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** OPINION
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Just a quick note before we get started today. This special Thanksgiving edition of The Poynter Report will be our final edition of the week. The newsletter will return to your inboxes next on Monday, Dec. 1. Now let’s get started.

Happy Thanksgiving!


** What we’re thankful for in media in 2025
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(Ania Samoilova/Shutterstock)

Ever since I started this newsletter in 2019, I’ve had a Thanksgiving week tradition of asking my Poynter colleagues to share what they’re thankful for in the news media. Before offering their contributions this year, many of them took a deep breath, slowly exhaled and lowered their heads — a physical sign that many were simply thankful that this year was almost over.

Let’s face it, when it comes to the press and its place in a healthy democracy, this has been a horrible year. Aside from the continuing economic challenges facing media organizations, we have an administration that is doing all it can to muzzle the media.

We, of course, cover that every day in this newsletter, and we will continue to do so. But today, we try to remain positive and express our sincere gratitude.

So with that, here’s what we’re thankful for in 2025.


** Brave journalists
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Monique Curet, PolitiFact managing editor

As a Chicagoan, I've been thankful for local media outlets that are going above and beyond to cover the federal immigration enforcement in our city and the surrounding suburbs. The coverage has been thorough, varied, informative and emotional, and holds the government to account. Journalists have risked their safety ([link removed]) to bring us these stories, and I am grateful to them for the public service they're providing.


** Seconding that sentiment
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Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact Florida government reporter

I'm thankful for local journalists like those at the Chicago Tribune and other local news organizations around the U.S., who have worked tirelessly to document and spotlight how national immigration policy is affecting their communities. They do this day in and day out while operating in smaller newsrooms and, often, in dangerous situations. Their commitment to making the truth known holds those in power accountable and ensures the historical record reflects what is happening in all corners of the country.

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** Touching grass
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Ren LaForme, Poynter managing editor

Oh, what a year it’s been! If you’re reading this, you likely don’t need a recap, but let’s just say the headlines haven’t been light: federal upheaval, press freedom incursions ([link removed]) , environmental catastrophes and the shambling husk that passes for local news in too many places. I’ll stop there before I ruin your day.

Consuming all that, day after day — through big screens, smaller screens and the little black mirrors we can’t seem to put down — can be a lot. So allow me to offer an alternative, delivered in the form of a popular Gen Z prescription: touch grass.

This year, I did just that. I spent long days outside at my family’s humble country home, cutting down old trees, planting new ones, building a pergola, sowing native flower beds and frankensteining a composter from scrap. Caked in mulch and the sawdust, I found something I hadn’t felt in a while: stability.

The powers of the outdoors are many. Google them, if you must. I won’t tell you to stop reading the news; it’s our job to stay informed (and your generous readership keeps me employed). But I can recommend this much: Every so often, hit the power button, step outside and let the chlorophyll do its work.

And while we’re on the subject of grounding forces, I’m also thankful for our late colleague Rick Edmonds ([link removed]) , whose gentle wisdom shaped how I see this work, and who proved, every day, that humility can move mountains. I miss him.


** People who stepped up for Poynter and what they told us
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Jennifer Orsi, vice president of publishing and local news initiatives

Poynter is conducting a special campaign in honor of our 50th anniversary to raise $50,000 ([link removed]) toward our important mission. As former students, readers and partners have stepped up to support us, I’ve been so thankful to read the messages that accompany their donations, which show how many people value good journalism and the way Poynter makes a difference. Here are just a few:
* “I support truth and accuracy. Journalists who uphold these values deserve support and encouragement.”
* “Poynter works to strengthen American journalism, provide journalists with needed tools and report on the state of this essential craft and its practitioners to improve the quality of our democracy and defend it from attack.”
* “I attended two workshops at Poynter. … They were the two best training experiences of my almost 30 years in journalism.”
* “Darkness is closing in on a number of fronts. Poynter is a lighthouse. And one worth supporting.”
* “Grateful alumna. Your work is key for journalism to thrive once again in the US.”
* “I am thankful for your ongoing work to develop great journalists and to protect freedom of the press. We need those journalists now more than ever!”
* “Poynter does so many great things on behalf of journalists and journalism including expert training and supporting the public’s right to know. It’s an incredibly useful and important organization!”


