Sophie Culpepper

This Is How a Child Dies of Measles When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak

I was stunned by Elizabeth Bruenig's @theatlantic.com essay, "This Is How a Child Dies of Measles." Then I was struck by the disclaimer at the bottom: "This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews with physicians, including those who have cared directly for patients with measles."

SOURCE REQUEST: I'm looking to talk to independent journalists on Substack who are based outside of the United States! This is for a @niemanlab.org story.

Send me your favorites and recs, and RT for reach! 🙏🏼

“Terribly frustrating”: After USPS changes, more newspapers aren’t reaching subscribers on time Newspaper delays are just one consequence of cost cuts and changes to a fraying 250-year-old system.

"It is a service that the Villager spends over $49,000 on annually, and we decidedly are not getting what we pay for." www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/terr...

For the past year, Illinois has been giving local news outlets tax credits to support journalism jobs. A new report looks at how it’s going During a devastating week of news about news, you could easily have missed a new policy paper from the nonprofit Rebuild Local News. The report, released last Thursday, is a substantive, measured…

Local news organizations across the U.S. are in dire need of this kind of structural support to supplement the ad-hoc fumes of one-off grants.
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/for-...

The Murder of The Washington Post Today’s layoffs are the latest attempt to kill what makes the paper special.

I arrived at The Post during a personal and professional nadir. But they welcomed me into their merry band of misfits, and believed in me — so I started believing in myself, too.

My ode to what makes The Post so special. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one? "If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."

Journalism coops give me — and most of the journalists I know — a lot of hope for the industry. But I've been curious: What's it like to actually work at one? I spent the last few months talking to a bunch of brilliant worker-owners to find out.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...

What a safety expert thinks journalists should know about “less than lethal” rounds and chemical irritants used by ICE "The consideration that we make with all of our recommendations is, 'What is the safest thing you can use while still getting your assignment done?’"

this Q&A by @neeldhanesha.com about what federal agents are using in MN, is alarming, but also really interesting.

The pepper spray in use today is hotter & clingier than it used to be.

"Less than lethal" rounds are larger & faster, and standard eye protection doesn't protect against them.

I grew up with Alex Pretti The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

A scrappy story-sharing tool with local newsroom DNA gains traction Plucky Wire was incubated in an unlikely place for a journalism technology: the tiny Granite State News Collaborative. Now, it's being used by hundreds of outlets countrywide.

everyone in local news says collaboration is key. they also say it can be a pain.

enter Plucky Wire, a scrappy startup incubated @granitestatenc.bsky.social.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/a-sc...

At vigil in Minneapolis, a longtime friend remembers Alex Pretti Heather Zielinski had already planned to pay respects to a man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Saturday in Minneapolis, after seeing the video on social media. She later learned with shock tha...

“He was a good human being and was just trying to help someone,” said Heather Zielinski, a longtime friend of Alex Pretti. “He was really involved in his work and in nature. He was a great dog dad. An honest, funny and kind person. The things that he did, he did it with his whole heart.”

The full extent of what the FBI will be able to gather from Natanson’s devices will rest on her, and the Post’s, digital security hygiene. “It really depends on, were the devices up to date?” Sandvik told me. “What type of authentication was used? Was encryption enabled on the drive? Was lockdown mode enabled on the phone? Were disappearing messages used on Signal?” If Natanson uses Macs, for instance, even if they are fully encrypted, “that encryption only kicks in when the device is fully powered off,” she said. “When you power the device on and you log in that first time, that is when you unlock or decrypt the drive.” The same would apply to a phone. “So if she knew this and she saw the FBI outside her door,” Sandvik noted, “the smartest thing to do would have been to go and power off all her devices.”

If you see federal agents pulling into your driveway, reporters, power down your electronic devices ASAP.

That's the advice from @runasand.bsky.social, via @columjournreview.bsky.social

www.cjr.org/news/hannah-...

Guild member detained by ICE in Minnesota | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA On Friday, January 9, ICE arrested a member of our union, the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, as part of Operation Metro Surge.

On Friday, January 9, ICE arrested a member of our union, the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, as part of Operation Metro Surge.

He has been transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where he is awaiting action on his petition for habeas corpus.

newsguild.org/guild-member...

