With President Trump’s condemnation of journalists as the “enemy of the people,” we all know that journalism is under siege like never before. But frighteningly, it will likely get worse in 2020, as Democrats jump on a condemn-the-press bandwagon of their own.
For all Republicans’ “fake news” rants, Democrats are increasingly excoriating reporters for being insufficiently tough on Republicans — or for being too tough on Democrats. Most recently, coverage of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg prompted a Twitter backlash among some Democrats, who argued reporters were being too hard on the candidate by pointing out he was less than forthcoming about his work at McKinsey. You can get a taste of the outrage from the left day after day, on social media, when dissatisfied New York Times readers sling the hashtag #CancelNYT — along with their critiques of stories or headlines that reflect their expectation that the Times should better align with their own perspectives.
Already, we’ve seen a willingness among Democratic candidates to attack the press more harshly than in the past. Senator Bernie Sanders, for one, sounded much like he was mimicking Trump when he suggested The Washington Post was hard on him because he is no friend of Amazon and its owner (and the Post’s owner) Jeff Bezos.
The expectation that the press should take sides may well grow as we enter a super-charged presidential election year. And journalists are likely to continue to come under fire.
Rick Berke is co-founder and executive editor of STAT.
With President Trump’s condemnation of journalists as the “enemy of the people,” we all know that journalism is under siege like never before. But frighteningly, it will likely get worse in 2020, as Democrats jump on a condemn-the-press bandwagon of their own.
For all Republicans’ “fake news” rants, Democrats are increasingly excoriating reporters for being insufficiently tough on Republicans — or for being too tough on Democrats. Most recently, coverage of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg prompted a Twitter backlash among some Democrats, who argued reporters were being too hard on the candidate by pointing out he was less than forthcoming about his work at McKinsey. You can get a taste of the outrage from the left day after day, on social media, when dissatisfied New York Times readers sling the hashtag #CancelNYT — along with their critiques of stories or headlines that reflect their expectation that the Times should better align with their own perspectives.
Already, we’ve seen a willingness among Democratic candidates to attack the press more harshly than in the past. Senator Bernie Sanders, for one, sounded much like he was mimicking Trump when he suggested The Washington Post was hard on him because he is no friend of Amazon and its owner (and the Post’s owner) Jeff Bezos.
The expectation that the press should take sides may well grow as we enter a super-charged presidential election year. And journalists are likely to continue to come under fire.
Rick Berke is co-founder and executive editor of STAT.
Tanya Cordrey Saying no to more good ideas
Joe Amditis Collaborative journalism takes its rightful place at the table
Linda Solomon Wood Everyone in your organization, moving toward a common goal
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists get left behind in the industry’s decline
Masuma Ahuja Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful
Elizabeth Hansen and Jesse Holcomb Local news initiatives run into a capital shortage
Logan Molyneux and Shannon McGregor Think twice before turning to Twitter
Kerri Hoffman Opening closed systems
Rachel Davis Mersey The business of local TV news will enter its downward slide
Alexandra Borchardt Get out of the office and talk to people
Cindy Royal Prepare media students for skills, not job titles
Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz News coverage gets geo-fragmented
Ernie Smith The death of the industry fad
Meg Marco Everything happens somewhere
Bill Grueskin Our ethics codes get an overhaul
Lauren Duca The rise of the journalistic influencer
Rachel Schallom The value of push alerts goes beyond open rates
Joanne McNeil A return to blogs (finally? sort of?)
