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Wednesday, July 15, 2020
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Want to read a local newspaper on a Monday morning in Wyoming? The last one still printing is about to stopWyoming has six “daily” newspapers, but now none of them will actually print a paper seven days a week. It could be the first time a U.S. state will publish no newspapers on Monday mornings…ever. By Joshua Benton. |
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Biased algorithms on platforms like YouTube hurt people looking for information on healthA user with greater health literacy is more likely to discover usable medical advice from a reputed health care provider, such as the Mayo Clinic. By Anjana Susarla. |
What We’re Reading
The Guardian / Jim Waterson
The Guardian plans to cut 180 jobs, including 70 from editorial →
The pandemic had created an "unsustainable financial outlook for the Guardian,” the newspaper’s editor-in-chief and chief executive wrote in a joint statement to the staff. They “remain committed to keeping the Guardian free-to-read and not following the paywall model adopted by many rivals.”
New York Times / Michael M. Grynbaum
The New York Times will move part of its Hong Kong office to Seoul →
A sweeping national security law passed by China has unsettled news organizations. “This is not a retreat,” reporter Alexandra Stevenson tweeted.
CNN / Kerry Flynn
Apple enters the crowded market of daily news podcasts with Apple News Today →
“Apple is also creating audio versions of print stories that will be available in Apple News+, the company’s subscription service that provides users with access to top magazines and newspapers.”
The Hollywood Reporter / Eriq Gardner
MSNBC’s Joy Reid faces a revived libel claim over a tweet and photo caption →
“The opinion is a huge setback to media organizations, which filed an amicus brief at the Second Circuit with fear that a conclusion like the one reached today would lead to frivolous libel suits.”
Digiday / Steven Perlberg
Slack is fueling media’s bottom-up revolution →
“In the coronavirus work-from-home era, Slack has taken on even greater importance as a mechanism for internal change. It is the new water cooler — one of substance to figure out stories in addition to inane banter about the latest Twitter outrage — and media workers are dumping it on their bosses' heads. “
Substack
Substack launches a legal support program for its writers →
“For this first iteration of the program, applications are open to US-based writers who have enabled paid subscriptions and publish work that may attract unreasonable legal pressure, such as abuses of copyright laws, assaults on first amendment rights, and spurious defamation claims. Upon acceptance to the program, writers can use a separate form to request help for specific cases. Substack will make the ultimate choice on who is accepted into the program and which cases to support. Once a case has been taken on by the program's lawyers, Substack, at our discretion, will cover fees up to $1 million (in exceptional cases, we may cover even more).”
Nieman Reports / Ricki Morell
Reporting and resilience: How journalists are managing their mental health →
“There is an amorphous endlessness to this. And the fact that what is coming is as scary or scarier than what has already happened, that really makes people anxious.”
BBC News / Amol Rajan
Facing financial pressure from Covid-19, BBC News will cut 520 jobs →
That includes 450 job cuts announced in January, but put on hold as BBC News raced to cover the pandemic. “The corporation’s head of news, Fran Unsworth, said the BBC would concentrate on fewer stories, with journalists pooled in centralised teams, rather than working for specific programmes.”
Vanity Fair / Radhika Jones
“We are not bound to continue the cultural hierarchies we inherit” →
Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones writes that in her two-and-a-half-year tenure, Vanity Fair has featured 10 Black cover subjects. “We know that Vanity Fair's evolution has resonated, because in the past two and a half years our audience on every platform has grown, including those of you who subscribe.”
CNBC / Alex Sherman
After missing revenue targets by 40%, Vox Media announces layoffs →
Vox furloughed about 100 employees in April, primarily from parts of Vox hit especially hard by the pandemic like SBNation, Curbed, and the company’s events group. Many of the furloughed workers who haven't already taken buyouts are expected to be among the jobs cut.
New York Times / Sheryl Gay Stolberg
A Trump administration order to take control of coronavirus data away from the CDC raises questions about transparency and public access →
“Dr. Janis Orlowski, the chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, said the administration had pledged in ‘a verbal discussion’ to make the data public — or at least give hospitals access to it.”
Local Media Association
A new Google-backed Center for Journalism Funding will help 15 publishers fundraise and work with philanthropies →
“Applications for a funding lab will open in early August. Fifteen publishers will be selected to participate in a six-month program. The cohort will include a diverse mix of newspapers, broadcasters and digital news sites.” The lab, which will be managed by a director at Local Media Association, hopes to drive $2.25 million in funding for journalism projects and publish an extensive industry playbook on funding journalism through philanthropy.
The Washington Post / Paul Farhi
“A lot of uncertainty”: Staffers at McClatchy newspapers mull bankruptcy sale to tabloid-owning hedge fund →
“We don't know what they're up to, and that's an ominous feeling.”
The New York Times
Margaret Sullivan recalls her years as public editor of The New York Times →
“I tried to keep in mind that the people I was really working for were the readers of The Times, so that it wasn't about making people within the institution happy.”
HuffPost / Taryn Finley
How two pandemics made way for a reckoning in Black media →
“Even as they amplify Black voices, Black-operated publications have also come under fire for replicating the same anti-Black and sexist workplace structures that exist at mainstream, white-run publications.”
The Guardian / Anushka Asthana
The Guardian’s Julia Carrie Wong on Facebook, white nationalists, and becoming the target of a hate campaign →
“In November, Julia Carrie Wong reported on the continued presence of white nationalist organizations on Facebook — and a weeks-long campaign of racist and sexist harassment followed. She discusses the impact it had on her and why she believes Facebook has played a role in creating the conditions that enable that kind of harassment to happen.”