TyLisa Johnson
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writing & connecting • past: @publicsourcePA @PhillyInquirer, @thepointsguy, @DallasNews+more • Striking @FAMU_1887 alum🐍
Articles by TyLisa Johnson
Opinion | Journalism is serious business. That doesn’t mean it can’t be funny.
How will you learn that the world is ending? Maybe your phone buzzes with a news alert. Maybe you open Google News and see the headlines. But it’s also likely you sprint to social media and are met with a meme.
Here are your favorite Poynter journalism memes from 2025
It’s a weird time to be a journalist. Digital news archives are disappearing. Generative AI is giving em dashes a bad name. Layoffs. Consolidations. Buyouts. Burnout. Countless, daily insults from the nation’s most powerful people. At the same time, the work to share truth and report the news is needed now more than ever. It’s a nonstop grind, and a nearly nonstop news cycle. Well, as the saying goes, you have to laugh to keep from crying.
When the White House press secretary says ‘your mom,’ it’s not a joke. It’s the message.
This is The Poynter Report, your daily guide to the news about news. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every weekday. Late last week, after President Donald Trump said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, HuffPost correspondent S.V. Dáte reached out to the White House with a straightforward question: Who picked Budapest?
Is The Atlanta Journal-Constitution leaving print readers behind? Not necessarily, says its publisher
This is The Poynter Report, your daily guide to the news about news. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every weekday. Reporting last Thursday on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s decision to discontinue its print edition at the end of the year, I had posed some questions by email to president and publisher Andrew Morse. The column posted before he had time to reply, but he did reply.
Skydance and Paramount complete their merger – whither CBS News?
The headline-chewing Skydance Media takeover of Paramount Global was formally concluded Thursday. The merger marks the transition from three decades of control by the Redstone family to companies controlled by the Ellison family – tech mogul Larry and his son, David. In a lengthy open letter new Chairman and CEO David Ellison touted the benefits of combining tech platforms and studio creative services, while amping up direct-to-consumer streaming programming.
Don’t blame AI for Jim Acosta’s high-profile interview flop
Jim Acosta, former CNN chief White House correspondent, ignited a firestorm Monday after teasing an interview with an artificial intelligence version of a Parkland shooting victim — created by the victim’s family to raise awareness about gun violence. The move sparked outcry over AI usage, journalistic taste and whether Acosta, six months after leaving CNN and launching a Substack, is trying too hard to stay in the spotlight.
What do ‘Serial’ and Barbara Walters have in common? What we’ve learned so far from The Poynter 50
By Ren LaForme, managing editor Ten down, 40 to go. When we launched The Poynter 50 — our yearlong project highlighting people and moments that changed journalism over the past half century — we knew it would be ambitious. But we also knew this industry is full of big swings, quiet revolutions and stories that age in fascinating ways. So far, we’ve covered groundbreaking tech shifts (Mercury Center), seismic scoops (Matt Drudge, TMZ), and a teenage bystander who changed history with a phone.
‘Let it bring hope’: 2025 Pulitzer winners react
A three-year-old nonprofit Baltimore newsroom wins big for the first time. The Washington Post’s “urgent and illuminating” coverage of an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The winners and finalists of the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday afternoon in a livestream from Columbia University in New York. AKA: Journalism crowned its champions.
What The Houston Landing’s closure says about the state of nonprofit news
By Angela Fu, media business reporter On Tuesday, the for-profit Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, reported it would convert to a nonprofit. Hours later, the nonprofit Houston Landing had its own announcement: It would shut down after less than two years of operation. The diverging announcements reiterated a central truth in the news business — nonprofit status is not a silver bullet.
When was the last time AI made you laugh? Scenes from the 2025 Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism
Artificial intelligence — and how we use it — is changing by the day. In the year since Poynter first convened news and product leaders to discuss the ethical considerations of introducing AI into newsrooms, we’ve witnessed the arrival of new AI platforms, the explosion of chatbots as search engines and a major shift in how AI is showing up in news.
