New York Times / David Streitfeld
How the media industry keeps losing the future →“The slow crash of newspapers and magazines would be of limited interest save for one thing: Traditional media had at its core the exalted and difficult mission of communicating information about the world. From investigative reports on government to coverage of local politicians, the news served to make all the institutions and individuals covered a bit more transparent and, possibly, more honest … Now there are signs that the whole concept of ‘news’ is fading.”
Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
Mehdi Hasan launches his own media company after leaving MSNBC →The company will launch on Substack and “will publish a weekly streaming show (“Mehdi Unfiltered”) hosted by Hasan, a weekly podcast and a regular slate of written pieces by a host of prominent contributors. Full access to the site will eventually cost users $6 per month with an annual subscription.”
The New Republic / Harry Cheadle
Washington Post / Philip Bump
Fast Company / Talib Visram
404 Media / Samantha Cole
Documented NY / Mahira Dayal, Sheridan Wall, and Paroma Soni
Literary Hub / Robert Moor
On the rise of “autojournalism” →“Because journalists have erased themselves from their own stories for so long, it is easy to forget how profoundly weird — in the old sense of that word — it feels to actually be a journalist: to sit in a room and ask probing questions of strangers; to follow them around and dig through their (real and metaphorical) dustbins; to collect details, like so many stray hairs and nail clippings; and then to use that sparse and disconnected material to try, via a kind of magic incantation, to create something living (or at least, life-like).”
Columbia Journalism Review / Jem Bartholomew
Revealing the U.K.’s effort to blacklist critics →“The blacklisting seemed to be particularly fervid in Britain’s education department. Reporting from The Observer revealed that at least nine child-development experts had been surveilled and had their invitations to speak at conferences challenged or rescinded.”
The Guardian / Sirin Kale
LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center / Katherine Pennacchio
Bloomberg / Advait Palepu and Chris Kay
Billionaire press barons are squeezing media freedom in India →“[To] many journalists, leadership changes at NDTV and diluted coverage across India illustrate how Prime Minister Modi has effectively brought to heel a once-riotous media. Newsrooms are being reshaped, they say, by India’s richest press barons, many of whom are close to the ruling party and depend on millions of advertising dollars from the government.”