The Knight Lab’s Favorite Newsletters (A Growing List)

In Issue #6 of The Shed — our newsletter about the tools we use to tell stories — we went meta and wrote about newsletters.

We wanted to bring to light some of the amazing recommendations people sent our way. What should we add? Feel free to let us know what we should add to the list by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Last Updated: July 25, 2016

Sunday

I love Jack Cheng’s newsletter, Sunday. It’s a perfect Sunday evening meditation that gives me insight on the writing process and reminds me to do thoughtful and meaningful work.

— Hilary Fung, Atlas Editor at Quartz

Fast Forward

I’m a big fan of the Boston Globe’s new Fast Forward newsletter. The experienced editor, Teresa Hanafin (disclosure: my former colleague) does a great job of synthesizing the morning’s news. It’s like drivetime radio in my inbox (so then I can listen a podcast on my way to work).

— Joel Abrams, Project Manager / Distribution at The Conversation

Prime Factors

My favorite newsletter is “Prime Factors” by Rachel Shorey. You don’t need to know anything about math or numbers to find Prime Factors entertaining and educational. It’s always short, easy to consume and full of interesting facts. It’s not regularly scheduled, so I love the surprise whenever I find it in my inbox.

— Sara Martinez, Software engineer at Slate

A Woman To Know

One of my favorites is “A Woman to Know” which is written by a fellow Postie. Every weekday, Julia Carpenter highlights one cool lady from history. I love it for many reasons. 1. It’s a chance to celebrate women. 2. I always learn about someone new. Even if I know the name, I’m bound to learn something new about the person I didn’t know about before. 3. It’s short and digestible. 4. Julia always suggests a bunch of new links and reads related to the woman that I devour.

— Emily Chow, Designer, developer, visual storyteller at Washington Post

Clue

The reason why I open my Clue newsletter emails is because A) I love their product and B) the information they share obviously empowers me on a personal level with knowledge about my periods, in an aesthetically pleasing and gender-neutral way.

— Anne Li, Reporter at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, @KnightLab alum

Cup of Jo

For all those times I’m feeling aspirational but not self-loathing enough for Goop.

+ The Longreads Weekly

Weekends are for sleeping, Netflix, and diving into deliciously long reads. There are lots of recommended reading lists, but this is one of my faves.

+ Lenny Letter

Say what you will about Lena Dunham, but girl (and team) knows how to put together a newsletter. There aren’t that many places on the internet that feel like a space and creative space for women, but this is one of them.

— jenny g zhang, Summer fellow @KnightLab, writer for The Shed

Flowing Data

This is more like a blog, but sometimes you need a newsletter to remind you to read a blog… It’s a great curation of data visualization projects from Nathan Yau.

+ Above Chart

If you’ve heard and liked Scott Klein’s talk about the history of data journalism, you’ll want to follow this newsletter.

—KK Rebecca Lai, NYT Graphics

Hot Pod

In less than two years, Nick Quah has become the go-to source for all news about the podcast industry. His newsletter is filled with incredible bits of reporting, insight, and even more questions about where “this whole podcast thing” may be going. More importantly, Nick is delightfully honest and weird in all the best ways. Each week it feels like a friend is sending me a personal update about this industry I deeply care about.

— Noah Chestnut, friend and advisor to @KnightLab

Brainpickings

I subscribe to the Brainpickings newsletter, a site by Maria Popova where she condenses awesome articles, books and journals that span topics from history to science to philosophy and beyond. I learn something new, meaningful and awesome that I otherwise would not have known or learned about every week.

— Divya Sasidharan, developer @KnightLab

Modern Adventuress

Jen Myers of ‘Modern Adventuress’ feels like the big sister I always wanted as an eldest child. Each week is a well rounded mix of culture, tech, social activism and links to all those Long Reads you know will make you a better person once you get around to reading them.

— Rebecca Poulson, developer @Knightlab

Significant Digits

FiveThirtyEight’s very own “Significant Digits” newsletter is a great fun way to start the day. It’s a roundup of important, interesting, fun and sometimes bizarre numbers in the news each day. It’s a quick read and links out to some great stories around the internet while also highlighting FiveThirtyEight’s work.

+ Today in OpenGov

I also really enjoy the Sunlight Foundation’s daily “Today in OpenGov” newsletter which highlights news in the world of open government and transparency. It features innovations in and news about transparency in governments at the national, state, and local level and also includes updates on transparency in governments around the world. I enjoy this newsletter in particular because it highlights such a breath of information around a topic that I care about and directs my attention to a lot of international and local stories that I might otherwise not have encountered.

— Dhrumil Mehta, Database Journalist, Politics @FiveThirtyEight @KnightLab alum

The Skimm

I think I read theSkimm the most, and I like it because it’s just a very concise and fun way to keep up with all the current events of the day.

— Matthew Zhang, student @KnightLab

Data is Plural

Data nerds, unite. A weekly newsletter by Jeremy Singer-Vine, the data editor at Buzzfeed, who shares interesting data sets, from the demographic of traffic stops to deadly Prussian horses. I often use this to find datasets that complement the stories I’m writing.

+ Buzzfeed News

A daily newsletter that summarizes major news events in a clear, informative way. Super easy to skim while I’m commuting to work on the subway.

+ True Colors

A weekly newsletter that highlights work written by people of color. Some serious props to Rosalie Chan (who is a @KnightLab fellow)!

+ NY Times Race/Related

Unlike other newsletters that typically summarize the news, this one is a bit on the longer side but comprises thoughtful and provocative vignettes. These folks are definitely stirring up conversation.

+ Nuzzel

This is the first e-mail I open everyday, because I know these are the stories the people around me are talking about/reading. It’s more of a daily news digest than a newsletter, which I surprisingly like.

— Eunice Lee, student @KnightLab

Crain’s Chicago Business Morning 10

The newsletter I’ve publicly declared my love for is the Crain’s Chicago Business Morning 10. It was born before the current newsletter trend and is probably one of the most traditional ones out there — just 10 stories with a few sentences on each and links — but it succeeds in serving up something that’s hard to find: “hard news” that’s all about Chicago. It never gives me a headline I’ve seen somewhere else, links to outside sources when they’ve got the best stuff, and usually includes a fun/light little kicker at the end.

— Ryan Graff, editorial & outreach @KnightLab