Editor’s Note: API is pleased to announce that this week, along with the regular Need to Know editions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you will receive a special new offering starting tomorrow, the Need to Know: Training Edition. 

This new installment is an expansion of our Need to Know newsletter, designed to highlight training opportunities from across the industry. Delivered on the first Thursday of every month, it will serve as a valuable resource for discovering professional development to support your continued growth.

If you have a training event or professional development opportunity you’d like to see in a future edition, please share it through our submission form. Thank you for being a part of the API community — we’re excited to bring you this new resource.

Tarnish on the ‘gold standard’

Saturday is UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day, when media around the globe examine and reflect on their ability to report the truth without interference.

In the United States, there is plenty to reflect on.

As PolitiFact put it in a review of President Trump’s first 100 days, the administration has taken repeated actions against people and organizations exercising their free speech rights.

What’s sad, writes Kai Falkenberg, general counsel for the Guardian U.S., is that the United States has long been seen as the “gold standard” for press freedom. But the recent sharp turn, she writes, “has severely undermined those protections, creating a chilling effect” on independent reporting.

The AP’s David Bauder details this war on the press. Reporters Without Borders sums it up in ten numbers. And the Committee to Protect Journalists is expected to release a report today.

Meanwhile, new actions by the administration suggest the situation is not going to improve. Trump’s Justice Department said last week that it is revoking protections for journalists in leak investigations. Politico’s report has a link to the new policy.

The stakes are high. Amherst College professor Austin Sarat argues in Salon that the administration is setting up the process for jailing journalists who don’t comply in leak investigations.

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> What Substack wants in Trump’s Washington (The Washington Post)

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie went to Washington at the same time as the White House correspondents’ dinner — and held his own party. It was counter-programming, Scott Nover writes, aimed at people who wanted to “hobnob with fellow newsletterers.” The timing and venue were symbolic. “The whole system is changing — whether you like it or not, it’s just real that the old institutions represented by what’s going on at the White House correspondents’ dinner are not in the same health as they once were,” he told Nover.

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Join us in Denver in June: Explore how local media can enable intergenerational collaboration and problem-solving

The American Press Institute is convening its second Local News Summit of 2025 on June 11-12 in Denver, to address a challenge shared by local and community-based media of all types, commercial or nonprofit, rural or urban, start-up or legacy: How might local media bridge civically-oriented coverage and conversation across generations? Learn more and request an invitation for the remaining spots via this form by Wednesday, May 7, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

>> Join our webinar Tuesday: Beyond stress: What journalists should know about burnout

In this self-reflective session, on Tuesday, May 6 at 1 p.m., API’s Sam Ragland will lead a discussion on ways for journalists to reassess and repair their relationships with work. Created specifically for those working in news organizations, this session will help journalists assess where they sit on the stress spectrum, understand what is inside and outside of their control, and self-prescribe a set of actions to combat their unique blend of burnout. Learn more and register here.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Americans largely foresee AI having negative effects on news, journalists (Pew Research Center)

Americans are pessimistic about how artificial intelligence will affect both the news they get and the journalism profession, writes Pew’s Michael Lipka. A survey taken last summer showed that roughly half of adults said that AI will have a very or somewhat negative impact on the news over the next 20 years while 10% say it will have a very or somewhat positive effect, Lipka writes.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Join us tomorrow: Proven digital transformation strategies to try at your news organization

We’re hosting an hour-long discussion and interactive debrief at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow, May 1 on the tools and frameworks newsrooms can use in digital transformation. In this conversation, attendees will hear from local news leaders who worked on successful digital transformation strategies to launch new products, increase revenue streams, hold live journalism events and strengthen workplace culture at their organizations. Learn more and sign up.

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What else you need to know

💸 Nonprofit news remains ‘heavily dependent on philanthropic funding,’ study finds (Nieman Lab)

🏫 Sewell Chan, former Texas Tribune and Los Angeles Times editor, to join USC Annenberg as Senior Fellow (USC Annenberg)

📺 Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues White House to block board firings (The New York Times)

🔈 The work of the America Amplified initiative concludes May 2, leaving a community of impact to carry forward engagement efforts (America Amplified)

🫶 Jim Brady announces he will leave his post as Knight Foundation vice president for journalism in mid-June (LinkedIn, Jim Brady)