** ‘Andor’
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Angie Drobnic Holan, International Fact-Checking Network director

If art imitates life, for me this year it was the Star Wars-themed TV show “Andor.” No, I am not part of the Rebel Alliance fighting the Empire on a far-off planet in a galaxy far, far away. But I am grappling with the erosion of democratic norms, the machinery of propaganda and the incremental nature of authoritarianism. All those were “Andor” themes, and all are very familiar to me in my work on information integrity as director of the International Fact-Checking Network.

Well written and well acted, the show takes place shortly before the events of the classic movie when Luke Skywalker blows up the Empire’s Death Star. The dashing space pilot Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, anchors a complex story about how the Rebel Alliance formed and how much it costs people to stand up to an unjust system. My favorite moment of the series comes when Sen. Mon Mothma gives a rousing speech decrying the massacre of innocent civilians on the planet Ghorman, knowing she’ll shortly have to go into hiding herself: “I believe we are in crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous.”

In a year of navigating attacks on fact-checking, platform pullbacks, and a disregard for facts, I’m grateful for storytelling that shows how people find the courage to keep fighting for the truth.


** Wired in
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Josie Hollingsworth, Poynter and PolitiFact’s audience director

WIRED.com ([link removed]) performed across the board early this year. The scoops were off the charts, the subscriptions were pouring in, the swaggy canvas bags were flying off the shelves. (I love sporting mine to the farmer’s market, leaning into the pocket-protector-of-it-all 🤓)

Early this year, Poynter was looking for ways to cover the way information delivery was changing with Donald Trump back in the White House. In our newsroom Slack, I contemplated to the group, “A compilation of all the different archives and databases that are disappearing. A compilation of researchers who have been saving older archived ([link removed]) data. A refresher on creating databases. A refresher on FOIA-ing?”

My colleague Alex Mahadevan responded, “Agree with this and I also re-upped my subscription. Wired has been essential reading for me through all this.”

Later, WIRED’s coverage of DOGE ([link removed]) and the “wall of receipts” ([link removed]) (yeah, I bet you forgot about that) was so succinct, so extensive, but also in context. I just appreciated a trusted source I could go to for this unique intersection of tech and politics ([link removed]) .

Condé Nast drama ([link removed]) aside, WIRED is also using AI ethically and transparently. From a Poynter-published research overview ([link removed]) in April: “WIRED ([link removed]) provides mode-specific guidance on how generative AI can or can’t be used for different applications, including writing headlines, suggesting story ideas or using AI to generate images or video. Audience members appreciated concreteness and specificity when news organizations said they would or wouldn’t use generative AI.”

This is completely in line with updated AI ethics guidelines ([link removed]) Poynter has created for newsrooms.


** Going to the source
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Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact chief correspondent

My sources.

Recently, I wrote a quick-turnaround PolitiFact article on a breaking news development involving President Donald Trump. I sent out two late-afternoon queries, one to a foreign policy expert I had last contacted in 2018, and the other to an expert who I am in more frequent touch with but who, unbeknownst to me at the time, was in Tel Aviv. The first source replied within three minutes, and the second within 12. (I don't want to think about how late it was in his time zone.) Both provided short answers, but they were both completely on point. Their responses allowed me to publish my article by the close of business.

I've been covering politics and policy in Washington for more than three decades now, so I've collected a lot of good sources along the way. (My longest ongoing source relationship dates from 1992!) I appreciate my sources' willingness to respond, usually pretty quickly, with information that's useful to what I'm writing about. I have worried that, in today's era of animus against the press and threats of government retribution, their assistance could dry up. So far, though, they have continued to provide useful insights. And for that, I am thankful.


