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In the last issue, I wrote about the history of performing objectivity in journalism ([link removed]) , and how current social media policies in legacy newsrooms are naive at best and oppressive at worst. I asked journalists to share what they wish they could say if their social media policies didn’t prevent them from showing up as their full selves:


“I'm scared to be open about my own abortion, because I'm worried my three male editors won't let me cover abortion stories anymore because they could argue it's a conflict.”

“It is so unbelievable that we have to pretend to be robots without feelings or experiences. And that having feelings or experiences would make us or anyone else look bad.”

“My husband is trans. I cannot and will not be neutral or impartial on any issues connected to trans people. I carried our kids, but we have transmasculine friends who carried and gave birth to their kids. Saying ‘pregnant people’ does not erase women, but saying ‘pregnant women’ does erase my friends!”

“Tweeting about how my human rights have been taken away shouldn't get me fired or reprimanded. Abortion is a human right and as a journalist, I am human too.”

“I’m told by my company’s leadership that we’re doing this to increase trust in the media. But why should people trust us when we’re complicit in the government stripping away their rights?”

“I am a recent J-school grad that’s intimidated and heartbroken by how prevalent these policies are. I took up journalism because I believe it to be a powerful tool for social change, but not when this is the state of the industry. Right now it feels like I have to settle between my morals/rights and a career.”

“As a Palestinian American and just generally pro-Palestine person, I already felt super cagey about tweeting/saying anything public about Palestine before the war. Some of the guidance is explicit (written into Standards and Ethics handbooks) but a lot of it was implicit (being told your story ideas were biased and the fear of getting fired). But when the war between Israel and Hamas started last year, the environment felt wildly repressive. I was told when working on a (story about the war) that I shouldn’t work on it because I’m Palestinian.”

“We lived in a golden age for women. For the first time in history (thanks to the Affordable Care Act), we could obtain low-cost contraceptives (even if they were painful to insert or harmful to our health). We could engage in healthy sexual relationships. We did not have to tell men 'no' every time we didn't want a baby. We were protected against sexual assault. We could choose to be child free without celibacy. And because all contraception can fail, we had abortion as a backstop so we didn't have to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, so we didn't reduced our chance of death or serious injury in pregnancy and childbirth as so many women did had to endure before us. SCOTUS has taken that right away from Americans. Now we will be voting on this issue every few years. I won't be able to prioritize any other policy issue. My health is in the hands of legislators. I am strongly considering leaving the country over the Dobbs decision.”


A couple issues back, I talked about Twitter Brain ([link removed]) , the hyper-reactive, judgmental and nuance-allergic contagion that comes for all of us at some point.
Case in point: In February, the internet melted down over food and culture writer Jeremy Schneider’s tweet ([link removed]) , “Please know, if you’re someone who brings a book to the bar… nobody likes you.” Schneider was mocked and ridiculed for days until he issued an apology for … having an opinion about people reading at bars, and there was so much ([link removed]) actual ([link removed]) coverage ([link removed]) of it.
I’m not defending his take. I think it was mean-spirited and wrong (pre-pandemic, reading at bars was one of my favorite things to do). But he also has no influence over my life or my ability to enjoy reading in bars. He’s not a legislator or the King of Bars — his opinion means nothing to me.
So why did so many of us feel the urge to pile on? Nerds (I say this lovingly!) were offended and probably saw this as a chance to stand up to the elementary school bully who still haunted their memories. When I look back on the whole episode, it just feels icky. I don’t want to be a person who gleefully makes fun of others. A pile-on can be productive ([link removed]) , but this truly didn’t seem like a situation where it would be.
For this issue, I want to think about solutions. Twitter Brain is a symptom of a systemic problem that I think ultimately has systemic solutions. Twitter has tweaked and prodded its design for a decade to make itself stickier and more necessary to its users ([link removed]) , and those changes have reshaped our information ecosystem in ways we don't fully understand. To fix Twitter ([link removed]) at this point seems impossible.
I’d also like to imagine, though, that it’s possible for individuals to think a little more critically about how they’re allowing Twitter Brain to run their lives.
When I talk about “fixing Twitter Brain,” I’m looking for ways to combat the grooves my brain has formed over the last 12 years on the internet. I’m talking about that impulse to approach each news cycle looking for the simplest arrangement of Good Guys and Bad Guys and align myself appropriately. I’m talking about the dopamine hit you get when you dash off a GREAT quote tweet dunking on someone who has a Bad Take and you know it and everyone knows it and the original tweeter probably knows it now, too.
As much as it stereotypically flattens discourse and breeds misinformation and coordinated harassment campaigns, it remains the most accessible and influential space for workers to be heard when expressing frustration with their employers ([link removed]) , consequences be damned.
Whether we collectively build a new platform (I’m still rooting for Mastodon ([link removed]) !) or just wait for Twitter to FIX ITS SHIRT, I’ve figured out what I hope to move away from and toward in my personal effort to cure my Twitter Brain:
Toward questions, away from certainty. Toward long, away from short.
(Chris Kozlowski)

