Reed F. Richardson
Managing Editor, Global Investigative Journalism Network (@gijn.org). Army veteran. Press freedom. Pro-democracy. Past bylines: FAIRMediaWatch, The Nation, TPM, Alternet, Salon, Mediaite, et al.
“Someone has to investigate the bastards” — Chuck Lewis
- War zones like Sudan, Ukraine, & Gaza are fraught with deadly risks, which makes investigating battlefield atrocities difficult if not impossible. But with the wealth of commercial satellite imagery available now—much of it low or no cost—journalists can now expose potential war crimes from afar.
- Increasingly clear Twitter/X has become the online equivalent of the "rural diner" of political coverage lore. If reporters think what they're seeing on their feeds on that platform is indicative of the country as a whole they're blind to being inside their own bubble.
- Trump job approval rating by news platform 🟢 Twitter/X: +9 🔴 Facebook: -7 🔴 Cable TV: -10 🔴 Podcasts/YouTube: -14 🔴 Local TV: -17 🔴 Instagram: -21 🔴 Broadcast TV: -28 🔴 TikTok: -28 🔴 Newspapers/news sites: -33 🔴 Reddit: -40 www.theargumentmag.com/p/twitter-is...
- Echoing @joshtpm.bsky.social that this is a big, big tell about the bad faith behind Bezos' WaPo layoffs. My local northern NJ newspapers have had their original reporting Gannettized to death, but I still read (& have subscribed to) their solid sports coverage talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/do-yo...
- Quite the reminder of the value of an independent @starsandstripes.bsky.social, blowing up a favorite talking point of the White House. And exactly why the Defense Secy's plan to devolve it into little more than a state propaganda organ is a real threat to press freedom & public accountability.
- REPORT: National Guard members deployed to Washington, D.C., have broken up fights, administered opioid overdose medication and helped deliver a baby, but they have not had a measurable impact on crime reduction. Read more: www.stripes.com/theaters/us/... #Flashes
- Late to this, but I think this mindset also speaks to Elon Musk et al's campaign vs. indy news repositories like Wikipedia & @archive.org. Oligarchs & corporations would love nothing more than the supposed arbiters of truth online to be controlled by a few wealthy (+ politically aligned) interests.
- This past year, month, week, and now day have repeatedly made crystal clear what the owner of the Washington Post prioritizes more. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
- Investigative reporters should take heed, when it comes to protecting confidential sources, leakers, or whistleblowers: -Turn off biometric access -Use an iPhone in lockdown mode (Android phones aren't as secure, and Chinese-made phones are worthless) -Message using a secure app like Signal
- “The way we work as journalists — having people in every country who help us — is exactly how [criminal enterprises] work now,” — Investigace[.]cz founder Pavla Holcová Today @gijn.org we look at how reporters need to build their own transnational collaborations to expose global criminal syndicates.
- So, one year after Musk had his company xAI buy his ailing company Twitter/X, he now has his company SpaceX buy xAI, home of the industrialized nudifier app Grok, which is also under investigation in the EU. And somehow xAI's valuation more than doubled during this period www.ft.com/content/8ee7...
- Like the old saying goes… journalism should comfort the afflicted and make the comfortable visually beautiful with the lighting.
- How do journalists stay safe but also continue to pursue accountability reporting in repressive states that have little regard for press freedom? The experience of Pakistani investigative journalists offers some best practices for journos around the world — even in the US. gijn.org/stories/stra...
- Today @gijn.org our regular #DataJournalism Top 10 looks at the massive cuts to US science research by the Trump WH, which would roll back funding levels to *35 years ago.* Also, how the Trump family's crypto fortunes have exploded & how Japan's AI data centers are sparking a nuclear power comeback.
- Tragic day for the rudderless Washington Post. And with these announced cuts to the local section, it's a good time to remember that the paper's biggest investigation ever—and arguably the most consequential in US history—was led by two reporters on the *Metro* desk. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/b...
