 'probing' questions. 'Do you not worry about offending the people that you’re interviewing?' he asked." defector.com/a-compliment...

Bostopia’s Evan George serves Boston daily news from a lefty perspective "You don't need to pretend to [to be neutral] or be worried about [what people think]. Because now it just sounds like you're hiding things and nobody trusts or believes that anymore."

"I am almost exclusively reliant on the work of journalists from The Boston Globe, from the Boston Herald, from a number of other great outlets ..." www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/bost...

Is The New York Times a games company? A familiar debate continues “The New York Times is no longer a news company,” proclaims the caption of a chart posted on X Saturday summarizing how Times bundle subscribers have eclipsed news-only subscribers. The New York…

Is The New York Times a games company? A familiar debate continues www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/is-t...

The team behind Dark Sky launches a weather app for uncertain, low-trust times This seems fitting for a time when a lot of Americans aren't sure what to trust and say it's important to do their own research: A weather app from the folks behind the beloved app Dark Sky (sold to…

The team behind Dark Sky launches a weather app for uncertain, low-trust times www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...

The Tampa Bay Times starts a monthly “book club” for news stories The idea is not just to discuss a story's substance, but to give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the reporting process and decision-making that shape the published article.

The Tampa Bay Times starts a monthly “book club” for news stories www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...

Why “magic links” and passcodes are taking over news logins "This is really useful for small publishers who have no business wanting to store a whole bunch of random passwords."

Why “magic links” and passcodes are taking over news logins www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/why-...

The Baltimore Beat experiments with pay-what-you-can ads The newspaper and nonprofit news site Baltimore Beat is rolling out pay-what-you-can ads. "We hope this is a way that small businesses can feature themselves in the paper, keeping their services at…

The Baltimore Beat experiments with pay-what-you-can ads www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...