What we can learn from the botched Vanity Fair interview with Megan Thee Stallion
Vanity Fair, why? Some sections of the internet have been chattering all week about a red carpet flub involving a podcaster and a musician — one in a growing series of stumbles by influencers and content creators tapped to do journalism by legacy organizations. “Giggly Squad” podcast host and comedian Hannah Berner was interviewing Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion on the red carpet Sunday during the Vanity Fair Oscar Party when her excitement got the best of her.
The Washington Post discovered a 'racial brain collection.' It won them a Poynter Prize.
When Claire Healy messaged an artist on Instagram for a potential feature story in early 2022, she had no idea the thread she would soon pull, or what she would unravel.
How two nonprofits are demystifying journalism with a postcard
You’re talking with a community member you want to interview, but they’re wary. What does it mean to be “on the record?” Where will my words end up? Is it safe? Pittsburgh-based nonprofit PublicSource is putting those worries to rest and building trust with a new handout created in partnership with Define American, a nonprofit dedicated to storytelling about immigrant experiences.
Meet Eugene Daniels, Politico’s Kamala Harris expert
Eugene Daniels moves through the world with his mother’s voice echoing in his mind. You belong in every single room you find yourself in, she would tell him. Politico’s White House correspondent has carried her voice with him through the walls of the White House, on Air Force One, and on the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris. Since Daniels began writing about her, starting when she won her Senate race in 2016, he’s become one of the consistent expert voices on Harris.
Where 9 journalists get their election news
A few decades ago, your options for election coverage could be counted on one hand. Today, the news landscape is overflowing with choices. There’s TV, of course, with local and national options. Print is hanging on in some areas, though results might miss the deadline. Online news sites of all levels of repute are available. And, speaking of ill repute, you could turn to social media, where users often offer more spin than substance.
What the landmark ‘1619 Project’ taught Nikole Hannah-Jones
Even when the award-winning “1619 Project” was just the seed of an idea, Nikole Hannah-Jones knew the immensity of her endeavor. The ambitious set of essays first published by The New York Times in August 2019 centered the enslavement of Africans in the founding of America and aimed to unsettle long-held narratives that downplay the role of slavery in the development of the nation.
Why Bloomberg’s broken embargo matters
The big news last week: After 16 months of imprisonment in Russia under false charges, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was free. The Journal was not the newsroom to break that story, however. Bloomberg News was. And it wasn’t a scoop to celebrate, since it came thanks to what looks like a broken embargo and before Gershkovich and other prisoners were safely back in the United States. In the days since, the story of how that happened has itself become the news.
Visions for a Better World
At 13, Sasha Igwe and her family packed up and moved from Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Her old neighborhood about an hour outside of Detroit was demographically diverse, with racial minorities accounting for more than a third of the population, according to Census figures. It was a startling contrast to her comparatively white and homogeneous new home.
Q+A: Tiffany Sims
As a high school student in Florida, Tiffany Sims was immersed in the world of dance when her Advanced Placement art history teacher, Lacy Van Reeth, opened Sims’ eyes to wider possibilities.
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Fall 2023 Cover Story Carnegie Science Center prepares to safeguard its Cold War-era submarine for future generations. Features ArtCommunityThe Inclusive Museum Now more than ever, The Andy Warhol Museum’s annual LGBTQ+ Youth Prom provides a space of connection and community. An expansive exhibition explores the art and evolution of Japanese printmaking over the past century.
Artist Asim Waqif dares viewers to alter his installation, and the world around them
“All that you touch you change. All that you change, changes you.” Seeing Octavia Butler’s quote — taken from the late sci-fi writer's iconic, post-apocalyptic work Parable of the Sower — etched on a hanging wooden beam as part of artist Asim Waqif's Mattress Factory show Assume the Risk, was grounding, precise, and meta.
