Amazing and disturbing

The Muck Rack Weekly newsletter includes some of the most talked about stories in the journalism and public relations communities over the past week, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of Muck Rack.

Media statistic of the week

New podcast data is out!?

The Infinite Dial?, an annual survey from Edison Research with support from Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM Media reveals interesting stats about podcast listenership in 2024.

Here are some of the highlights:

• 47% of the U.S. 12+ population has listened to a podcast in the last month, up 12% year over year.
• 45% of women in the U.S. age 12+ have listened to a podcast in the last month, up from 39% in 2023.
• 70% of those age 18+ who have driven or ridden in a car in the last month currently ever listen to radio as an audio source in their primary car; 55% listen to online audio and 32% listen to podcasts.

Check out the full survey results from Podnews.

This past week in the media industry

‘Go direct’ with podcasters

Bloomberg’s Ellen Huet details an interesting trend where tech CEOs are “sidestepping traditional media” and instead sitting down for interviews with “friendly podcasters.”

“The tech industry has in recent years sought more ways to “go direct” — that is, to get talking points out into the world without having to deal with traditional media, which some view as adversarial and unfairly critical.

In that frame of mind, the ideal interlocutor is someone who offers a platform — and maybe even is a tech industry insider — and isn’t a journalist,” writes Huet.?

“Glad someone finally wrote about this. Some other examples not mentioned in this story: - Zuckerberg’s 2021 convo w/ @garyvee - @sama’s 2023 talk w/ @Trevornoah - @jack’s 2019 talk w/ @richroll,” tweets Marty Swant.

“Expect more of this in the future. Some PR pros are even making ‘go direct’ their main strategy,” Huet concludes.

Political contributors in TV news

“One of the nation’s most prominent news outlets has found itself in an embarrassing mess over the hiring — and quick firing — of someone who isn’t even a journalist in the first place,” writes David Bauder for the Associated Press.

Bauder goes on to analyze NBC News’ employment (and firing) of former Republican National Committee chief Ronna McDaniel and the overall role of political contributors in television news.

Here’s a snippet from the piece which also dives into the history of political contributors on TV:?

“NBC News’ leadership felt it had secured a prize in the services of McDaniel to provide an insider’s perspective on the Republican campaign. Yet they were taken aback and changed course Tuesday after network personalities like Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow objected to working with someone who had trafficked in election disinformation.

Those bosses, starting with NBC Universal Chairman Cesar Conde, now face questions about their leadership and anger from Republicans, some of whom their journalists count upon as news sources heading into a presidential election.”

Here’s another interesting fact: “Dating back to 2000, more than half (16 of 31) of White House press secretaries and communications directors have gone on to become paid contributors, commentators or hosts on news programs,” writes Sara Fischer for Axios.?

Amazing and disturbing?

In a buzzy piece this week, NPR’s Miranda Green and David Folkenflik tell the story of a city’s primary media outlet being owned by the corporation that runs the town.?

Here’s the details:

“Chevron is the city's largest employer, largest taxpayer and largest polluter. Yet when it comes to writing about Chevron, The Richmond Standard consistently toes the company line.

And there's a reason for that: Chevron owns The Richmond Standard.”

Residents are worried that most news, like that of a pipeline rupture that dumped nearly 800 gallons of diesel fuel into San Francisco Bay, go untold by the media outlet. They rely on word of mouth to get their news.

“Markets where news outlets shut down are often called news deserts. The Standard has created something of a news mirage: Stories are told — but with an agenda. Facts displeasing to Chevron are omitted; hard truths softened. The company is seeking to get its point of view across and to convey that it can be trusted,” Green and Folkenflik write.?

“Important story here. Corporations can buy local news operations and protect their own interests pretty cheaply,” tweets Tony Bartelme.

“Amazing and disturbing,” adds Harris Meyer.?

A few more

• Check out this fascinating interview between Phoebe Connelly, The Washington Post’s first-ever senior editor for AI strategy and innovation and Nieman Lab’s Andrew Deck. “I’m not afraid of AI as a journalist. We are so good at leveraging new tools to report and deliver the news. Generative AI is just the latest,” says Connelly.?
• Another insightful interview from Nieman Lab: This one is with war correspondent Jane Ferguson, conducted by Hanaa' Tameez.?
• What a subhead! “Vice was once promised to become the brash young voice of news. But wild expenses, shady deals, and greed turned it into ‘a f****** clown show,’” reads this detailed look into Vice’s downfall from The Verge’s Elizabeth Lopatto.
• Can sports journalism survive in the era of the athlete, asks Josh Hersh in his piece for Columbia Journalism Review.
• “AI is quietly revolutionizing the news,” writes Jackie Snow for Quartz in a piece that details how newsrooms, including Skift and Semafor, are using generative AI for all kinds of scenarios at work.?
• The Wall Street Journal’s Alexandra Bruell explains how the Atlantic went from broke to profitable in three years. “A core part of [Nick] Thompson’s strategy was to figure out how much readers would be willing to pay for a subscription. He ended up raising subscription prices by more than 50%, and made it harder for people to read stories without paying,” Bruell writes.?

From the Muck Rack team

It’s a tumultuous time in the journalism industry.

According to Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2024, more than one third of journalists reported layoffs or buyouts at their organizations. With so much turmoil at media outlets, more and more journalists have turned to freelance writing.

We recently shared a list of the 10 most popular freelance journalists on Muck Rack based on profile views.

We checked in with three of the journalists on the list to learn more about how they got into freelancing + their top tips for aspiring freelancers.

Get to know:

• Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner
• Brad Japhe
• Alesandra “Alice” Dubin