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Thursday, May 14, 2020
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The Atlantic’s executive editor talks conspiracy theories, journalistic norms, and new products for all those new subscribers“I had people believing outlandish, harmful things who were repeating back to me the values that I, as a journalist, have. Your mind melts.” By Sarah Scire. |
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Cleveland is where the American newspaper union was born, and it’s the latest place where it’s been beatenThe owners of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer have been bleeding its (unionized) newsroom in favor of its (non-union) website for nearly a decade. While organizers have made major gains in new newsrooms, it’s a stinging defeat on labor’s home turf. By Joshua Benton and Hanaa' Tameez. |
What We’re Reading
Star Tribune / Matt McKinney
Weekly metro papers are shutting down in the face of pandemic →
"’There are 200 to 300 small, weekly newspapers that will not be around by the end of the year’ nationally, Owen Van Essen, the president of a newspaper industry merger and acquisition firm, said. And as many as 500 newspapers will reduce their publication schedule this year, he said.”
North Carolina Community Foundation
NC Local News Lab Fund establishes NC Local News Workshop at Elon University →
"We're responding to our state's deepening local news crisis by establishing this new statewide support base for those working to inform North Carolina residents and communities," said Lizzy Hazeltine, fund coordinator for the NC Local News Lab Fund. "Local news and information systems are critical infrastructure, a fact which has only become more plain during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Poynter / Susan Benkelman
7 methods journalists used to dismantle the ‘Plandemic’ video →
“The pseudoscience-ridden, conspiracy-driven ‘Plandemic’ video, which contains a number of baseless theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, provides a case study in the number of ways journalists can approach such a story. Since the video first appeared early last week, the myriad angles journalists have used to cover it show that a good debunking can be embedded in any number of story genres.”
The Baffler / Rafia Zakaria
The Pulitzer problem: How the journalistic elites celebrate the journalistic elites →
“The actual torture survivor Mohamedou Ould Salahi may have written a great book. But the definitive and prize-winning story about "Guantánamo's Darkest Secret" is the one that made it into The New Yorker.”
Twitter / Kerry Flynn
Despite its 17K paid subscribers, Quartz is laying off 80 staffers, closing offices in four locations, and is seeking profitability by 2022 →
“Today’s changes are about sustaining Quartz for years into the future, not just surviving the current crisis,” CEO Zach Seward said in a memo. Quartz is also closing offices in London, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Hong Kong.
NewsGuard
Microsoft is expanding its adoption of NewsGuard →
“The agreement will also enable all users of Microsoft Edge's desktop and mobile browser to access NewsGuard's ratings for free, without paying the $2.95 monthly subscription fee that users of other browsers must pay. Microsoft has already integrated NewsGuard's ratings into Microsoft Edge Mobile. In addition, Microsoft's Bing search engine will now have access to a real-time feed of NewsGuard data.”
Spotify / Jesus Jiménez
Here’s how this Dallas Morning News reporter has documented the city’s weather over the last year →
Every morning, weather reporter Jesus Jiménez tweets a song that describes the day’s weather. He added every one to a Spotify playlist so you can hear the seasons change in Dallas.
Still Out of Your League / Britni de la Cretaz
What happened to The Athletic’s WNBA vertical? →
“The writers say they were never even told by the company that their freelance work was being ‘temporarily frozen;’ they found out on social media, when it was reported by The Big Lead. Shortly thereafter, they lost access to their Slack channel with no notice from the site aside from an automated email from Slack 24 hours before their access was shuttered.”
Adweek / David Cohen
LinkedIn Editorial is now LinkedIn News →
The goal of the rebranding and the site’s redesign is to “drive editorial recognition and build user trust.”