Lyndon Barrois Jr.: Rosette uses a fake heist film to address real issues in the art world
There’s an elephant in the room at the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Forum Gallery – one you see, and one you feel. An Art Nouveau-inspired painting titled “Kaleidoscope” comes with gold-lined ears and bold primary colors in an abstraction of shapes that resembles an elephant. There’s a leopard, borrowed from the adjoining Carnegie Museum of Natural History, perched on stacked crates. There’s a bookcase filled with real and fake crystals, artifacts, and other objects.
2022’s best stories to revisit
Dig through our 2022 coverage, and you’ll unearth layers of long-buried problems and veins of inspiration. From some angles, it was a rocky year, with ongoing pandemics, crumbling infrastructure, tax inequities and creeping threats to our environment. Beneath the crust, however, were gems of hope and glimmers of possibility in the form of solutions. Our newsroom reported from the frontlines for many of the biggest news stories of 2022 in Allegheny County.
Here's what to know about monkeypox, vaccines in Pittsburgh
While you may be worn down by pandemic life and the merry-go-round of rising cases and new COVID-19 variants, a new concern is brewing locally: monkeypox. In a few months, the monkeypox virus went from a handful of reported cases in the United States to a public health emergency of international concern.
How to travel safely in Pittsburgh as construction, pedestrian deaths spike
Pittsburgh travelers always face a mixed bag of conditions. Landslides and torrential downpour. Some of the steepest hills in the country. A nontraditional – and by some measures illogical – street grid system. But with increasing construction projects in the region thanks to an influx of infrastructure dollars and more Pittsburghers taking to the streets as society attempts to assume normalcy, travelers face a unique moment.
Roe v. Wade is gone. Pittsburgh, share your abortion story?
Roe v. Wade was toppled on June 24 by the Supreme Court of the United States. Activists immediately took to the Pittsburgh streets. Students mobilized, searching for ways to support their peers and speaking out about how the decision is likely to disproportionately impact marginalized people. Professors spoke out about concern for the future of other currently protected rights. Abortions remain legal in Pennsylvania as of July 2022. Gov.
Worried about crossing bridges since Fern Hollow? Experts say don't panic
Skip to content The Fern Hollow bridge was rated ‘poor’ when it collapsed in January. Dozens of other bridges across Allegheny County share the same or worse rating. Still, don’t panic, says longtime structural engineer Kent Harries to Pittsburgh travelers. With more news about increasing dangers for pedestrians, Harries suggested collapsing bridges aren’t our biggest threat.
What’s next for the Fern Hollow bridge? A timeline from collapse to now
A bridge falls. Pittsburgh makes national headlines. Then, a swarm of government responses, lawsuits and impacts that reverberated through the community. Four months later, where are we? Bridge maintenance rocketed to the top of Mayor Ed Gainey’s priorities following the collapse in January. The city plans to solicit bids and pick a vendor to craft a comprehensive bridge maintenance plan by June 17.
10 years living in Turtle Creek taught one woman community-making
“Turtle Creek is changing … the whole Mon Valley is changing.” A woman campaigning for state representative said this to me in April 2018. I wanted this to be true because I wanted to continue living in this place I have called home for almost 10 years. My journey to confirm her statement has been incredible and full of intense reflection. It has called to mind a message I first received as a little girl listening to my mother’s box set of “Best of Luther Vandross” vinyl records.
Pittsburgh abortion rights rally following Roe v. Wade leak
This story was originally published by Pittsburgh City Paper, a news partner of PublicSource. About 150 people gathered in Downtown Pittsburgh on May 3 to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, a plan first revealed by Politico in a leaked draft opinion and later confirmed by the court.
ER social worker reflects on trauma caused by Airbnb party shooting
My pager went off, alerting me to the impending arrival of a trauma or serious medical emergency to the emergency department. I scrolled through to see what we might be getting, anticipating a car accident or stroke like the previous pages of that shift. My heart dropped when I read “Level 1 GSW,” indicating the most serious type of trauma was en route and it was a gunshot wound [GSW]. I scrolled further and saw the age of the victim — a minor.
