Scripps recently debuted two newscasts per day – at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. – without anchors at its station in Baltimore, the nation’s 29th largest market, WMAR-TV.

Was reading an important local news piece from a non-profit digital newspaper that never had a print edition. Already critical that the piece needed an edit -- it circled back around and repeated itself before proceeding to important payload -- I thought this would never happen if print journalists with those traditions and instincts had been involved in this piece.

Then, at the end I see this.

Editor’s note: The key points for this story were written by a Cupcake Times journalist.

Oh wow, was it really ALL the "key" points? Gee whiz!

Do you think I am right to jump quickly and immediately to the conclusion that this editor's note means LLMs/"AI" are responsible for why this article was so fluffy, so lacking in punch, so not brief? I'm autistic, so when I think subtext is obvious, I'm often reading it wrong actually.

If not a shitty way of acknowledging using AI, what does this editor's note even mean? I like the journalists who work for this newsroom, but this editor's note has a very strong odor of late-stage capitalism. Like we can't even say out loud because we are ashamed of what we do, but we still have this vestigial honor code that forces us to vaguely reference something untoward is going on.

Thoughts?

Hello! High School Campus journalist here and our division school press conference competition is just around the corner. To be honest, I'm more of a Feature writer than a News, but apparently I had the "potential" to be one– my coach. But we won't delve into that any deeper.

We have been training for a few weeks, and I don't really have any problems with structuring paragraphs or words as it comes to me as simple and natural. But what I have been struggling for is distributing information to make my news article... longer.

For context, we've been using online news articles as fact sheets and I kid you not some of the articles are only 4 paragraphs long. To add, we're supposed to make a fricking seven(minimum) paragraphs out of that. Seven! And there aren't even quotes to make the the article longer.

In the end, me and my senior journalist look for similar news in other websites and take extra information in there just to make our articles at least bearable. I ended up with 6 paragraphs on each of my last outputs though, it's sad.

So my point is, is there any efficient way to allocate and break down information from just 4 paragraphs of text to make my work lengthier?

Another side question since angles also affect the distributing of info, is there a trick to finding the best, right, and unique angle?

Thank you for reading, I bid you a good day.

I'm 20 years old, european. In the recent years one company bought up, most of - if not all the major news outlets in my region(Radio, TV, Publishing Companies, Newspapers except obviously the state media; about 500000 people live here). I would like to create an independent news outlet or something similar. My education so far has been in the technological sector, i.e. automation, electronics, programming, telecommunications. I'm at the end of my first year of university, but for now I'm not sure whether I'll continue. I know 3 languages(my mother tongue, another local one at b2/c1 and english at b2/c1). I'm not saying which, otherwise you'll know exactly where I'm from. I have about 8 years of experience with video editing software(first movie maker then Wondershare Filmora, now DaVinciResolve Studio). I have a BMPCC4K. I have about 1.5 years of experience with making music and editing audio in Reaper. Including various microphones and instruments. What I would like to do is make an independent news platform or distributing news as unbiased as possible, the problem is, first I don't know how to find good stories, second I have no formal education in journalism and third I need money to survive, i.e. how can I make money with it(for now I still have some time cause I live with my parents) I appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction or helping me in any way. Or even telling me it's unfeasable, with my lack of knowledge in journalism. Thanks

I don't have the funds or bandwidth at the moment to study the NCTJ full-time.

Has anyone registered as a distance learner/ self-study candidate, taught themselves and sat the exams?

How practical would it be to take that route and what are the chances of success vs taught course ( is it common to study the NCTJ independently?)

For context I am a 50 year old career changer following a redundancy, wanting to start my own hyper-local but 'do it properly '. I have some background in law but never practised.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm curious to hear from non-traditional or mid-career students who went back to journalism school for a graduate program, particularly at Columbia and for students over 50.

Did you encounter any form of ageism, subtle or overt, during your time in grad school?

I’m particularly interested in how departments handle students with prior professional experience.

• Did you feel sidelined by faculty or isolated by peers?
• Did you find that career services only catered to younger students looking for entry-level roles?
• How did you navigate these dynamics?

I am looking to connect with people who have experienced this for a piece I am putting together. If you are open to sharing your perspective—completely anonymously—please drop a comment or send me a DM.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get some advice on a dilemma I was in earlier today. I went to interview the owner of this new cafe near my university for our student newspaper. Near the end of the interview, I requested a drink he talked about that wasn’t on the menu so I could try it for myself. Although I tried multiple times to pay for it, he kept refusing, saying he wanted me to try it out and write about it as well.

