Sewell Chan

California deserves journalism rooted in truth — not big money influence.

Former L.A. Times editors @marielgarza.bsky.social & @paulthornton.bsky.social launch Golden State — an independent home for fact-based news, analysis & commentary. Read more @ golden-state.org
#MediaIntegrity

For those wondering what I spent my post-LA Times year doing, the answer is this 👇

Please check it out!

He supported L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Now he wants her job Austin Beutner, a former L.A. Unified superintendent, says City Hall has come up woefully short on wildfires, homelessness, housing and affordability.

We're podcasting! Check out co-founder @marielgarza.bsky.social's chat with L.A. mayoral candidate Austin Beutner. They talk wildfires, housing, affordability, the Olympics and, yes, Donald Trump.

Head shots of Sewell Chan, Christa Westerberg and Timothy Karr, along with the text "The New Age of Censorship"

Join us 9/26 for our conference "Journalism Ethics in a Fracturing Word." Expert panelists, such as @sewell.bsky.social, @timkarr.bsky.social and @tamiafowlkes.bsky.social, taking on topics like "The New Age of Censorship." In person and online.

More info: ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2025-journal...

Devastated to hear this news, as I have known Sewell Chan to be a person of impeccable ethics and journalistic integrity.

Yesterday I was fired by Columbia University after eight months as executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. This was the first time in a 25-year career that I've ever been subjected to discipline in a job — much less terminated from one.

Introducing Laurels and Darts CJR’s longtime column of criticism and praise is being revived—with a twist.

We resurrected it just a few weeks ago. Nominations welcome!

cc @sewell.bsky.social
www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Center for Public Integrity Is Shutting Down Wesley Lowery resigned as board chair. The nonprofit newsroom, founded in 1989, is in talks to turn over its archives to a watchdog group.

And read @sewell.bsky.social’s news break here in @columjournreview.bsky.social: www.cjr.org/news/center-...

John Thornton, Cofounder of Texas Tribune and American Journalism Project, Dies at 59 A venture capitalist and nonprofit journalism pioneer, he made the case for a nationwide philanthropic movement to support local news.

John Thornton was a principled and super-smart guy who clearly understood how journalism was a public good that couldn't be abandoned to the market. I so enjoyed talking to him about strategies for funding nonprofit journalism. @sewell.bsky.social's excellent tribute: www.cjr.org/news/john-th...

Center for Public Integrity is shutting down Wesley Lowery resigned as board chair. The nonprofit newsroom, founded in 1987, is in talks to turn over its archives to a watchdog group.

Center for Public Integrity is shutting down: Wesley Lowery resigned as board chair. The nonprofit newsroom, founded in 1987, is in talks to turn over its archives to a watchdog group. www.cjr.org/news/center-...

A few words on journalism, risk and what I actually said.

Happy 50th birthday to Investigative Reporters and Editors. I’m so proud to be a member.

bsky.app/profile/ire-...

Practice Democracy

Trump promises to turn Gaza into ‘the Riviera of the Middle East.’ The president met with the Israeli prime minister at the White House, his first in-person meeting with another world leader since returning to power.

Serious Q: Trump won in 2016 in part because Americans were fed up with never-ending wars. He did deal w/ Taliban to withdraw from Afghanistan. Do his voters truly support “long-term ownership” of Gaza? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

Trump appoints speechwriter fired for attending conference with White nationalists to top State Department role | CNN Politics Darren Beattie, a former Donald Trump speechwriter who was fired in 2018 after CNN revealed he spoke at a conference attended by White nationalists, has been elevated to a top job at the State Departm...

NEW: We uncovered more deleted tweets from Darren Beattie, the White House aide fired in 2018 for speaking at a conference alongside white nationalists who Trump just appointed to a top level State Department job.

In purged tweets, Beattie cheered on Jan 6th riot.

www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/p...

NPR and PBS Face a Moment of Truth The system needs more stable funding, a greater emphasis on local content, and reduced reliance on private financing and syndicated programs.