How will Pittsburgh kids spend summer vacation?
Summer vacation is on the horizon. For some kids, it’ll mean camp with friends, practicing sports or relishing their free time. For other kids, it may mean summer programs to address learning gaps after two full years of schooling through the pandemic. As we enter the third summer vacation since the pandemic began, PublicSource wants to know how students across Allegheny County will be spending their breaks: focusing on engaged summer recreation or prioritizing academic recovery?
‘Here we still are’: Pittsburghers reflect on life with COVID and the future
This story was based on reader submissions that placed a spotlight on the personal experiences and perceptions of Pittsburghers living through the last two years of coronavirus. While we could only choose a handful of the experiences shared with us, we want to thank all of our readers who submitted their experiences. To see the original call for submissions, visit here; we’d still like to hear from you. With you, our journalism is made better.
What’s next for PA women if Roe v. Wade is overturned or weakened?
Editor’s note: The Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24. (Read our coverage here.) Abortions remain legal in Pennsylvania as of July 2022. We’d still like to hear your thoughts and stories about abortion rights and restrictions. Please use the form below! Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land since 1973, establishing the right to end a pregnancy.
4 Black Pittsburgh pioneers to celebrate for Black History Month
This story was based on reader submissions that placed a spotlight on many powerful, but largely untold Black stories in Pittsburgh. While we could only choose a handful, we want to thank all of our readers who submitted ideas. To see the original call for submissions, visit here; the form remains open. With you, our journalism is made better.
Is your child asking about critical race theory? Read this guide.
Kids are always listening. And these days, debates about race, Black history and racism have shifted from books, podcasts and college lectures to everyday, albeit controversial, table talk. What do you say when your child starts to ask about the stickier topics they’ve heard so much about?
Community Callout: Your COVID life in Pittsburgh, two years later
From rush hour traffic and working in cubicles to double-masking and triple-vaxxing, our lives are worlds away from where we were in February 2020. The reality is, many of our lives have been changed forever. Here in Allegheny County, some renters are on shaky ground, COVID cases are dropping after a record-breaking spike and schools are grappling with how to educate students. Recent COVID surges have led to shortages at critical institutions.
Community Callout: What forgotten stories of Black Pittsburgh deserve a spotlight?
(Photo via Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh archives) The inauguration of Pittsburgh’s 61st mayor marks a new dawn for city politics. For the first time, the mayor’s seat and the keys to the city will belong to an elected Black leader. But more than 100 years before Mayor Ed Gainey, there was Charles “Ajax” Jones who was at the city’s helm by appointment, not election. Jones is a little known Pittsburgh figure whose legacy has largely been buried.
Building new bridges: 3 things to know about our McKeesport, Wilkinsburg coverage
Each day at PublicSource we ask: How can we better serve residents of the Pittsburgh region through journalism? As we continue to write more about communities in the Pittsburgh area, our goal is to remain transparent about our journalistic mission and intentions. In 2022 and beyond, we’re working to build connections with more of the region’s communities and foster new conversations about how we live.
Why do I need a COVID-19 booster vaccine anyway? Your questions about booster shots, answered.
With two pricks of the COVID vaccine under your belt, you may be eyeing a booster shot to keep protection from waning. Booster vaccines were made widely available to adults on Friday, after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] signed off on recommendations made by an advisory committee. The committee of independent experts said anyone over age 18 can get a booster.
Truancy cases continued for thousands of Allegheny County students
Notices, home visits and stern calls. Then court dates and, in some cases, hefty fines. All of this piled onto the lengthy list of stressors for thousands of Allegheny County families in the 2020-21 school year. Why? Missing school repeatedly. All in all, more than 4,400 truancy cases were filed in Allegheny Courts against students and their parents in 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Do PA schools have to send kids to court for unexcused absences?