** Sharing the process
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Amy Sherman, PolitiFact senior correspondent

I am thankful for local election workers. Although they are busy administering elections or preparing for the next one, they take the time to respond to our phone calls and emails and explain in detail the processes they use when we are fact-checking misinformation or disinformation. Elections offices provided us with factual information ([link removed]) about California ballots ([link removed]) during the redistricting vote ([link removed]) and broadly talked to us about processes for handling mail ballots ([link removed]) . Some election offices don’t have the budget to hire a PR staff, which means that they have added
speaking to the media to their lists of tasks. One important way to protect free and fair elections is to provide clear and factual information about how our elections work, and for reporters, that means we rely on the men and women who are the most familiar with that work. Many election workers have faced threats and harassment, and yet they still speak up publicly to fact-check falsehoods.


** Making the cut
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Ellen Hine, PolitiFact senior audience engagement producer

Despite working in journalism, I would say I have very few media habits. But every day — typically right after I've come back from lunch and am not ready to think about work yet — I head over to “The Cut” to read my daily horoscope.

In my heart of hearts, I'm not sure I really believe in astrology. But checking my horoscope is a nice little ritual that helps me reinvigorate my brain and start putting my day in context. It reminds me that while our audiences need coverage of serious topics, they also need little moments of delight to help balance it all out. I'm grateful that “The Cut” helps me strike that balance.

This submission might be a little off the wall, but what can I say? I'm an Aquarius.


** Press freedom tracking, yoga and a mug warmer
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Amaris Castillo, NPR Public Editor research/writing assistant and Poynter staff writer

I'm thankful for the journalists and organizations who have kept track of the relentless attacks against press freedom ([link removed]) . Your work is needed in this age we're living in. And I'm thankful for yoga, which enables me to mentally dissociate from all that's going on in the world (in hourly increments).

One more thing: Shout out to the mug warmer on my desk at home. It makes me happy, and keeps my milk-with-coffee-and-creamer warm throughout the workday. It's the little things.


** Putting up a brick wall
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Nicole Slaughter Graham, Ethics Center newsletters editor and Poynter staff writer

The Brick ([link removed]) . (I feel like I need to say that this is not a paid advertisement and I am not endorsed by this product.) Like lots of people, I have trouble getting off the apps. I find that I aimlessly end up back on Instagram even when I don't want to be. Before I know it, I'm reeled back into the news cycle. The little "Screen Time" feature on my phone is too easy to circumvent, and I have kids, so I don't really want to throw my phone in a drawer and walk away. So my solution is this literal gray square that's stuck to the side of my fridge. It's set up to block my email and all of the social media apps on my phone. All I have to do is tap my phone to the Brick to activate it, and I won't be able to get back into those apps until I tap my phone to it again. I love doing this on weekends before I leave the house for the park or lunch or the farmers market with my family.


** Meme Fridays
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Sara Swann, PolitiFact research editor

I'm thankful for Poynter memes, curated by my colleague TyLisa C. Johnson. Every Friday, I am delighted to open up Instagram and see that week's journalism meme dump ([link removed]) . The memes are always hilarious and painfully accurate. I appreciate the levity they provide, especially during difficult times.


** Zoom auditions
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Loreben Tuquero, PolitFact staff writer and Poynter AI Innovation Lab member

I report on artificial intelligence, and one hilarious thing I've found while covering this beat is the Instagram series called "Will AI actors replace us?!"

In those biweekly videos, director and writer Sergio Cilli does "Zoom auditions" with AI actors, and while the results can be creepy or dark, most of the time they're just comically bad. The AI characters swap voices with one another. They use third arms. And they often fail at following basic direction, like showing sensuality or anger.

I'm thankful to Cilli for bringing humor into the AI discourse, and for the reminder that even when AI has become so advanced, it still doesn't come close to replicating authentic human emotion.


** Making my week — and year
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Madison Czopek, PolitiFact staff writer

This year, I've been especially thankful for readers who've taken the time to send kind, thoughtful feedback. After a series of difficult days in September, a reader emailed to say he appreciated an article I wrote about research on Tylenol use during pregnancy ([link removed]) . “I found your article extremely well written and very well thought out,” he said, adding, “you’re doing a great job at advancing truth in health care.” Those words made my entire week. My colleagues and I often hear from people who are unhappy with our reporting or those who disagree with our findings. It's far more rare to receive positive feedback, but reader encouragement like this helps remind me why I do this work.


