Commence overdue newsroom style guide updates
Media statistic of the week
Benedict Evans has compiled a number of revealing stats and charts examining 75 years of US advertising. He emphasizes the fact that “newspaper ad revenue may only have collapsed since 2008, but newspapers have been losing share of ad spend since the 1950s.” And that’s not all: “Absolute circulation rose until 1990, and has been falling since (‘gradually, then suddenly’), but circulation per capita has been falling since 1950,” he writes.
Chris Krewson highlights, “‘Perhaps two thirds to three quarters of money spent on Google and Facebook is money that was never spent on traditional advertising - it’s coming from SMEs and local businesses.’ This is fascinating.” You’ll want to spend some time with this one. As Aron Pilhofer says, “Absolutely fascinating longitudinal analysis of newspaper economics here by @benedictevans. Bottom line: Newspapers have been in decline for a long, long time. Well worth a read.”
This week in media history
On June 24, 1963, the Telcan, or “television in a can,” video recorder was demonstrated to the public for the first time, at BBC Studios in London. Developed by Michael Turner and Norman Rutherford of the Nottingham Electric Valve Company, the Telcan was a revolutionary development in home entertainment, but the machines were expensive and couldn’t meet the increasing move toward color programming. Only two machines are known to have survived.
This past week in the media industry
Follow the Black press’s lead
Last week, Sarah Glover of the New York Amsterdam News penned an open letter urging newsrooms and The Associated Press to follow the Black press’s lead and Capitalize "B" When Reporting About the Black Community. Cal Perry responded that “NBC News has adopted this style & policy effective immediately.”
Soon after, Nicole Asbury of Poynter reported that AP will now capitalize the B in Black. “Why do we need this change? The words Asian, Hispanic, Latinx and Native American are already proper nouns. African American does not represent the lineage of all Black people,” explains Doris Truong, director of training and diversity at Poynter.
In other words, “Commence overdue newsroom style guide updates,” tweets Caroline Hopkins. Anna McGee calls it “A little happy moment today in journalism editing — and a strong boon for various diversity style guides across the country that helped educate and inform this decision.”
And yet, Glover points out that the coverage itself is “Tone deaf... Black journalists are not quoted in news about capitalizing ‘B’ in Black story by @AP nor @Poynter... talk to any Black journo/NABJ current board/member. Broaden voices, something for media covering media to think abt.”
It’s all extremely disappointing
Staffers at a number of media outlets are pressing for changes on diversity, coverage and pay transparency. At The Wall Street Journal, Khadeeja Safdar, Jeffrey Trachtenberg and Benjamin Mullin write about how America’s newsrooms are facing a reckoning on race amid the Floyd protests. Their own newsroom is among them. As Michelle Hackman highlights, “‘Many WSJ journalists, including many who are white, find the way we cover race to be problematic,’ reads a letter 150 @WSJ staffers sent to management on Friday. I signed the letter.”
Meanwhile, David Folkenflik of NPR reports that the Los Angeles Times' top editor is scrambling to placate journalists of color after years of often-unfulfilled promises by the paper to make grand progress in the diversity of the newsroom’s ranks. On Twitter, he refers to the newsroom “uprising” over racial equity with “Exhibit A: There is one black reporter among nearly 90 ppl on the metro desk. She was turned down for raise repeatedly despite pleas from city editor it was a ‘moral’ issue.” “it’s all extremely disappointing,” says Adriana Lacy.
In the wake of this story, Esmeralda Bermudez, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, tweeted, “Under pressure from @latimes staff, our bosses today released newsroom diversity numbers. Our newspaper embarked on a historic hiring spree under a new owner in 2018. The result? Our Latino, Black and Asian figures hardly budged.”
Bermudez went on to note, “This is crushing considering the context. At a time when newspapers are struggling, the @latimes invested millions to build a new legacy. This was a rare opportunity to make a difference, but our leaders’ hiring efforts, in essence, upheld the status quo. They upheld the status quo in L.A., where people of color make up 75% of the population.”
‘The most toxic relationship in American media’
Elahe Izadi and Paul Farhi at the Washington Post covered the drama at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where a standoff between owners and journalists is eviscerating the city’s biggest newspaper. “Tensions are high in newsrooms across the country. Nothing compares to what's happening in Pittsburgh,” Izadi quotes from the piece, which argues that “the most toxic relationship in American media right now may be between Post-Gazette journalists and its publisher.” Margaret Sullivan calls it “The definitive, truly heartbreaking account of what’s been happening at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.”
