A recent conversation in the Comments section beneath these essays reminded me of a factor in some of my greatest breakthroughs as a journalist. This will take a minute to explain so please bear with me.
It was when I got surprised.
Journalists — like scientists, prosecutors, historians and most everyone conducting any kind of sincere inquiry — operate on the basis of a hypothesis. We construct it based on whatever bits of information we’ve gathered to date, and it helps guide us in our work.
Normally, if your assumptions are sound, the more data you gather gradually confirms your hypothesis. But sometimes you get surprised. Someone or something upends your theory and you are forced to reconsider.
Although this may throw a wrench into your plans to publish and therefore upset your colleagues, such surprises are gifts.
Because they help you avoid making mistakes, which is a big part of what honest journalism is about.
LINKS:
Hurricane Hilary prompts historic tropical storm warning for California as Southwest braces for dangerous rain, flooding (CNN)
Canada's western province of British Columbia declared a state of emergency as firefighters battled wildfires, forcing thousands of evacuations. (Reuters)
Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump's actions have already disqualified him from the presidency (The Conversation)
The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again (Atlantic)
FBI joins investigation of threats to grand jurors in Trump Georgia case (WP)
Trump expected to skip debate and do interview with Tucker Carlson instead (CNN)
Small Kansas paper raided by police has a history of hard-hitting reporting (NPR)
Confidential affidavits detail reasoning for police raid of Kansas newspaper (WP)
Troop Deaths and Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000, U.S. Officials Say (NYT)
Chernihiv: Russian missile strike kills seven and injures 129, Ukraine says (BBC)
‘My goals in life vanished’: Afghan students rocked by US visa denials (Guardian)
Who is the Taliban’s de facto leader? (Economist)
The Taliban has destroyed education for women – but an underground ‘University of the People’ is fighting back (Independent)
AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says in Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause (Hollywood Reporter)
Human-Like Robots Steal the Show at Beijing Conference (NowThisNews)
AI Expert Max Tegmark Warns That Humanity Is Failing the New Technology’s Challenge (WSJ)
Sparse Models, The Math, And A New Theory For Ground-Breaking AI (Forbes)
From Mad Men to machines? Big advertisers shift to AI (Reuters)
What normal Americans — not AI companies — want for AI (Vox)
AI is coming for your audiobooks. You’re right to be worried. (WP)
Man Needs Emotional Support Only A Woman Can Feign (The Onion)
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