Project 2025 laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home On Wednesday morning, the FBI executed a search warrant on a Washington Post reporter's home as part of a probe into a government worker accused of illegally retaining classified information. The…

Project 2025 laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/proj...

Highlighting the funniest moments, this startup aims to bring public meetings into the TikTok era Hamlet, founded by Sunil Rajaraman in 2022, also extracts data from public meetings for private clients, including real estate developers.

“It’s sort of the anti-Nextdoor and Citizen…rather than using crime and fear as a way to get people engaged, what if you used humor?”

www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/high...

Renee Macklin Good’s wife says she nurtured kindness On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.

"we had whistles, they had guns" will stay with me forever www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

I've interviewed three witnesses who said they saw an ICE agent shoot and kill motorist in Minneapolis who was observing. We also have video. All witnesses vociferously deny that the woman shot and killed presented a threat to agents. They say she was trying to leave. Homeland Security tweet below:

I don't love making broad predictions but I feel this one in my bones

As homicide investigation continues, neighbors, colleagues gather to remember 'extraordinary' Brookline scientist - Brookline.News Nuno Loureiro was shot and killed at his Gibbs Street home on Monday night.

Nuno Loureiro, the Brookline resident and father of three who was killed in a shooting Monday, was funny, smart, personable and an "extraordinary" scientist, according to colleagues and others who knew him.

Neighbors gathered at a vigil last night holding candles.

brookline.news/as-homicide-...

‘Unimaginably tragic’: Tracing the 50 hours after the shooting at Brown Brown Daily Herald article constructing a timeline of events that followed Saturday’s shooting at Brown University.

projects.browndailyherald.com/2025/12/16/t... proud of and heartsick for the students doing this work while grieving. This would have been my worst nightmare as a student AND student journalist.

This shooting happened barely one week after The Herald's new editorial board assumed leadership.

He dreamed of being a doctor. She was a leader in the college Republicans club. What we know about Brown shooting victims. - The Boston Globe Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were attending a review session for a popular economics class when a gunman came into the classroom and opened fire.

Ella Cook was a leader in the college Republicans club. MukhammadAziz Umurzokov dreamed of becoming a doctor. Both saw their lives cut short on Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Brown University.

The 2025 gift guide for journalists Coffee (faster!), #tradwife murder mysteries, heated mattress pads, Prohibition-era video games, and much more.

Stumped on what to get the journalist in your life this year? Start here.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...

How The Salt Lake Tribune spent 2025 preparing for a 2026 without subscription revenue Personally, my favorite form of journalistic impact is when the reporting becomes a central plot point on a Real Housewives franchise. In the Season 6 premiere of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake…

The @sltrib.com has budgeted nearly zero subscription income in 2026 because of its plans to drop its paywall and adopt a membership model.

"A lot of people have been hurt over this strike financially [and] emotionally. I want to make sure that has its due. But we’re going to have to work through that very quickly and get back to work."

by @sarahscire.com

At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets "We no longer begin with the idea that we're a local podcast network, even though that is the most familiar thing to most people.”

At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/at-f...

Florida nonprofit news reporters ask board to investigate their editor’s AI use Suncoast Searchlight’s four reporters told the board their editor-in-chief was using AI editing tools and inserting hallucinations into drafts. The next day, one of the reporters was fired.

Last week, Suncoast Searchlight's four reporters wrote a letter to their board. Their editor-in-chief had secretly been using ChatGPT and inserting hallucinated quotes into their drafts.

The next day, one of those reporters was fired. My latest for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...

“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids…

A rapidly multiplying number of new media upstarts are entering the fray in Los Angeles — from driven local journalists to national commercial and philanthropic institutions that sense opportunity. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more...

“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids ...

Finally some good journalism news out of LA, where lots of new news orgs are popping up www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more... by @speppered.bsky.social

A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston The Boston University Newsroom has published nearly 400 news articles in hyperlocal outlets in and around the city.

A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/a-wi...

Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the P...

the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...

The Salt Lake Tribune, preparing to drop its paywall, launches a free, monthly print newspaper for Southern Utah “We believe that the first thing we have to do is build something that people want.”

The Southern Utah Tribune is not intended to be [an offshoot] of Salt Lake City’s newsroom...this is a local news product for Washington County; its form and content are rooted in what residents told the Tribune they wanted, and it has two full-time reporters living in the county. buff.ly/4v5EaSu