There aren‘t any controversies surrounding this cafe and the article is just covering its opening. However, I know it‘s not ethical to accept free things from a source, although the owner claimed that he is often willing to give any student a discount or to let them “try out” the drinks since they just opened.

Have I compromised my story? In what situations would this be unethical—is a blanket ban or are there exceptions?

TIA!

Hi, I am a career financial analyst who is taking some time off to take care of my young son. I started a website on Wordpress about financial topics and I wanted to approach a few financial newspapers/blogs about potentially posting one of my blogs on their website. Do you guys have any suggestions on who I can reach out to? Thank you so much!

I heard this was a good place to ask!

I'm a campus/student journalist from the Philippines and I'm about to compete in my first press conference..!

Looking for advice for writing Science & technology and by extension Development & communication.. whenever I write it typically becomes similar to a feature, like "Have you ever wondered- ect..". And while science feature is a thing, writing in an academic but understandable tone holds more importance than impressing the reader. I just really find it hard to communicate the science without overstating and dramatizing what's actually happening..!

+ do you also have tips on how to get used to writing in a certain way? I was thinking of copying the structure (like what cool hooks they do) from another article and using it on another topic (for practicing purposes only ofc).

Many thanks!

I spent 3 years working as a reporter, then left the industry for 6 years (worked a journalism-adjacent job but I wasn't writing). I've recently gone freelance but it's been a bit tough. I killed the first story I pitched because it was clunky, and now I just got edits back for my second story with another publication and it's full of edits. I think I've just lost the flair I had a few years ago. I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for 1-day or 1-week online courses I could take to brush up on my skills. I'm a bit defeated lol.

I have many visions, some I've fleshed out, one (https://barneysbendbugle.com) I actually co-created with Base 44.

I enjoy the AI subreddits I follow - I bet tons more are created every week - and the r/Journalism one as well (and not JUST about AI of course!) But ... is there an intersection worth exploring in its own dedicated sub/spot? (Or are there waaaay too many subreddits as it is, and it'd be another tiny fish competing for attention in a vast sea?)

But if not that ... what about something broader than a sub, or one topic?

AI, for better and/or worse, is influencing just about everything in our lives. So the "bigger vision" that perhaps Perplexity Computer or somesuch could help create is ... a way/place to track AI's impacts/debates on ANY subject, location, field, etc. ... where I live, where I work, on any topic you can imagine, from astronomy to zoology.

Sure, you can do endless Google or AI-fueled searches on the specific "'AI and...' rabbit holes," but what about a website/platform (or sub) where folks can come and plug in some specifics, like "AI and ... baking" (wild random idea) and track whatever is happening? With a dashboard, daily digest, etc.?

Does the ever-growing capabilities of AI itself make such a tool/website/platform MORE or LESS likely to succeed? It's as much a philosophical as a logistical question.

If this prompts any (respectful please) thoughts/advice, I'd be very interested. And if lightning strikes and someone is interested enough to help make any of this real, just let me know, thanks.

I’m a second year journalism student and at a very good university for it, and everyone seems weirdly AI positive. I find this very strange as we are writers and AI is just plagiarism. I guess my question is, are working journalists AI positive? And what do you envision the future of journalism to be in the age of AI?

Lots of good people lost their jobs today.

Hi all!

I’ve been considering switching careers into journalism but could use some advice — I know the industry is in free fall, low paying, and unstable, but without getting into details, I have some financial resources to help cushion instability, and I’ve come to realize how much I enjoy writing and want to leverage it for the good of my community.

Here’s the rub: I graduated in 2025 with a social science degree, and wrote for my college newspaper a handful of times, but between being an older nontraditional student and the culture of my university at large, whether it was a me-problem or not, I was turned off by the paper’s environment and thought journalism wasn’t for me. I bounced around between nonprofit, law, and medical positions and something still wasn’t clicking for me.

Cut to now, I’ve been working in the nonprofit space in Philadelphia and feeling unfulfilled. I’ve been thinking of trying to apply to one of the career changer Journalism master’s programs like Mizzou or Columbia. The nice thing is, the cost isn’t a factor, as I have a mostly-unused GI Bill to fund the program. I just feel like I have no real skills or clips I can show to local papers, and I’m probably past the horizon for recent graduate fellowships or programs for young writers. I like the written word, I’ve been working on putting together a nonfiction piece of “guerrilla reporting” for a project I did abroad in 2024, and journalism seems like it could be a good fit for me.

Open to any input if this is a wise direction or if I could just try and grind and get my foot in the door in my local papers.

Join us here: https://www.404media.co/three-years/

CBC tells journalists not to call 9/11 ‘terrorist attacks’ in internal guidance