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Tuesday, July 14, 2020
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What makes people avoid the news? Trust, age, political leanings — but also whether their country’s press is free“Many people's news habits quite sensibly depend on the news available to them, and in some cases they may have good reason to view such sources as deficient or untrustworthy.” By Joshua Benton. |
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“Take after take just gets nuked”: Podcaster parents, working from home while caring for kids, are burning outPlus: A look at how the pandemic has affected podcast advertising in the U.S., and SiriusXM’s acquisition of Stitcher is official. By Nicholas Quah and Caroline Crampton. |
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A debate over 5G shows how misinformation has made its way to the highest levels of government“It is not common for a parliamentary inquiry to have to rebut the dodgy scientific claims it receives in the form of public submissions.” By Michael Jensen. |
What We’re Reading
Journalist's Resource / Denise-Marie Ordway
Embedding Trump’s tweets into news stories could boost his voter support →
“…for both Republicans and Democrats, the way Trump's tweets were presented — whether embedded into a story, quoted directly in plain text or paraphrased — influenced their opinions of the quality of the news coverage.” When a tweet is embedded, Republicans feel more positive emotions toward Trump, while Democrats consider the article less credible.
Vice / Laura Wagner
Bari Weiss is leaving The New York Times →
“My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views…My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in.”
The Information / Jessica Toonkel
Jonah Peretti: In the future, Facebook, Google, et al. will cover the cost of doing journalism →
“I think that the future for free news will be five or six platforms that all have scale. That will cover the cost of journalism…If everyone is chipping in, no one has to bear the full cost of the journalism and it can be done in a way that is sustainable. The revenue we are seeing from the platforms has gone from not material to pretty significant.”
The New York Times / Edgar Sandoval
I went home to Texas to cover the virus. Then more than a dozen people in my family got it. →
“After having reported on the virus during its calamitous sweep through New York City, I knew that the warm, close-knit family culture I had grown up with in the Valley would make social distancing a challenge — and as I called ahead to prepare for my return home, I quickly learned that my worst fears were coming true.”
Government Technology / Lucas Ropek
How disinformation campaigns targeted governments amid national protests →
“An organized disinformation campaign encouraged thousands to believe that there had been a blackout in Washington, D.C., perhaps encouraging more criminal activity and looting; local Facebook groups throughout the country saw unsubstantiated rumors that Antifa activists were being bussed into their communities, inspiring fear; networks of right-wing groups were found to be operating left-wing accounts in an apparent bid to encourage violence and mayhem.”
Zora / Nafari Vanaski
I’m a black reporter who left journalism. Here’s why. →
“Then I saw my column after he ‘edited’ it. It's hard to put into words what it was like seeing at least a couple of weeks worth of research, interview time, and writing reduced to 16 inches of open-ended toothless musing about police discretion…any attempt to point out flaws in a racist system, especially by a Black reporter, is usually met with some sort of lecture, often from a White editor, about how important it is for news writers to remain neutral.”
Popula / Diana Moskovitz
Revisiting Edna Buchanan, “America’s greatest police reporter,” post-George Floyd →
Her book The Corpse Had a Familiar Face is profoundly “police positive…littered with calls for tougher justice, using victims as props to demand harsher sentences…Maybe I could write all this off as a book that just didn't age well, if it weren't for what Buchanan and her body of work have represented, and for decades, set the template for — the epitome of what a crime reporter in America is expected to be.”
International Federation of Journalists
A court in Northern Ireland has ruled in favor of journalists being able to protect their sources →
In 2018, two journalists had their homes raided and were questioned for 14 hours about a police report leaked to them. The court: “We see no overriding requirement in the public interest which could have justified an interference with the protection of journalistic sources in this case.”
Report for America
Applications for local newsrooms looking to host a Report for America journalist are open →
Specifically, “hosting more than 300 emerging journalists in their newsrooms for up to three years, beginning next June.” Deadline September 30.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post’s Zeus will power adtech for broadcaster Graham Media Group →
(I suspect Katherine Graham would have approved of this deal.)
Nieman Reports / Deborah Douglas
Meet the new Black press →
“Outlets that advocate for and culturally represent Black people but are not necessarily Black-owned, are largely digital, nimble, and take an expansive view of who and what constitutes journalism…’News and reporting about Black communities, which is what mainstream news offers, is a lower bar than news and reporting for Black communities.'”