- Unconscionable. The selective persecution of these journalists—along with the raid on the home of WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson—are clear signals the Trump administration has no real regard for freedom of the press and seeks to punish those who cover critics or leak the truth about the White House.
- What a news org chooses to highlight on social media tells you a lot about its newsroom priorities. Does joshing around with the Treasury Sec'y about his guilty pleasure—amidst a global economic push against the US—seem like the focus on "revelatory journalism" Bari Weiss promised two days ago?
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonThe U.S. Journalist Assistance Network invites you to join us for a roundtable discussion on best practices for protecting data and devices for journalists in the U.S. 🗓️ 2/10 | 12-1 p.m. ET Register: cpj.org/USJANPaneldata
- Today @gijn.org is in the home stretch of our annual Editor's Picks, recapping the best investigative reporting of 2025 across the world. In eastern Europe, central Asia, & Russia, independent journalism is under withering attack but these exposés stand out for their courage, quality, & relevance.
- What's striking to me is Bari Weiss says CBS News' future will depend upon "investigative scoops" & "revelatory journalism"… but then announces the hiring of: a) contributors (talking heads?) b) more exec staff c) three 'social-first' reporters Nothing about a new team of investigative reporters…
- As @nytimes.com documents, Trump cabinet agencies have been brazenly posting white nationalist/supremacist themes on social media. And while the DHS spox is a comically bad liar, kudos to the Times for getting her ownership on the record for future accountability. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonFederal agents in Minneapolis wrestled Alex Pretti to the ground and secured the handgun he was carrying moments before shooting him multiple times, according to a Washington Post analysis of video footage. Read more: wapo.st/4qGOx8M
- Complete, utter abdication of its civic duty by CBS News to recycle this fluff when the country is being torn apart by gov’t abductions of everyone down to toddlers and blood runs in the streets from state-sanctioned killings.
- Reposted by Reed F. Richardson[Not loaded yet]
- Kudos to @nytimes.com for this bit of reverse engineering in their reporting. It drives home the point that AI tools are increasingly being employed by the powerful to spread disinformation & humiliate their targets, but also undermine real journalism & the truth. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...
- In an era where corporations shield scrutiny through global subsidiaries, money crosses borders instantly, and tax havens are proliferating, investigative journalists need to call upon as many tools and partners as possible to pierce the veil of financial secrecy. gijn.org/stories/gijc...
- At #GIJC25, experts on how investigative journalism must navigate an uncertain and challenging future pulled no punches. Survival is paramount — and funding sources will need to be diverse — if we want to keep the flame of accountability reporting well lit around the world. gijn.org/stories/gijc...
- In its poll on Trump's second term, @nytimes.com finds a new low on job approval (40%) and only a third of voters (32%) say the country is better off now than it was one year ago. But most striking to me was this tortured logic from a die-hard Trump supporter… www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...
- The @nytimes.com and @counterhate.com dug into the massive output of sexualized AI images created by X's AI chatbot, Grok. Based on their data analysis, they estimated that, in just a few weeks, Grok had generated *23,000* images of sexualized children. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...
- Hard to see this as anything other than a test run sweeping up all of a reporter's confidential files under the flimsy pretense of a leak investigation. Impossible not to have a chilling effect on sources who fear their identity could be outed by a gov't raid. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
- And the dog that (still) isn't barking in this Post story on the FBI raid on Hannah Natanson's home… No public comment or quote from the newspaper's owner, Jeff Bezos, on the outrageous, unconstitutional violation of one of his reporter's press freedom rights.
- Not exactly investigative but this is some very necessary *accountability reporting* by the @wsj.com, dismantling Trump's primary economic claim. "The $200 billion in additional US tariff revenue last year 'was paid almost exclusively by Americans'…is likely to fuel higher US inflation over time."
- Reposted by Reed F. Richardson[Not loaded yet]
- Bezos wrote this days after the Post abruptly killed its planned endorsement of Harris for president. His ongoing silence in the face of the Trump DOJ's chilling search of a Post reporter's home says plenty—if not more—about his free press "principles" & willingness to stand up to "intimidation."
