Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Meet the change leaders: Shia Levitt

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Shia Levitt is the director of News Ambassadors, a project of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund that links student reporters with their counterparts in politically or demographically dissimilar areas to collaborate on stories exploring solutions to contentious issues.

Levitt has taught radio reporting and audio storytelling at Brooklyn College in New York and at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., as well as for WNYC’s Radio Rookies and other organizations.


Her teaching builds on two decades of working in radio, primarily reporting for public radio outlets including NPR, Marketplace and KQED. Most recently (2022) Levitt was a news editor at KALW, where she launched the poetry segment, “ Bay Poets.”

She has reported domestically and internationally, including in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and her main beats have been covering science, health, labor and the environment.

Her vast experience includes producing and reporting radio features and news spots on issues including business, economics, labor, social trends and environment/health from the U.S., Japan, Philippines, India, Israel, Kenya and Ivory Coast.

She is also a freelance photographer for various magazines and occasionally produces for television.

To learn more, visit newsambassadors.org. (Disclosure: Like News Ambassadors, The Fulcrum is a project of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.)

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Levitt in May for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of her democracy reform work:

The Fulcrum Democracy Forum Meets Shia Levitt, Director of News Ambassadorswww.youtube.com


Read More

Digital illustration of robot's hand holding and supporting man who is working on his desk using computer, represent themes of artificial intelligence (AI), the future of work, and the intersection of humanity and technology.

A critique of Steven Rosenbaum's The Future of Truth and the irony of AI-generated errors in a book warning about AI, truth, trust, and democratic responsibility.

Andriy Onufriyenko / Getty Images

On Truth, Shame, and the Abuse of AI

A democracy is only as robust and vibrant as the citizens who sustain it. Self-government depends upon people willing to deliberate honestly, reason carefully, and exercise judgment responsibly. With the emergence of AI, this obligation becomes even more consequential because these powerful systems can either deepen human agency or quietly erode it. They can either help citizens think more clearly and participate more meaningfully, or they can encourage the outsourcing of judgment itself and the slow substitution of synthetic plausibility for human responsibility.

Imagine, then, publishing a book warning humanity about the epistemological collapse supposedly ushered in by artificial intelligence. Imagine assembling endorsements from solemn guardians of the humanities, critics of automation, custodians of truth, defenders of interpretation against probabilistic sludge. Imagine presenting yourself as a kind of intellectual fire marshal standing before a burning building, yelling that people must immediately stop playing with matches.

Keep ReadingShow less
Proposed Illinois Data Center Regulations Latest in Nationwide Fight for Facility Oversight

Digital Realty is a real estate investment trust that builds and operates over 300 data centers worldwide. In 2023, Digital Realty, alongside GI Partners, invested in two hyperscale data centers in the Chicago metro area.

(Emma Henry/Medill)

Proposed Illinois Data Center Regulations Latest in Nationwide Fight for Facility Oversight

Illinois has joined a growing number of states drafting legislation to regulate data centers. The proposed POWER Act, introduced on Feb. 6, aims to regulate the growth of data centers by forcing operators to pay any energy-related costs and disclose water use.

The bill, introduced by State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Ill., 8th District) and co-sponsored by State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Ill., 18th District), ensures minimal impact of data center development on Illinois residents.

Keep ReadingShow less