Monday, December 13, 2021 | “This is no-win politics: Fighting back against the anti-democracy faction feeds into anti-democratic attacks — but so does refusing to take up arms.” By Whitney Phillips. |
| “Remember all those pivots to video? The same thing will happen to podcasting.” By Eric Nuzum. |
| “Many young people form parasocial relationships with celebrities and influencers on social media, and they’ll want to feel that same sort of connection with journalists.” By Julia Munslow. |
| “The Black press matters, and it, along with the media and press of all the marginalized, will be our saving grace going forward.” By Kristen Jeffers. |
| “I expect more institutions and journalistic enterprises to build on efforts to protect democracy.” By Jody Brannon. |
| “Political journalism should be more forceful with the facts, more transparent with its processes, and more educational with its goals.” By Stephen Fowler. |
What We’re ReadingThe Wall Street Journal / Amol Sharma and Benjamin Mullin
Vox Media is in advanced talks to acquire Group Nine Media →Technically, they’re in discussions to “merge,” but Vox Media would end up with 75% of the company and its CEO, Jim Bankoff, would run it. This deal would unite The Verge, Vox, and SB Nation with NowThis and Thrillist.The Column / Adam Johnson
CNN’s segment on “extremism” equates racism and homophobia with “prejudice against business people” →“CNN recently launched a video web series produced by and starring former Rudy Giuliani speechwriter John Avlon that’s a distillation of everything superficial, hypocritical, and power-serving about mainstream ‘extremism’ discourse.”Oigo / Ernesto Aguilar
Iowa Public Radio’s Kassidy Arena on reporting on the Latino/a/e/x Midwest →“The reason why I chose Iowa Public Radio over everybody else was that they had opened a position for somebody to report on Latino communities here. Growing up in Nebraska, or at least the majority of my growing up in Nebraska, I was sometimes one of the only Latinas or Hispanic people. I just knew that there were people like me in the Midwest that sometimes get overlooked in mainstream media. You don’t see that in maybe Texas or Arizona. But in Iowa, people are like, ‘Wait a minute — there’s somebody other than white people living in Iowa?’”The New Yorker / Clare Malone
How former BuzzFeed employees missed their big payday →“This past Monday, as BuzzFeed went public, many of them learned something alarming: they weren’t able to trade the stock that they had waited years to exercise. They watched in dismay as the share price dropped…nearly forty per cent in the first week of trading. Hopes of windfalls, large and small, were dashed.”The Guardian / Ben Quinn
A British court says Julian Assange can be extradited to the U.S. to face espionage charges →The court “overturned a judgment earlier this year and sparked condemnation from press freedom advocates. The decision deals a major blow to the WikiLeaks co-founder’s efforts to prevent his extradition…although his lawyers announced they would seek to appeal.”Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
A proposal to require the major platforms to disclose impressions, targeting, and placement data in public databases →“The paper proposes a technical standard for universal digital ad transparency, defining the criteria for determining which ad platforms would need to comply and what content should be made transparent [and] compares the proposed standard to the platforms’ current voluntary transparency practices, as well as to related U.S. legislative efforts.”Second Rough Draft / Richard J. Tofel
Yes, BuzzFeed was still right to publish the Steele dossier, Dick Tofel argues →“The problem with the argument for not publishing the dossier amid all of this is indicative of a larger issue that I am afraid pervades much of Washington coverage. Its implicit premise is that all of us should trust a small, self-referential and largely homogenous group of political reporting insiders to know more than they are telling us, and to dole out to voters what they think we can responsibly handle at a time of the insiders’ choosing.”Twitter / Erik Wemple
No, BuzzFeed was still wrong to publish the Steele dossier, Erik Wemple argues →“I’ve heard various versions of this argument, one of them being that the document may well have made it into the public realm anyway, via some less responsible outlet. And my response is that ‘prefer’ that news organizations publish material that is newsworthy, verified and accurate. Period. In every instance.”The Guardian / Amanda Meade
The Australian Senate has recommended a judicial inquiry into the Murdochs’ outsized media power there →“‘A judicial inquiry would have the capacity for a more comprehensive investigation, including compelling witnesses to give evidence, than can be undertaken by a parliamentary committee,’ the report, which was tabled on Thursday, stated. ‘Such an inquiry would also be conducted at arm’s length of all politicians to allow an independent investigation into media regulation and ownership.'”Prospect / Jane Martinson
The inside story of backstabbing, feuds and intrigue at the Daily Mail →“When Rothermere announced the defenestration in an email to staff at 5.35 p.m. the next day, the shock was audible. Greig — a favourite among many, from the lowliest trainee to the proprietor’s wife — had been appointed as the Mail’s third editor in 47 years in 2018. And now he had days to clear his desk.”Yahoo News / Jana Winter
Operation Whistle Pig: Inside the secret CBP unit that investigates Americans, including journalists →“The division, which still operates today, had few rules and routinely used the country’s most sensitive databases to obtain the travel records and financial and personal information of journalists, government officials, congressional members and their staff, NGO workers and others. As many as 20 journalists were investigated as part of the division’s work.”The Daily Beast / Robert Silverman
Right-wing provocateur Andy Ngô has been sued for allegedly snatching reporters’ videos →“In the lawsuit, filed Dec. 8 in the Oregon U.S. District Court, Grace Morgan, 33, and Melissa Lewis, 31, allege Ngô has profited from repeatedly snatching and reposting the original, firsthand videos they shot while covering leftist protests and civil unrest.”The Hollywood Reporter / Alex Weprin
How The New York Times and The New Yorker have made the race for short-documentary awards more competitive →“‘The short documentary race has sort of become a different thing than it was 10 years ago, when HBO was really the biggest player. And now everyone sees it as an opportunity,’ says Christine Kecher, the senior commissioning editor for Op-Docs at The New York Times.”Axios / Sara Fischer
Chris Wallace is leaving Fox News after 18 years for CNN’s upcoming streaming service →Leaving CNN’s
net Chris count unchanged.Protocol / Zeyi Yang
This “independent” news site covering Chinese tech sure seems to be run by the PR arm of a Chinese tech giant →“While Dot Dot Stand, which started publishing in January 2021, has never explicitly associated itself with tech behemoth Tencent, it has written about the company a lot. It has published 35 articles on its website with topics ranging from Chinese tech companies’ corporate social responsibility projects to explaining what’s happening at ByteDance or Alibaba, Tencent’s rival companies.”Mediaite / Katherine Huggins
CNN is hiring a former Trump spokesperson as a political commentator →It’s worked out great before, after all.
Nieman Lab / Fuego / Encyclo
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