<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[JournalistsToolbox.ai]]></title><description><![CDATA[Journalist's Toolbox (TM) AI shares tools, plug-ins, browser extensions and other artificial intelligence resources that are helpful to professional journalists, students, educators, marketers and others.]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R9IP!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f1aaf3b-4203-47f3-a54f-f12e33a9ab14_512x512.png</url><title>JournalistsToolbox.ai</title><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 23:58:02 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[journaliststoolbox@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[journaliststoolbox@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[journaliststoolbox@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[journaliststoolbox@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Data + Journalism 2nd Edition: Scraping Excerpt]]></title><description><![CDATA[Aug. 4, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/data-journalism-2nd-edition-scraping</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/data-journalism-2nd-edition-scraping</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:42:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> The 2nd edition of &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Data Storytelling&#8221;, co-authored by Samantha Sunne and I, is now available from Routledge.</em> This is an excerpt from one of the chapters on how to scrape a dataset from a web page. (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">Order here</a>).</p><p>The Federal Highway Administration posts data about its bridge inspections in US states and territories. The National Bridge Inventory database rates bridges as being in Good, Fair or Poor condition. By sorting and filtering the data in a spreadsheet, you can determine which states have the most bridges and highest percentage of bridges in each category. You also can create a new category -- Fair-Poor -- to group the sub-par bridges together.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Every two years, The Federal Highway Administration does more-detailed studies than the ARTBA research in 2017-2019. The 2023 <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition23.cfm">National Bridge Inventory-Bridge Inspection Safety database</a> ranks bridges in three categories: Good, Fair and Poor condition. With some sorting and filtering in a spreadsheet, you can determine which states have the most bridges and percentage of bridges in each category.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Video:</strong> Watch <a href="https://bit.ly/basicsheets2">this video</a> to follow along with exercise 1</p><div><hr></div><p>You also can create a new category: &#8220;Fair-Poor condition&#8221; to group the sub-par bridges together.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://revise.io/?utm_source=journaliststoolbox&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=aug2026" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png" width="1456" height="273" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:273,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:70048,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://revise.io/?utm_source=journaliststoolbox&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=aug2026&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/191681653?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vcJa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62f0760e-7522-4ee6-bb5e-d9dedf234cd6_3200x600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p>We&#8217;re using Google Sheets for this exercise, but if you prefer Excel, you can follow the same steps, though the tools you&#8217;ll use are named a little differently. You&#8217;ll develop a preference over time.</p><ol><li><p>Download the NBI dataset by scraping it this page below. We covered scraping in Chapter 3: <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition23.cfm">https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition23.cfm</a></p></li></ol><blockquote><p>=IMPORTHTML(&#8221;<a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition23.cfm">https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/no10/condition23.cfm</a>&#8220; ,&#8221;table&#8221;, 0)<br><br>*-If you are having trouble scraping the dataset, just download it or make a copy from here and save into your Google Drive: <a href="https://bit.ly/bridgedata2023">https://bit.ly/bridgedata2023</a></p></blockquote><ol start="2"><li><p>Once your sheet is scraped, label it and scroll slowly. See what the columns and rows represent, and make sure there are no empty or garbled cells. Data entry with some government entities can be spotty. If data is missing or garbled, contact the public information officer for that government agency to get the issue cleared up. </p></li></ol><blockquote><p><strong>Pro tip: </strong>To move around quickly on a large dataset, hold down on the CMD (Apple) key and use the directional arrows to move up-down and side-to-side. On a PC, hold down the Control key and use the arrows.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png" width="1456" height="1151" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1151,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KuK3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16d24a8-29d9-4a62-940a-eeafc8652f21_1600x1265.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Bridge inspections database in Google Sheets</strong></p><ol start="3"><li><p>Develop the habit of always working with a copy of the original data. By clicking this worksheet tab, you can duplicate it. You might do this repeatedly during your analysis, naming each sheet whenever you make a significant change to the data. That way, you will have an audit trail of your work.<br></p></li><li><p>The first row of any dataset you work with should be labels of what each column of data represents. It should never start with just the data. In this case, there are two rows of labels: Bridge Counts and Bridge Area (in meters) . For this exercise, we&#8217;ll focus on the Bridge Counts. Lock your column headings in place so that as you scroll down, you can always see what each column means. In Google Sheets, you do this by going to View &gt; Freeze &gt; 1 row.<br></p></li><li><p>Do a slow scroll through your dataset and make sure the set is complete and there are no empty or garbled cells. Data entry with some government entities can be spotty. Make sure your set passes initial inspection before starting any analysis. If data is missing or garbled, contact the public information officer for that government agency to get the issue cleared up.</p></li></ol><p><em>For more data journalism tips, tricks and exercises, visit the <a href="http://dataplusjournalism.com">Data + Journalism blog</a>.</em></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor: visualping</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://visualping.io/journalists" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png" width="1456" height="273" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:273,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:102494,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://visualping.io/journalists&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/203605062?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Please welcome our new sponsor, visualping. This is a tool I&#8217;ve been using for a long time, and its AI features added in the past few years have taken it to the next level.</strong> </p><div><hr></div><h3>Video</h3><p>This training video will take you through the basics of using Google&#8217;s NotebookLM:</p><div id="youtube2-ICWyus5nDfw" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;ICWyus5nDfw&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:&quot;10s&quot;,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ICWyus5nDfw?start=10s&amp;rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor: Nota</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg" width="728" height="90" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:90,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:87306,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our longtime sponsor at <a href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90">HeyNota.com</a></p><div><hr></div><h3>More Tools and Research</h3><blockquote><p><a href="https://chartle.app/">Chartle<br></a>Generates charts from plain English descriptions. Type something like &#8220;US newsroom employment over the last 20 years&#8221; and it finds the data, picks the right chart type, and renders it in seconds. It can also recreate charts from screenshots, which is useful for pulling editable visuals out of PDFs and reports</p><p><a href="https://www.simplifyingcomplexity.tech/subscribe">Simplifying AI Newsletter<br></a>Master AI daily without the overwhelm. Join 20,000-plus professionals getting practical tutorials, trending news, and tools that actually matter.