The press has to take its head out of the sand
Media statistic of the week
Between March 2020 through August 2021, more than 6,154 editorial and non-editorial workers were laid off in the U.S., according to new data from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. At least 100 U.S. new organizations have closed during the pandemic, although 14 of them have since resumed some operations. Another 42 outlets were absorbed via M&As, bringing the number of news outlet eliminations up to 128. Read Gabby Miller’s full report of findings at Columbia Journalism Review.
This past week in the media industry
The press shrugs
On Twitter, Hugo Lowell’s story at The Guardian about the so-called “coup PowerPoint” was getting a lot of traction over the weekend. Lowell did point out, “it doesn’t mean Meadows planned a coup. But think it shows Trump and allies entertained stopping Biden’s certification entirely — not just have Pence throw the election.” And about Meadows’ decision to turn over the PowerPoint, Lowell says, “recall that was what he chose to give the Jan. 6 committee — raising possibility that what he withheld may be worse.”
Seems big. But as Eric Boehlert wrote on Monday in his Press Run story Slow-walking the coup PowerPoint, “The coup blueprint still has not appeared on the front page of a single major American newspaper, nor has any influential editorial page weighed in.”
He describes it as “my latest—the press shrugs.”
The press needs a new paradigm
Along those same lines, Jonathan Alter wrote about the D.C. press corps for his Old Goats newsletter in a piece headlined, Expose All Big Lie Republicans. He says, “I weigh in on whether the press should stay neutral in today’s democracy crisis. Hint: My answer is no. The press has to take its head out of the sand and adjust its coverage of the big-lie-ism threat.”
Indeed, he argues, “The biggest threat to the U.S. is Big-Lie-ism. The press needs a new paradigm--a focus on #democracycrisis as the top domestic story. And like Nazism or Jim Crow or climate change, ‘balance’ and ‘neutrality’ are not just unneeded, they’re morally wrong.”
In that piece, Alter refers to Dan Froomkin’s story and interview with Dana Milbank of The Washington Post for Press Watch, in which Milbank said, of the press, “I think we need to rethink entirely how we do things.”
In Milbank’s view, the press isn’t just shrugging. As Froomkin says, “Longtime WaPo political journalist @milbank accuses his colleagues of being ‘accessories to the murder of democracy.’ I asked him what they should do differently.”
In his Breaking the News newsletter, James Fallows makes a similar argument, writing, “Every time my colleagues in the media shrink from using words like ‘coup’ or ‘lie,’ we undermine democracy.”
Public service at its best
In the U.K., Ros Atkins of BBC News is getting a lot of praise for his short video explainers that Andrew Neil describes as “Forensic, measured, factual, brilliant.” As Alexandra Topping writes at The Guardian, the Outside Source presenter’s forceful yet objective journalism about the No 10 Christmas parties is winning him admirers from across the political spectrum.
Scott Bryan says this is a “Good little article here on @BBCRosAtkins and how he’s become essential viewing for well, just providing facts.” As one former BBC News executive explained it to Topping, Atkins’ unflinching presentation manages to get the viewer to raise an eyebrow through facts alone.
“He’s always been a star but the latest explainers have been excellent… public service at its best,” tweets Nawal Al-Maghafi, while Jeff Jarvis says, “Love @BBCRosAtkins’s work; glad to see it recognized. But I'm somewhat wistful that Johnson’s Christmas Party is getting more attention over there than Trump’s coup conspiracy is getting here.”
The expanding dominance of Tucker Carlson
In an announcement that surprised many, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace told his audience on Sunday that he was leaving the network for a “new adventure,” as David Bauder reported at AP News. Soon after, CNN announced that he’ll be joining its new streaming service, CNN+.
Surprising, but maybe not totally unexpected. David Folkenflik reminds us, “Chris Wallace and Bret Baier warned Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott there would be repercussions if the extreme rhetoric of top-rated Tucker Carlson’s wasn’t reined in. It wasn’t. Now Wallace has left Fox for CNN Plus.”
