The True Stories Lounge

07/18/2026

Journalists and truth to power. https://www.facebook.com/wired/posts/pfbid0AYQZRYqB363VkS1Gr9vo3zpWwQVGNCZD7HNQRsYYa4nvhgUW8vgzdCFKq4JfRGQal

Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting.

In April of this year, we published a story delving into the MSG panopticon–a surveillance machine that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

This month, we published another article revealing that MSG kept a database of VIP event attendees, labeling some of them as LGBTQIA. A number of entries were assigned a “risk score,” and some of them were even marked as “DO NOT HOST.”

We have decided to lift the paywall on both stories, making them available for everyone to read.

https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-celebrity-database-surveillance/
https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-surveillance-machine/

07/05/2026

07/05/2026

07/05/2026

In August of 2023, police raided a small local newspaper in rural Kansas, seizing computers and cellphones. Later, the paper’s publisher would discover there was no legal basis for the search. On this week’s On the Media, find out who was behind the raid, and what the saga reveals about the plight of local journalism today. https://lnk.to/onthemedia?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=app.dashsocial.com%2Fon-the-media%2Flibrary%2Fmedia%2F689713639!facebook

07/05/2026

San Francisco’s population of people with HIV is growing old for the first time. As that community ages, more investment is needed to help them remain stably housed. Failure to do so could hamper the city’s goal of reducing HIV-related deaths and the virus’ spread.

“If somebody is unstably housed, they are unlikely to be consistent in taking their HIV medication and thus will be at risk for dying,” said Bill Hirsh. “In order for the city to actualize its ‘Getting to Zero’ goals, housing is really the most essential strategy that the city can embrace.”

07/05/2026

Book reviews are disappearing from newspapers. Porter Square Books decided to publish its own.

For Nieman Lab, Sophie Culpepper writes about how the independent bookstore in Cambridge is trying to bring newspaper-style book reviews back.

🔗 Read more. https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/book-reviews-are-an-endangered-species-so-this-independent-bookstore-decided-to-start-publishing-its-own/