The Objective

📣 We want your work! Swipe through for more info. TLDR: We’re paying $0.50/word; as a newsroom with a limited budget, we pay per initially agreed-upon word count. The magazine will come out in fall 2026 and we’re looking for primarily reported news stories between 800-1,200 words. We are especially interested in commissioning stories from reporters of marginalized backgrounds, and organizers who are adjacent to and have been affected by journalism in the communities they’re in. Creating a physical record of newsrooms’ efforts to meaningfully address anti-Blackness and systemic harms ensures this history won’t be forgotten. The full pitch call is at the link in our bio and at tinyurl.com/since2020pitch. (Note: We are a small newsroom with one full-time staffer, so we are unable to respond to all pitches directly. Please wait at least two weeks before following up.) 📸: Three 2020 headlines from Washington Post, NPR, and the LA Times, one 2025 dek from Nieman Lab.

“I had to find multiple streams of income to make sure my bills were paid." Long-time reporter @jajuanmalachi has been an off and on freelancer, and spoke with @fallon_brannon about how freelancing isn't always as freeing as it may seem. "I just hope the industry becomes more equitable for us, so we’re paid our worth." he said. As attacks on policies intended to desegregate journalism have escalated under the second Trump administration, Black journalists have different approaches to navigating the supposed allure of going independent as individuals or starting their own newsrooms. To hear about the landscape, Brannon also spoke with Amber Ferguson (@girlwithdrive ), Michael Butler (@mikeviimusic ), @mlk50memphis newsroom leader Adrienne Johnson Martin, and Morgan State University economics professor Linda Loubert. Read their perspectives at the link in our bio. ✍️: Fallon Brannon 📸: Now-independent journalist Joy Reid at NBC Politicon in 2018. Photo via Wikimedia Commons and mouse cursor via Siemens.

Last week at The Objective, @fallon_brannon covered how going independent just isn’t as simple for Black journalists, and asked if journalism should have an industry-wide ethics code for AI. We also do round-ups about how the news we read is getting made, and the underlying policies and people who are shaping today’s headlines. For this and more, subscribe to The Front Page at the link in bio.

Reporters covering artificial intelligence are developing a code of ethics as they go, but much like newsrooms, there isn't a consensus. Meanwhile, practical logistics of coverage are colliding with other ethical concerns about the expansion of generative AI. Those include its potential infringement on journalists’ jobs in an already-unstable job market, with several unions like @sacbeeguild and @seatimesunion pushing for AI guardrails, to the methods and means used to train large-language models like ChatGPT. So Jake Pitre spoke with some of the reporters and writers covering the technology — @jasminewsun , Cade Metz, @edzitron , and Radhika Rajkumar — to hear some visions of how journalism's code of ethics around artificial intelligence could shift, especially with the @spj_pics currently retooling its ethics policy. Read the full story at the link in our bio. ✍️: Jake Pitre 📸: Public domain photo, edits by James Salanga.

It's World Press Freedom Day! In this past week's news round-up, students shift journalism norms, @kansascitydefender 's Ryan Sorrell writes on how “both-sidesism” in public media makes the violence of slavery "an unfortunate climate", and an @assignedmedia analysis on mainstream news trans sourcing. And ICYMI: Our latest story, reported by @ajajeanarnold , looked at the connection between mainstream coverage of ICE killings and journalism's anti-Black norms. Read more original reporting and sign up for The Front Page, our newsletter that rounds up the decisions behind the headlines in our “Bit More Media” section, at the link in bio.

Mainstream news coverage of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Keith Porter’s killings shows how anti-Black news standards desensitize communities to state violence. "Mainstream media does a lot of unspoken work in normalizing certain kinds of death and making other kinds of death exceptional and remarkable," @lewispants said. "Deaths caused by poverty, hunger, ICE detention ... these have been normalized by mainstream media, while Alex Pretti and Renee Good in particular have been treated by the media as exceptional deaths." Journalists, researchers, and media justice organizers say this approach is rooted in journalism norms linked to the anti-Black foundation of U.S. migration and media systems, and say more funding and interest in journalism that rejects those norms is needed. ✍️: @ajajeanarnold 📸: Photo by @daviss.mn .

This week at The Objective we covered the layoffs at Them, commentary from @journalismdesign about community information sharing, and republished a story from @motherjonesmag about the shuttering of Self magazine and what that means for coverage of disability and chronic illness. Read more original reporting and sign up for The Front Page, our newsletter that rounds up the decisions behind the headlines in our “Bit More Media” section, at the link in bio.