Job Seeker Spotlight
In every other newsletter issue, I’m going to be highlighting someone who is looking for a journalism job. If you’d like to submit yourself to be featured, fill out this Google Form ([link removed]) !
This month’s featured job seeker is Mar Thames (she/her). She’s looking for full time work.
[link removed] Mar Thames (she/her)
Here’s what she had to say:


I am a recent graduate from The New School, where I earned a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design and a BA in Journalism + Design from Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. Currently, I am searching for multimedia based journalism work. In my reporting, I examine the environments I'm in and have developed a keen eye for stories that live around me.
My entire understanding of media really changed when I met COVID ICU nurse Patricia Tiu. Over a five month span, I made a short documentary style video on her experience working in one of New York City's most crowded hospitals. As I couldn't enter the hospital due to strict COVID protocol, I entrusted her with her smart phone as a diary to record what was going on around her and her daily thoughts on her experience. She sent those video clips to me and together with ABC News, I patched together a chronicling of her time ([link removed]) during the worst of COVID in NYC.
I’m always open to where opportunities take me, and believe the process is just as important as the final outcome. In fall 2020, after my college classes were moved online and I worked from my childhood bedroom, I set off mid-semester to work on ABC’s The Women Who Run ([link removed]) project as a production assistant. Over the course of two weeks, I helped document three of the unprecedented 115 women of color who were running for Congress. From this, I learned how to be part of a team — a team that worked around the clock and traveled during a global pandemic to tell one of 2020’s most important stories.
Now, as a college graduate, I’m ready to dive straight into bringing more stories to life. Most recently, I field-produced the New York portion of this episode ([link removed]) from KQED’s If Cities Could Dance series, on the Black roots in Lindy Hop — an overlooked history of this beautiful art form.
If there’s anything to know about me, it’s that empathy guides all the work I do, and that I won't stop until the work is done. What I love about this industry is the process of bringing stories to life, and I am fully committed to learning the ins and the outs. I firmly believe in the power and the possibility of journalism, and in an industry that shapes the world every day, everyone should have a stake in their stories being told. I am hoping to land somewhere that feels the same.

Get in touch with Mar: LinkedIn ([link removed]) / Twitter ([link removed]) / Email (mailto:[email protected])

Finally, I want to share a couple updates from Poynter for those of you looking for meaningful ways to connect with others in the industry and hone your skills:
Applications for Poynter's Leadership Academy for Women in Media ([link removed]) in 2023 will be open from Aug. 1 to Sept. 9. This is much earlier than usual! If you manage people, this popular program will help you advocate, and negotiate, for yourself and others.
Applications are open now for the academy's sister program: Lead with Influence ([link removed]) . This is an online-only leadership training for those who manage big responsibilities — such as processes, products or platforms — but no direct reports.
Power of Diverse Voices: Writing Workshop for Journalists of Color ([link removed]) is another upcoming Poynter program you will love if you want to strengthen your opinion writing. Plus, it's free.
[link removed] Alex Sujong Laughlin
Host, The Cohort
@alexlaughs ([link removed])

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