Kourtney Bitterly Transparency isn’t just a desire, it’s an expectation
Monica Drake A renewed focus on misinformation
Beena Raghavendran The year of the local engagement reporter
Carl Bialik Journalists will try running the whole shop
Mira Lowe The year of student-powered journalism
Zizi Papacharissi A president leads, the press follows, reality fades
Jeremy Olshan All journalism should be service journalism
Francesco Zaffarano TikTok without generational prejudice
Tamar Charney From broadcast to bespoke
Colleen Shalby Journalists become media literacy teachers
A.J. Bauer A fork in the road for conservative media
Kevin D. Grant The free press stands against authoritarians’ attacks on truth
Alana Levinson Brand-backed media gets another look
Helen Havlak Platforms shine a light on original reporting
Ståle Grut OSINT journalism goes mainstream
Mariana Moura Santos The future of journalism is collaborative
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, collaboration in a time of state attacks
Jakob Moll A slow-moving tech backlash among young people
Errin Haines Race and gender aren’t a 2020 story — they’re the story
Joshua P. Darr All that campaign cash will make the media’s problems worse
Imaeyen Ibanga Let’s take it slow
Juleyka Lantigua A changing industry amps up podcasters’ ambitions
Logan Jaffe You don’t need fancy tools to listen
Mike Caulfield Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd
Don Day Respect the non-paying audience
Geneva Overholser Death to bothsidesism
Pablo Boczkowski The day after November 4
Barbara Gray Join local libraries on the frontlines of civic engagement
Monique Judge The year to organize, unionize, and fight
Brian Moritz The end of “stick to sports”
Doris Truong The year of radical salary transparency
Ben Werdmuller Use the tools of journalism to save it
Nathalie Malinarich Betting on loyalty
Steve Henn The dawning audio web
Christa Scharfenberg It’s time to make journalism a field that supports and respects women
Laura E. Davis Know the context your journalism is operating within
Matthew Pressman News consumers divide into haves and have-nots
Cory Haik We’re already consuming the future of news — now we have to produce it
Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young The promise of nonprofit journalism
Seth C. Lewis 20 questions for 2020
Candis Callison Taking a cue from Indigenous journalists on climate change
Kristen Muller The year we operationalize community engagement
Matt DeRienzo Local broadcasters begin to fill the gaps left by newspapers
Greg Emerson News apps fall further behind
Nicholas Jackson What’s left of local gets comfortable with reader support
John Garrett It’s the best time in a century to start a local news organization
Jennifer Brandel A love letter from the year 2073
Peter Bale Lies get further normalized
Bill Adair A Nobel Prize, a Brad Pitt film, and a Taylor Swift song
Eric Nuzum Podcasting finally creates another mega-hit show
Craig Newmark Formalizing newsrooms’ battle against disinformation
Margarita Noriega The platforms try to figure out what to do with single-subject newsrooms
Talia Stroud The work of reconnecting starts November 4
Tonya Mosley The neutrality vs. objectivity game ends
Stefanie Murray Charitable giving goes collaborative
Jeff Kofman Speed through technology
Jim Brady We’ll complain about other people living in bubbles while ignoring our own
Heather Bryant Some kinds of journalism aren’t worth saving
Josh Schwartz Publishers move beyond the metered paywall
Sarah Marshall The year to learn about news moments
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Power to the people (on your audience team)
Anthony Nadler Clash of Clans: Election Edition
Michael W. Wagner Increasingly fractured, but little bit deliberative
Tom Glaisyer Journalism can emerge newly vibrant and powerful
Nico Gendron Make better products if you want to reach Gen Z
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The business we want, not the business we had
Nushin Rashidian Are platforms a bridge or a lifeline?
Jasmine McNealy A call for context
Hossein Derakhshan AI can’t conjure up an Errol Morris
Raney Aronson-Rath News deserts will proliferate — but so will new solutions
Alice Antheaume Trade “politics” for “power”
Emily Withrow The year we kill the news article
Sue Robinson Campaign coverage as test bed for engagement experiments
Brenda P. Salinas Treating MP3 files like text
Sara K. Baranowski A big year for little newspapers
Dan Shanoff Sports media enters the Bronny era
Whitney Phillips A time to question core beliefs
Mario García Think small (screen)
Julia B. Chan We 👏 take 👏 breaks 👏
Irving Washington Leadership isn’t something you learn on the job
Catalina Albeanu Rebuilding journalism, together
Jeremy Gilbert and Jarrod Dicker A call for collaboration between storytelling and tech
Joni Deutsch Podcasting unsilences the silent
Fiona Spruill The climate crisis gets the coverage it deserves
Elizabeth Dunbar Frank talk, and then action
John Keefe Journalism gets hacked
Cristina Kim Public media stops trying to serve “everybody”
M. Scott Havens First-party data becomes media’s most important currency
Lucas Graves A smarter conversation about how (and why) fact-checking matters
Jonas Kaiser Russian bots are just today’s slacktivists
S. Mitra Kalita The race to 2021
Felix Salmon Spotify launches a news channel
Heidi Tworek The year of positive pushback
Sarah Schmalbach Journalist, quantify thyself
Knight Foundation Five generations of journalists, learning from each other
Jake Shapiro Podcasting gets listener relationship management
Sarah Stonbely More people start caring about news inequality
AX Mina The Forum we wanted, the forum we got
Sonali Prasad Climate change storytelling gets multidimensional
Richard Tofel A constraint of the reader-revenue model emerges
Meredith Artley Stronger solidarity among news organizations
Annie Rudd The expanded ambiguity of the news photograph
J. Siguru Wahutu Western journalists, learn from your African peers
Kathleen Searles Pay more attention to attention
Dannagal G. Young Let’s disrupt the logic that’s driving Americans apart
Simon Galperin Journalism becomes more democratic
Sarah Alvarez I’m ready for post-news
Gordon Crovitz Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms
Carrie Brown-Smith Engaged journalism: It’s finally happening