Newsrooms don’t have a monopoly on how people create, share, and make sense of information. At a moment when politicians and tech platforms are seeking to harness community energy to spread misinformation, propaganda, and division, that means opportunity more opportunity for newsrooms to work with community members to build trust and strengthen local news ecosystems, argues Megan Lucero. They're already doing it, she says: Neighbors are organizing dinner conversations ahead of elections. Volunteers document ICE and immigration raids to notify vulnerable members of their community. Elders in barbershops provide history and context to young people as their town experiences gentrification. And librarians have explained complex housing policies to others in their community. Lucero says one framework to help facilitate more newsroom-community collaboration is @thenewschool Journalism + Design Lab's Community News Roles, which lays out a set of roles articulating what people may already be doing in their information ecosystems. Read the full commentary at the link in our bio. ✍️ : @meganlucero 🖼️ : Image by Kiss Me I'm Polish (@kmip_design ).

Attention Chicago locals! Join us at the @haymarkethouse on May 7th for an hour-long round-table discussion featuring voices from @theprogressivemag , @truthout , @objectivejournalism , @respairmedia , @inthesetimesmag , and @ciceroindependiente . Doors open at 6:45 PM, with the panel beginning at 7:15 PM. Together, we’ll discuss the future of press freedom in today’s social and political climate and honor the tradition of independent journalism. Conversation will be followed by a celebratory gathering of like-minded community members, with opportunities to shop local indie media and enjoy snacks from Nabala Cafe!  Come be part of an evening of solidarity and celebration as we honor Project Censored’s 50th anniversary and the independent media that makes it all possible.

"There are fewer places that are interested in both publishing queer stories and paying for them." Long-time Them contributor Samantha Riedel was one of a number of writers who were affected by layoffs at Them earlier this month. The publication, formerly owned by Condé Nast, was purchased by LGBTQ+ media company Equalpride in February — not long after Them laid off top staff from The Advocate and Out Magazine. (Equalpride or Condé Nast did not respond to requests for comment from The Objective.) Riedel pointed out a broader trend happening in national news: "It is really hard and very rare to come by responsible, well-researched, and well-funded queer journalism," she said. National resources for covering U.S. queer and trans news have taken a hit as the number of anti-trans bills proposed across the U.S. this year outpaces those in 2025. @rayzhon , executive director of @transjournalists and lead contributor to the Trans News Initiative, said that the lack of media representation has only fueled hate and misinformation against trans people. Former Teen Vogue politics editor @leximcmenamin , who also contributed to Them, called it "truly life or death for people to get access to the trans internet." “There's only one trans-led outlet that does daily blogging, combined with culture coverage, combined with politics coverage, combined with healthcare coverage, which is so important in states that you can't even learn about the existence of trans people in schools," they said. Them will continue to publish LGBTQ+ stories and media, but without a full-time staff writer and consistent contributors, its scope could shrink. Founder of independent newsroom @assignedmedia Evan Urquhart says he thinks "we're in a time of experimentation" in the fight to make queer and trans independent media financially viable. "I just hope that with enough people trying, something will emerge." Read the full story in the link in our bio. ✍️ : @bokchoy_baobei 🖼️ : Image by Praneeth Thalla, via Wikimedia Commons. Edits by James Salanga.

This week, The Objective covered @feedravenous and the growing buffet of journalism co-ops, how the struggles of funding a Black press aren’t new, and a write up about what it was like thinking about how to make a safer media ecosystem for trans people. Read more original reporting and sign up for The Front Page, our newsletter that rounds up the decisions behind the headlines in our “Bit More Media” section, at the link in bio.

A meal is both the sum of its parts and more, including the people who make it possible for it to be at the table. That spirit is at the heart of the reporting the new worker-owned newsroom, @feedravenous , aspires to. Or as they put it, "food media with teeth." Ravenous is the third worker-owned newsroom to launch this year, after @mothershipblog and @gourmet.lives . And alongside Gourmet, it's the second focused on food reporting. For The Objective, James Salanga reports on why the worker-owned journalism model lends itself to more incisive, rigorous, and playful food reporting, and the hopes for the five former Eater workers who co-founded Ravenous. Read the full story at the link in our bio. ✍️ : James Salanga 🖼️ : Logo courtesy of @feedravenous and created @byhartstudio .