NPR and PBS Face a Moment of Truth: The system needs more stable funding, a greater emphasis on local content, and reduced reliance on private financing and syndicated programs. www.cjr.org/analysis/npr...

America, 1945-2025. There were good times and bad times, but it was quite a ride. You’ll be missed.

The DEI caused the plane crash narrative is a distraction. The tariffs are a distraction. Whatever insane nonsense Trump spews that the media will chase like cats chasing a laser light is a distraction. The only story that counts right now is the wholesale hijacking of control of the US government.

Why a centuries-old local newspaper in New Hampshire launched a journalism fund The Keene Sentinel weighed the pros and cons of becoming a nonprofit. It chose a hybrid option instead.

How does a newspaper get to be 225 years old? Not by standing still. @speppered.bsky.social on how New Hampshire’s Keene Sentinel is changing its business model & engagement with the community. (Only 5 US news orgs have published that long under the same name) www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/why-...

FWIW, one reason I sometimes play the role of news media apologist on here is that my Bluesky feed is full of misunderstandings & misguided critiques of the news media. If this site were full of credulity & naive praise of shoddy news coverage, I'd be spending more energy debunking & criticizing it.

NEW: Mere weeks after historic wildfires, the Los Angeles Times just offered buyouts to anyone who’s been at the company for longer than two years.

From the COO’s note to staff: “The economic landscape of the media industry continues to be extremely challenging.“

Here's how to cover things that are illegal:

(i) this is illegal
(ii) they say it's legal
(iii) It's not

Truth sandwich, extra mustard

@paulinebock.bsky.social please DM me, I didn’t get your full email.

James Goodale represented NYT in the Pentagon Papers case. In CJR he asks whether today’s media owners have what it takes to stand up to Trump. www.cjr.org/political_pr...

The Unraveling of Ozy Media The trial of Carlos Watson and the excesses of the digital media age.

NEW in CJR: The story of the downfall Ozy Media, whose unraveling embodied the (widespread) excesses of the digital media startup era. From Susie Banikarim and Joshua Hersh:

www.cjr.org/kicker/the-u...

Should a Student Reporter Face Prosecution for Embedding with Protesters? Dilan Gohill won an award for his work at the Stanford Daily, but his coverage of campus protests has set university officials against him.

6 months ago, some Stanford students barricaded themselves in the university president's office. A student reporter followed them in. He was arrested and faces felony allegations.
The university wants him prosecuted.
I looked into why.

Via @columjournreview.bsky.social
www.cjr.org/getting-the-...

Why I Just Resigned From The Los Angeles Times By Harry Litman

Quit the LA Times today:

"Those moves can’t be defended...Given the existential stakes for our democracy that I believe Trump’s second term poses, and the evidence that Soon-Shiong is currying favor with the President-elect, they are repugnant and dangerous. harrylitman.substack.com/p/why-i-just...

The Times They Are A-Changin’ Staffers at the Los Angeles Times described to Status a demoralized publication depleted of its spirit in which employees are "confused," "offended," and "frustrated."

Scoop: After the LA Times published a piece about Elon Musk that carried a headline owner Patrick Soon-Shiong didn't like, a new rule was implemented: Prior to publishing opinion stories, headlines must be emailed to Soon-Shiong, where he can then choose to weigh in. www.status.news/p/los-angele...

Should a Student Reporter Face Prosecution for Embedding with Protesters? Dilan Gohill won an award for his work at the Stanford Daily, but his coverage of campus protests has set university officials against him.

Why is Stanford pressing criminal charges against a student journalist who embedded with protesters? Story by @bgrueskin.bsky.social for @columjournreview.bsky.social:

www.cjr.org/getting-the-...

The Perception Gap That Explains American Politics Americans overwhelmingly—but, it turns out, mistakenly—believe that Democrats care more about advancing progressive social issues than widely shared economic ones.

“Despite the Harris campaign spending almost half a billion dollars more than the Trump campaign, Trump appears to have been more effective at defining Democrats’ priorities to the American public.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...