Press Under Siege: Media Experts Assess the Impact of Trump’s Attacks
By Mel Laytner
In an afternoon of lively give-and-take, two leading observers of the national news media offered bleak and contrasting assessments of the challenges confronting the press today, from relentless attacks by President Donald Trump to collapsing business models.
They offered reasons for despair and some rays of hope. Brian Stelter, chief media analyst for CNN, and Oliver Darcy, publisher of the highly regarded Status newsletter, spoke before a rapt Silurians luncheon on March 19.
Moderator and Silurian Board member Carol Lawson set the tone with a “scary thought,” that “we have an American president who hates the free press and is doing everything he can to destroy it.” Turning to Stelter and Darcy, she asked, “How do you see this moment of Trump in the press and what worries you the most?”
Connie Chung, Celebrating a Lifetime of Achievement
The Silurians Press Club is proud to honor Connie Chung, a brave pioneer in broadcast journalism and outstanding talent as its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Connie was the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program on CBS, NBC or ABC—both milestones in TV history.
In her best selling new book,
“Connie: A Memoir,”
which she will speak about, she details her struggles in a largely patriarchal industry—struggles many women journalists have experienced—and still are.
She's won three Emmy Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, among others.
Journalism and AI
Use of Artificial Intelligence in journalism
is no longer a question of if,
but how fast and in what forms. Its use by print, broadcast and alternate news media is accelerating at a remarkable clip.
Here you will find links to articles, clips and videos that will be updated from time to time to help better understand this accelerating trend.
The New York Times and Amazon Announce an A.I. Licensing Deal
Read NYTimes Story [paywall]In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. Now its editorial content will appear across Amazon platforms.
More than 2 years after ChatGPT, newsrooms struggle with AI’s shortcomings
Read CNN Story"Though many major newsrooms have adopted AI guidelines since ChatGPT’s launch, the sheer size of some newsrooms’ staff, coupled with multiple external partnerships, complicates identifying where embarrassing AI blunders can occur."
How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting
Read Nieman Labs ArticleFor a second year, the Pulitzer Prizes required applicants to divulge AI usage — one winner and three finalists disclosed.
"Powerful A.I. Is Coming. We’re Not Ready."
Read NY Times Story [paywall]Three arguments for taking progress toward artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., more seriously — whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist.
How an AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers
Read NPR StoryNewspapers around the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and at least one edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, published a syndicated summer book list that includes made-up books by famous authors.
Journalism Zero: How Platforms and Publishers Navigate AI
Columbia Journ Review"Most promising 'innovations' in news have come from journalists and newsrooms finding strategies that protected them from the business models of platform companies
Opinion | Journalism is facing its crisis moment with AI. It might not be a bad thing.
Read Opinion in PoynterAs search traffic dips, news organizations facie a pivotal moment. Is it doomsday or will it spark a reinvention?
Journalism and AI
Use of Artificial Intelligence in journalism
is no longer a question of if,
but how fast and in what forms. Its use by print, broadcast and alternate news media is accelerating at a remarkable clip.
Here you will find links to articles, clips and videos that will be updated from time to time to help better understand this accelerating trend.
Let’s get to the point: Three newsrooms on generating AI summaries for news
“Summaries aren’t a replacement for journalism: they can’t exist without it.” The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Yahoo News on what they’ve learned rolling out AI-powered summaries.
Pros and Cons of Proposed "Oregon Journalism Protection Act" That Would Require Google to pay for AI Scraping of Content
With new AI summaries, there's little reason for viewers to click through to the news outlets websites, impacting revenue and viewership. But it's complicated and not all journalism outlets support the bill.
5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.
We challenged AI helpers to decode legal contracts, simplify medical research, speed-read a novel and make sense of Trump speeches. Some of the AI analysis was impressive — and some was downright dumb.
The Times and Amazon Announce an A.I. Licensing Deal
In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. Now its editorial content will appear across Amazon platforms.
Will Writing Survive A.I.? This Media Company Is Betting on It.
Every’s has become something of a Rorschach test for the news industry. It is a symbol of A.I.’s potential to empower journalists or unemploy them, depending on your point of view.
More than 2 years after ChatGPT, newsrooms struggle with AI’s shortcomings
"Though many major newsrooms have adopted AI guidelines since ChatGPT’s launch, the sheer size of some newsrooms’ staff, coupled with multiple external partnerships, complicates identifying where embarrassing AI blunders can occur.
News Media News
Author's Deep Dive Reveals Absurdities of NYC's Contemporary Art Scene
By Mel Laytner
What is art?
Journalist Bianca Bosker tackled this question head-on, or more accurately, head-first, diving deep and emerging with Get the Picture, a rollicking expose of New York’s contemporary art scene.
“For most of my adult life, art and I were not on speaking terms,” Bosker told the club’s Feb. 19 luncheon. Wandering through galleries and museums, she recalled she felt“at least two tattoos and a master’s degree away from figuring out” what she was seeing.
A Silurian at the Met Museum of Art: Chester Higgins, Jr.
Award winning photographer's fascination with Egypt
By Roberta Hershenson
One of the hottest art shows in town this winter was “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876—Now,” which closed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Feb. 17. Critic Jason Farago, writing in the New York Times, called the show “winningly eclectic” and “beautifully designed,” while referring to Ancient Egypt as “an inspiration but also a lost dream” for the Black diaspora.
Photo by Betsy Kissam
Chester Higgins, Jr., flanked by his two pieces in the Met’s “Flight Into Egypt” exhibit: “My two images help celebrate the African presence in the ancient Egyptian civilization.”
