The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
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Tuesday, December 13, 2022
 | The traditional story structure gets deconstructed“Despite huge changes in the technology of news, the structure of a story today doesn't look hugely different from one in, say, 1932.” By Gina Chua. |
 | The innovation team, R.I.P.“You might be forgiven for suspecting that news companies are more interested in appearing innovative than actually doing something new.” By Johannes Klingebiel. |
 | Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns“There aren't two sides to the humanity of trans people.” By Tre'vell Anderson. |
 | More journalism funders will take more risks“Given that philanthropy is uniquely unaccountable for its performance, funders have great freedom to take risks and to experiment. Now is the time.” By Barbara Raab. |
 | The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce“It is capitalism that incentivizes the degradation of our news media — disinvesting in local journalism, weaponizing social media to capture our attention and data, and devaluing media workers' labor conditions.” By Victor Pickard. |
 | Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media“It’s time for journalism philanthropy to ditch corporate media sellouts and double-down on supporting and expanding the non-commercial journalism sector.” By Simon Galperin. |
 | Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists“My hope is that journalism educators meet this demand by doing what we wish more journalists did within their newsrooms.” By Jacob L. Nelson. |
What We’re Reading
Vox / Jonathan Guyer
The information war distorting Iran's protests →
“…And then there are the groups deliberately trying to shape (or misshape) the story. As protesters in Iran counter a brutal regime, online battles are unfolding among the diaspora. More sinisterly, Iranian American journalists have seen a wave of online attacks that look like a coordinated influence campaign, and Iranian government–linked hackers have baited journalists and experts. Internet researchers say the inorganic online activity around these protests is unprecedented.”
The City / Abigail Kramer
The balancing act of reporting on vulnerable kids while protecting their privacy →
“There was one thing, though, that every child and parent I've spoken to has said about why they decided to talk to me: They all wanted to make the system better.”
Platformer / Casey Newton
How Elon botched his war on bots →
“The incident highlights growing confusion within Twitter as the company struggles to carry out Musk's erratic commands with his ever-shrinking pool of engineers. In some cases, as with the telecom issue, the company has been charged with making huge changes without doing due diligence on their potential consequences.”
Semafor / Torinmo Salau
The popular Chinese-owned news app driving Nigerian clickbait →
“What is notable about Opera News Hub is that its model of paying freelance content creators, based on reader clicks and engagement driven by the kind of aggressive trendwatching algorithms common on Chinese social media, often incentivized creating the lowest common denominator version of news.”
Digiday / Sara Guaglione
How The Wall Street Journal hopes to reach young news consumers on TikTok →
“The Wall Street Journal launched its TikTok channel on Oct. 3, and since then the channel has grown to over 37,000 followers and 600,000 likes. It's focused on three core content pillars: careers, personal finance and tech. Some videos also cover trending news stories, like the recent changes at Twitter and Taylor Swift's concert ticket sales.”
POLITICO / Lili Bayer
Zoltán Varga, one of Hungary's last independent media moguls, says PM Viktor Orbán has upped his silencing campaign against the press →
“…Hungary's media landscape is highly skewed, and some Hungarians don't regularly access independent news coverage of political issues. Vast sums of state advertising are funneled to media that mirror the government's political messaging, putting pressure on the relatively few remaining fully independent publications.”
Adweek / Mark Stenberg
Semafor will generate 30% of first-year revenue from events →
“[Semafor is]on pace to generate nearly one-third of its first-year revenue from SemaforX, its experiential business, according to co-founder and chief executive Justin Smith—a percentage that will likely increase in 2023 as it expands its portfolio from 15 to more than 40 global events.”
The Washington Post / Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix
Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council →
“In less than two months, Musk has undone years of investments in trust and safety at Twitter — dismissing key parts of the workforce and bringing back accounts that previously had been suspended. As the body unravels, Musk is tightening his grip on decisions about the future of content moderation at Twitter, with less input from outside experts.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Emily Bell
Local news faces a political future as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act falls foul of lobbyists →
“If the many congressional efforts to try and support some sort of independent public interest reporting fail, then the political consequences for what happens in the local news market could be as profound as the economic effects on an already ailing news industry.”
The Guardian / Chris McGreal
Is Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit a death blow for Rupert Murdoch and Fox News? →
“Legal experts say that Dominion, which supplied voting machines to 28 states, appears to be building a wider case that Fox News has a long history of misinformation and steamrolling facts that do not fit its editorial line.”
CNN / Oliver Darcy
Why news organizations are largely skeptical of Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” theater →
“The chief reason most news organizations aren't up in arms about the story is because the releases have largely not contained any revelatory information. So far, the files have failed to do much outside highlight exactly how messy content moderation can be — especially when under immense pressure and dealing with the former President of the United States.”
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