The Objective

IKYMI: I interviewed Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's former strikers at the end of a monumental battle for labor rights. But while the case may be over, the fight for the future of Pittsburgh news isn't. In fact, some of the PG's old reporters are trying something new @pittsburghprogress.bsky.social

Have you read the newest issue of our newsletter? It's live now on our site: www.objectivejournalism.org/p/tfp-10-22-26

Scary stat: freelance journalism rates have barely changed since 2020. For @objectivejournos.bsky.social, Elena Novak & Jen Byers of @nwu.org’s Freelance Solidarity Project write on how freelancer rates remain stagnant despite the skyrocketing cost of living—read the story: bit.ly/scaryjournostat.

In the year of 2026, who is funding feminism? @theflytrapmedia.com, @lafronde.bsky.social, @mothership.blog, and @readlux.bsky.social are betting that people will. They're building a new media ecosystem for feminist cultural reporting and critique. buff.ly/qV2Xwvp

Abdul El-Sayed wasn't even born when his mother allegedly participated in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the early 1970s. Yet more than 50 years later, journalists are asking the Michigan Senate candidate to explain her supposed involvement. www.objectivejournalism.org/p/mainstream...

The decision comes after six years of conflict between the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s former management, Block Communications Inc., and their workers after the Post-Gazette illegally discarded the collectively-bargained union contract. @madisyn-writes.bsky.social reports: buff.ly/sKY8VjC

While not all workers have returned to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, some have started the local news co-operative @pittsburghprogress.bsky.social. buff.ly/Qj4BsVn

The decline of U.S. foreign bureaus & reporting budgets has led to a devastating loss of independent reporting around the world. My deep dive for @objectivejournos.bsky.social looks at the systemic crisis facing freelancers today objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/u-s-...

We have a new website! Same link but new look: objectivejournalism.org.

“A lot of us really thought [when] COVID [hit, it] was going to be that crisis that put things into perspective for us ... you’ve just seen how quickly that’s backtracked and reversed.” —@yessfun.com objectivejournalism.org/2026/10/maki...

For the latest in our Since 2020 series, @adamlmahoney.bsky.social covered who gets left behind when promises to cover climate are reneged and whether diversifying the field was a temporary project. objectivejournalism.org/2026/10/maki...

In the last quarter of a century, rent has increased roughly 141%. Any guesses how much freelance writer rates have risen in that same time frame?

"If a $1/word rate matched today’s inflation, the average writer should be making about $2/word. But — according to our data — they aren’t." @fspnwu.bsky.social members jen byers and Elena Novak analyze data from the project's Rate Sharing Database. buff.ly/g7wyXFU

As journalists from major newsrooms are pushed out of reporting on the White House, incarcerated journalists send up a similar cry to free press advocates: Push back on a developing FCC policy that could silence reporting on the inside. buff.ly/G9nmmm0

@pewresearch.org has found Latine immigrants more often read news in Spanish. CUNY-Newmark's Bilingual Journalism program director Carmen Gracíela Díaz said the layoffs “raise difficult questions ... regarding the future of journalism in the communities these newspapers serve.” buff.ly/HAghNeT

Among those cut by the McClatchy layoffs are writers at Spanish-language papers in Florida and California and the Tri-City Herald's only Spanish-speaking reporter, @newsguild.org shared on Sep. 11. “I’m heartbroken,” said Vida en el Valle founding editor Juan Esparza Loera. buff.ly/HAghNeT

As newsrooms obsess over the latest Trump blunders, what happens to the rest of the world? International journalists are being left behind. For @objectivejournos.bsky.social my latest unpacks the hidden costs of shrinking foreign reporting budgets objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/u-s-...

As newsrooms obsess over the latest #Trump blunders, what happens to the rest of the world? Hundreds of #international #journalists are losing their jobs due to #US funding cuts. For The Objective (@objectivejournos.bsky.social), my latest piece unpacks the hidden costs of shrinking foreign […]

“I’m one of the people that fled across the country because of anti-trans laws. The New York Times was contributing to the atmosphere that created them.” @transnews.network is calling for a public boycott of the U.S. paper of record and its related products. objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/tran...

California incarcerates the second-most people — almost 90,000 — in state prisons across the U.S., but still lags behind other states in media access. @vevalenz.bsky.social covers the ongoing struggle for more transparent news coverage of the state's prisons. buff.ly/YH0RAjz

@vevalenz.bsky.social covers California governors' long history of vetoing prison media access bills. "We're trying to do things better, and we're not going to be able to do things better if we can't face the truth." buff.ly/YH0RAjz

“I believe independent journalism remains essential, particularly in regions where many important stories are under-reported," Kashmir-based independent reporter Sajid Raina told @nithincoca.com. buff.ly/T8UBnlB

The latest in our Since 2020 series, from @nithincoca.com: "Coupled with layoffs, it feels like entire countries and regions are being completely ignored by the mainstream media." objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/u-s-...

“Palantir is actively working to build a future of total surveillance that is fundamentally incompatible with a free press and human rights, as their tools enable state surveillance and violence both at home and abroad." - @ruddock.bsky.social

"Palantir is actively working to build a future of total surveillance that is fundamentally incompatible with a free press and human rights, as their tools enable state surveillance and violence both at home and abroad." - @ruddock.bsky.social via @objectivejournos.bsky.social

This piece is very much worth reading!! objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/desp... @objectivejournos.bsky.social

"There is a lot of specialized knowledge, experience, and technical skill sitting dormant due to financial barriers preventing people from doing this work and lack of places willing to publish [disability stories].” buff.ly/7g6z0sy

“Somebody is going to say, ‘Why am I talking to you? Why are you doing this story? I can't talk to you, because what happens if this winds up in Palantir?’ And that should not be the job of a reporter to answer for.” objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/hund...

Our next story from our Since 2020 series: Six years after the onset of COVID-19, @shruti-rajkumar spoke to journalists including @infamouslyshort.bsky.social and @juliametraux.bsky.social about disability is still inconsistently prioritized in news. buff.ly/7g6z0sy

“We are committed to making sure our students know the tenets of journalism without fear or favor,” said Texas Southern University assistant dean and journalism professor Serbino Sandifer-Walker. “At HBCUs, I believe [professors] are doing exactly what journalism requires.” buff.ly/EATPuSz

Read our first story from our Since 2020 series, covering how different facets of journalism and journalists have been affected by post-2020 "racial reckoning" promises in an era of increased attacks on equal rights: buff.ly/EATPuSz

"Solidarity for social justice is the very best of what journalism does and has always done." That's among what @anitawrites.bsky.social hopes readers of her new book Solidarity in Journalism will take away.

"My own exit was part of a broader change in the industry." Writer Xintian Tina Wang used her own experience to talk about the shift from a focus on diversity of narratives to one of survival.

"Funders who purport to care for a free press must show that by investing in the Black press, which has long been a bulwark against censorship and racism."

Newsrooms (and their guilds) are struggling with how, exactly, AI fits into reporting. @spj-posts.bsky.social is working on an industry-wide ethics policy that may address the complicated, thorny ways the growth of large language models affects how newsrooms function across editorial and management.

According to a study from @indiejournalists.bsky.social, layoffs disproportionately affect women and people of color. Freelancing is a common next step. Xintian Tina Wang wrote about the current freelancing landscape, and what does and can never provide for journalism.

"Media is not neutral, it's always shaped by power." New book A Second Sight, by @sjjphd.bsky.social, maps the history of the U.S. through the lens of Black storytellers, who have documented what has been at the margins of official historical record. objectivejournalism.org/2026/06/qa-a...

“What is the point of job retention if the field itself no longer exists?”