</p><p><a href="https://rjionline.org/news/announcing-powering-news-free-resources-for-worker-friendly-newsrooms/">Powering the News<br></a>Free resources for &#8220;worker-friendly&#8221; newsrooms from the Reynolds Journalism Institute. It includes quizzes, guidebooks and templates. It also features a <a href="https://www.poweringnews.org/newsroom-database">newsroom database</a>, which is based on the first national survey of non-traditional, worker-friendly media.</p><p><a href="https://actuallyrelevant.news/">Actually Relevant News<br></a>A news curation platform that crawls more than 80 sources across five languages daily, using LLM analysis to evaluate each article&#8217;s relevance to humanity on transparent criteria. It publishes only the most relevant stories across four issue areas (Human Development, Planet and Climate, Existential Threats, Science/Technology), with every story showing a full relevance analysis. Free to use with no ads, no tracking, and no paywall &#8212; plus a free public API, RSS feeds, weekly newsletter and a positivity slider that lets readers filter by emotional tone.</p><p><a href="https://indicator.media/p/facial-recognition-privacy-images-ownership-pimeyes">How 9 Facial Recognition Services Handle Images, Disclose Ownership, and More</a></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Textbooks</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" width="725" height="549" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:549,&quot;width&quot;:725,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:528348,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/187856614?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Data + Journalism, 2nd Edition</strong></p><p>Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221; that is available from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Data--Journalism-A-Story-Driven-Approach-to-Learning-Data-Reporting/Reilley-Sunne/p/book/9781041160496">Routledge</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">other booksellers</a>. It&#8217;s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.</p><p><strong>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></p><p>My book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221; was published by Routledge in 2023 and focuses on concepts and tools still used today. You can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208#">order it here</a>.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" width="56" height="44.21052631578947" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:210,&quot;width&quot;:266,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:56,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>In Quotes &#8230;</strong></h3><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours.&#8221; <strong>&#8212;</strong></em><strong>Oren Etzioni, AI researcher</strong></p></blockquote><p><em>Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/itsmikereilley">@itsmikereilley</a> |  <a href="https://twitter.com/journtoolbox">@journtoolbox</a>  | Subscribe on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CCl01DmsE65wh-qPqjSLQ/videos">YouTube</a>  | Subscribe to<a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/"> this newsletter</a></em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[July 21: Pangram and Tips for Detecting AI in Writing]]></title><description><![CDATA[July 21, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/july-21-pangram-and-tips-for-detecting</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/july-21-pangram-and-tips-for-detecting</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:59:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> We&#8217;ve launched a new Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox page on <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-data-centers/">AI data centers</a>. In includes links to datasets on data centers by country, locations for mapping, etc. We&#8217;ll be adding more resources to the page in the coming weeks.</em></p><p>Let me begin by saying there is no perfect tool for detecting AI in writing. But I do use some <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-plagiarism-detection/">detection tools</a> as part of a larger formula when evaluating news stories, student assignments, press releases and even customer reviews of products.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p><a href="https://lawlibguides.sandiego.edu/c.php?g=1443311&amp;p=10721367">Many studies have shown</a> how AI detection tools are unreliable and can return false positives and false negatives with AI text detection. There was widespread panic in academia &#8212; trust me, I lived it &#8212; in 2021 and 2022 when professors randomly used AI checkers built into tools like TurnItIn.com and found several false positives. Students were suspended, denied graduation and accused of cheating. </p><p>But what many journalists and academics haven&#8217;t taken into account is how much these tools have improved over the past four years. This was a point <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxspero/">Pangram CEO Max Spero</a> made during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeCm-rgPF4s">Hacks/Hackers AI Real Talk webinar</a> earlier this month.</p><p><a href="https://www.pangram.com/">Pangram</a> is among a handful of AI detection tools I use when evaluating writing. Spero says the fee-based tool boasts some impressive testing metrics for measuring AI detection accuracy rates:</p><ol><li><p>It has a false positive rate of 1 in 10,000 (99.999 percent accurate)</p></li></ol><ol start="2"><li><p>It has a false negative rate of 1 in 100 (99 percent accurate)</p></li></ol><p>The first number is the one I&#8217;m most concerned about. It&#8217;s why I don&#8217;t rely exclusively on detection tools like Pangram, <a href="https://gptzero.me/">GPTZero</a>, <a href="https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector">Copyleaks</a> and <a href="https://gowinston.ai/">WinstonAI</a> when evaluating student work that I suspect was written with AI. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png" width="1456" height="1094" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1094,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:247666,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/206337164?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Kap-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F341987e9-15b6-4a1b-87db-a7d6ada7a69b_1672x1256.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Pangram has a monthly pay model or a $180 annual fee.</strong></p><p>I use at least two of the tools to measure the differences in results. I check for sources and citations. Nearly all of the stories require a source to be interviewed, so I contact them to fact-check. I look for suspicious quotes, odd phrasing and often compare the writing to the student&#8217;s previous work. </p><p><strong>Flaws in the Models</strong><br>One flaw with detection models is evaluating non-native English speakers&#8217; work. They write in simple sentences or use AI-driven translation tools that sometimes set off the detection tools. I take this into consideration when evaluating my international students&#8217; work. In four years, it&#8217;s never been an issue to me.</p><p>I also look at the student&#8217;s original Google Document of the story and check the previous drafts (press the clock icon at the top of the doc). If 1,000 words suddenly pop into a draft a 4 a.m., it raises more suspicion.</p><p>I do allow my students to use AI to write headlines, edit stories and even assist with paraphrasing. That often sets off the detection tool, but typically returns a small percentage of AI detection, which I&#8217;m fine with. </p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor: visualping</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://visualping.io/journalists" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png" width="1456" height="273" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:273,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:102494,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://visualping.io/journalists&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/203605062?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB94!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1fd49af-a6b0-4640-b404-7cb488b9e8e9_1600x300.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Please welcome our new sponsor, visualping. This is a tool I&#8217;ve been using for a long time, and its AI features added in the past few years have taken it to the next level.</strong> </p><div><hr></div><p>So there&#8217;s no single, surefire way to detect AI writing, but the aforementioned process gives me a clear picture. I&#8217;ve caught a few students over the past couple of years who have violated my AI writing policy in my syllabus. I go over it with them in week 1 and even demo the tools and discuss the process I use for catching them. </p><p><strong>How are Models Trained?