Sometimes your former employer lays off the entire social issues desk, claiming its work was minimally impactful. Then, sometimes, the work you did for it is cited in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in a case that could criminalize homelessness lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/upl…

Another way to look at this is: D.C. is being cited as an example before SCOTUS of how not to treat people experiencing homelessness. Too bad DCist doesn't exist anymore and WAMU won't hire another housing reporter!

“It’s a problem if you believe that DC needs to play fair. It’s a problem if you believe that the lowest possible cost doesn’t necessarily mean the best possible thing for DC." Credit to Jacob Fenston who flagged the issue. WAMU is worse without him. wamu.org/story/24/04/05…

DCist was shut down by WAMU 88.5 in February, an NPR-affiliate station owned by American University. My newest opinion piece looks at how the shutdown of vital, local journalism puts DC at risk of becoming a news desert & ends with a tweet from WeMakeWAMU is a union. theeagleonline.com/article/2024/0…

“With a reduced local press….stories like this rarely see the light of day.” We see this across the nation. Studies have shown that each dollar spent on local journalism saves more in better-functioning government than is spent.

So extremely glad to hear Héctor Alejandro Arzate back on the radio 💜

With the gutting of the Post’s local newsroom, shuttering of DCist, and majority of quality substantive stories behind paywalls, crime feels like it’s just about the only beat left for the public en masse to consume. It’s awful not just for individual readers but for society.

folks at the DC public library were begging me and others to help get WAMU to respond to their offer to help archive DCist. After I finally got the provost to bully WAMU into responding, WAMU leadership claimed to journalism faculty that they had brokered the meeting themselves

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🚨If you think D.C. needs more local journalism, here’s an amazing chance to help create some! A group of former @dcist and WAMU 88.5 staffers are creating The 51st, a non-profit worker-led news outlet on all things D.C. And they need your financial help: givebutter.com/The51st

soo hey sharks, a team of former WAMU and DCist staffers are here today asking YOU for $250,000 to sustain our worker-led, community-based local news outlet The 51st!!! it's really happening!! you can learn more about our efforts and donate here! givebutter.com/The51st