Damon Kiesow
@damon.kiesow.net
Knight Chair in Journalism at Mizzou. Authored first textbook for News Product Management. Previously: Director of Product at McClatchy. Big @newsproduct.org fan.
Pinned
Damon Kiesow
@damon.kiesow.net
· Nov 12
Who am I following here?
People who create, develop and protect knowledge.
Who study history and democracy.
Who take a critical eye to technology.
Who monitor public health, labor, supply chains.
People who create, develop and protect knowledge.
Who study history and democracy.
Who take a critical eye to technology.
Who monitor public health, labor, supply chains.
If we are going to anthropomorphize (we should not) then genAI actually has Dunning-Kruger. Very good at a few things and then entirely and incorrectly confident about everything else.
February 2, 2026 at 1:43 AM
If we are going to anthropomorphize (we should not) then genAI actually has Dunning-Kruger. Very good at a few things and then entirely and incorrectly confident about everything else.
This seems like more than 'contempt.'
And here's a text-heavy order from Judge Sorokin on Friday saying ICE failed to heed his orders to ensure a detained woman was receiving epilepsy medication. He threatened contempt if the meds were not provided. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72181...
February 1, 2026 at 7:58 PM
This seems like more than 'contempt.'
I believe in this strategy, it also is also one that is less viable the smaller the outlet. In a general market failure we also need to figure different solutions for different newsrooms.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Paywall-free news coverage of ICE raids, deportation campaign aids those who need it most
Paywalls create a two-tiered citizenry — one that can afford to be informed, and one that cannot, actor and political activist John Cusack writes.
chicago.suntimes.com
February 1, 2026 at 7:19 PM
I believe in this strategy, it also is also one that is less viable the smaller the outlet. In a general market failure we also need to figure different solutions for different newsrooms.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
"That we have not (yet) set up an Auschwitz-Birkenau, replete with crematoria, is not evidence to the contrary. After all, the German Nazis didn’t just suddenly start killing millions in the 1940s; their crimes against humanity began years earlier, in the 1930s." www.techdirt.com/2026/01/29/s...
Speak Its Name: Yes, This Is Naziism
History never repeats exactly the same, which is how it can be hard to recognize when it is indeed repeating—too many little things may be different the second time around for subsequent events to …
www.techdirt.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:08 PM
"That we have not (yet) set up an Auschwitz-Birkenau, replete with crematoria, is not evidence to the contrary. After all, the German Nazis didn’t just suddenly start killing millions in the 1940s; their crimes against humanity began years earlier, in the 1930s." www.techdirt.com/2026/01/29/s...
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
In Springfield, Ohio, people are preparing in advance of a “large deportation” promised by the president. To all appearances, the city is two or three days from a federal ethnic cleansing, grounded in a hate campaign organized by the vice-president and American Nazis.
February 1, 2026 at 5:21 PM
In Springfield, Ohio, people are preparing in advance of a “large deportation” promised by the president. To all appearances, the city is two or three days from a federal ethnic cleansing, grounded in a hate campaign organized by the vice-president and American Nazis.
Amazing how often the Onion's old headlines are relevant to newer events. The famous "No blood for Oil" vs "How much Oil are we talking about" = "No donations from sex traffickers" vs "How much money are we talking about?"
theonion.com/no-blood-for...
theonion.com/no-blood-for...
February 1, 2026 at 3:34 PM
Amazing how often the Onion's old headlines are relevant to newer events. The famous "No blood for Oil" vs "How much Oil are we talking about" = "No donations from sex traffickers" vs "How much money are we talking about?"
theonion.com/no-blood-for...
theonion.com/no-blood-for...
I would propose a “six degrees of separation” but for empathy in relation to public policy choices.
Almost everyone regrets when they or their spouse/children are harmed by a candidate or policy they all voted for. That is a zero degree of empathy.
Almost everyone regrets when they or their spouse/children are harmed by a candidate or policy they all voted for. That is a zero degree of empathy.
February 1, 2026 at 1:19 AM
I would propose a “six degrees of separation” but for empathy in relation to public policy choices.
Almost everyone regrets when they or their spouse/children are harmed by a candidate or policy they all voted for. That is a zero degree of empathy.
Almost everyone regrets when they or their spouse/children are harmed by a candidate or policy they all voted for. That is a zero degree of empathy.
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
The Marshall Project used alternative story forms to directly connect with the people at the center of the story rjionline.org/news/how-we-...
How we created resources for families of victims of unsolved homicides in St. Louis
The Marshall Project used alternative story forms to directly connect with the people at the center of the story.
rjionline.org
January 31, 2026 at 11:04 PM
The Marshall Project used alternative story forms to directly connect with the people at the center of the story rjionline.org/news/how-we-...
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
It should not take a court order to get a toddler out of a prison.
January 31, 2026 at 9:22 PM
It should not take a court order to get a toddler out of a prison.
My overly-confident assertion is that GenAI will only ever be reliable for critical (risk to humans) autonomous uses in very rules-based contexts and as a convenient UI in other cases.
www.reddit.com/r/antiai/s/7...
www.reddit.com/r/antiai/s/7...
From the antiai community on Reddit: AI Agents Are Mathematically Incapable of Doing Functional Work, Paper Finds
Explore this post and more from the antiai community
www.reddit.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:15 PM
My overly-confident assertion is that GenAI will only ever be reliable for critical (risk to humans) autonomous uses in very rules-based contexts and as a convenient UI in other cases.
www.reddit.com/r/antiai/s/7...
www.reddit.com/r/antiai/s/7...
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
“You cannot be neutral about the dismantling of our democracy and still expect to be protected by it,” Fort told CJR days before her arrest. “If the Constitution fails to protect US citizens, it will fail to protect the media, the free press." www.cjr.org/news/astonis...