</strong><br>Spero, who has a master&#8217;s degree from Stanford and previously worked as a Google software engineer, explained in detail on how the detection models are trained on millions of pieces of writing, ranging from news articles to academic journals. </p><p>It uses a process called synthetic mirroring, and studies traits of a human-written example vs an AI model. The bottom line question it asks: How confusing is the text to the AI model? </p><p>For example, the sentence: &#8220;The boy ate a bowl of soup&#8221; wouldn&#8217;t be confusing to the tool&#8217;s predictive model. However, the sentence, &#8220;The boy ate a bowl of spiders&#8221; would off alarms. This approach establishes a 95 percent accuracy model. The remaining 4 percent accuracy comes from intense training and texting.</p><p>A simple <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pangram">YouTube search</a> on &#8220;Pangram&#8221; includes videos on how to use the tool, but others show how bypass Pangram detection with AI-written text.</p><p>Spero said most detection tools can catch copy that&#8217;s been &#8220;humanized&#8221; by online tools. But as Large Language Models get more widespread research to pull from, it makes it more challenging for detection models.</p><p>While today&#8217;s models are capable of detecting AI, will they keep up with superhuman models of the future? Only time will tell.</p><p><strong>Footnote:</strong> Spero mentioned on the webinar that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/23/superhuman-acquires-ai-detection-startup-gptzero/">Superhuman just bought GPTZero</a> in June. Superhuman tools work to humanize content, so it appears that the company wants to play both sides of the detection coin by adding GPTZero, which was built by Edward Tian when he was a senior in college several years ago.</p><p><em>Read more about <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/image-video-verification-tools-from">OSINT</a> tools and <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-fact-checking-tools/">fact-checking</a> on the Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox.</em> </p><div><hr></div><h3>Video</h3><div id="youtube2-KlPhNkmbhQQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;KlPhNkmbhQQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KlPhNkmbhQQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor: Nota</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg" width="728" height="90" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:90,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:87306,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our longtime sponsor at <a href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90">HeyNota.com</a></p><div><hr></div><h3>More Tools and Research</h3><blockquote><p><a href="https://revise.io"><span>Revise <br></span></a><span>A new, browser-based word processor with a built-in AI agent. Revise is designed for complex, full-document edits. It supports every major model (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok) in one place, with visual revision history so every AI change is trackable and reversible. Free model with upgrades starting at $8 a month.</span></p><p><a href="https://wedetect.ai/ai-or-not"><span>We Detect: AI or Not?<br></span></a><span>A free, no-login image checker that returns a probability rather than a yes/no, and deletes the image right after analysis. It catches roughly 85% of Midjourney, DALL&#183;E, SDXL, and Flux images, and it publishes its weak spots instead of hiding them.</span></p><p><a href="https://aifornewsroom.in/"><span>AI for Newsrooms<br></span></a><span>Everything about AI for journalism in one place &#8212; curated for editors, reporters, and local newsrooms. Track real initiatives, policies, research, tools, and a daily newsfeed.</span></p><p><a href="https://indicator.media/p/no-code-no-budget-7-web-scrapers-put-to-the-test"><span>Indicator: Seven Web Scrapers Put to the Test</span></a></p><p><a href="https://higgsfield.ai/supercomputer/marketplace/skills/higgsfield-explainer"><span>Higgsfield Explainer<br></span></a><span>Turn a topic into an explainer video</span></p><p><a href="https://link.mail.beehiiv.com/v1/c/njaBkn6gY2BVKlPUVIrU7xf1SJGvWuSt1aj%2FrI366f2G7sJySHpHSFYgokMn%0ATdqlTRGn3zSc2ajK6qeogJrKwDm9F84mVuwqG2o4Fhsi7TXDHxdyAsBbkIRN%0AYAzl%2BVD6%2FC8cHR7%2Fjh7fUYYfp9QQulfWpFi4NfjTi9A7o%2FeQ1zjOCAdhFNIp%0Ae%2Bf2t1n1Uq0G8RlY7idThcLXs0FktW5BuA%3D%3D%0A/f3b9146266c4cd99"><span>AI Top Hub</span></a><span><br>A directory of more than 5,000 AI tools organized by category with ratings and reviews</span></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Textbooks</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" width="725" height="549" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:549,&quot;width&quot;:725,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:528348,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/187856614?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Data + Journalism, 2nd Edition</strong></p><p>Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221; that will be available in August through <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Data--Journalism-A-Story-Driven-Approach-to-Learning-Data-Reporting/Reilley-Sunne/p/book/9781041160496">Routledge</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">other booksellers</a>. It&#8217;s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.</p><p><strong>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></p><p>My book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221; was published by Routledge in 2023 and focuses on concepts and tools still used today. You can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208#">order it here</a>.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" width="56" height="44.21052631578947" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:210,&quot;width&quot;:266,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:56,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>In Quotes &#8230;</strong></h3><blockquote><p>"AI can make us faster, smarter and more informed, but it can't make us more caring, empathetic or trustworthy. That's still our job."<strong> &#8212; Shep Hyken, customer service and experience expert</strong></p></blockquote><p><em>Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/itsmikereilley">@itsmikereilley</a> |  <a href="https://twitter.com/journtoolbox">@journtoolbox</a>  | Subscribe on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CCl01DmsE65wh-qPqjSLQ/videos">YouTube</a>  | Subscribe to<a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/"> this newsletter</a></em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vibe Coding Tools and Resources]]></title><description><![CDATA[July 7, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/vibe-coding-tools-and-resources</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/vibe-coding-tools-and-resources</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:31:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>During the summer, I like to take seminars and workshops to learn new AI skills. Last month, I wrote about OSINT verification tools in two newsletters. Then I took  Jeremy Caplan&#8217;s excellent <a href="https://wondertools.substack.com/">Wonder Tools session</a> on vibe coding.</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;Vibe coding is the practice of describing what you want to build in plain language &#8212; and letting AI create it for you. No syntax. No debugging. You describe the <em>vibe</em> of what you want, and the AI handles the code.&#8221; <strong>&#8211; Jeremy Caplan, CUNY</strong></p></blockquote><p>The phrase &#8220;vibe coding&#8221; was coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in 2025, who described it as a state where you &#8220;give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists,&#8221; according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p><strong>How It Works</strong></p><p>Instead of typing code line-by-line, a vibe coder interacts with AI-powered development environments like ChatGPT, Claude Artifacts, Gemini Canvas (watch rate limits), Lovable, Bolt (good for getting started), Cursor (good for applications), Replit (good for games) and many others to build an application or tool. It can be as simple as a countdown timer or as complex as a data visualization tool. </p><p>These small apps, when built specifically for newsrooms, can save hours of time for reporters, editors and others.</p><p><strong>Pros and Cons</strong></p><p>One of the big advantages of vibe coding is that it democratizes software development, allowing non-programmers me to build functional apps. It drastically speeds up prototyping and removes tedious syntax work. One of the biggest drawbacks: it can lead to &#8220;slop&#8221; or unstable apps. Because the developer often doesn&#8217;t understand the underlying code, it can be difficult to fix complex glitches, etc.