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Why journalism schools won’t quit Fox News
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Why journalism schools won’t quit Fox News
“In interviews for this story, the harshest position against Fox News among journalism deans seemed to be a sort of double-secret probation.”
By Mark Jacob
The El País reading club creates community among Spanish-language readers
The first book was a risky pick: Poetry.
By Hanaa' Tameez
A forthcoming news site absorbs Grid (and its Middle Eastern funding, too)
The Messenger, which aims to “rekindle your passion for media” and generate $100 million in revenue in its first year, is acquiring Grid.
By Laura Hazard Owen
Hey, local news publishers: Give the people a calendar
“It shouldn’t be that difficult to keep an updated list of when and where and what the meetings are.”
By Laura Hazard Owen
Negative words in news headlines generate more clicks — but sad words are more effective than angry or scary ones
A massive study of Upworthy headlines — remember Upworthy? — shows how a few emotionally charged words can mean the difference between viral and ignored.
By Joshua Benton
Amazon calls it quits on newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print
One Redditor: “I actually enjoy reading my local newspaper when it’s on the Kindle as opposed to the paper’s poorly designed website and frequently broken app.”
By Laura Hazard Owen
The Gary Lineker tweet scandal shows how the BBC has struggled to adapt to the social media age
Can “impartiality” be required from all actors, musicians, scientists, or sport pundits appearing on the BBC without thwarting the principle of free speech?
By Marek Bekerman
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
The Prison Newspaper Directory finds that the number of prison-based papers is growing
There are at least 24 known prison newspapers in 12 states, and four of them were launched in 2022.
By Hanaa' Tameez
Don’t trust “the news media”? That may be a good thing
The pervasive amount of news media criticism in the U.S. has intensified the erosion of trust in American journalism, but such discussion can be seen as a sign of democratic health.
By Michael J. Socolow
Punches have been thrown in the first U.S. newspaper strike in two decades
No matter who you see as at fault, it’s evidence of the bad blood keeping this labor action going for 150 days.
By Joshua Benton
How Bellingcat gets 15,000 people on Discord to talk about investigative journalism
“I picture a Discord server like a room full of chairs and people sitting and talking to each other, while posting on Twitter is like putting up a banner at a corner of a street.”
By Francesco Zaffarano
The scale of local news destruction in Gannett’s markets is astonishing
It might not be as mustache-twirling a villain as Alden Global Capital, but its enormous scale has meant enormous losses for local journalism.
By Joshua Benton
Why journalism schools won’t quit Fox News
“In interviews for this story, the harshest position against Fox News among journalism deans seemed to be a sort of double-secret probation.”
By Mark Jacob
A forthcoming news site absorbs Grid (and its Middle Eastern funding, too)
The Messenger, which aims to “rekindle your passion for media” and generate $100 million in revenue in its first year, is acquiring Grid.
What We’re Reading
The New Yorker / Sarah Larson
Audie Cornish’s struggle to remake the news
“When people are in dialogue with each other in a group, and they outnumber the journalist, they feel comfortable,” Cornish said of her show’s format. The New Yorker describes the half-hour podcast, “The Assignment with Audie Cornish,” as “an insightful news show that delivers substance without a side helping of despair.”
NPR / David Folkenflik
NPR cancels four podcasts and cuts staff by 10%
The seasonal podcasts Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot, and Rough Translation have been canceled, along with a comedy podcast called Everyone & Their Mom.
Washington Post / Nathan Grayson
How Twitch lost its way
“When was the last time you saw Twitch introduce something that revolutionized the live content community, the creator ecosystem or the content economy?”
Semafor / Max Tani
Startup The Messenger is raiding the New York Post
“Publisher Jimmy Finkelstein has poached several current and former well-known staffers away from the New York Post to join the Messenger.” (Our story from yesterday about The Messenger here.)
AJC / Michael E. Kanell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution names its first Black editor-in-chief
“Leroy Chapman, 52, a managing editor, has been with the AJC since 2011. He shepherded coverage of a number of high-profile stories, including efforts to undermine Georgia’s 2020 election results and the court cases of teachers and administrators charged in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.”
Vanity Fair / Natalie Jarvey
The real people who inspired HBO hit “Succession”
“Before Logan Roy, there was Rupert Murdoch. Without Vice, there would be no Vaulter.”
New York Times / Katie Robertson
Fox argues top executives weren’t involved in voter fraud broadcasts
“Fox lawyers had submitted a letter to the judge on Monday asking that Mr. Murdoch and some other executives not be compelled to testify, saying that it would amount to ‘hardships’ on the witnesses and that their testimony would ‘add nothing other than media interest.'”
Bloomberg / Thomas Buckley and Lucas Shaw
Apple to spend $1 billion a year on movies released in theaters
Apple will use theaters to market its streaming service.
Campaign Journalism Conference 2024
Ready for 2024? Apply for the Campaign Journalism Conference by March 28.
University of Chicago Institute of Politics (IOP) and our own Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard are sponsoring. Travel stipends will be provided for some attendees from local news organizations.
New York Times / Wilson Andrews and Lisa Waananen Jones
The New York Times is ending its Covid data-gathering operation
The Times spent more than three years reporting on the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in every county in the United States every day.
Nieman Lab is a project to try to help figure out where the news is headed in the Internet age. Sign up for The Digest, our daily email with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.