The astonishing arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort.
In an interview, Fort described a challenge in her work documenting news in the Twin Cities: “Every independent journalist is kind of every person for themselves.” Two days later, officers came to her...
www.cjr.org
January 31, 2026 at 4:04 AM
“You cannot be neutral about the dismantling of our democracy and still expect to be protected by it,” Fort told CJR days before her arrest. “If the Constitution fails to protect US citizens, it will fail to protect the media, the free press." www.cjr.org/news/astonis...
We are in an AI bubble, and big tech's stated goals and ethics are reprehensible. But many critiques are distorted by elite bias: experts anxious about displacement, ignoring the crowd of outsiders quietly using the tools to level up skills.
January 31, 2026 at 2:31 PM
We are in an AI bubble, and big tech's stated goals and ethics are reprehensible. But many critiques are distorted by elite bias: experts anxious about displacement, ignoring the crowd of outsiders quietly using the tools to level up skills.
Back of the envelope:
Silicon Valley spent more on AI last year than the entire space program leading up to the first Moon landing. Something more than $400 billion in 2025 dollars.
Silicon Valley spent more on AI last year than the entire space program leading up to the first Moon landing. Something more than $400 billion in 2025 dollars.
January 30, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Back of the envelope:
Silicon Valley spent more on AI last year than the entire space program leading up to the first Moon landing. Something more than $400 billion in 2025 dollars.
Silicon Valley spent more on AI last year than the entire space program leading up to the first Moon landing. Something more than $400 billion in 2025 dollars.
Look who is counting on the oligopoly being temporary:
Now this is a movie review www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
![The UK's Independent gives the film one star out of five, saying: "[The] First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda ... Hitting cinemas as the streets of America remain filled with the angry and grieving - with the country on the verge of an irreparable schism - the vulgar, gilded lifestyle of the Trumps makes them look like Marie Antoinette skulking in her cake-filled chateau, or Hermann Göring's staring up at his looted Monet."
The publication continued: "The "film" is part propaganda, sure, and part sop to Big Tech companies who require constant regulatory approval for financial manoeuvrings. Even then, it is bad. It will exist as a striking artefact - like The Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will - of a time when Americans willingly subordinated themselves to a political and economic oligopoly."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tu4d43ehkpc6mg2tlsyepptn/bafkreihekdzwo5ahnlli7chkshunctsvxkrm6npngzw7ehvjmb6mzomyeu@jpeg)
January 30, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Look who is counting on the oligopoly being temporary:
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
A statement from Sahan Journal, Minnesota Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Reformer, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Center for Broadcast Journalism and Minnesota Newspaper Association:
January 30, 2026 at 6:53 PM
A statement from Sahan Journal, Minnesota Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Reformer, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Center for Broadcast Journalism and Minnesota Newspaper Association:
Let's check in on how the national media doing in balancing the tension between reporting the news objectively while recognizing the long record of bad faith arguments, actions and arrests by the current administration.
January 30, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Let's check in on how the national media doing in balancing the tension between reporting the news objectively while recognizing the long record of bad faith arguments, actions and arrests by the current administration.
Definitely not beating the allegations:
January 30, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Definitely not beating the allegations:
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
My Substack essay on how misguided "visionaries" and negligent owners are threatening journalism at two of media’s most important news outlets: CBS News and The Washington Post. https://loom.ly/gqt822g
January 29, 2026 at 7:32 PM
My Substack essay on how misguided "visionaries" and negligent owners are threatening journalism at two of media’s most important news outlets: CBS News and The Washington Post. https://loom.ly/gqt822g
Paraphrasing historian Timothy Snyder:
Trump does not understand what “a country” is, what being a “sovereign state” is.
To him, Ukraine and Greenland are just real estate deals.
Trump does not understand what “a country” is, what being a “sovereign state” is.
To him, Ukraine and Greenland are just real estate deals.
January 30, 2026 at 1:33 AM
Paraphrasing historian Timothy Snyder:
Trump does not understand what “a country” is, what being a “sovereign state” is.
To him, Ukraine and Greenland are just real estate deals.
Trump does not understand what “a country” is, what being a “sovereign state” is.
To him, Ukraine and Greenland are just real estate deals.
Answering the question: what do we do with all these data centers after the AI bubble busts.
NEW: ICE has spent at least $172 million this month on warehouses that it plans to convert into immigration jails
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
W/ @sooophie.bsky.social
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
W/ @sooophie.bsky.social
US Spends Millions on Warehouses in Historic Expansion of ICE Detention
Plans for ‘mega centers’ and jails in nearly two dozen communities have sparked protests over suitability, proximity to homes and schools.
www.bloomberg.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Answering the question: what do we do with all these data centers after the AI bubble busts.
I keep saying this!
VIDEO PODCASTS ARE JUST CALLED TALKSHOWS
New: David Brooks is leaving the NYT for the Atlantic, where he will be a staff writer and host a video podcast
January 29, 2026 at 4:08 PM
I keep saying this!
Nice write up in E&P about the Local News Impact Consortium: www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/defi...
Defining local news: Why a newsroom census matters - Editor and Publisher
As philanthropy pours new money into local journalism, a fundamental question looms: how do funders decide where their investments will have the greatest impact? With no comprehensive census of U.S. n...
www.editorandpublisher.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Nice write up in E&P about the Local News Impact Consortium: www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/defi...
Reposted by Damon Kiesow
Mistakes news startups make – and how to avoid them rjionline.org/news/mistake...
Mistakes news startups make – and how to avoid them
What you can learn from other newsrooms’ wayward decisions.
rjionline.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Mistakes news startups make – and how to avoid them rjionline.org/news/mistake...