This is an extra-packed double issue!

While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important. I also try to include some resources & opportunities. Please let me know what you think.

Important Items

Heritage Foundation 250 Year Plan, Explained

“Saving America” is the Heritage Foundation’s latest nightmare plan to end No Fault Divorce, encourage early marriage, and push women out of public life. Via Jessica Valenti’s Substack.

https://jessica.substack.com/p/new-project-2025-250-years-heritage

Women getting too independent? The Heritage Foundation has a fix for that.

It involves pushing women out of higher ed, making divorce near impossible, and doing a massive cash transfer from poor single moms to married male-breadwinner couples with kids. By Jill Filipovic.

https://www.throughline.news/p/the-plot-against-american-women

Trump has a plan to steal the midterms.

The nightmare scenario for American democracy is no longer unthinkable.

https://www.vox.com/politics/478263/trump-midterms-2026-rigged-election-fulton-county-gabbard-bondi

State Department orders nonprofit libraries to stop processing passport applications

https://whyy.org/articles/state-department-orders-nonprofit-libraries-stop-passport-applications/

Call on Congress to Oppose the SAVE Act

This dangerous bill would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. If it becomes law, you will NOT be able to vote with your drivers license alone. You’d need:

1. A passport, which >1/2 of Americans don’t have & costs at least $130 OR

2. A birth certificate PLUS your photo ID w matching names, which nearly 70M married women lack OR

3. Military services papers (not a military ID alone) with sensitive info.

Tell your congress members to vote NO on the SAVE Act.

https://act.redistrictingaction.org/a/natl-saveact-cte

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next

ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.

https://www.wired.com/story/ice-expansion-across-us-at-heres-where-its-going-next/

Trump administration working to expand effort to strip citizenship from foreign-born Americans

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-administration-working-expand-effort-strip-citizenship-foreign-b-rcna255427

Technology

The New Fabio Is Claude

The romance industry, always at the vanguard of technological change, is rapidly adapting to A.I. Not everyone is on board.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/business/ai-claude-romance-books.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LFA.Dw66.F8ph1MKza01n&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Amazon Plans AI Marketplace for Publishers

Amazon plans to launch a marketplace where publishers can sell their content to firms offering AI products, after Microsoft announced theirs the week before.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-discusses-ai-content-marketplace-with-publishers-information-reports-2026-02-10/

Microsoft says it’s building an app store for AI content licensing

The Publisher Content Marketplace could make it easier for AI companies to pay for ‘premium’ content.

https://www.theverge.com/news/873296/microsoft-publisher-content-marketplace-ai-licensing

Google promises ‘more focused deals’ with news publishers as FT joins AI pilot

Google is adding search features in direct response to feedback from publishers and plans to do “more focused deals” around AI.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/google-search-features-deals-ai-financial-times/

How The New York Times uses a custom AI tool to track the “manosphere”

HT @laurahazardowen “Built in-house and known internally as the ‘Manosphere Report,’ the tool uses large language models to transcribe and summarize new episodes of dozens of podcasts.” “Broadly speaking, the “manosphere” includes online communities that promote narrow and patriarchal definitions of masculinity, as well as misogynistic and anti-feminist views. Frequently, it overlaps with MAGA and far-right social media ecosystems. After the reelection of Donald Trump, more concerted coverage of the manosphere became a priority across the Times.”

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-the-new-york-times-uses-a-custom-ai-tool-to-track-the-manosphere/

AI Assistant Writes 1st Draft at Cleveland Plain Dealer

An editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the paper now directs its reporters to upload all their reporting “materials” to an AI writing assistant that then writes a first draft of an article.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02/journalism-schools-are-teaching-fear-of-the-future-letter-from-the-editor.html

6AM City Publisher to Swap Reporters for AI

6AM City has begun using AI to compile its newsletters, as it shrinks from 30 markets to 19 and cuts 30% of jobs.

https://www.adweek.com/media/6am-city-layoffs-artificial-intelligence/

Mediahuis trials use of AI agents to carry out ‘first-line’ news reporting

AI agents carry out commissioning, writing, editing, legal checks, fact checks and multimedia sourcing to “automate first line news,” which is reviewed by humans prior to publication

https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/regional-newspapers/mediahuis-trials-use-of-ai-agents-to-carry-out-first-line-news-reporting/

Bystander video is driving the biggest stories in America. The next era of journalism will be built on verifying it.

