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Here’s how 13 news outlets are using LinkedIn newsletters
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Here’s how 13 news outlets are using LinkedIn newsletters
“While you’re less at the whim of the algorithm, it’s still social media.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Forget the link tax. Focus on one key metric to “save local news”
“You need Google to stay in this. Otherwise, it devastates the entire industry.”
By Ken Doctor
So who are the consistent news avoiders?
“No single variable is more predictive of whether someone consistently avoids news than their level of interest in politics and civic affairs.”
By Benjamin Toff, Ruth Palmer and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
A picture is worth a thousand words? Meet the nonprofit newsrooms hiring editorial cartoonists
Few newspapers still employ full-time cartoonists. But some digital outlets are turning to the art form.
By Sarah Scire
“African media houses must do more investigative reporting to stay relevant”
Manasseh Azure Awuni, founding editor-in-chief of The Fourth Estate, on the challenges faced by journalists in his native Ghana and beyond.
By Patrick Egwu
The Israeli government has Haaretz newspaper in its sights as it tightens the screws on media freedom
Haaretz, an independent daily newspaper, has been publishing since 1919, and has frequently been the target of right-wing administrations.
By Colleen Murrell
The legal framework for AI is being built in real time, and a ruling in the Sarah Silverman case should give publishers pause
That an AI model was trained on copyrighted material does not make all of the model’s outputs a copyright violation.
By Joshua Benton
I’m a media reporter and a diehard Swiftie. I don’t cover Taylor, but here’s how I wish someone would
She’s a billionaire, transforming the music industry in real time. Few living celebrities have her scale of cultural influence. Shouldn’t someone be, at least, attempting to look without fear or favor to see if she’s keeping her side of the street clean?
By Sophie Culpepper
How the Kennedy assassination helped make network TV news wealthy
Until the early 1960s, TV news was seen as a loss leader.
By Michael J. Socolow
Are public media podcasts facing a “Moneyball” moment?
In an era where the “easy money” is gone, celebrity sluggers are beyond reach, and commercial outfits are pulling back, public radio orgs can win by leaning into data and ideas that helped them create the art form.
By Ben Brock Johnson
How Topo magazine uses comics to tell the news to French teens
“I don’t want to make ‘positive news.’ At the same time, we have a real responsibility toward our young readers to not completely depress them.”
By Priscille Biehlmann
What does OpenAI’s rapid unscheduled disassembly mean for the future of AI?
Swinging from an $80 billion valuation to an existential crisis, in less time than it takes to rewatch five seasons of “The Wire”? That’s Tronc-level management.
By Joshua Benton
“Everybody’s sense of emotion and devastation is heightened”: How Jewish Currents is covering the Israel-Hamas war
“We’re very conscious of trying to hold this large community of people who are really struggling.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Here’s how 13 news outlets are using LinkedIn newsletters
“While you’re less at the whim of the algorithm, it’s still social media.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Forget the link tax. Focus on one key metric to “save local news”
“You need Google to stay in this. Otherwise, it devastates the entire industry.”
So who are the consistent news avoiders?
“No single variable is more predictive of whether someone consistently avoids news than their level of interest in politics and civic affairs.”
What We’re Reading
NPR / Ayesha Rascoe
Remembering pioneering public radio journalist Maria Martin, founder of “Latino USA”
“Martin began working in journalism in the 1970s. In the early 1990s, when she was an editor at NPR, Austin member station KUT approached her with an idea – to create a weekly audio journal of news and culture of interest to Latinos. That became ‘Latino USA.'”
Reuters / Inti Landauro
Spanish news companies are suing Meta for $600 million
“The newspapers argue that Meta’s ‘massive’ and ‘systematic’ use of personal data of its Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp platform users gives it an unfair advantage of designing and offering personalised ads, which they say constitutes unfair competition.”
The Washington Post / Joseph Menn
Ousted propaganda scholar Joan Donovan accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta
“Joan Donovan claimed in a filing with the Education Department and the Massachusetts attorney general that her superiors soured on her as Harvard was getting a record $500 million pledge from Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s charitable arm…[her] surprise dismissal [from the Harvard Kennedy School] alarmed fellow researchers elsewhere, who saw Donovan as a pioneer in an increasingly critical area of great sensitivity to the powerful and well-connected tech giants.”
MuckRock / Michael Morisy
New open-source reporting tool provides free, simple alerts when a webpage updates
“Want to know when your favorite government agency posts new information? Wondering if a corporate press release might see some post-publication revisions? [MuckRock] has brought the power of The Marshall Project’s Klaxon site monitoring tool into DocumentCloud, and it’s now easier than ever to track changes and get alerts from websites you care about.”
WSJ / Anne Steele
Spotify will lay off 17% of staff, about 1,500 employees, in third round of cuts this year
“Spotify, like other technology companies, grew in size and scope during the pandemic, with its head count nearly doubling over the past three years to more than 8,000 workers, as a result of hiring and acquisitions. As investors have become more focused on profitability than growth, many streaming-focused companies have aggressively cut costs. At Spotify that meant scaling back a $1 billion bet on podcasting, including through layoffs earlier this year.”
The New York Times / Michael M. Grynbaum
The U.K. has opened an inquiry into Jeff Zucker’s UAE-backed bid for The Telegraph and The Spectator
“The announcement capped a week of growing outcry in Westminster over Mr. Zucker’s use of roughly $1 billion in Emirati money to acquire the news organizations, which are hugely influential in British conservative politics. Tories lined up to denounce the proposed deal, warning that the Emiratis’ involvement could lead to undue foreign influence over The Telegraph’s coverage.”
Nieman Reports / Celeste Katz Marston
“We go where we think we can have the most impact”: 5 lessons from successful local news startups
“‘If you only have two people, it shouldn’t be an editor and a reporter. It should be an editor and a business person,’ says Steven Waldman, founder and president of Rebuild Local News. ‘If you get some grants, view it as a temporary bridge and use it to build out a more enduring small-donation or other kind of revenue strategy.'”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
MSNBC draws backlash for canceling Mehdi Hasan show
“The network said the changes, which include a new weekend panel show, were made with 2024 election coverage in mind. But fans and prominent liberals questioned whether Hasan, one of the few Muslim hosts in cable news, was being penalized for his criticism of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and strong support for the Palestinian people.”
The New York Times / Katie Robertson
Bloomberg Businessweek is becoming a monthly magazine
“The magazine will be redesigned with ‘heavier paper stock for a more high-end look and feel’ and relaunched as a monthly print publication ‘later in 2024,’ according to a memo from David Merritt and Katie Boyce, two leaders of Bloomberg’s media division, that was viewed by The New York Times.”
Twitter / Ben Mullin
The Washington Post’s newsroom union is planning a 24-hour on Thursday
“…complete with a picket line outside the office. Guild announced the walkout internally after securing 700 commitments.”
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.