Folkenflik links to his story for NPR’s Morning Edition, ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Chris Wallace to join CNN's streaming service.
What does Wallace’s departure mean for the news division at Fox? “Here @ErikWemple puts the Chris Wallace news in proper context: The departure of Stephen Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, Shep Smith — and others — and the expanding dominance of Tucker Carlson,” tweets Jay Rosen.
He’s referring to Erik Wemple’s column in The Washington Post, Chris Wallace bolts Tucker Carlson’s Fox News. “Every day, in other words, Fox News takes another step toward its destiny as The Tucker Carlson Channel. And in that future, there’s no room for journalists,” Wemple writes.
Ron Rosenbaum calls it “Probably the best post-mortem on @FoxNews loss of one of their last actual journalists.”
Journalism: not at all like baseball
Next is a must-read from Caitlin Petre at Columbia Journalism Review, “Everything clicks for a different reason”: Why journalism analytics are so hard to interpret. “(Spoiler: it’s not because journalists are afraid of numbers!)” she tweets
Petre takes a look at how the “Moneyball” mindset has been applied to journalism and also why it was “a preposterously poor fit.” As Michelle Manafy points out, “Applying the Moneyball mindset to the actual work of journalism presents particular challenges, not the least of which is that journalism is not at all like baseball.”
“Fascinating. Every owner, data specialist and journalist should read this,” says Heather Mallick, and Harry McCracken says, “A lot of this is eerily familiar.”
Kate Cox shares this telling example: “I have, in my life, written several deeply-reported features and critical essays that were in fact pretty good, and were well-received. A 10-minute story about McFlurries got more traffic than the top five of those put together.”
“This is a great article about the struggle to make analytics actionable in journalism. For what it’s worth, I treat analytics like climate and the weather,” tweets Stephen Cass, who explains further in this Twitter thread.
Should set off major alarms
From Jana Winter of Yahoo News, an investigation into Operation Whistle Pig: Inside the secret CBP unit with no rules that investigates Americans. Winter discovered that as many as 20 journalists were illicitly investigated by the secretive DHS spying unit. “An absolutely insane/shocking/disturbing investigation,” tweets Hamed Aleaziz.
“Trump-era CBP’s investigations of journalists should set off major alarms in the craft,” adds Dan Gillmor, who highlights from the piece, “Vet the reporters you use,” Rambo said his boss told him, “‘vet them through our systems.’ I vet them no different than I vet a terrorist.”
Recommended by LinkedIn
Ben Fox reports that The Associated Press is seeking answers from the Department of Homeland Security on its use of sensitive government databases for tracking international terrorists to investigate American journalists, including an acclaimed AP reporter.
A timely piece
Next, from Jane Martinson at Prospect Magazine, it’s the inside story of backstabbing, feuds and intrigue at the Daily Mail. Martinson investigates why Geordie Grieg was fired—and why Boris Johnson will be mightily relieved.
Tweets Sonia Sodha, “In a very timely piece, @janemartinson writes brilliantly about the Kreminology of the Daily Mail - and what the departure of Geordie Grieg means for British politics.”
Martinson describes it as “Part Lord of the Flies, part Succession. This long read on the Mail has had to go through a few changes in recent weeks. Pls read down to the Martin Clarke postscript.”
Taking a stand
Robert Silverman of The Daily Beast reports that right-wing provocateur Andy Ngô has been sued in federal court by two Portland-based photojournalists who allege he violated copyright. Or as Michael Edison Hayden tweets, “Internet news performer Andy Ngo faces a $300,000 lawsuit here over cribbing content, as advertisers flee his website.”
“Andy Ngô has made his bones recirculating videos of civil unrest he didn’t film,” Silverman notes. “Two photojournalists are suing him and alleging IP theft. Their goal: to stop him not just from stealing their work, but take a stand on behalf of those who can’t fight back.”
