Emotion as “a starting seed for stories”

We have lots of great reads for you on the site this week:

• Neel interviewed Atlantic staff writer Sarah Zhang about how she approaches her health and science reporting, which encompasses everything from “The last children of Down syndrome” to “The cystic-fibrosis breakthrough that changed everything” to the two noses piece. “I like those moments when things suddenly make sense and you suddenly change your mind. Those are often interesting ways into a story: why someone changed their mind, or why a whole field suddenly changes something they think,” Sarah told Neel, adding, “I don’t think [emotion] is the only factor in any way, but it’s often a starting seed for stories.”
• Sarah dove into a new Pew report on news influencers. Among the findings: Most are men and most have never worked for a news organization. Nearly 40% of U.S. adults under 30 regularly get news from them. Our story includes a list of the influencers in Pew’s sample if you want to see who’s on it.
• Sophie wrote about The Green Line, a Toronto-based local news organization that’s part of a broader movement e is part of a broader movement to redefine local news as civic information. The Green Line’s primary news product is “action journeys,” which combine traditional reporting, community events, and a solutions or action step.
• And Andrew looked at what a second Trump administration will mean for the Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA experts he spoke with don’t think the law will be undone, but forecast that bureaucratic barriers to processing FOIAs will grow more challenging in the coming years. “It’s gonna be a battle [to get records],” Jason Leopold, of Bloomberg’s FOIA Files, said. “And to be quite honest, I kind of enjoy the battle.”

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— Laura Hazard Owen

The Atlantic’s Sarah Zhang on covering the science and emotion of being human “I’ve always liked to think of myself as a brain floating through space…[but] our physical condition constrains and expands the way we think about ourselves.” By Neel Dhanesha.

What will a second Trump term mean for the Freedom of Information Act? The law itself is likely to stand, but experts expect a surge in requests, longer delays, and more court dates. By Andrew Deck.

The Green Line creates local news for the people turning away from “big-J journalism” The Green Line combines events, explainers, and solutions to appeal to young Torontonians. By Sophie Culpepper.

Two-thirds of news influencers are men — and most have never worked for a news organization A new Pew Research Center report also found nearly 40% of U.S. adults under 30 regularly get news from news influencers. By Sarah Scire.