Editor’s note: Need to Know is taking an August break. This will be the last regular edition of the newsletter until Sept. 3. We’ll still be in your inbox next Thursday with our special monthly training edition. Otherwise, we’ll see you in a month. 

A fact-checker exits

For years, they have been known as the “big three” fact-checkers in the United States: PolitiFact, the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org and the Washington Post’s Fact Checker.

Now the future of one is uncertain as its leader, Glenn Kessler, is taking the Post’s buyout. In his LinkedIn post announcing the news, Kessler said he’s not sure what’s next for the Fact Checker.

This isn’t great news for the fact-checking community, especially after Meta’s decision earlier this year to end its fact-checking program. AI slop has made their jobs even harder.

Yet there are also signs of hope. Just this week, New York Focus, a nonprofit newsroom covering state government and its impact on communities, said it would partner with Gigafact, which helps local newsrooms respond to misinformation with bite-sized “fact briefs” about claims circulating online.

Meanwhile, fact-checkers see the challenges ahead as opportunities to innovate, Maria Ramirez Uribe wrote for Poynter as fact-checkers gathered in Rio de Janeiro last month for their annual summit.

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Media coalition sues to block enforcement of Tennessee police ‘buffer zone’ law (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) 

A new law in Tennessee grants law enforcement officers “limitless discretion” to bar journalists from reporting on protests or other events, a media coalition argued in a new lawsuit challenging the law. The group — Gannett, Gray Local Media, Nashville Banner, Nexstar Media Group, Scripps Media, Tennessee Lookout and TEGNA — is represented by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which says it is the third lawsuit its attorneys have filed challenging so-called “buffer zone” laws.

Culture & Inclusion

>> Journalism minus the ‘journalist’ (Project C) 

What happens when people who aren’t “journalists” create journalism? Ryan Kellett explores this question and the meaning behind such labels when it comes to creators who do not come from a journalism background. His piece, part of Project C’s Top 50 Creator-Model Journalists of 2025 project, cites creators like Katelyn Jetelina of Your Local Epidemiologist and Heather Cox Richardson of Letters from an American, who use their expertise to power their publications. He also sees traditional journalists “blending, bending and omitting” terms like “reporter” and “journalist” to describe themselves.

Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: We welcome Yoni Greenbaum as vice president of product strategy

Yoni Greenbaum, our incoming vice president of product strategy, brings almost 30 years of news media experience to API, most recently as chief operating officer at Lehigh Valley Public Media and chief content officer at PBS 39, both in Bethlehem, Pa. Greenbaum will manage API’s Metrics For News and Source Matters products, and seek to expand their presence in news organizations while improving user experience. Before these roles, Greenbaum led newsroom transformation at the Philadelphia Inquirer and community engagement at NBCUniversal.

Revenue & Resilience

>> Alden Global Capital fails in its attempt to get its tentacles on The Dallas Morning News (Nieman Lab)

The hedge fund Alden Global capital “likes to wait until a newspaper merger or acquisition is juuuuust about consummated” before it comes in with a late, and higher, bid, writes Joshua Benton. But this time, as Alden sought to disrupt the sale of the Dallas Morning News to Hearst, that strategy was foiled by a fourth-generation owner, he writes.

What else you need to know

🌪️ The National Trust for Local News seeks stability after months of turbulence (Poynter)

🏫 MacArthur Foundation invests $1.5 million in the American Journalism Project’s work to strengthen local news ecosystems (AJP)

🐔 The ‘Media Capitulation Index‘ from Free Press (Margaret Sullivan’s American Crisis)

🤝 With Knight Foundation support, Dr. Vivek Murthy launches The Together Project to combat loneliness and rebuild social connection (Knight Foundation)