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/bystander-surveillance-video-ai-visual-investigations-journalism/

What newsroom leaders say matters most in AI adoption

As AI slop floods the web, publishers realize their competitive advantage isn’t how fast they can use AI, but how safely they can integrate it, because it impacts trust and the direct relationships they have with their audiences.

https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2026/02/09/what-newsroom-leaders-say-matters-most-in-ai-adoption/

How AI is transforming freelance journalism

Editors and freelance journalists say AI has brought more productivity, increased expectations of speed, a need for more vetting, and sometimes job-loss fears.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-ai-is-transforming-freelance-journalism/

In era of answer engine optimization, web media should diversify, defend, dive in

HT @BoSacks

https://www.inma.org/blogs/Product-and-Tech/post.cfm/in-era-of-answer-engine-optimisation-media-should-diversify-defend-dive-in

The Great Copyright Reckoning

HT @BoSacks Publishers must trade the training-data dead end for recurring access and usage revenue in the AI era.

https://creativelicensinginternational.com/licensing-brief/the-great-copyright-reckoning/

More reach, less power: copyright in digital markets today

Web publishers reach more people than ever, yet depend on intermediaries that set the terms, capture a disproportionate share of revenue, and restrict direct audience relationships.

https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2026/02/10/more-reach-less-power-copyright-in-digital-markets-today/

Sony Joins Studio Protest Against ‘Egregious’ Seedance 2.0 Infringement, Citing ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Spider-Verse’ AI Clips

Sony sends ByteDance a C&D letter over Seedance 2.0, joining Netflix, Paramount, WBD, and Disney in condemning the model’s AI-generated copyright infringement

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/sony-seedance-protest-1236666951/

Per Plagiarism Today: If You Don’t Disclose AI, You’re a Plagiarist

HT @inkbitspixels

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/02/03/if-you-dont-disclose-ai-youre-a-plagiarist/

Bipartisan CLEAR Act Would Require Transparency of AI Training Material

https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/02/bipartisan-clear-act-would-require-transparency-of-ai-training-material/

As Per HBR: AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It

AI saves time but takes emotional labor. Use human-centered AI w intention: If you introduce it without mapping workflows or understanding where judgment lives, you will increase intensity rather than reducing it. By @FauziaBurke.

https://fauziaburke.substack.com/p/as-per-hbr-ai-doesnt-reduce-workit

10 Ways to AI Proof Your Author Website

Discoverability is changing. Here’s how to stay visible in AI search. By @FauziaBurke.

https://fauziaburke.substack.com/p/10-ways-to-ai-proof-your-author-website

The Rise of RentAHuman, the Marketplace Where Bots Put People to Work

Yes, there is a platform where AI agents hire humans to do real-world tasks. There are classifieds to count pigeons in Washington ($30/hour); deliver CBD gummies ($75/hour); play exhibition badminton ($100/hour); and anything else you could possibly imagine that a disembodied agent couldn’t do.

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-agent-rentahuman-bots-hire-humans/

They Built Stepford AI and Called It “Agentic”

HT @cindygallop Women’s “ick” for AI isn’t technophobia or a gap to close. It’s wisdom to act on. By Abi Awomosu.

https://abiawomosu.substack.com/p/they-built-stepford-ai-and-called

New Study Examines How Often AI Psychosis Actually Happens, and the Results Are Not Good

1 in 1,300 conversations out of almost 1.5 million analyzed chats w Anthropic’s Claude led to reality distortion, + 1 in 6,000 conversations led to action distortion.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/new-study-anthropic-psychosis-disempowerement

Making a Literary Future with Artificial Intelligence

Five writers and AI researchers discuss the future of literature.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/artificial-intelligence-literary-future-chatgpt-large-language-model/

Protecting craft in the age of Agentic AI

Anthropic said we’re moving into an era of ‘vibe working:’ If vibe-coding was about describing the thing you’d like to build and letting AI write the code, vibe-working is the idea that humans can define outcomes and let the AI do the work of achieving it. But craft isn’t just about output quality – It’s about wisdom. Should AI become something that amplifies human craft or something that atrophies it?