** What’s cookin’?
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Katie Sanders, PolitiFact editor-in-chief

New York Times Cooking is my favorite escape. I don't miss a newsletter of suggestions, and I get several each week. As I save recipes, I look forward to planning meals and grocery shopping — AKA chores! I recommend fall soups with confidence, because they are as easy as advertised. (This season I ride for spicy black bean soup ([link removed]) and creamy tortellini ([link removed]) .) The app stays open while you cook, a game-changer when slicing onions or chicken. And, in a first for me on the internet, I find the comments delightful. The successful venture doesn't need my evangelizing. I just wanted to say: Thank you for being a self-care bright spot.


** A special group
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TyLisa C. Johnson, audience engagement producer

Karen Attiah. Nikole Hannah-Jones. Errin Haines. Robin Roberts. Joy Reid. Lauren Williams. Cassie Owens. Taylor Crumpton. Sylvia Obell. Aiyana Ishmael. I would list all of the phenomenal Black women journalists who are talented beyond measure and deserving of flowers, but then I’d be here into 2026. I just want to say: The journalism industry is blessed to have you.

I am grateful for all of the Black women journalists who are persevering in an industry that is often hostile towards them. I am grateful for the women committed to creating new spaces and building journalism’s future — an inclusive, authentic and truly community-oriented news industry. I am grateful for the Black women who came before us (thank you, Toni Morrison and Ida B. Wells).

Your voices mattered before 2020, and they matter now. They always have and always will. I see you. I am inspired by you. I am grateful for you.

Oh! And I'm so, so grateful for our Friday meme lovers, and every single comment, share and DM about our memes, especially this post ([link removed]) . You all keep me laughing and inspire me to keep going.


** Journalists who are still dreaming big right now
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Megan Griffith-Greene, Poynter faculty, Journalism Funding Ethics

To put it mildly: It's been an extraordinarily hard year. The industry — and the country — feel precarious if not just completely under attack. Which is especially hard for journalists who don't just want to do the work, they want to reimagine it to be better, deeper, more valuable and more sustainable.

Truth is, it is hard enough for many journalists to simply keep their heads above water right now. We're facing intense public attacks, the loss of critical funding and support, a toxic social media space, shrinking newsrooms and an uncertain future. And for leaders and editors, we're managing people through this. So, for anyone who is tired (or burned out) all the way down to their bones, all I can say is fair enough and that it's OK if you're just treading water right now. We need to have as many of us who can weather this storm and are still standing on the other side of this.

But I'm extra grateful to journalists who are boldly biting into big, ambitious stories; who are transforming what they mean to their communities; who are finding new models and formats and projects and purpose. I see you. I'm grateful to you. You are lighting the way out of this darkness and giving both your colleagues and your audiences more to trust, defend, believe in and fight for.


** Mark Graham and the Wayback Machine
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Alex Mahadevan, MediaWise director, faculty leading Poynter's AI Innovation Lab

After Donald Trump took office, his administration embarked on a campaign of digital vandalism, taking thousands of web pages and datasets offline ([link removed]) . In its rush to rewrite history, the administration deleted climate and health information, a Jan. 6 database tracking insurrectionists and countless accounts of diverse heroes and leaders who helped build and defend this country.

Enter Wayback Machine ([link removed]) director Mark Graham. You can't miss him in his flashy Hawaiian shirts at conferences — and yes, you probably have a Wayback Machine sticker. Graham, a relentless promoter of the Internet Archive ([link removed]) 's mission to save the web, recently celebrated the organization's milestone of archiving one trillion websites ([link removed]) .

Journalists, fact-checkers, researchers and librarians now rely on the Wayback Machine to access pages deleted by the current administration, lost to link rot, or casualties of the media industry's collapse. You'll have to visit the Internet Archive to read 480,000 old MTV News articles ([link removed]) .

I've used the Wayback Machine to investigate a pink slime site that scraped Poynter's AI ethics guidelines ([link removed]) . And I’ve taught tens of thousands of teenagers how to use it to fact-check what they see online ([link removed]) .

