Lawrence Roberts

Bill Moyers, Presidential Aide and Veteran of Public TV, Dies at 91

RIP Bill Moyers, an LBJ confidant who went on to become one of the most esteemed journalists of his era. "In an age of broadcast blowhards," writes Janny Scott, the soft-spoken Baptist minister examined power and money in America, winning 30 Emmys. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/b...

This photo of Spock, by the way, was taken May 3, 1971 after he was rounded up in DC as part of the biggest mass arrest in US history -- 12,000 people detained in all. Nixon summoned the National Guard plus 10,000 troops and Marines to stop a blockade of Washington by Vietnam antiwar protesters.

Lawrence Roberts
Wrote this book May Day 1971 about Mass
Arrests during the May
Day protest by
The Nixon administration
This was exactly
Like what's happening
Now
It was the largest
Mass Arrest in
American history
Check out this book
For insight into
Today's issues!

The Law Firms That Appeased Trump—and Angered Their Clients After firms struck deals to avoid punitive executive orders, some big clients decided to take their business elsewhere.

The head of Sullivan & Cromwell, Trump’s leading enabler among law firms, told partners that the EO’s targeting firms were unconstitutional.
So S&C and its ilk admit they folded instead of suing in cases they believed they would win.
A triumph of greed and expediency.

www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Opinion | A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press

NYT coverage of Donald Trump: "The single largest body of accountability reporting ever produced by a single news organization on a single subject."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

The Crypto President A Times investigation shows how much President Trump and his family have profited from his championing of cryptocurrency.

And here is an episode of The Daily that posted Thursday May 1 that walks through the story. You can listen and/or read. What matters is you engage with this information and are informed. Accountability matters. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/p...

This is a tragedy of the first order—a self-inflicted wound on an institution that represents the best of our democracy and civil society. Do you think there is anything like it in Moscow or Beijing?

with apologies to @xkcd.com

What Went Wrong at the Center for Public Integrity? Reflections after talking with former leaders

In light of last night’s news from @columjournreview.bsky.social reporting that the Center for Public Integrity will soon dissolve, here’s my column from a year ago analyzing its collapse.
Still important lessons here, especially for boards and funders.
dicktofel.substack.com/p/what-went-...

Reporter, National New York City, United States; Remote, United States

🚨 JOURNALISM JOB ALERT 🚨

We're hiring for an investigative reporter to join @propublica.org's national news coverage team!

All the details, including salary range and application form, here 👇👇

Orwell: "Spring is here... and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it."

One of the best journalism jobs in the world is now open: NYT is looking for a new bureau chief to replace me in the Pacific Northwest.

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

Astonishing must read from @theatlantic.com
US national security adviser adds magazine editor to text chain on Signal, where he, VP, SecState, SecDef, DNI, CIA, White House chief of staff, etc discuss war plans against Houthis, including 2-hour warning of attack
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Russian state media reporter gained entry to the Oval Office for Trump-Zelensky sit-down | CNN Business A member of Russia’s state-owned news agency gained access to the Oval Office on Friday to cover President Trump’s sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – even as the AP and Reuters wer...

Hard to imagine ordinary folks thinking it's okay for the White House to bar the Associated Press and Reuters from observing an Oval Office session while bringing the Russian news agency into the room.
www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/m...

Rifling Through the Archives With Legendary Historian Robert Caro Reams of papers, revealing how the scholar came to write his iconic biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson, are preserved forever in New York. But his work is far from over

My kind of breaking news: Robert Caro on next installment of his LBJ biography: “Well, I’ll tell you what pages I’m up to—951.” www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rifl...

‘Zero Day’ Is a Throwback Thriller With Modern Echoes The new Netflix series is a contemporary update of a ’70s-style political drama that is even more contemporary than its creators anticipated.

With due respect: Whatever its attributes, Zero Day most definitely does not merit comparison to masterpieces such as The Conversation and Chinatown.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/a...

AP creates Local Investigative Reporting Program - Editor and Publisher In a memo to staff, Executive Editor Julie Pace announced AP will launch a Local Investigative Reporting Program led by Ron Nixon.

Great to see the Associated Press commit resources to help fill the huge scary gaps in local investigative reporting around the country, to be led by the talented Ron Nixon.
www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/ap-c...

Nixon: "If the president approves an action because of the national security or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude then the president’s decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out to carry it out without violating a law."

Trump’s W.H.O. Exit Throws Smallpox Defenses Into Upheaval Health experts see his retreat from international cooperation as disrupting the safe-keepers of one of the world’s deadliest pathogens.

All this and smallpox, too. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/h...

U.S. Agencies Fund, and Fight With, Elon Musk. A Trump Presidency Could Give Him Power Over Them.

And FYI. To all those Bluesky readers who love to argue that we did not cover these issues before the election. You might have missed this. Here is a free link. Published in October. www.nytimes.com/2024/10/20/u...

I'm a big fan of Barcelona's "superblocks", designed in part to reduce traffic and create spaces for humans rather than cars to interact. This intersection was traffic clogged a few years ago. Our cities can be better places to live.

NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage Move to cut indirect cost rate to 15% could cost universities billions of dollars

Huge blow to biomedical research at U.S. universities.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump’s Crypto Venture Divides the Industry He Aims to Support (Gift Article) The president’s promotion of a speculative digital coin left some crypto investors feeling blindsided, while others saw it as a gimmick that undermined the industry’s credibility.

Here again in our story. Reporting by newspapers like this is at times going to be the beginning and the end of accountability in the Trump era. Please read and share. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/u...

Great job alert!

ProPublica is hiring a climate reporter. Come join us.

Remote OK.
Salary range: $95K-$170K.

Apply here:

boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

Once again I am obliged to mention that I recently worked in a school district where the policy was teachers were not to accept gifts from parents worth more than $5 lest it affect our grading.

Among many good efforts by newsrooms around the country to fill the scary void in local and regional reporting, the huge successes and major impact of ProPublica's initiatives have been nothing short of astonishing.

When Jeff Bezos bought WaPo he followed an admirable hands-off model of billionaire newspaper ownership. Recently Bezos seems to be taking a different tack, paving the way for his peers. But the moguls are tragically mistaken if they think such acts will restore public confidence in their products.

NEWS: When it became clear Wash Post managing editor Matea Gold was heading to the NYT, a veteran WaPo reporter prepared a story.

Acting Executive Editor Matt Murray killed it, saying the paper shouldn't be covering itself. "Pin it on me," he said.

My story:
www.npr.org/2024/12/09/n...

Robert O’Harrow Jr., investigative veteran at Washington Post, dies at 64 Mr. O’Harrow’s wide-ranging work included groundbreaking investigations into digital privacy and surveillance.

So terribly sad to lose investigative reporter Robert O'Harrow, my former colleague. Bob was sui generis & often ahead of the curve, most impressively when he foresaw the collision between big data, privacy and democracy with his 2005 book No Place to Hide. RIP
www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

New ProPublica jobs! Come join us.

* Covering the Southwest: boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

* Covering Florida: boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

Salary ranges: $90K-$130K.