https://onlydeadfish.substack.com/p/fish-food-678-the-value-of-craft

Advertising comes to AI chatbots

HT @BoSacks And here are all the details.

https://www.inma.org/blogs/advertising-initiative/post.cfm/advertising-comes-to-ai-chatbots

WordPress.com adds an AI Assistant that can edit, adjust styles, create images

Automattic adds an AI assistant to WordPress, enabling users to perform site-wide layout and style modifications via natural language commands

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/17/wordpress-com-adds-an-ai-assistant-that-can-edit-adjust-styles-create-images-and-more/

Publishing & Media

Audible’s new ‘Read & Listen’ feature syncs your Kindle e-books with audiobooks

The feature will require customers to buy both versions of the title, but at a discounted price.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/18/audibles-new-read-listen-feature-syncs-your-kindle-ebooks-with-audiobooks/

So Long to Cheap Books You Could Fit in Your Pocket

The mass market paperback, light in the hand and on the wallet, once filled airport bookstores and supermarket media aisles. You may never buy a new one again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/books/mass-market-paperback-books.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1A.Q53U.NwmxcN2jPUbV&smid=tw-share

Minnesota Authors Team with Bookstores to Support Immigrants

Poet Heid Erdrich read poems at candlelight vigil; ICE Out: Minnesota Writers Rising Up anthology w >50 writers rushing to print; Authors for Minnesota Day 2/28 w >50 Minnesota-based authors.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/99664-authors-want-ice-out-of-minnesota.html

Finding the Publishing World in the Epstein Files

HT @FeministPress @mariskreizman1 on the viler-than-fiction behavior of powerful men

https://lithub.com/finding-the-publishing-world-in-the-epstein-files/

“Terribly frustrating”: After USPS changes, more newspapers aren’t reaching subscribers on time

“What they’ve in essence done, is create a two-tier delivery system: One for urban and suburban areas, and one for rural areas. And us people in the rural areas are now the second-class citizens of the Postal Service.”

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/terribly-frustrating-after-usps-changes-more-newspapers-arent-reaching-subscribers-on-time/

Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News

Pew Survey: 80% of Americans say being informed about the news is essential to voting, but only 8% say people in the US have a responsibility to pay for news.

https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2026/02/11/americans-complicated-relationship-with-news/

Many people who live in “news deserts” don’t seem to care much

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/many-people-who-live-in-local-news-deserts-dont-feel-deprived-of-local-news-study-finds/

Teen distrust of journalism is rising – media literacy may be the industry’s best defense

News Literacy Project survey: 84% of US teens describe news media negatively, & 94% think news or media literacy should be part of their education.

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/teen-distrust-of-journalism-is-rising-media-literacy-may-be-the-industrys-best-defense,260181

The culture war comes for Alberta’s books

Alberta school libraries in Canada removing dozens of books to comply w a provincial government order banning literary materials deemed “sexually explicit.” Would effectively ban literary classics, like The Handmaid’s Tale.

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-culture-war-comes-for-albertas-books

Reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%, study suggests

Public investments that expand access to enriching environments such as libraries may help to reduce the incidence of dementia.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/11/reading-writing-lower-dementia-risk-study-finds

NJ bill targets library ebook pricing

HT @publishingtrend It would prohibit publishers from entering into contracts/licensing agreements w libraries that cost them more than what the public pays & bar restricting how many times a library can loan an ebook

https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/02/18/nj-libraries-affordable-ebooks/

DNF Shelves Are Finally Coming to Goodreads

HT @publishingtrend It only took twenty years, but the social reading platform has decided to make DNFing official.

https://bookriot.com/goodreads-launches-dnf-shelf/

What Do You Do When the Biggest Platforms For Readers Are Kind of Evil?