In a column for WGBH News headlined Sorting Through The Racially Charged Wreckage Of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dan Kennedy urges, “Pay attention, because what’s happening at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette threatens the ability of journalists everywhere to exercise their conscience and cover their communities with integrity and empathy.”
So in light of all of this, should you cancel the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette? Colin Deppen of The Incline tackles that question, and the answer may surprise you. He explains why canceling your subscription may do more harm than good, and he adds that “maybe the final word belongs to the reporters themselves, and perhaps that’s who we should be listening to here.”
Here’s what one of those journalists, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Michael Santiago, had to say during a virtual panel hosted by the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation: “We don’t want people to unsubscribe. We don’t want ads to be taken out. We just want people to be able to do their jobs.”
Beyond reporting on what’s happening
On to a few steps in the right direction. Anika Anand of Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers highlights how 13 local news publishers have responded to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. She writes, “We’ve chosen examples that go beyond reporting on what’s happening, and offer more context and analysis or introspection of a publication’s internal practices. All of these examples are replicable or adaptable for other news organizations, and we hope they inspire the work you’re doing.”
Orion Rummler and Sara Fischer of Axios report that The Washington Post and The New York Times are pushing company-wide diversity initiatives and adding dozens of new positions to cover how race influences issues from national security to health.
Last week, Medium CEO Ev Williams announced that Colin Kaepernick will be joining Medium’s Board of Directors and that Medium will be partnering with Colin and Kaepernick Publishing to create and feature stories focused on race and civil rights in America, and to elevate emerging voices from communities of color.
Ten Black newspapers have joined forces with Local Media Foundation to launch the Fund for Black Journalism – Race Crisis in America campaign. The fund is designed to support coverage and develop solutions for issues surrounding police brutality and disparities in education, health, employment and income. Here’s how you can support it.
In her latest for Emperifollá, This Is What Latinx Media Could Actually Look Like, Frances Sola-Santiago writes about “how the #VogueChallenge offers a glimpse of what Latinx magazines could look like if the industry shed its anti-Black, monolithic standards of Latinidad. (Also, addressed some of the allegations surfacing here!)” she tweets.
Media kingpins ensconced somewhere lovely
“I’ve heard so many conversations re: being Black and objective in news and NONE about being wealthy and objective,” tweets Jonquilyn Hill. After Amber Jamieson of BuzzFeed News chastised rich New Yorkers who fled the city during the coronavirus outbreak, New York Times media columnist (and Jamieson’s former boss) Ben Smith rang her up — from the house he fled to in Columbia County, NY. His piece, Newsrooms Are in Revolt. The Bosses Are in Their Country Houses, reveals how those who can afford it left the city, shining a spotlight on class divisions in the media.
Lainna Fader quotes Jamieson: “‘The biggest story in the world came to your front door and you left — that to me is insane. Being a leader means staying with your people and seeing what they see.’ This quote is giving me life,” she says. And Kara Swisher shares, “One media kingpin ensconced somewhere lovely asked me last week how I was handling the anarchy in DC, which I was confused by until I read this (FYI, aside from lots of boarded up windows, it’s been non-anarchic and even inspiring to remain in the city).”
Journalism in the time of COVID-19
At a time when journalism is being hit hard, The Conversation is thriving. At Columbia Journalism Review, Anya Schiffrin reports that traffic is soaring at the nonprofit, “while its funding model insulates it from the collapse in advertising and subscription revenue hitting other outlets.” Matt Williams urges, “Come to @ConversationUS for the great COVID-19 articles, but stay for all the other excellent coverage as well!”
Meanwhile, local news outlets are working hard to keep the digital subscribers they’ve gained from COVID-19 coverage, notes Mark Jacob of Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative, and they’re seeing encouraging signs that the newcomers are sticking with them in these turbulent times.
Jennifer Dorroh of the International Journalists' Network explores 3 ways large media companies are innovating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Svati Kirsten Narula is “Bookmarking this to send to folks who ask me about Quartz, where I worked from 2014-2017. Sums up quite a bit.” Digiday’s Steven Perlberg writes about how Quartz fell to earth by being caught in the mushy middle: “Not quite niche enough to be essential to a small group of readers, but not quite big enough to compete at scale. Coronavirus didn’t help.”
“Interested in the future of print? Give this a read. @JohnGeeMcCarthy and I spoke to a bunch of mag editors and publishers over the last week to find out how GQ, Grazia, Empire, Take A Break, Delayed Gratification and other print mags are doing right now.” Sam Bradley links to his piece with John McCarthy at The Drum on lean, zine-printing machines: how magazines are pressing on through lockdown. While Perlberg noted that publishing has gone through about a dozen life cycles since Quartz emerged as a darling of digital media eight years ago, Samuel Scott predicts, “In twenty years, VCs are going to say the internet is dead and that print is the new way to go.”
