Thursday, December 16, 2021 | “Next year presents a fresh opportunity for journalists to get past the sparkle of the ‘first’ and into the substance of how women and people of color campaign, get elected, and govern.” By Errin Haines. |
| “It’s time to stop talking about a new business model — because there is no new business model that will magically make journalism financially sustainable.” By Paul Cheung. |
| “Restoring digital advertising to quality news publishers is a rare case where companies can do good and do well.” By Gordon Crovitz. |
| “There is no future for local news without innovative public policy and a huge infusion of public dollars to meet community information needs.” By Mike Rispoli. |
| “This is the last chance to take what we’ve learned from the pandemic and implement long-term changes that can help these organizations become more inclusive and better places to work.” By Rachel Glickhouse. |
| “We often talk with newsroom leaders who feel compelled to accept every invitation to participate in a program because they don’t want to miss an opportunity.” By Mary Walter-Brown. |
What We’re ReadingIntelligencer / Shawn McCreesh
“The media variant” hits New York City →“Surely the most inane attempt at an Omicron-shaming came from Bryan Goldberg’s resurrected Gawker, which posted a so-called ‘blind item’ that asked simply: ‘Which media company’s very large holiday party resulted in a rash of COVID diagnoses?’ Hmmm, maybe all of them?”Twitter / Henry Mance
Thread: “I interviewed Facebook’s Nick Clegg somewhere where you can’t catch Covid — the metaverse.” →“My experience of meeting someone in the metaverse [was] disorienting, oddly intimate, [and], not that easy, as my list of questions disappeared from the virtual screen so I had to keep peering out of my Oculus headset to my written notes.”Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
21 research findings from 2021 that’ll still be relevant in 2022 →No. 10 is that “mainstream media struggle to get noticed at newer, more visual social networks” like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.Variety / Todd Spangler
In Spotify’s new podcast rating system, users can only rate a podcast *after* listening to the show →“Spotify is borrowing a page from rival Apple with the addition of a five-star user ratings system for podcasts — a new tool for sorting through the more than 3.2 million podcast titles on Spotify’s platform to find the most popular shows … Spotify expects user ratings will be another signal for listeners to discovery new podcasts, in addition to existing features like Podcast Charts and personalized recommendations.”Nieman Reports / Celeste Katz Marston
If you’re starting voting rights coverage on Election Day, you’re too late →“When Christina Greer thinks about all the ‘inspirational’ news stories she’s read about people for whom the mere act of voting has become an endurance sport, she’s not inspired by the coverage. She’s exasperated.”Manchester Mill
A popular Substack turns to print: “It’s official. We’re a newspaper!” →The Manchester Mill published its first print edition and 15,000 copies are circulating around the U.K. city.New York Times / Dani Blum
“Worry burnout” is real — and it’ll affect how readers react to news about the Omicron variant →People are wrestling with “a level of vigilance and concern that maybe was sustainable for two weeks or two months, but not for two years.”Washington Post / Stephen J. Adler and Bruce D. Brown
A judge has been restraining The New York Times from reporting on Project Veritas for the past 28 days →“It is difficult to overstate the anomaly — and the danger — of the current case.” the Guardian / Han Zhang
Meet the editor who became China’s most famous propagandist →“At the Global Times, Hu Xijin helped establish a chest-thumping new tone for China on the world stage – but can he keep up with the forces he has unleashed?”Poynter / Rick Edmonds
A federal subsidy for local journalists continues to advance … slowly →Staffers of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he strongly supports the section of the Build Back Better bill aimed at helping local news outlets. More on the potentially transformative payroll tax credit
here.Washington Post / Margaret Sullivan
Margaret Sullivan: “Vulture capitalists are circling my old newspaper. Here’s why we need to fight them off.” →“Newspapers in Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and other cities with forward-thinking owners, most of them rooted in the local community, are finding their way forward. My old paper might be able to do that, too — but not under Alden.”Media Nation / Dan Kennedy
The Boston Phoenix print archives are now (mostly) online →Read more about the Internet Archive and digitization efforts
here.Press Gazette / William Turvill
Why U.S. publishers aren’t signing up to Google News Showcase →Hint: “Offensive” payment offers.TechCrunch / Natasha Lomas
Google is making new pledges to publishers in France to try to end costly antitrust litigation →The kind of “bad faith” behavior that Google is being called out for in France? Launching a Google News Showcase product that looked like “a cynical attempt by Google to more cheaply circumvent legal requirements.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego / Encyclo
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