- Increasingly clear that CBS News staffers are going to leak every weird, elitist, and editorially compromising act that Bare Weiss does as network editor-in-chief. And the aggregate picture these stories tell of Weiss' influence is a devastating one for the news network's integrity and future.
- Crystal clear example of how this White House wants to kill editorially independent journalism for, and by, US military service members in exchange for Yes, Dear Leader-type propagandists. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...
- Reposted by Reed F. Richardson[Not loaded yet]
- Today @gijn.org: We look at journalists uncovering how cheap labor in the Global South is fueling AI algorithms and facial recognition systems. E.g.: Gig workers drawing rectangles around humans in CCTV footage were actually training a surveillance program used to crackdown on Russian protestors.
- Brilliant journalist Anna Wolfe of @mississippitoday.org won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing this scandal—up to $77 million from the state's welfare system was misdirected to Favre and others. The state's GOP governor, Phil Bryant, also filed a defamation suit against MS Today but it was dismissed.
- Great investigative journalism here by Africa's HumAngle that analyzed the US Christmas Day airstrikes in NW Nigeria. Surprise, surprise… despite Trump's bold claims of success, the reporters on the ground afterward found not a single "terrorist" was likely killed & the bombing was "performative."
- Absolutely chilling. The Trump administration clearly wants to attack & degrade the press' protected privilege to publish leaked documents to hold the gov't accountable. If it really wants to demonstrate its commitment to the newsroom, WaPo leadership must come out strongly against this search.
- Trying to game coverage for viral moments only compromises your news judgment in an attempt to reverse engineer what you *think* your audience will like. So, it's notable that all the big names Weiss has had Dokoupil interview since taking over are pro-Trump figures. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/b...
- When one simple chart tells you more about the real state of the US jobs/hiring situation than all the spin coming from the White House. #datavisualization
- Reposted by Reed F. Richardson[Not loaded yet]
- The maritime industry is as vast as the oceans but jurisdiction — and accountability — is often murky. That leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. Today, @gijn.org looks at methods for uncovering these labor abuses in one of the most challenging reporting environments.
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonNew: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant “This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonForensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.
- This is some real, Severance-level dystopian corporate behavior…
- NEW: Post-Gazette to shut down 240-year-old paper after SCOTUS slaps down company’s bid to evade court order “Instead of simply following the law, the owners chose to punish local journalists and the city of Pittsburgh,” said Goldstein, president of @pghguild.com newsguild.org/pittsburgh-p...
- Essentially hidden from US history is that a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber crashed in Greenland in 1968, contaminating the site with plutonium. A @nsarchive.bsky.social post from just three months ago reveals more about the US cover up & how one bomb's missing U-235 fissile core has never been found.
- Reposted by Reed F. Richardson[Not loaded yet]
- There's a wave of online propaganda sluicing across the Internet right now trying to shift the narrative & portray Venezuelans as overjoyed at the US airstrikes & removal of Maduro. If you see videos that look dubious, follow the steps listed in @gijn.org's Guide to Detecting AI-Generated Content,
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonAn absolute must to read and ponder. Right through to the end. By Spencer Ackerman. "Weiss simply has no idea what it took to report this story, and even less about the value of what her reporter delivered. Ellison would not have installed someone who did." www.forever-wars.com/watching-bar...
- Powerful deep dive by @nytimes.com on the rampant quid pro quo operation of this Trump White House. Still, the Times euphemistically calls this in-plain-sight payback "transactionalism" — I can think of a more apt term, one that rhymes with "eruption." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
- Reposted by Reed F. RichardsonThe CBS reporter who led the story calls pulling it a "political" decision. "The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
- As an editor, I appreciate the shoddy grammar skills shown here by the pro-Trump board members, who left the article in front of JFK's name, which will make it that much easier to correct the record later by simply deleting the unnecessary, additional name.