</p><p>In the coming weeks, I&#8217;ll be launching some new tools with Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox that I vibe code, including one that will replace the soon-to-be-discontinued (thanks Open AI!) <a href="https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6862f0407e648191809ec5dd44ec3797-journalist-s-toolbox">Custom GPT</a> for finding specific tools for tasks. I&#8217;ll be sharing these tools in future newsletters. </p><p>In the meantime, here are some cool vibe-coded tools from Caplan and others:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png" width="1456" height="792" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/df0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:792,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:463487,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/200360937?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hO3C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf0b15af-9726-4450-88ae-c5e08c0bc48e_2956x1608.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><a href="https://gemini.google.com/share/a55d359810b6">Vibe Coder Pro<br></a>Caplan built this tool that helps you transform rough thoughts into master-class platform prompts. Scribble down your rough thought, and it crafts it into instructions an AI builder will adore.</p><p><a href="https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/3153f986-37b6-4255-8819-3e8d1ccdb6fe">Wonder Tools Data Visualizer<br></a>Upload your dataset and ask it to design a chart. Built by Caplan.</p><p><a href="https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/268ea509-ae79-4e51-8739-7bccdbffe033">Note-Taking Tool Finder<br></a>Take a quiz to find the right type of tool for you.</p><p><a href="https://gemini.google.com/share/631cc622dee9">Zen Focus<br></a>A<strong> </strong>customizable Pomodoro timer<strong> </strong>that works on desktop and mobile browsers. This app aims to help you focus on any task you are working on. </p><p><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/3c5e06ba-9287-4382-834a-507305b3ee4e?j=eyJ1IjoiOXh4ZSJ9.dTA_DY9AFSpeNgE5qS3HwiyOT7Q2zqUcrxOvyzIyyPY">QuotePop<br></a>This app will turn any text or quote into an image file.</p><p><a href="https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/64cc36c9-5dd1-4def-9fb4-b4b515c7aaa2">Montana EV Charging Network</a><br>Built by AlignSimple&#8217;s Kyle Rickhoff</p><p><a href="https://pachecod.github.io/troopstory/globe.html">Globe Visualization: US Troops</a><br>Displays U.S. deployed troops around the world, pulls from a CSV. Made by Syracuse professor Dan Pacheco.</p><p><em><strong>Find more <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-driven-coding/">coding and vibe coding tools</a> on the Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></em></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Poll</strong></h3><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:523742}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg" width="728" height="90" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:90,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:87306,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our new sponsor at <a href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90">HeyNota.com</a></p><div><hr></div><h3>More Tools and Research</h3><blockquote><p><a href="https://www.safetyjess.ai/">Journalism Expert Safety Support<br></a>An AI-powered tool designed to give journalists, editors and news organizations working across the United States greater access to essential safety information and guidance.</p><p><a href="https://www.digitaldigging.org/p/so-you-still-think-you-can-google">So You Still Think You Can Google?<br></a>Henk van Ess on Google shift to search agents in spring 2026.</p><p><a href="https://downr.org">Downr<br></a>Fast, free online media downloader that lets you paste a link and instantly save videos, audio, or images from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and many other platforms without requiring sign-ups or annoying ads.</p><p><a href="https://flowspeech.io/">FlowSpeech<br></a>A context-aware AI text-to-speech tool for creators, educators, marketers, and product teams. It supports emotion control, pause control, and more than 30 voices to generate more natural voiceovers, narration, and spoken-content assets.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Textbooks</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" width="725" height="549" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:549,&quot;width&quot;:725,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:528348,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/187856614?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Data + Journalism, 2nd Edition</strong></p><p>Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221; that will be available in August through Routledge and other booksellers (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">pre-order here</a>). It&#8217;s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.</p><p><strong>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></p><p>My book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221; was published by Routledge in 2023 and focuses on concepts and tools still used today. You can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208#">order it here</a>.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" width="56" height="44.21052631578947" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:210,&quot;width&quot;:266,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:56,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>In Quotes &#8230;</strong></h3><blockquote><p>&#8220;AI is not just about replicating human intelligence; it&#8217;s about creating intelligent systems that can surpass human limitations&#8221;&#8202;<strong>&#8212;&#8202;Yann LeCun, French-American computer scientist</strong></p></blockquote><p><em>Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/itsmikereilley">@itsmikereilley</a> |  <a href="https://twitter.com/journtoolbox">@journtoolbox</a>  | Subscribe on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CCl01DmsE65wh-qPqjSLQ/videos">YouTube</a>  | Subscribe to<a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/"> this newsletter</a></em></p><p><em>Copyright and Trademark 2026 | Mike Reilley</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Creating a Map With a Large Language Model]]></title><description><![CDATA[June 23, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/creating-a-map-with-a-large-language</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/creating-a-map-with-a-large-language</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:54:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve held off on writing a newsletter on building maps with AI tools. I&#8217;ve found them to be unreliable, but have seen a breakthrough in the past few weeks when I was at an OSINT training at the University of Wisconsin Public Tech Media Lab.</p><p>The epiphany came during a data exercise with <strong>Guill&#233;n Torres</strong>, a specialist in action research, methodological experimentation, and data-driven technologies for justice and accountability UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. He gave us a dataset of larger U.S. landfills to analyze. Then he asked us to see if we could get it to design a static or interactive map in a Large Language Model.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Whenever I work with LLMs, I try my prompts in a few models, specifically ChatGPT, Claude and Google Gemini. I want to pit them against one another to see which is best at a specific task. </p><p>For my landfill data, ChatGPT took a few tries to get a static chart. But Claude <a href="https://claude.ai/share/1295011b-6d81-4dce-983f-60fa72471b1b">built a static and interactive chart</a> on the second try. I also asked it to build a data dictionary and it built a beautiful table with column definitions and clarified a few categories accurately.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png" width="1456" height="878" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:878,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:801891,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/199648103?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I1t_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ebe236c-a28d-485b-9ea4-0bc61e557996_2742x1654.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Claude gave me a color-coded legend as well as a headline that featured the number of sites plotted. I spot-checked the spreadsheet data against the interactive map and it checked out.