Mikala Compton 🦇

Something I don’t hear talked about much in the journalism industry: The disproportionate amount of staff job opportunities there are for photojournalists compared to reporters. 🧵

Because I'm seeing "journalists suck at technically-informed adversarial interviews" discourse: - yes, usually - newsrooms don't incentivize journalists to prepare for interviews like this (you're often juggling 3+ stories at once, on tight deadlines, while the news cycle keeps smacking you in the face) - newsrooms are highly resource-constrained - most journalists don't have technical backgrounds. why the fuck would they? if you have a phd in computer science, you could make ~3x more money doing basically anything other than tech reporting Journalists are, in general, smart and curious people who excel at learning quickly. But their capacity to do so is spread thin at basically all times, and the industry doesn't pay well enough to pull talent from technical fields en masse. (and, on the flip side, people who have deep technical knowledge usually aren't incentivized to be good communicators, and many actively shit on the concept of making themselves legible to normies.)

How drastically have things changed at @AP? In February 2020, before the COVID shutdown, I asked for a Friday and Monday off during the legislative session to see my dying father. They said no, I was too critical for our Florida Statehouse coverage. I never got to say goodbye to my father in person. This year, AP decided they don’t need anyone in Tallahassee at all, not during session and apparently not ever. My 27+ years at AP were mostly wonderful. Now, it’s just sad to see how upper management is destroying one of the most important news organizations in or our country’s history.

So many journalists have been laid off & had to pivot to marketing/comms. That’s what y’all are seeing the result of with this media landscape. I work at a nonprofit doing comms now after wrapping a year & half at a marketing agency. If there’s a budget I push my pen still (rare)

The Washington Post

The article quoted here is from the Austin Chronicle.

just googled my symptoms and it turns out the cure is floating the river in san marcos

If you've been in journalism ling enough, you recognize the pattern that every few years, the industry sheds great journalists to chase some new venture that almost instantly crashes and burns. And there are fewer and fewer great journalists still employed to cover that.

how it feels to take your press badge off after an assignment as a journalist

Biting on this against my better judgement - if there’s one thing I could express to media consumers, it’s that (most) accountability journalism — especially at a local level — isn’t meant to be malicious. It highlights a problem so that it might get fixed. It’s not that deep.

The man accused of killing three people and injuring 15 others in a downtown Austin shooting spree was a former Tesla employee who worked at Gigafactory Texas, where he allegedly assaulted a fellow employee late last year. The victim repeatedly asked for his name after the alleged assault but Tesla refused, a lawyer said. The victim only learned his identity after the mass shooting early Sunday, when pictures of Ndiaga Diagne began circulating. statesman.com/business/artic…

Savitha was one of our superstar students at the UT Austin McCombs school of business - she was set to graduate this May, and then she was on to start her career at a big professional services firm. She was a double major with honors. Involved in student organizations - a light in the classroom. Absolutely crushing to lose her. That location on 6th Street is pretty far west of Congress (toward Lamar), and considered safe by our students. Really no words to express the wave of sadness rolling over @UTexasMcCombs and @UTAustin. Other students are still in the hospital in very serious conditions - this is a very tough week for our community, the families, and #ATX in general. Thanks for releasing this information.

@KatieMiller Let me jump in. There was no “no coverage” directive. We covered the support rally, as we have others across the country. The text that’s being referenced was simply a reminder about standard security protocols, nothing more.

Scenes from West Sixth Street in downtown Austin after a shooting early Sunday left three people dead and 14 injured, according to officials.

BREAKING: The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has joined the investigation into Austin’s mass shooting based on preliminary evidence at the scene; the shooter apparently used a pistol and assault rifle in the attack.

New: Dilley detainees said art supplies have been removed in room searches, immigrants have lost access to Gmail and staff hover within earshot during video calls. The Trump administration and private prison operator disputed detainees’ claims. propub.li/40AjxM0

please stop saying that all journalists/publishing people are the beneficiaries of generational wealth! Some of us are just very stubborn and masochistic!!

Students from Austin, Hutto, Hays and Pflugerville gathered on Presidents’ Day to protest ICE, marching from Austin City Hall to the Texas Capitol. statesman.com/news/politics/…

The Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, according to the @PostGuild 50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members, 45% of Black members, and 43% of Asian members were laid off niemanlab.org/2026/02/washin…

Inbox: Union workers with ProPublica, Texas Tribune, and the Austin American-Statesman picketing downtown today:

I miss the old @nytimes style book, which would have required everyone to refer to him as "Mr. Bunny" on second reference.