Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 5h

I’ll chime in with a few things I’ve used AI for: comparing long PDFs of drafts of legislation to highlight differences, writing complicated google sheets formulas when I’m trying to data clean up on massive government files and sorting through years worth of county docs to identify flock contracts

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 10h

They have not called me back.

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 12h

They’re going to call me back

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 12h

On hold with the KHQ newsroom asking about their AI policy and whether or not reporters are allowed to plug press releases through AI and then publish under their own bylines

Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 13h

@alexdugganreports.bsky.social called them and they said she is a real person. I’m now procrastinating my campaign finance story by trying to figure out if a.) the ai use/output is something she’s hiding from her employers, or b.) something KHQ is encouraging/empowering employees to do

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 13h

@alexdugganreports.bsky.social called them and they said she is a real person. I’m now procrastinating my campaign finance story by trying to figure out if a.) the ai use/output is something she’s hiding from her employers, or b.) something KHQ is encouraging/empowering employees to do

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 13h

Would this explain the sheer amount of AI-generated output under one person’s byline?

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 13h

I put in a public records request to STA to find out!

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

I wonder if they know she’s using AI..they have to be suspicious since she’s turning out multiple stories an hour. I’m also suspicious because I can’t find any kind of public social media profile which is odd for a journalist.

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

@alexdugganreports.bsky.social is calling!

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

KHQ would rather use AI to make press releases sound less press release-y and then publish them under a (probably) fake reporter’s name than pay real reporters to do real reporting

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

Cool cool so a local tv station is posting ai generated articles under a (likely) fake reporter’s byline. Which means the “facts” probably just came from a press release, not any kind of real reporting because ai can’t do that.

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

Also, this output is insane: muckrack.com/anita-hollie...

Muck Rack | For journalists and public relations

Articles by Anita Hollier on Muck Rack. Find Anita Hollier's email address, contact information, LinkedIn, Twitter, other social media and more.

muckrack.com

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

I guess it could also be a real person who just posts unedited press releases and honestly that option makes me so sad

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

My guess is that the story was a press release drafted maybe even by the city of Spokane Valley for some reason, since the story Erin Hut posted lists it as “courtesy of Spokane valley.” I think this Anita Hollier is just a name on an acct to post press releases.

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

Can someone tell me if this is normal????

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

This “reporter” at KHQ whose name is on this story about the city budget also put out a story last week on traffic shutting down a street in Great Falls, Montana. I feel like this might be a fake account that just posts press releases under a made-up journalist’s name.

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

Could not find a headshot or a LinkedIn profile for an Anita Hollier. Is she a shell account that does AI generated news? A real person that’s somehow doing stories at KhQs across the country? And how did Fox 28 end up with a version of her story that’s now attributed to staff reports w/a new photo?

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Erin Sellers @merrywanderer.bsky.social · 14h

Ok this actually gets even more interesting. When you google the lede of this story, it pops up also as a story by Anita Hollier at KHQ. So did someone plagiarize? But then you search Anita Hollier and she has stories across the country, in Montana, in Charlotte, in Spokane.

Erin Hut @imerinhut.bsky.social · 19h

A story written by…. the City of Spokane Valley about the City of Spokane? With a photo of Spokane Valley City Hall?

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

⛈️ NAN⚡NET ⛈️ @slimecloud.bsky.social · 16h

Journalists are missing out because most trans people have amazing things to say actually.

Like, even if you're not reporting about whatever fresh terror awaits us, trans people are always extremely interesting and cool and are usually the backbones of their communities.

Trans Journalists Association @transjournalists.org · 18h

What journalists can learn from how we covered the attack on trans rights in Trump's first 100 days.

Big takeway: based on analysis of a representative sample of articles, 70% of news stories about anti-trans executive orders didn’t quote a single trans person.

bit.ly/TJA_visible

How journalists covered Trump's first 100 days

Trans perspectives were rarely present in articles about the consequences federal actions would have on their lives, according to an analysis conducted by Berkeley Media Studies Group in partnership w...

bit.ly

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 3d

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 4d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/10/trump-administration-doling-out-access-to-select-right-wing-media-personalities-equates-to-propaganda-experts-say.html

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

This is the most important politics story in a long time. Twitter has radicalized the young GOP into overt Nazism and white supremacy and the news has spent years pretending not to see.

It’s a gleefully racist and antisemitic party now. Stop pretending otherwise www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 2d

Solidarity is the only way

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Erin Sellers

Guy @guyjt.bsky.social · 2d

Spokane county is 1.3% Native per the 2020 census (per wikipedia, census website is down currently). Today, 5.98% of the people held in detention in Spokane are Native. Below is a screenshot from the county detention dashboard from 10/13

Screen shot of a pie chart from the Spokane county jail detention dashboard showing racial demographics for 10/13
515 White
104 Black
78 Hispanic
47 American Indian
21 Asian/Pac Is

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