</p><p>If you want to try the exercise yourself, you can <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DFpOAz3BS7XlLKunixNxZ9mbmpBGnKiy">download the landfills.csv file from this folder</a> along with the Claude and ChatGPT examples. </p><p><strong>Here are the prompts I used:</strong> </p><p><strong>First prompt:</strong> Attached is a dataset with and the following columns: landfill name, state, city, county, ownership type and waste in place. Run Python code that creates a static and interactive map showing landfills according to their amount of waste.</p><p>Alternatively: Use Python to open the file and read the first 10 columns. What are some interesting questions I can ask to this dataset if my interest is &#8220;X&#8221;.</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> I purposely left the X blank to see what it would generate a useful answer for a variable. I expected a hallucination, but it <a href="https://claude.ai/share/1295011b-6d81-4dce-983f-60fa72471b1b">gave me questions and analysis</a> for environmental justice, renewable energy/climate, corporate accountability and local/regional reporting.  </p><p><strong>Follow-up prompt:</strong> Now can you create a data dictionary for this dataset? (It understands what a data dictionary is.) It produced a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d4klzsOqpiS7CKumfEaawNj_d9Usu3k1/edit">four-page document</a> explaining the various column headers, nearly organized in a table. </p><p><em><strong>You can find more AI map creation tools on the <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-driven-data-tools/">Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox data tools page</a>.</strong></em> </p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg" width="728" height="90" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:90,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:87306,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our new sponsor at <a href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90">HeyNota.com</a></p><div><hr></div><h3>More Tools and Research</h3><blockquote><p><a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-06/DNR%202026%20FINAL_2.pdf"><span>Reuters Digital News Report (2026)<br></span></a><span data-color="rgb(31, 31, 31)" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31);">New data on where news website traffic is coming from, viewer habits and more.</span></p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/attesta-ai-voice-recorder/id6771519623">Attesta<br></a>An iOS recorder that announces out loud that it is recording, never trains on your audio, and leaves the file yours. The output is built to be usable, not just archived: top-tier models, speaker labels, and the action items, decisions, open questions and key people pulled out accurately. You can extend a recording with Continue, and refine or restyle the summary to match how you write.</p><p><a href="https://readpdfaloud.com/">Read PDF Aloud<br></a>Let AI read your PDF aloud with a natural voice. Listen to any PDF document with natural-sounding voices in 140-plus languages.</p><p><a href="https://imagewhisperer.org/factcheck-db/?utm_campaign=briefing-you-may-be-listening-to-ai-music-without-knowing-it&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=indicator.media">Fact-Check Database<br></a>This tool from Henk van Ess lets you search through &#8220;debunked images from Reuters, Snopes, PolitiFact, AFP, BOOM Live, Lead Stories, Full Fact and more than 100 fact-checkers worldwide.&#8221; Via Craig Silverman from Indicator.media.</p><p><a href="https://toolsbox.me/">AI Tools Box<br></a>Searchable listing of various AI tools.</p><p><a href="https://digitaldigging.org/crowdchecker/">CrowdCounter<br></a>AI tool that estimates how many people appear in an image. Test it with some familiar images before using it on anything publishable.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Textbooks</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" width="725" height="549" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:549,&quot;width&quot;:725,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:528348,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/187856614?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Data + Journalism, 2nd Edition</strong></p><p>Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221; that will be available in August through Routledge and other booksellers (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">pre-order here</a>). It&#8217;s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.</p><p><strong>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></p><p>My book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221; was published by Routledge in 2023 and focuses on concepts and tools still used today. You can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208#">order it here</a>.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" width="56" height="44.21052631578947" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:210,&quot;width&quot;:266,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:56,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>In Quotes &#8230;</strong></h3><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Good journalists are the ones who actually read things ... Writers who outsource their learning to AI operate on a flawed model of how the mind works.&#8221;</em> &#8211; <strong><a href="https://howiwrite.substack.com/p/ezra-klein-the-case-against-writing">Ezra Klein</a></strong></p></blockquote><p><em>Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/itsmikereilley">@itsmikereilley</a> |  <a href="https://twitter.com/journtoolbox">@journtoolbox</a>  | Subscribe on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CCl01DmsE65wh-qPqjSLQ/videos">YouTube</a>  | Subscribe to<a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/"> this newsletter</a></em></p><p><em>Copyright and Trademark 2026 | Mike Reilley</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Image, Video Verification Tools from a Recent OSINT Training ]]></title><description><![CDATA[June 9, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/image-video-verification-tools-from</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/image-video-verification-tools-from</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:37:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last month, I attended an OSINT training at the University of Wisconsin for journalists, educators, students and others interested in verifying images and video.</p><p>The two-day session was taught by trainers from the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center: <strong>Guill&#233;n Torres</strong>, a specialist in action research, methodological experimentation, and data-driven technologies for justice and accountability; <strong>Gisella P&#233;rez de Acha</strong>, an investigative reporter focused on extremism, disinformation, and environmental issues; and <strong>Tom&#225;s Dodds</strong>, Director of the Public Tech Media Lab at Wisconsin. </p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>It was a fun and challenging session, and they shared some tools that were new to me, as well as longtime favorites like <a href="https://www.google.com/earth/about/versions/">Google Earth Pro</a>. </p><p>Here are some of those tools, which I&#8217;ve also added to the <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-fact-checking-tools/">Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox Fact Checking and Verification</a> page:</p><p><a href="https://metaosint.github.io/">MetaOSINT<br></a>Select a task you need to perform and it will provide a visual list of tools to perform that task. It&#8217;s great reat for tracking down tools. </p><p><a href="https://navigator.indicator.media/">OSINT Navigator<br></a>The tool database from Craig Silverman is compiled from 17 independent OSINT toolkits maintained by established practitioners and organizations. A weekly crawler checks all sources, adds new tools, and flags deprecated ones. Each tool is enriched with structured documentation.</p><p><a href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/fake-news-debunker-invid/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en">WeVerify Fake News Debunker</a><br>Download this image verification tool for your browser, then right click on the image and it will run the image through multiple reverse image tools.</p><p><a href="https://www.geonames.org/">Geonames<br></a>A geo database of places. Try alternative name spellings with it.</p><p><a href="https://snapinsta.to/en2">SnapInsta<br></a>Download photos, videos, reels, stories and profile information from Instagram</p><p><a href="https://osinv.org/queryforge/">Query Forge<br></a>Helps you build better Google search queries</p><p><strong>Geolocation</strong><br>P&#233;rez de Acha walked us through geolocation exercises. We spent a lot of time using Google Earth, Maps and Google Earth Pro to geolocate where an image was taken. <br><br><strong>Example:</strong> Search this Lat-Long. (31.53271, 34.49815) of a bombed area Gaza in Google Earth Pro, then use the timeline tool (clock with a green arrow button at the top) to go back in time and see the area before it was bombed. You can download both images rights-free and put them in a <a href="https://knightlab.northwestern.edu/2014/09/24/introducing-juxtaposejs-an-easy-way-to-compare-two-frames/">Juxtapose slider</a> to show before/after.