Too many unexcused absences from school can land parents, or a student if they’re legally an adult, in court. Under state truancy laws, a Pennsylvania student who accumulates three or more unexcused absences in a single school year is considered “truant.” In the worst cases, truancy can lead to hundreds of dollars in fines or years of court involvement. Advocates say truancy is another way students can end up in the school-to-prison pipeline.
Pittsburgh Public Schools sent 952 students to truancy court during COVID
Last fall, the 21,000 students in Pittsburgh Public Schools faced back-to-back challenges while settling into a year of remote learning. Instead of attending musicals or homecoming football games, students and families faced the real-world impacts of a national shutdown. As families searched for stability, students struggled to get and stay connected to online classrooms.
Wayne Walters named interim superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools
Assistant Superintendent Wayne Walters will replace Superintendent Anthony Hamlet as the leader of Pittsburgh Public Schools. The appointment of Walters to serve as interim superintendent was approved unanimously Wednesday evening and comes in the wake of Hamlet’s resignation. Walters, 51, assumes his duties as interim superintendent on Oct. 1. His salary is $210,000. Walters has worked within Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] for more than 30 years.
Pittsburgh Public superintendent offers resignation amid controversy
EDUCATION By TyLisa C. Johnson | 16 mins ago Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet at a May 22, 2019 school board meeting. (Photo by Terry Clark/PublicSource) Two weeks after a state ethics commission found violations, and with mounting tensions, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet submitted a resignation notice to the school board, effective Oct. 1. The resignation comes about one year after Hamlet’s contract was renewed.
Pittsburgh Public Schools welcomes back students to buildings on the first day of school amid COVID concerns and protest
Rebecca Poremski left her daycare job on the morning of Sept. 3 to take her three kids to school. This was not the plan. The family’s plan had been for her kids to ride the bus, but Poremski was disappointed to learn in recent weeks that the district’s bus driver shortage made them ineligible for rides. The district’s plan — with its new expanded walk zones — was for the kids to walk the 1.5-mile stretch between their Brighton Heights home and Allegheny K-5. The anxiety about that proved too much.
'Necessary for our future': Wolf declares mask mandate at PA schools amid local disputes and surging COVID - PublicSource
With COVID hospitalizations and cases rising as more students return to school buildings, masks will now be required indoors regardless of vaccination status at all Pennsylvania PreK-12 school buildings, early learning programs and child care centers. The new order by the Pennsylvania secretary of health will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 7. The decision is a change of course from early August when Gov. Tom Wolf said he wouldn’t require masks in schools.
Hamlet to pay nearly $8K for ethics violations, controller looks to school board for ‘appropriate’ leadership changes
EDUCATION Hamlet optimistic to move forward after state ethics commission findings released By TyLisa C. Johnson | August 26, 2021 Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet at a May 22, 2019 school board meeting. (Photo by Terry Clark/PublicSource) A two-year investigation into Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet concluded Thursday in a 147-page report released by the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission that found Hamlet was in violation of state ethics laws.
Tensions mount as some Pittsburgh Public parents protest two-week delay and earlier school start times
Many Pittsburgh families were circling Aug. 25 on their calendars and stuffing backpacks, looking to soon regain a sense of normalcy. Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] would be back in classrooms in school buildings five days a week. COVID concerns still loomed, especially mounting worries about new variants and masking in schools, but back-to-school planning was in full swing. All of a sudden, there was another disruptive force: a bus driver shortage. The shortage is not new, though.
July 2021 'By the Book' PGH K-12 Bulletins - PublicSource
Welcome to "By The Book: PGH K-12 Bulletins," which provides updates on emerging and ever changing news in the Pittsburgh K-12 education landscape. With more than 40 school districts across Allegheny County, the Bulletins will update you on the region's latest education news, including close coverage of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, other Allegheny County school districts, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and other important agencies, which serve thousands of Pittsburgh families.
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