The slight of the great contraction
 |
Friday, December 16, 2022
 | The slight of the great contraction“I'm often told philanthropy and the foundation world move slowly. For rural and suburban communities, they clearly don’t move at all.” By Amethyst J. Davis. |
 | The AI content flood“For good and bad, AI-written content will flood the internet, an amalgamation of the work of millions of human writers and journalists who came before it.” By Cory Bergman. |
 | Technology that performs at the speed of news“The optimal content management platform will provide four key benefits: speed, flexibility, monetization, and empowerment.” By Upasna Gautam. |
 | Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled“While forecasts, studies, and national estimates are useful in thinking about the future of news, the reality is going to play out locally, and no two communities will be exactly alike.” By Jesse Holcomb. |
 | Recalibrating how we work apart“The stakes are too high to sit back and hope it works itself out.” By Rodney Gibbs. |
 | A year of intergenerational learning“Maybe Boomers like me can leverage our experience to clean up some of the mess our generation created.” By John Davidow. |
 | Rejecting the "free speech" frame“We should press for an honest debate, and journalists in particular shouldn’t fall victim to the right's often dishonest use of the ‘free speech’ frame.” By Jonas Kaiser. |
What We’re Reading
Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists
The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists has ended its affiliation with the National Association of Black Journalists →
“Until there is a more reputable National President that can represent our needs in good faith, alongside a board that can prioritize principle over personal politics, we have zero confidence in NABJ’s current leadership team.”
BuzzFeed News / Pranav Dixit
Elon Musk bounced from a Twitter Space after a journalist he suspended tried to ask him why he was banned →
“Shortly after journalists attempted to further question him about the suspensions, he fled the Space.”
Twitter / Washington Post Latino Caucus
The Washington Post has cut its Spanish-language podcast and opinion section, according to the paper’s Latino caucus →
“For Latino and Spanish-speaking Post employees, these efforts meant much more than a strategic expansion. El Post and Post Opinión were spaces where voices from Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world could be amplified and granted authority and reach.”
Harper's Bazaar / Bianca Betancourt
How MTV’s The Hills and The City inspired the current guard of Black and brown fashion editors →
“Yes, The Hills and The City weren’t one hundred percent real, but they were eye-opening. Not only did they capture a bygone era of the industry (for good and for ill), but they also provided a pathway for young adults who knew they wanted to work in fashion but didn’t know how to get there. They dared a generation to take a chance, and not be afraid to fail.”
New York City News Service / Lynn Ma
The anti-social network: How New York City teens are going offline →
“…the Edward R. Murrow High School senior is the founding member of the Luddite Club—a group of teenagers who feel technology is consuming too much of their lives. They took their name from the 19th-century English textile workers who destroyed the machines they saw as threatening their livelihoods. The word has endured as way to refer to people who oppose the relentless creep of technology.”
Wired / Chris Gilliard and Kishonna Gray
For Black folks, digital migration is nothing new →
“Twitter changed leadership from one mercurial billionaire to another, and in that regard it affirms that the site was never "ours," and cements how dangerous it is to think of these systems as the ‘public square’ no matter how many times people refer to it as such. However, there is no platform without the people. It's a lesson that has been learned over and over on countless apps—if there aren't vibrant communities willing to provide the "content," then ultimately it's just an empty shell.”
Medium / Nicholas McGeehan
On the backlash and media coverage of Qatar and the World Cup →
“…But those who say there is a western media agenda against Qatar are missing a critical point. This is about FIFA, and right now the only thing stopping the world's most popular sport from being completely taken over by authoritarians, thugs and criminals is a thin line of highly committed journalists whose work on Qatar has been, in general, a credit to their profession.”
The Atlantic / Arthur C. Brooks
How to stop your profession from becoming your personality →
“Strivers seek professional success to deliver satisfaction and happiness. But self-objectification makes both impossible, setting us up for a life of joyless accomplishment and unreachable goals followed by the tragedy of inevitable decline. To be happy, we need to throw off these chains we put on ourselves.”
Washington Post / Paul Farhi
A newspaper vanished from the internet. Did someone pay to kill it? →
“The Hook's founder, Hawes Spencer, rues the sudden demise of his old paper's historical record. But after months of investigation with his former newsroom colleagues, he is convinced that the archive's erasure wasn't an accident.”
Bloomberg / Juan Pablo Spinetto
Top Mexican journalist survives assassination attempt in Mexico City →
“Ciro Gomez Leyva, one of Mexico's best known journalists and TV anchors, survived an assassination attempt close to his home in Mexico City.”
Washington Post / Paul Farhi
Semafor hired a climate writer. Then Chevron ran ads on his stories. →
“Spindle has made clear that Chevron's sponsorship never influenced his reporting. But for him and others, even a superficial association between news coverage and the fossil fuel industry is problematic.”
Poynter / Angela Fu
Unions are back to using walkouts as a bargaining tactic after a two-decade break →
“The past two years have seen more than 20 strikes and strike threats by media unions, according to a Poynter analysis. Prior to 2021, such work stoppages were rare.”
CNN / Oliver Darcy
“The mood is really grim”: Washington Post staffers livid at publisher Fred Ryan after layoff announcement →
“Ryan alienated the newsroom to such an extent that a number of high-profile reporters who had previously not joined The Guild decided that they would do so on Wednesday. Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Shane Harris, Bob Barnes, Jose Del Real, John Woodrow Cox, and John Hudson told the union they wanted in, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
Washington Post / Paul Farhi
Twitter abruptly suspends a string of journalists →
“No reason for the suspensions was given, though many had written had written or tweeted about the dramas surrounding billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform.”
Essence / Jasmine Browley
“I’m proud of being cheap and you should be too”: The Washington Post’s personal finance columnist discusses the power of frugality in the age of the flex →
"As a young reporter, I was always shocked when my colleagues would buy lunch everyday. Here I am with my paper bag and sandwich while they purchased food daily. Until this day, I'm still extremely aware of where every one of my dollars go. If I'm at a fancy dinner with my family or an important colleague and I don't finish it, I'm packing it up for later. Why would I waste good food?"
No comments