</p><p>Some locations may be blurred in the Google tools, so here are some good alternatives:</p><p><a href="https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/?zoom=5&amp;lat=50.16282&amp;lng=20.78613&amp;themeId=DEFAULT-THEME&amp;visualizationUrl=U2FsdGVkX18LSHCs%2B8AzPS3E1W9pzIALtrfFwNheLZvBIdinn6D9hYSIWyxUteDfcPnzBqKw7W2IYOr9TYvpNBNTqwYHrJrbnzlXHBaGMbeU5h0XI1%2BmBZk0qrKiq5uq&amp;datasetId=S2_L2A_CDAS&amp;demSource3D=%22MAPZEN%22&amp;cloudCoverage=30&amp;dateMode=SINGLE">Copernicus Browser<br></a>Search for satellite images (most low resolution). <strong>Example:</strong> Put a Lat-Long of 34.0469, -118.5266 into the search box on the right, and in date box under the visualize tab on the left, place this date: Jan. 7, 2025. You can see the smoke from Palisades Fire in California <strong>(image below)</strong>. Be patient, the image download is slow. You also can add cool filter plug-ins such as &#8220;wildfire&#8221; to help see things better, or use the standard layers on the left tool panel.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png" width="1456" height="773" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:773,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:7133996,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/199095143?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swID!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcfe8359-fe5c-4b08-973b-a465786a272d_3350x1778.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><a href="https://yandex.com/maps/?ll=10.854186%2C49.182076&amp;z=4">Yandex Maps</a></p><p><a href="https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=42.964592%7E-86.985336&amp;lvl=4&amp;style=r">Bing Maps</a></p><p><a href="https://satellites.pro/">Satellites.pro</a></p><p><a href="https://www.planet.com/">Planet Labs</a> (request in Lat-Long. only)</p><p><a href="https://wikimapia.org/">Wikimapia</a></p><h4><strong>SynthID for Gemini Images</strong></h4><p>Google Gemini and Open AI now use embedded documentation in images built by those tools that help people know if it was built by those AI tools. It&#8217;s not a watermark, so you can&#8217;t see it. But you can load an image to Google Gemini and ask if it was built with the tool or ask if it has SynthID. Bingo, you have confirmation.</p><p>However, it only confirms that if it was built in that particular tool. The image could always have been built in another tool and Gemini won&#8217;t know if it was an AI image or not.</p><h4><strong>Search Operators</strong></h4><p>Torres talked about how AI is changing Google search, and soon search agents will replace search operators in narrowing searches. But in the meantime, try out the search operators in the example below to focus a search: </p><p>     Search &#8220;Renewable energy policy&#8221; and you&#8217;ll get way too much information.</p><p>     Then try: renewable energy policy Site:.gov</p><p>     Then: renewable energy policy Site:.gov filetype:pdf</p><p>     Then: &#8220;renewable energy policy&#8221; Site:.gov filetype:pdf after:2022 before:2024 -draft -presentation</p><p>The last search will give a narrower, focused result.</p><p><strong>Here&#8217;s a slick promo video from Google on how the new search agents will work. You can <a href="https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/#powerful-ai">read more about it here</a>.</strong> </p><div id="youtube2-p6EBMG8OEBI" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;p6EBMG8OEBI&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/p6EBMG8OEBI?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h4><strong>Brave Browser and Google Set-Up</strong></h4><p>In my last newsletter, I wrote about the <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/browser-privacy-in-an-ai-world">Brave Browser&#8217;s</a> privacy settings. The browser&#8217;s search feature, I learned at the seminar, was meh. </p><p>But there&#8217;s a hack: You can connect it to your Google search and still benefit from Brave&#8217;s privacy. Simply go to the Settings menu in the upper left, click on Search Engine on the left panel and select Google for the normal and private browser.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png" width="1438" height="998" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:998,&quot;width&quot;:1438,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:183242,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/199095143?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ptmn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a84e067-db9c-41d0-9200-3afe0a5ad4a6_1438x998.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Future newsletters will feature some AI and data visualization exercises from this training session.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Sponsor</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" 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src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg" width="728" height="90" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:90,&quot;width&quot;:728,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:87306,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J-26!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9523a97-6133-4a30-9a59-f59e4075fb74_728x90.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our new sponsor at <a href="https://www.heynota.com?utm_campaign=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_source=Journalist%27s%20Toolbox%20AI&amp;utm_medium=Display&amp;utm_content=728x90">HeyNota.com</a></p><div><hr></div><h3>More OSINT and Fact-Checking Tools </h3><blockquote><p><a href="https://navigator.indicator.media/">OSINT Navigator<br></a>The tool database is compiled from 17 independent OSINT toolkits maintained by established practitioners and organizations. A weekly crawler checks all sources, adds new tools, and flags deprecated ones. Each tool is enriched with structured documentation.</p><p><a href="https://indicator.media/p/19-free-tools-you-can-use-to-investigate-a-url">Indicator: 19 Free Tools You Can Use to Investigate a URL</a></p><p><a href="http://youstitch.it/">YouStitch.it<br></a>Upload a video and capture frames to create a panorama image</p><p><a href="https://factsentinel.com/ai-fact-checker-browser-extension">Fact Sentinel</a><strong><a href="https://factsentinel.com/ai-fact-checker-browser-extension"><br></a></strong>Check claims from the page you are already reading. It shows verdicts, confidence, model agreement or disagreement, reasoning, and sources so you can inspect the evidence before sharing. Has a free tier or $5 monthly or a $29 one-time fee.</p><p><a href="https://imagewhisperer.org/factcheck-db/?utm_campaign=briefing-you-may-be-listening-to-ai-music-without-knowing-it&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=indicator.media">Fact-Check Database<br></a>This tool from Henk van Ess lets you search through &#8220;debunked images from Reuters, Snopes, PolitiFact, AFP, BOOM Live, Lead Stories, Full Fact and more than 100 fact-checkers worldwide.&#8221; Via Craig Silverman from Indicator.media.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Textbooks</strong></h3><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png" width="725" height="549" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:549,&quot;width&quot;:725,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:528348,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/i/187856614?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4AUn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48c3697c-7aa4-4026-9250-27d95359ca2b_725x549.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Data + Journalism, 2nd Edition</strong></p><p>Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221; that will be available in August through Routledge and other booksellers (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Data-Journalism-Story-Driven-Approach-Reporting/dp/1041160496/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2EHDXRNR68T44&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wFheVjTwNZ8NQ3lK4JYj9WtkBYSysZqKxeOAUkktTJiM9rEFYxnh51S6uQp1xuah_IOf-HlFgMiYfp-Z5Ru7Dc56oXNi6J2FDDpUqgGwHfA.ur9EkPJSTjyZlGeDW34TpYmMf3zE_4WPOW4Wy1Hm1EQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Mike+Reilley&amp;qid=1775397460&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sprefix=mike+reilley%2Cdigital-text%2C114&amp;sr=1-4-catcorr">pre-order here</a>). It&#8217;s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.</p><p><strong>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox</strong></p><p>My book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221; was published by Routledge in 2023 and focuses on concepts and tools still used today. You can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208#">order it here</a>.