He adds, “This is not without risk. Tons of reporters and activists who’ve crossed paths with Ngô, let alone filed suit, invariably find themselves bombarded with harassment and death threats from his most ardent. The plaintiffs are no exception.”
Pulling no punches
Maria Ressa’s Nobel Prize lecture is now up online and many Muck Rack journalists have been sharing quotes from her powerful speech, including:
“Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems.”
“Women journalists are at the epicenter of risk.”
“Every day, I live with the real threat of spending the rest of my life in jail just because I’m a journalist. When I go home, I have no idea what the future holds, but it’s worth the risk.”
As Reed Richardson said, “Nobel laureate Maria Ressa pulling no punches about the corrosive role that social media plays in spreading misinformation and undermining democracy. Facebook and other social networks are ‘biased against facts, biased against journalists.’”
Sara Fischer of Axios wrote about the free press in peril. The good news is that press freedom is starting to get more attention from world leaders. President Biden confirmed that the U.S. will invest up to $30 million in The International Fund for Public Interest Media to protect the free press globally. Ressa and former New York Times CEO and BBC director-general Mark Thompson co-chair the fund’s board.
Here’s more from Michael S. Conte of CNN, US announces funds to support independent journalism and reporters targeted for their work.
Incisive media criticism
In his latest Media Equation column for The New York Times, Ben Smith reviews Adam McKay’s new film “Don’t Look Up,” which Smith describes as “a star-studded allegorical satire that shows the news media whistling past the climate-change graveyard.” The verdict: ‘Don’t Look Up’ Nails the Media Apocalypse.
“In which @benyt — who knows a thing or two about incisive media criticism — credits @GhostPanther and @davidsirota for delivering just that in must-see comedy film about climate change,” tweets Peter Goodman.
“Totally agree with @benyt that ‘Don't Look Up’ is a dead-on satire of prevailing fatuities in America’s political, media, social media, and tech cultures that threaten to kill us all. A hilariously funny, very smart, pitch-dark film,” says Timothy Noah.
For what it’s worth, David Leask notes, “This is a review of a film about how the media focuses on trivial while the world is in peril and I therefore feel it my duty to wonder why subeditors at the NYT are ok with ‘New York’ appearing twice in the intro.” Again, nailed it.
Meanwhile, Jotham Sederstrom predicts, “In the future, more restaurants will hire comedy writers,” quoting McKay, who told Smith, ““I am in no way above this. I really want Ben Affleck and J. Lo to find happiness together, and I really am excited about what next thing is Taco Bell going to make — is it a burrito full of little burritos?”
2021 rewind
’Tis the season for “best of” lists. You could spend a whole year going through them all, but we’ll just highlight a few here:
First up, take some time out for some powerful images that embody 2021’s turbulence, in the way only National Geographic can do it. NatGeo’s Year in Pictures four-cover issue features images ranging from political rancor and climate change to COVID developments and conflicts around the globe. Each of the four covers reflects a major theme of 2021: COVID, climate, conflict and conservation.
If you’re looking for something to listen to, Sarah Larson has compiled a list of The Best Podcasts of 2021 for The New Yorker. With shows about music, family, crime and more, she says these are a few of the podcasts that “brought beauty and wonder to our headphones” this year.
You can also cozy up with a good, long read, thanks to Longreads’ Best of 2021: Reported Essays list, featuring stories from the San Francisco Chronicle, Harper’s Magazine, n+1, Granta and Pipe Wrench.
Or maybe you’ll just decide to skip ahead with Nieman Lab’s round-up of Predictions for Journalism 2021.
A few more
From the Muck Rack Team
With 2021 winding down, what’s in store for the year ahead? Muck Rack checked in with 10 PR professionals to hear their predictions for the public relations industry as we head into 2022. Head over to the blog for the full rundown of PR predictions for 2022: 10 industry pros weigh in.