HT @publishingtrend Maris Kreizman on the ethical pitfalls of the digital world.

https://lithub.com/what-do-you-do-when-the-biggest-platforms-for-readers-are-kind-of-evil/

Resources & Opportunities

Special Event Featuring Amy DuBois Barnett

2/26 7 pm Gladys Books & Wine, Brooklyn

General Admission: Free

VIP: $35 per person, includes signed book & reception w DJ Beverly Bond

BLACK GIRLS ROCK!®, Women’s Media Group, and Gladys Books & Wine come together for an intimate literary salon. Hear celebrated journalist/author Amy DuBois Barnett on her debut novel, If I Ruled the World. With roots in Amy’s era-defining leadership at Honey, Teen People, Harper’s Bazaar, and Ebony, she delves into ambition, power, friendship, reinvention… and the price women pay (and refuse to pay) to be seen, heard, and in control.

https://luma.com/ny467oh3?fbclid=IwY2xjawQFYqpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFqeEw2OWRiUGFjQW4zdmF2c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtB8XhIETcYLLedwQ1clmNJ0bvMJAg6t2sVDInfF8ztrm2BCl3-C7I_t_UyN_aem_P08j_75Os7FWbwcaJm4CKA

Get Involved with WMG: Committee Information Session & Social

3/4 6-7pm ET. WMG members only; FREE (Zoom)

Have you ever thought about becoming more involved in the WMG community? We’re looking for new committee members and leaders. Join the board for a virtual social and hear how to become involved. We will review the committees (listed here) & talk about the rewards of giving back thru WMG committee work.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6561336

Stop Stalling, Start Posting: Live Social Media Audit with Miral Sattar

3/9 12-1pm at Penguin Random House, NYC

$10 for WMG members; $20 for non-members

Have you been meaning to show up on social media but keep overthinking it? Join Miral Sattar, award-winning podcaster (>2M subscribers) and digital strategist, for an interactive workshop combining a live social media audit & practical training on short-form video storytelling for authors. Miral will review select attendees’ profiles in real time, sharing clear, actionable guidance. You’ll leave with concrete video ideas you can post right away.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6574011

WMG Job Seekers

New date: 3/16, 12-1pm, NYC. WMG members only; FREE

Looking for a job, planning to pivot, or underemployed? Join us to network, share tips, and offer support. Connect with each other, hear from an expert, & come armed with questions! Former WMG Membership Chair Susan McCulloch will be in conversation w WMG Board member Keline Adams, Director at Penguin Random House.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6509718

Film Screening: Women Laughing

3/19 5:30-7:30pm, Society of Illustrators, NYC

$25 for WMG & Society of Illustrators members; $30 for non-members

Join acclaimed cartoonists Roz Chast, Liza Donnelly, & Emily Flake for a private screening of the acclaimed documentary, Women Laughing, in which Donnelly, director and producer, set out to explore her lifelong passion for women’s humor & cartooning with a probing look at the history of women cartoonists at The New Yorker. In a panel discussion after the screening, the producer, Judith Mizrachy, talks with Chast, Donnelly, & Flake about their creative processes and opportunities for women cartoonists.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6542015

Built to Belong: Creating Impact Through Connection & Purpose

3/24, 5:30-7:30 pm, Penguin Random House, NYC

$20 for WMG members, $25 for non-members

We’re often told that impact requires independence and hustle. But the truth is simpler—and more powerful: the most meaningful legacy is built together. Aiko Bethea (Author, Anchored, Aligned, Accountable), Allison Gilbert (Co-Author, The Joy of Connections), Genevieve Piturro (Speaker & Founder, Pajama Program), and Karen Salmansohn (Author, Your To-Die-For Life), join Moderator Ann Shoket (CEO, The Li.st) for an extraordinary discussion you won’t want to miss! Come for inspiration and insight; leave activated with a plan to build connection, lead in harmony with your values, and shape a legacy rooted in community (and maybe make a new friend).

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6573185

Annual Business Meeting

3/25 12-12:30pm ET; WMG members only; FREE (Zoom)

Spend 30 minutes with Co-Presidents Jane Wesman and Jodi Brockington, and members of the Board, in a brief virtual meeting to vote in the new Board and review highlights of the past year.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6573950

Well-Read & Well-Fed in NJ with Elisa Ung and Nicole DiMella

4/9, 4/9 6:30-9pm [words] Bookstore, NJ; WMG members only; FREE

You can never have too many books—or bookstores. Meet WMG members Elisa Ung and Nicole DiMella at [words] Bookstore, an independent shop with a mission to provide vocational training and employment for individuals with autism. At 7:30, we’ll continue next door to Coda Kitchen and Bar for dinner. Note: attendees pay for their own books, food, and beverages.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6566129