More layoffs
A few big announcements over the past week, including changes at Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, where 29 people will lose their jobs. The organization will also end the “Hilarious World of Depression” podcast and the national production of "Live from Here.”
Christina Jedra of Honolulu Civil Beat reports that Hawaii’s largest daily newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, is gutting its newsroom. The paper is laying off 31 people, including its health reporter. In the middle of a pandemic.
And WBUR announced that it will lay off more than 10% of its staff, including several newsroom leaders, and stop producing the nationally syndicated sports program “Only A Game” in a restructuring made more drastic by the coronavirus-induced recession.
Facebook keeps facebooking
“Mark Zuckerberg has championed Facebook’s commitment to free speech as a reason not to act on incendiary posts from President Donald Trump about the Black Lives Matter protests. It’s a standard that activists and journalists in the Middle East wish extended to their accounts,” writes Olivia Solon. As she reported last week at NBC News, dozens of Tunisian, Syrian and Palestinian activists and journalists say their accounts have been deactivated despite Zuckerberg’s free-speech stance. In other words, “Facebook keeps facebooking,” as Fernando Dominguez puts it.
Meanwhile, in a piece for Wired, Nina Jankowicz and Cindy Otis write that Facebook Groups Are Destroying America. No sugar-coating on that one. Their research shows that some of the key features of Facebook Groups — privacy and community — are what make them dangerous, because they’re often exploited by bad actors to spread false information and conspiracies.
Andrew Rosenblum notices “Zuck and Sheryl still racking up millions of views on anti-vaxxer content, via private groups, and also the guy who claims you can cure COVID-19 by blow-drying your throat (really!)” That piece also includes “Yet another example of Facebook's algorithmically generated follow suggestions leading users to some dark places,” tweets Karissa Bell.
A few more
- Well, “This is stupid and confusing,” says Adi Robertson, who reports for The Verge that Google says it’s banning the site Zero Hedge from its Google Ads program for racist content — but it reversed plans to ban The Federalist. On Twitter, she shares, “so: as far as I can tell, NBC did not misreport Google banning The Federalist. Google issued a couple of very badly phrased statements, then resolved its issues with The Federalist and reversed plans to demonetize it.”
- In This is How Democracy Dies, Sheila Coronel writes in The Atlantic that last week’s court ruling against the Philippine journalist and Rappler editor Maria Ressa illustrates the erosion of democratic norms, the corruption of institutions and the compromises of decision makers. Emily Bell calls it a “Terrific piece by @columbiajourn academic dean @SheilaCoronel on both @mariaressa and the crushing of press freedom in the Philippines.”
- Jim Waterson of The Guardian has the details on new research from Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism that shows the British public’s trust in the media has fallen off a cliff in the last five years, particularly among leftwing voters.
- “Wow Odeo is finally out of beta,” says Dieter Bohn, who links to the news that Twitter is rolling out the ability to record audio snippets and attach them to your tweets. According to Chris Welch at The Verge, it will only be available on iOS devices for now. As Tom May says, “Twitter continues to launch features no one ever asked for, rather than work on making the core product better.”
- And from Caroline Watkins, the RJI Student Innovation Fellow at the Chatham News + Record in North Carolina, here are 5 ways that local newsrooms can utilize TikTok.
From the Muck Rack Team
On the Muck Rack Blog, Veleisa Burrell explains how PR can meaningfully celebrate Juneteenth. It’s helpful for PR professionals to think through how to recognize the holiday meaningfully, and without stumbling, in an attempt to be part of the larger conversation on equality, Burrell explains. She walks us through how to do it right.
These days, it’s harder than ever to stand out amid the noise on social media and create truly thumb-stopping moments for your audience. That’s why we’ve launched Muck Rack’s Fundamentals of Social Media certification—the second course in Muck Rack Academy. The course is free to everyone, whether you are looking to expand your network, build a business or find a new gig. We partnered with journalism professor and social media expert Sree Sreenivasan to produce an engaging course that pulls from Sree’s decades of experience on social media. Get the details here.
Question of the week
LION Publishers highlighted the tangible steps several local news organizations are taking with regard to Black Lives Matter, including being transparent about the reporting process, creating a community editorial board, sharing anti-racism resources and more. Have you seen other examples of news organizations that are, as Anika Anand puts it, taking action to listen and uplift those voices in their communities and think critically about their role in ensuring media is created by more diverse voices? What steps do you think new organizations should be taking?