Confronting media gerrymandering
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Thursday, December 15, 2022
 | Confronting media gerrymandering“If news organizations want to reach popular and heterogeneous audiences, they have to think in terms of building diverse coalitions, not a mass audience.” By Anthony Nadler. |
 | The rot at the core of the news business“Repairing the rot requires us to imagine a media system that isn’t centered nearly as much around profit motives — and then insist that our elected officials help to bring it about.” By Christoph Mergerson. |
 | Platforms are over“Why stay? Does the economic benefit really outweigh the reputational cost? The time seems opportune to leave and make a statement in so doing.” By Zizi Papacharissi. |
 | Generative AI brings wrongness at scale“For all its promise, generative AI can get more wrong, faster — and with greater apparent certitude and less transparency — than any innovation in recent memory.” By Eric Ulken. |
 | Flux is the new stability“Sometimes we can pretend we’re in a moment of stability, despite the ever-changing landscape around us; at other times, it’s all too apparent that we’re living in a time of profound shifts.” By Tamar Charney. |
 | The year we embrace the robots — and ourselves“So many of our practices and habits are simply those: practices and habits. They are not what defines the profession or what makes it useful to the public.” By Laura E. Davis. |
 | Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism“Readers in the United States demand a higher standard of international journalism — and that demand is waiting to be unlocked.” By Laxmi Parthasarathy. |
 | Tech will screw publishers over“Founders will doom their companies by believing the wrong people. They’ll perform napkin math with VCs that affirms whatever they already believe.” By Dana Lacey. |
 | The year AI actually changes the media business“New companies will appear that use AI to aggregate and summarize journalism; reporters will learn how to use the new tools to find ideas; writers will figure out how it can help them compose new stories or at least get through writer's block.” By Nicholas Thompson. |
 | In platform collapse, an opportunity for community“Have you asked your top readers how they feel about Twitter and Facebook and if they plan to stay, or only your colleagues in journalism?” By Elite Truong. |
 | Towards supporting criminal accountability“I eagerly await the large ‘merchants of truth,’ news organizations that trade on their production of accurate records, marketing their ability to establish provenance and unbroken integrity, from capture to their client’s screen.” By Basile Simon. |
 | Equipping local journalism“How do you absorb people’s views and the scars they’ve taken from encounters with journalism while maintaining your journalistic independence and integrity?” By Susan Chira. |
 | A focus on people instead of power“In their view, besides tragedy and crime, all current local news media does is tell the stories of people in power, not about people like them nor stories that directly (or clearly) impact their lives.” By Eric Nuzum. |
 | More threats to press freedom across the Americas“Being a journalist is becoming a heroic profession in the Americas, and neither governments nor society is acting to protect the watchdogs of democracy.” By Mael Vallejo. |
 | The year to resist forgetting about diversity“Because two years of trying to get better wasn’t enough.” By Emma Carew Grovum. |
 | Dream bigger or lose out“We can no longer pull our punches when it comes to what we allow ourselves to dream and demand for our work and our world.” By Sarah Alvarez. |
 | Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires“As newsroom leaders address equity, fairness, and labor concerns, they should extend their consideration to prospective hires as well as to employees.” By Hillary Frey. |
 | Democracies will get serious about saving journalism“If democracy is going to survive, we’re going to need to fund its watchdogs.” By Julia Angwin. |
 | Journalists think of themselves as workers“Even a public service is still a service, and even the most high-minded reporters still have to pay the rent.” By Eric Thurm. |
 | Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made“We’ll see these expanding authenticity and provenance technology efforts intersect with the evolving TikTokification of media production, focused on remix, playful editing, and integrated AI effects.” By Sam Gregory. |
 | Working harder to reach audiences where they are“There’s a reason young people are looking to graphics in Instagram carousels to explain news topics to them.” By Alexandra Svokos. |
What We’re Reading
Associated Press
AP announces sweeping democracy journalism initiative →
“With philanthropic support from several organizations, AP aims to improve civic literacy and combat misinformation by bolstering its explanatory journalism and providing information and tools to local newsrooms to aid their coverage. AP will also deepen its reporting on the impact of elections and election-related policy on communities of color.”
Washington Post / Perry Bacon Jr.
The L.A. journalist making Americans smarter about politics →
“Brownstein popularized many ideas that political observers, including myself, refer to regularly: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as part of a ‘blue wall’ of states Democrats must carry in presidential elections; the division in Democratic primaries between ‘wine track’ voters (those with college degrees) and the ‘beer track’ (those without degrees); the notion that the electorate is divided into ‘a coalition of transformation’ (people of color, college graduates and other groups who lean Democratic) versus a ‘coalition of restoration’ (White Christians, older Americans and other groups who lean Republican).”
Semafor / Max Tani
The Washington Post’s editor has mused about leaving the paper →
“Buzbee suggested that if staff believed the best outcome ‘would be for me to leave,’ they should tell her, two people who attended the meeting said. ‘It won't hurt my feelings,’ she said.”
Mediaite / Michael Luciano
Tom Cotton blocked a federal shield bill for journalists, saying they need more “scrutiny and consequences” →
“Specifically, the bill protects from disclosure any information identifying a source, as well as any records, contents of a communication, documents, or information obtained or created by journalists in the course of their work.”
The Toronto Star / Marie-Danielle Smith
Canada’s House of Commons has passed its bill to make Google and Facebook pay some news publishers →
“In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Meta once again threatened to ‘consider removing news from Facebook in Canada rather than being compelled to submit to government-mandated negotiations that do not properly account for the value we provide publishers.'”
Digiday / Tim Peterson
Netflix’s ad-supported tier isn’t delivering as many viewers as it promised advertisers →
“The specific shortfall amounts vary by advertiser, but in some cases, Netflix has only delivered roughly 80% of the expected audience, said the executives. A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment.”
Billboard / Kristin Robinson
TikTok is building a new career path for tomorrow’s music executives →
“Plenty of headlines have espoused the merits of using TikTok to promote new artists and songs, but less has been said about the new class of music business executives beginning to break on the app too, circumventing the notoriously exclusive path into the industry usually required.”
The New York Times / Ryan Mac
Twitter suspended accounts that track billionaires’ planes, including Elon Musk →
“Since taking over Twitter, Mr. Musk has gone back and forth on deciding what content and accounts should and should not be on the platform. He initially said he would form a council to make decisions on content moderation but then abandoned those plans.”
Reuters
The first Turkish journalist has been arrested under the country’s new “disinformation” law →
“The arrest comes two months after parliament passed the sweeping legislation that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling party said would protect the public. Critics say the law could be abused by authorities to stifle dissent.”
CNN / Oliver Darcy
The Washington Post will conduct layoffs, its publisher says at contentious town hall →
“[Publisher Fred Ryan] indicated to staffers that the cuts will make up a single digit percentage of the workforce…adding that he does not believe the newspaper can ‘keep spending on initiatives that no longer align with readers' interests.’…A spokesperson for The Post told CNN that the company employs roughly 2,500 staffers, meaning that the cuts would represent fewer than 250 people.”
New York Times / Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano, and Aaron Krolik
An alternate reality: How Russia’s state TV spins the Ukraine war →
To create the narrative that Russia was winning, “producers at the state media company cherry-picked from conservative Western media outlets like Fox News and the Daily Caller, as well as obscure social media accounts on Telegram and YouTube.”
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