So, I'm thankful this year for the Wayback Machine, the Internet Archive and Graham — whose brilliant conversations always make me smarter about digital history, the future of an agentic web, trust and safety and crowdsourced fact-checking. And I couldn’t be more stoked about the Internet Archive, Poynter and Investigative Reporters & Editors working together to preserve local news archives ([link removed]) .


** My podcast retreat
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Sitara Nieves, vice president of teaching and organizational strategy

I’m grateful for many things this year. The journalists, lawyers, librarians, comedians, organizations and ordinary people standing up for First Amendment freedoms. The huge range of support for public media post-rescission. My brilliant and fabulous colleagues. It was hard to choose!

But here’s mine: I’m grateful for the podcasts that are my daily companions, and that help me make sense of the flood of news and noise. I’m generally listening to a show when I’m doing anything other than working — a range of podcasts on politics, news, journalism, law, storytelling and comedy. Here’s what’s on rotation that helps me make sense of what's happening in media: “The Grill Room.” “The Press Box.” “Newsroom Robots.” “Question Everything.” “The Poynter Report Podcast” (obviously). “The Town.” “Power Lines.” I’d be thankful to anyone who has ideas of what I should add to my rotation for next year!


** An optimistic spirit
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Jon Greenberg, Poynter faculty, Beat Academy

I stumbled upon an interview with a woman in Gaza who teaches teenagers to make rudimentary animations. Their classroom is a tent. Their animations show families sleeping packed side by side in tents. The plot lines center on the hunt for food and water. But in the interview with this woman, there’s a picture of a group of her students and a couple have their arms spread wide and all of them are smiling for the camera — just like teens anywhere. So I’m grateful to this woman for giving them that moment in the middle of all the destruction.


** Local matters
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Kristen Hare, Poynter faculty, director of craft and local news

This year, I’m thankful for the national news organizations that continue working with local newsrooms and local journalists. It’s easier and cheaper to drop in when news happens. But The New York Times ([link removed]) , ProPublica ([link removed]) and The Associated Press ([link removed]) have taken a different approach when it comes to local investigations. Each has invested in local journalists, newsrooms and communities through their own local investigative programs. Those programs pay salaries, offer institutional support and skillful editing. I’m especially thankful that The New York Times is taking the idea a step further with its new investigative center in the South ([link removed]) . These programs aren’t charity, and they’re
not PR stunts. Instead, they recognize that investigative journalism is expensive, critical and something all communities deserve.


** Live from New York …
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Tom Jones, Poynter senior media writer and author of The Poynter Report newsletter

I was 10 years old when an unknown comedic actor named Chevy Chase uttered these words for the very first time: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”

And thus began my 50-year love affair with “Saturday Night Live.” Earlier this year, as “SNL” celebrated its 50th season, I finally signed up for Peacock for one reason: to watch every episode of “Saturday Night Live” from the beginning.

There have been plenty of great years, and a few clunkers. Some sketches (Sprockets, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer) are better than you remember. Some sketches (The Coneheads, Mango) are worse than you remember. Many sketches (Buckwheat is Dead, Eddie Murphy’s White Like Me) hold up well. Many (It’s Pat, Buck Henry Babysitting) absolutely do not.

But the show has remained relevant throughout, particularly in its political commentary and the news of the day.

Has the show always been perfect or even really good? No. Is it off to a rough start with its new season? Admittedly, yes. But it still matters. It still attracts A-list hosts. It still attracts cool musical acts. And it still has me tuning in each week to hear those magic words:

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”


** More resources for journalists
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* Experienced managers: Develop the must-have skills journalists need to lead media organizations of the future. Apply now ([link removed]) .
* Gain the skills to spot AI risks like bias, misinformation and hallucinations before they harm your work. Enroll now ([link removed]) .
* Join 300 newsrooms receiving free digital preservation training. Apply by Jan. 9, 2026 ([link removed]) .
* Access a list of mental health reporting resources ([link removed]) on funding, source-building and more.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

The Poynter Report is your daily dive into the world of media, packed with the latest news and insights. Get it delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here ([link removed]) . And don’t forget to tune into our biweekly podcast ([link removed]) for even more.
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