I wanted to talk today about the challenges of being a new media journalist today, and I’ve got three major points and a couple challenges we face that I plan to touch on.

We all agree that old media is dying, that’s part of why we’re here. It’s also oppressing people on the way out by throwing a temper tantrum as it dies, and it’s hurting everybody — especially those of us who want to be journalists in a sustainable career, and for anyone who wants to reach people.

GIving credit to Black Lives Matter. A former prisoner recounts 37 days in a jail, terrified of needing to use the jailhouse medical clinic. When your boss is a Hal-9000. Plus other selections from the Shadowproof mailbag.

Raw Story: “At the time of his death, [Michael] Robinson’s blood sugar level had skyrocketed to 2,500. The normal range, depending on when a person has eaten, is between 80 and 180, according to the American Diabetes Association.”

It may never be possible to know the true death toll of the modern Western wars on the Middle East, but that figure could be 4 million or higher. Since the vast majority of those killed were of Arab descent, and mostly Muslim, when would it be fair to accuse the United States and its allies of genocide?

With wildfires blazing throughout the parched Western United States, the state of California has found a novel, though ethically questionable, way to save money on the state’s safety budget: Send state prisoners to work on the frontlines fighting forest fires for $2 per day. About 4,000 low-level felons from California’s state prisons are fighting the fires, operating out of so-called “conservation camps.”

Last month, an Israeli judicial panel sentenced Dirar Abu Sisi, a 46-year-old civil engineer, to 21 years in prison for aiding Hamas’ rocket program. This plea deal capped a four-year ordeal that began with Abu Sisi’s unprecedented kidnapping on a train bound for Kiev in the dead of a Ukrainian winter in February 2011.

The death of Pinochet’s former head of National Intelligence Services has ignited a fresh surge of rage and indignation, as the families of the over 3,000 disappeared still face an uphill struggle against the state and the military to uncover details regarding the murder and disappearance of their relatives.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Shadowproof Mailbag. This installment covers the first part of this, Shadowproof’s second week. I’m taking a little day trip to New York City tomorrow and Brian will be filling in for me, so we’ll have to catch up on Friday’s feedback in the next edition. Here’s some of the best reader comments and feedback we’ve received about our recent articles.