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg" width="56" height="44.21052631578947" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:210,&quot;width&quot;:266,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:56,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gMB8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6000562d-0f22-4424-b0d3-4e93c2567a98_266x210.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>In Quotes &#8230;</strong></h3><blockquote><p>&#8220;Advances in AI are making it possible to develop insidious and highly dangerous attacks at low cost. Whether it's fake journalists, phony media outlets, or deepfakes, assaults on the credibility of the media are becoming increasingly apparent.&#8221; &#8212; <strong>Vincent Berthier</strong>, <strong>Reporters Without Borders, via the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/06/fake-bylines-ai-business-insider/">Washington Post</a></strong></p></blockquote><p><em>Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/itsmikereilley">@itsmikereilley</a> |  <a href="https://twitter.com/journtoolbox">@journtoolbox</a>  | Subscribe on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CCl01DmsE65wh-qPqjSLQ/videos">YouTube</a>  | Subscribe to<a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/"> this newsletter</a></em></p><p><em>Copyright and Trademark 2026 | Mike Reilley</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Browser Privacy in an AI World]]></title><description><![CDATA[May 26, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/browser-privacy-in-an-ai-world</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/browser-privacy-in-an-ai-world</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 10:18:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fzGC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F232cb098-ca3d-4ba5-9664-def2db263612_2354x1652.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m attending an OSINT tools and investigative journalism workshop this week at the University of Wisconsin, and we&#8217;re working with the <a href="https://brave.com/">Brave</a> browser, which has been around for a few years but is pretty new to me.</p><p>Before I start using a tool, I always research it a bit before downloading it, which is a good practice for all of us. Who created it? What be&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/browser-privacy-in-an-ai-world">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tips for Using AI When Writing Data Stories]]></title><description><![CDATA[May 12, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/tips-for-using-ai-when-writing-data</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/tips-for-using-ai-when-writing-data</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 11:48:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/BqNCC09Se30" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note: </strong>This is an excerpt from the upcoming 2nd edition of &#8220;Data + Journalism: As Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting&#8221;. You can preorder the book from Routledge this summer. The book is expected to drop in August, just before classes start.</em><strong><br><br></strong>Generative AI tools should be used with great caution in the reporting and editing process. Bu&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/tips-for-using-ai-when-writing-data">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[College Students Pick Useful AI Tools]]></title><description><![CDATA[April 28, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/college-students-pick-useful-ai-tools</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/college-students-pick-useful-ai-tools</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:10:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QSMf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd2a3dea9-dcae-4784-b346-62491cfdee97_1132x632.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every semester I have students in my AI and Journalism class at the University of Illinois Chicago do short presentations on tools they&#8217;re using as journalists, students or in everyday life. Past newsletters shared some interesting tools from the <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/favorite-student-picks-for-ai-tools">fall 2024</a>  and <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/journalism-student-picks-for-effective">fall 2025</a> classes.</p><p>Now it&#8217;s the spring 2026 group&#8217;s turn. I hope you find these resources help&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/college-students-pick-useful-ai-tools">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[April 14: Summarization Tools for Covering Public Meetings]]></title><description><![CDATA[April 14, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/april-14-summarization-tools-for</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/april-14-summarization-tools-for</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:14:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/nCDH4liogvU" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For anyone who has spent an afternoon or night covering a school board or city council meeting, you know how mundane it can be picking through all of the discussion and grandstanding to find some actual news. </p><p>Fear not. AI can help with some of the heavy lifting. The website <a href="https://www.summarize.tech/">Summarize.tech</a> lets you to drop a YouTube link of a meeting and it breaks it dow&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/april-14-summarization-tools-for">
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          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Fact-Checking on the Eve of April Fool's Day]]></title><description><![CDATA[March 31, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/fact-checking-on-the-eve-of-april</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/fact-checking-on-the-eve-of-april</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:35:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cqIz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa869a422-9ecf-4a4b-9e86-1bc7a3c22dd6_1834x1230.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Note:</strong> If you are attending the Online News Association conference in Chicago today, I&#8217;ll be presenting on AI tools from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Stop by Salon A1 and lets break the internet!</em></p><p>April Fool&#8217;s Day is tomorrow, so why not have a newsletter on fact-checking tools, right? In all honesty, with AI tools generating deepfakes, pretty much every day is April&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/fact-checking-on-the-eve-of-april">
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[New Data Journalism Resources from NICAR 26]]></title><description><![CDATA[March 17, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/new-data-journalism-resources-from</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/new-data-journalism-resources-from</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:36:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/-9o4N-RlD3Y" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I spoke about basic AI tools for journalists at NICAR 26 in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. It&#8217;s one of my favorite conferences as I get to nerd out on cool tools and resources with other journalists. </p><p>Here is the link to <a href="https://bit.ly/nicar26">my presentation and handouts</a> for those who couldn&#8217;t make it to Indy. And here are some useful resources I learned from my colleagu&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/new-data-journalism-resources-from">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Building Basic Charts With LLMs]]></title><description><![CDATA[March 3, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-basic-charts-with-llms</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-basic-charts-with-llms</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:06:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jLhT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f85faa8-21d7-4c98-9e8e-a800f7b4e504_1600x719.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note: </strong>This is an excerpt from the upcoming 2nd edition of &#8220;Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Data Storytelling&#8221;, which will be out late summer 2026. I also will be working with these tools at the NICAR conference this Thursday at 9 a.m. in Indianapolis. If you are there, stop by.</em> <em>We&#8217;ll break the internet for breakfast.</em></p><p>While Datawrap&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-basic-charts-with-llms">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Building Graphics With Gemini Canvas]]></title><description><![CDATA[Feb. 17, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-graphics-with-gemini-canvas</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-graphics-with-gemini-canvas</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:12:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7cMB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5cbe64f5-2361-440e-a418-76312e3d6d10_1200x800.