The future of local news is “civic information,” not “declining legacy systems,” says new report
▪ “In this vision, the community librarian facilitating conversations around authoritative, trusted digital news is as celebrated as the dogged reporter pursuing a scoop.”
Is text-generating AI an industry killer or just another wave of hype?
▪ “There can potentially be massive shifts, benefits, and risks in many industries, but I cannot see a scenario where this is a ‘sky is falling’ kind of issue.”
Meet the first-ever accessibility engineer at The Washington Post
▪ “It is definitely stressful to be the first in this new role. I feel deep down like I need to justify its creation with every step that I take.”
BDG shutters Gawker 2.0: “We have to prioritize our better monetized sites”
▪ BDG CEO Bryan Goldberg called Gawker “a pre-monetization product,” but the brand is really old in internet years.
New York Focus, the Empire State–centered newsroom, aims to hold Albany accountable
▪ “How is it possible that my state, that I’ve lived in all my life, is run like this?”
This report sees journalistic “bias” less as partisanship and more as relying on too-comfortable habits
▪ “The first step is to accept that broad impartiality brings a stronger obligation to look.”
BuzzFeed will start using AI to write quizzes and other content ➚
@nytimes is now on TikTok
▪ “nytimes on the tok?! 🤩”
The first newspaper strike of the digital age stretches into a new year
▪ When staff at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette walked off the job 100 days ago, they became the first newspaper to strike in decades. They’ve already been followed by more.
Twitter will soon let news outlets lay visual claim to their staffers’ accounts. Should they?
▪ Your employer’s logo might soon be attached to every tweet you make — for better or for worse.
Where did all the new podcasts go?
▪ The number of new podcasts launched fell by nearly 80% between 2020 and 2022 — and seems to keep dropping. Has podcasting moved from gold rush to mature market?
A new fellowship enlists students to fill reporting gaps on HBCUs
▪ “There’s no [better] way to be close to an institution than through somebody who lives in a dorm.”
At least we still have the creator econo … never mind ➚
Twitter drops from “tiny” to “tinier” as a referral source for news publishers ➚
Why whistleblowers’ trust in journalism is fading
▪ Plus: What people expect from podcasts as a form of journalism, improving reporting on suicide saves lives, and the important role of Google Knowledge Panels in cueing confidence in news organizations.
“Canada’s ProPublica” is sharing the databases behind its hard-hitting stories
▪ The Investigative Journalism Foundation hopes to follow the money — and leave the door wide open for other journalists.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune found that allowing online cancellation actually helps keep subscribers ➚
Sahan Journal is using voice-note newsletters to reach Somalis in Minnesota
▪ “We wanted the questions and feedback and the insights of Somalis to be at the center.”
Good news: Misinformation isn’t as powerful as feared! Bad news: Neither is information.
▪ To people who publish facts, it’s appealing to think of them as powerful. But people’s belief systems go a lot deeper than facts.
Beyond Section 230: Three paths to making the big tech platforms more transparent and accountable
▪ Among them, two words: “Twitter court.”