Axios launches a premium subscription product aimed at the “dealmakers” among us
▪ After a two-week free trial, Axios Pro costs $600/year for one newsletter or $1,800/year for all Pro newsletters. (There’s no monthly option.)
A new report shows the impact of racial justice protests in 2020 on three local newspapers
▪ A study of crime reporting in three major U.S. dailies found coverage included less dehumanizing language by the end of the year.
Does having stronger local newspapers make people more likely to follow COVID safety guidelines? Er, not so much
▪ A new study finds that the more local newspapers there were in a county, the worse it performed on a measure of social distancing in the early days of the pandemic. But take the findings with a grain of salt.
The Democracy SOS fellowship is designed to help newsrooms improve their politics and election coverage ➚
How newsrooms are experimenting with Twitter Spaces
▪ “We’re starting to wonder, ‘Okay, can this work as a social audio conversation? How can we get more voices on this whether from the audience or our sources?'”
The BBC fights suggestions that it convert to a subscription model: “The principle of universality is absolutely the debate here” ➚
This is what it’s like to be a media company’s first-ever online safety editor
▪ “What’s really struck me is the variety of issues I’ve seen reported in recent weeks. Not one of them has been the same.”
Fact-checking may be important, but it won’t help Americans learn to disagree better
▪ “The more that a study looked like the real world, the less fact-checking changed participants’ minds.”
35 journalists and activists in El Salvador were spied on — possibly by their own government ➚
Can U.S. journalism truly serve global audiences? Not if it treats them like an afterthought
▪ What would a truly global media company look like?
“The idea and techniques of investigative reporting can be done by anyone anywhere”: How Francisco Vara-Orta wants to change IRE’s mission
▪ “We all grew up with All the President’s Men. You don’t want to take away from the power of that moment and the press holding the administration accountable. But we have to think, why was there not a Black person or a woman on that team?”
Should we spend less time fighting misinformation and more time “fighting for information”? ➚
KPCC and LAist are shifting the focus of their politics coverage from politicians to voters. Here’s why.
▪ “Our goal is to reenergize demoralized readers and listeners who’ve given up on civic involvement amid all the vein-popping vitriol.”
How old laws are being used to shut down independent journalism in Hong Kong
▪ Hong Kong’s sedition laws were introduced in the early 20th century and had been unused since the 1970s. Now they are being used to charge Apple Daily and Stand News journalists.
How big a threat is The Athletic to local newspapers under The New York Times?
▪ Should the combination keep local publishers up at night? Or are they different markets altogether?
The New York Times debuts a fellowship for crossword constructors
▪ NYT Games editorial director Everdeen Mason on building a more diverse set of puzzle constructors and an “ecosystem” for solvers. “I don’t want people to just come in and play a game and leave.”
Nearly two thirds of media leaders think their climate crisis coverage is better than everyone else’s ➚
New research shows how news coverage influences countries’ emergency aid budgets
▪ “The bureaucrats we interviewed said that, in some circumstances, sudden and intense news coverage did increase levels of humanitarian aid — regardless of whether or not the crisis merited it.”
Need help navigating change in your newsroom? Khan Academy has some ideas.
▪ A case study of how Khan Academy changed how they worked — and what newsrooms can learn from how they tested new ideas, tackled challenges, and found success.
The New York Times is buying The Athletic, whose cofounder once promised to “wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing” ➚