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A Google Gemini Pro account gives journalists options to create charts and infographics with text prompts and a dataset. For me, it&#8217;s worth the $20 a month because of the quality of multimedia you can produce with it.</p><p>Just log-in to <a href="http://gemini.google.com">Gemini.google.com</a>, upload and data (it handles PDFs and spreadsheets) and type your prompt. Select the &#8220;Canvas&#8221; option from&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/building-graphics-with-gemini-canvas">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Favorite Student Picks for AI Tools]]></title><description><![CDATA[Feb. 3, 2026: How Mike Reilley's AI Journalism students are using AI for school, journalism and life.]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/favorite-student-picks-for-ai-tools</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/favorite-student-picks-for-ai-tools</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 13:34:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SjEt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F12bda653-03a2-43da-b3ff-c2a05a57b33e_500x316.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> We have a new site and newsletter sponsor on the Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox: <a href="https://www.newsmediahelpdesk.org/?utm_source=journotoolbox&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_campaign=advert&amp;utm_id=toolboxsponsor">Media Help Desk</a> from the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri. It offers case studies, resources and help for local newsrooms. Check it out. It&#8217;s free.</em></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/favorite-student-picks-for-ai-tools">
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Using AI Audio Tools to Edit Written Stories]]></title><description><![CDATA[Jan. 20, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/using-ai-audio-tools-to-edit-written</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/using-ai-audio-tools-to-edit-written</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:59:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LP9l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e3fd619-b6b9-4123-bad2-40e93cf58ded_2046x1150.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m a bit of a mad scientist in my AI Journalism course at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I launched the course in the Fall 2024 semester and students took to it quickly. Students were eager to learn how to use it correctly and work within journalistic guardrails. The course has filled quickly every semester for the past two academic years.</p><p>One o&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/using-ai-audio-tools-to-edit-written">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[30 Years of Links, Changes and More Changes]]></title><description><![CDATA[Jan. 6, 2026]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/30-years-of-links-changes-and-more</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/30-years-of-links-changes-and-more</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2026 14:55:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Bu3u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffcbdd9fc-b204-4888-8f96-a25415237f75_1918x1226.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox turns 30 years old on Wednesday, meaning I&#8217;ve updated the site for exactly half of my life. A few months ago, I <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/oct-28-growing-older-in-an-ai-world">wrote about the site&#8217;s history</a> and evolution over the years in past newsletters, but now that the site&#8217;s entering its fourth decade, I feel the need to ask you: </p><p>What more do we need to be doing?</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">JournalistsToolbox.ai is&#8230;</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/30-years-of-links-changes-and-more">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Year in Review: AI Tools and Trends]]></title><description><![CDATA[Dec. 23, 2025]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/year-in-review-ai-tools-and-trends</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/year-in-review-ai-tools-and-trends</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:04:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j5O8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F806b88da-e0cc-4ca1-ba25-bfbde01800bb_2752x1536.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> Enjoy the holiday season and we&#8217;ll be back in the new year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox.</p><p>2025 will be remembered as a year newsrooms really began to embrace AI tools and find innovative ways to implement them into their workflow. I&#8217;ve featured dozens of examples of award-winning AI projects on the <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.ai/cool-ai-examples/">Journalis&#8230;</a></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/year-in-review-ai-tools-and-trends">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Data Security Tools, Part II]]></title><description><![CDATA[Dec. 9, 2025]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/data-security-tools-part-ii</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/data-security-tools-part-ii</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 12:10:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ioi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb1bac623-b2b1-42a6-98c2-92a99009f50d_2650x2014.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> This is the second installment of a multi-part series on data security. It includes a chapter excerpt from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208?srsltid=AfmBOop8TsvlQPRnMKnhkqFp9Tac7ajfpK0L4qVJ_9dv99tgTurujCMe">&#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221;</a>.</em></p><p><strong>Virtual Private Networks <br></strong>Before I can file my students&#8217; grades at UIC, I must first pass through two-factor authentication, then log-in through a virtual private network&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/data-security-tools-part-ii">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Satellite Imagery in Storytelling]]></title><description><![CDATA[Nov. 25, 2025]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/satellite-imagery-in-storytelling</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/satellite-imagery-in-storytelling</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:05:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L9E8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09a2e916-f869-4c5f-ab13-f0bde6da7f3c_1600x946.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> This is an occasional series of excerpts from Mike Reilley&#8217;s book, &#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221;. This excerpt focuses on using satellite imagery in storytelling.</em></p><p><strong>Learning How to Use Satellite Imagery</strong><br>Satellite imagery tools and other geolocation, mapping and satellite tools can seem confusing but they&#8217;re a&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/satellite-imagery-in-storytelling">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Nov. 11: Data Security Tools, Part I - Passwords ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Nov. 11, 2025]]></description><link>https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/nov-11-data-security-tools-part-i</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/nov-11-data-security-tools-part-i</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Reilley]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2025 11:48:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ioi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb1bac623-b2b1-42a6-98c2-92a99009f50d_2650x2014.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> This is the first of a multi-part series on data security. It includes a chapter excerpt from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Journalists-Toolbox-A-Guide-to-Digital-Reporting-and-AI/Reilley/p/book/9781032460208?srsltid=AfmBOop8TsvlQPRnMKnhkqFp9Tac7ajfpK0L4qVJ_9dv99tgTurujCMe">&#8220;The Journalist&#8217;s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI&#8221;</a>, written in the summer of 2023 and updated with fresh tools.</em></p><p>CUNY Professor Jeremy Caplan studies thousands of apps and tools and offers advice to professional journalists and other p&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="https://journaliststoolbox.substack.com/p/nov-11-data-security-tools-part-i">
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