Journalists should be looking for undocumented APIs. Here’s how to start.
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Wednesday, March 15, 2023
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Journalists should be looking for undocumented APIs. Here's how to start.“Especially in circumstances when data is not accessible otherwise, finding an undocumented API can be the key to allowing us to do an investigation — by finding public access to the data.” By Leon Yin, The Markup. |
What We’re Reading
Axios / Sara Fischer
The New York Times is launching a shorter daily news podcast called “The Headlines” →
“The show is currently being tested in beta via the New York Times’ audio app, with plans to launch it later this year.”
WSJ / Alexandra Bruell
BuzzFeed tells reporters to write more stories despite a slimmed-down newsroom →
“BuzzFeed has reduced the size of its roughly 100-person newsroom by about 40% in the past year, while shifting its focus away from long-form investigations and coverage areas, such as politics and financial news, and toward internet culture, celebrity news and the biggest news of the day.”
Washington Post / Danielle Abril
Google is adding AI tools to Google Docs, Sheets, and Gmail →
“Make this email more whimsical.”
Twitter / Forbes Union
Forbes is hosting an Equal Pay Day forum. But are they underpaying their own female journalists? →
“On average, women in our bargaining unit make $11,237 less than men. This equates to a pay gap of 89 cents on the dollar … In some roles, the gap is even higher. Male senior writers make an average of $22,000 more than their female colleagues.”
WFLA / Libbey Dean
Florida lawmakers have advanced a bill making it easier to sue media outlets for defamation →
HB 991 "provides that journalist's privilege does not apply to defamation claims when defendant is professional journalist or media entity."
New York Times / Mike Isaac
Zuckerberg calls 2023 the "year of efficiency” while announcing another 10,000 layoffs at Meta →
Meta also plans to close about 5,000 job postings that have yet to be filled. (We wrote about what the last round of cuts signals to the news industry in November.)
The Texas Tribune / Nic Garcia
A storied Texas Panhandle newspaper will halt publication after 130 years →
“Rural newspapers like [The Canadian Record] face compounding threats. Not only do publishers face the same industry pressures of rising newsprint costs and an ever-expanding internet and social media landscape, but unlike their big-city peers, they also must navigate the challenges of serving a stagnant or declining population.”
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Gretel Kahn
Forced out from print and airwaves, news media in Venezuela shift to digital to survive →
“Between 2013 and 2022, more than 60 Venezuelan newspapers went out of circulation indefinitely due to lack of funds, control by the government or inability to buy enough paper to print their editions. Television broadcasters have either been forced to self-censor or have disappeared. Ten foreign broadcasters have also been forced out.”
Business Insider / Claire Atkinson and Lucia Moses
Money from Saudi Arabia is pouring into U.S. media companies →
“The scope of Middle Eastern investments in Western cultural products is hard to overestimate, and it’s growing now for a variety of reasons.” One is that Saudi Arabia is promoting itself as a travel destination and filming location.
Bloomberg / Erin Hudson and Gerry Smith
Diamond Sports Group, America's largest owner of local sports channels, has filed for bankruptcy →
“The broadcaster's bankruptcy underscores the immense challenges facing regional sports networks, which are under financial pressure as more people cancel their cable-TV service, depriving them of a key source of revenue. The wave of cord-cutting also undermined Diamond's ability to manage the substantial debt load that Sinclair took on in the acquisition.”
kottke.org / Jason Kottke
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