Vince Filak

The Popularity and Perils of the Police Blotter THE LEAD: The Wyoming Tribune Eagle ended its publishing of the police blotter as news this month, noting that despite people’s interest in the material, the ethical and legal concerns were j…

The Popularity and Perils of the Police Blotter

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/03/11/t...

When it comes to getting quotes, go buy flowers instead of buying flour In media writing courses, we talk about quotes being the spice that zips up the story or the sparkly diamond that draws the attention of the reader. However, not all quotes actually do this, becaus…

When it comes to getting quotes, go buy flowers instead of buying flour

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/03/09/w...

The 2nd Edition of "Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Data Reporting" will be out in August. New exercises, AI tools, training videos and many other goodies. You can pre-order this summer on www.routledge.com

#nicar26

Journalist'sToolbox.AI: Custom GPTs Look at journalism's future, not its past.

Custom GPTs that are useful for journalists: journaliststoolbox.ai/custom-gpts/

via The Journalist's Toolbox

“It’s not a riot. It’s a large, prolonged disturbance.” Working through fact-checks and BS-checks (A Throwback Post) When it comes to fact checking and BS detecting, I often tell students about a story I wrote involving the Mifflin Street Block Party about 30 years ago. The party got way out of hand late at night…

“It’s not a riot. It’s a large, prolonged disturbance.” Working through fact-checks and BS-checks (A Throwback Post)

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/03/05/i...

The Junk Drawer: Hump Day Edition In the middle of the week during the middle of the semester, it’s a bit of a drag for students and professors. With that in mind, here are a few things that might amuse you all, spark some di…

If you're having kind of a case of the mid-semester blues, consider this junk drawer post the energy drink of the journalistic mind:

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/03/04/t...

Reuters editor Jaimi Dowdell talks about the data team’s recent look at AI failures in medical procedures, how to do deep-dive stories and the importance of growth through discomfort as a journalist The debate over artificial intelligence has dotted the pages of the blog significantly over the past year, with posts discussing the benefits some of these tools provide media professionals, as wel…

Reuters editor Jaimi Dowdell talks about the data team’s recent look at AI failures in medical procedures, how to do deep-dive stories and the importance of growth through discomfort as a journalist

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/03/02/r...

UNC policy allows the U to record classes without telling professors or students, while students aren’t allowed to record at all

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/02/25/u...

Cleveland Plain Dealer honcho Chris Quinn writes off criticism of his AI passion project as “uninformed outrage,” while still being wrong about almost everything, including college journalism programs An early photo of Chris Quinn reacting to criticism of his views on AI, journalism schools and journalism professors.    THE LEAD: Chris Quinn, the VP of content for the Cleveland Plain Dealer…

Cleveland Plain Dealer honcho Chris Quinn writes off criticism of his AI passion project as “uninformed outrage,” while still being wrong about almost everything, including college journalism programs

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/02/23/c...

Cleveland Plain Dealer honcho Chris Quinn took time out of his busy schedule to crap all over journalism schools about their views on AI, despite not actually knowing their views on AI THE LEAD: Chris Quinn, the VP of content for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, took a victory lap over the weekend, bragging about how he removed the writing requirements associated with journalism via &…

Cleveland Plain Dealer honcho Chris Quinn took time out of his busy schedule to crap all over journalism schools about their views on AI, despite not actually knowing their views on AI

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/02/19/c...

You can call ‘This is How a Child Dies of Measles’ an act of ‘creative non-fiction,’ but where I’m from, we call it ‘lying’ DISCUSSION STARTER: This is a good opportunity to have students read the story, “This is How a Child Dies of Measles,” before digging into this post to see how they feel about the appro…

You can call ‘This is How a Child Dies of Measles’ an act of ‘creative non-fiction,’ but where I’m from, we call it ‘lying’

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/02/17/y...

Journalism-related concepts that played out as well in the medical world while I was getting gallbladder surgery At the start of every semester, I try to come back with a “X number of things I’ve learned” or a “X years of teaching have taught me” kind of post. It was ruminating (…

I've been out about two weeks after emergency gallbladder surgery, so today marks my return to the classroom, and the return of the blog for the winter semester.

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/02/16/j...

In traditional journalism, we call this lying.

Excited to see this article in print! Colorado Tech Law Review published the work @jeremylittau.com and I did on First Amendment challenges when states try to ban use of AI in political campaigns, and some other policy options when political speech bans may be struck down. ctlj.colorado.edu?p=1447

Four things to know to keep your first media writing class from sucking (A throwback post) I ran into one of the students from my upcoming media writing class the other day. She’s a graduating senior who’s taking it as an elective for her marketing degree, so I asked what she…

Four things to know to keep your first media writing class from sucking (A throwback post)

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/01/29/f...

“He put himself in that situation:” The reason why people can justify the shooting death of Alex Pretti In reading through the articles and posts related to Saturday’s shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, I forgot the most basic rule associated with the internet: “Don’t read …

“He put himself in that situation:” The reason why people can justify the shooting death of Alex Pretti

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/01/28/h...

If this stat is true, it makes me recall something I told my kid: If your main worry about doing something is that someone else might find out, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

Random Journalistic Thoughts After The Shooting Death of Alex Pretti (The front page of the AP online story about the memorial to Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed in Minnesota on Saturday morning.) One of the first things I tell student media practitioners whene…

Random Journalistic Thoughts After The Shooting Death of Alex Pretti

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/01/26/r...

I have often thought, “I wonder if people like Kelly believe in what they are saying or if it’s that the money is so good, they convince themselves to say it.”

Want to be a better journalism professor this year? Learn how to weld If the headline seems a little click-baity for you, I totally get it, but hang with me for a bit here, and I promise this will make sense. If welding isn’t your idea of a good time (or if you…

Want to be a better journalism professor this year? Learn how to weld

dynamicsofwriting.com/2026/01/12/w...

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Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains.

My usual reminder that “we’re gonna file a lawsuit” isn’t news. That’s a press release. “We filed a lawsuit and here’s the complaint” is news.

Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”

“Dr. McCoul is disappointed by the University’s unexplained decision to uphold her termination, but looks forward to pursuing her First Amendment, Due Process, and breach of contract claims in court very soon,” Reichek wrote in a statement.
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/t...

My mother was Irish..
And your father?
Wasn’t.

If Jesus had been born in Wisconsin… On this hallowed Christmas Eve, everyone in my house is pretty much asleep or trying to pretend to be in hopes of getting out of work in preparation for the Wigilla celebration tonight. As my wife …

If Jesus had been born in Wisconsin... first-draft.com/2017/12/24/i...

No Neuralizer for Nemec: When your alma mater backs off in a suit over open records. Last week, we noted that Alex Nemec’s alma mater sued him over a set of documents he legally obtained as part of a court ruling. The record keeper at UW-Oshkosh inadvertently sent him copies …

dynamicsofwriting.com/2018/10/29/n...

Redacted Material in Some Epstein Files Is Easily Recovered

When I advised the student newspaper at UWO, we once got sued for 5 minutes over something like this.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

“Tenure density” around here means the oblivious nature of tenured professors in non-professional programs who keep saying “It’s not my responsibility to help students get jobs.”

Um… phrasing?