A data project full of contradictions

Media statistic of the week

This past week in the media industry

Our featured statistic starts this issue off on a sad note.?

Semafor Media’s Max Tani reports on data from a new report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) first shared with Semafor .

• A record number of journalists—533—are currently being detained worldwide.
• The number of detained women journalists has risen to a record-breaking total of 78, a nearly 30% increase from 2021.
• At least 57 journalists were killed while working this year, a nearly 19% increase from last year; 65 journalists are currently being held hostage, and 49 reporters are missing.

Say goodbye to your favorite HBO Max shows

Unfortunately, some of your favorite HBO shows are leaving the streaming platform HBO Max , according to a report from Variety’s Jennifer Maas . “The Nevers” and “Westworld” will be pulled from HBO Max, and they aren’t the only two.

“The two shows are among multiple series that are being cut from the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer’s offerings, along with ‘Minx’ (which had already been renewed for Season 2) and ‘Love Life’ (which had not yet been picked up for Season 3)—both of which, unlike ‘The Nevers’ and ‘Westworld,’ were HBO Max originals,” she writes.

“I sure wonder why people resort to piracy!” tweets Ahmed Akbar .

Why is this happening? Here’s how Maas explains it: “Warner Bros. Discovery has been cutting down on spending since it set out to find $3.5 billion in cost-saving synergies over the next three years post-April merger … The removal of shows from HBO Max means WB Discovery is able to save money in residuals paid to cast and crews of productions, on top of the money saved by not continuing with the shows at all.”

Could this indicate a larger trend looming in 2023?

“Feels like next year we're going to take a (possibly brief) break from worrying about cinema/the box office and instead start fretting about the future of prestige TV,” tweets Jesse Pound .

I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but in the meantime, this isn’t great news for TV lovers.

“At this point they're just trying to burn HBO Max to the ground,” adds Anthony Ha .?

A quick roundup of news on the bird app

We’ve dedicated a lot of space in this newsletter to Twitter over the past few months, so for today, here’s a very quick roundup of the latest [chaos] at Twitter HQ:

• Twitter dissolved its Trust and Safety Council earlier this week , according to Cat Zakrzewski , Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix from the Washington Post. “Dozens of civil rights leaders, academics and advocates from around the world had volunteered their time for years to help improve safety on the platform,” they report.
• Ads on Twitter? “Elon Musk tweeted on Monday that Twitter's Basic blue tick will have half the number of advertisements and the social media platform will offer a higher tier with no advertisements by next year,” reports Reuters.?
• TechCrunch’s Kyle Wiggers reports that “Twitter has begun rolling out a new offering called Blue for Business that adds a gold checkmark to company accounts . On a support page, Twitter says Blue for Business, which is currently in testing, is intended to designate that a given Twitter account is a ‘corporate entity.’”
• Igor Bonifacic for Engadget has the details on Twitter’s new Community Notes feature which replaces Birdwatch. “Community Notes takes a crowd-sourced approach to debunking misleading tweets. Moderators who are part of the program can append notes to tweets to add ‘context.’ Regular users can then vote on whether they find the context ‘helpful,’” he reports.

Asian Americans severely underrepresented among on-air TV journalists

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) found that in the top 20 broadcast markets, 24% of stations do not have any AAPI reporters on air .?

Poynter’s Angela Fu and Amaris Castillo share more details: “From July to September 2021, the group analyzed 94 stations and compared the percentage of AAPI on-air staff to the demographics of their local communities. More than 70% do not have the on-air staff to be representative of their community’s AAPI populations.”

“The story does not end with dismal rep numbers. @aaja reached out to 94 stations. Just 7 responded. And it is critical to not only hire Asian Americans but to LISTEN to them. Diversity cannot be wallpaper,” tweets Nydia Han .

A data project full of contradictions

For Esquire, Sophie Vershbow explores the intricacies behind the often mysterious and misunderstood “Murky Path To Becoming a New York Times Best Seller.”

“No one outside The New York Times knows exactly how its best sellers are calculated—and the list of theories is longer than the actual list of best sellers. In The New York Times’ own words, ‘The weekly book lists are determined by sales numbers,’” Vershbow writes.

The list has confused industry pros practically since its existence.

“This is one of the reasons why those inside the publishing machine find The New York Times best-seller list so frustrating—it’s a data project full of contradictions,” adds Vershbow.

“Shouldn't be a surprise that even the most hallowed bestseller lists are opaque and possibly don't rely entirely on quantifiable data ??,” tweets Harsimran Gill .

If you, too, are fascinated by the allure of “the list,” this piece is a must-read.

New York Times Strike

A historic 24-hour strike of 1,100 unionized workers at the New York Times began last Thursday at midnight, reports Oliver Darcy for CNN. The strike comes after over a year and a half of failed negotiations between Times management and the union representing staffers. A protest of this nature has not been staged in decades.

“Today, you may read blind quotes from my company, as in this @CNN story, about how the *real* problem is that bargaining sessions have too many members in them, so frank conversations can't be had between the two sides. Nope. This is about who gets paid,” says Nick Confessore .

“What a surprise. @nytimes management is opposed to transparency,” tweets Dan Froomkin .

In a show of solidarity with the 1,100 unionized workers striking at The New York Times, freelancers at the Times also joined the one-day walkout , reports Bryce Cover t for The Nation.

“After https://Inquirer.com , the NYT site is the one I look at each morning. But not today. Solidarity with striking NYT workers who are demanding a better contract with the company,” says Rachel Molenda .

A few more

• Better moderation to curtail nasty comments sections is being rolled out at YouTube. “YouTube says it will send a notification to people whose abusive comments have been removed for violating the platform’s rules . If despite receiving the notification a user continues to post abusive comments, the service will ban them from posting any more comments for 24 hours,” reports Ivan Mehta for TechCrunch.
• Bari Weiss, former New York Times columnist turned newsletter writer, has hired 10 full-time employees and over a dozen contractors to help build her new media company, The Free Press, according to Sara Fischer from Axios. "I'm responding to a demand, and I'm expanding based on the hunger of the audience. And that hunger and appetite is just huge. We're at the very, very beginning of what this could be," Weiss said.
• Take a peek inside the Wall Street Journal’s TikTok strategy in this piece by Sara Guaglione for Digiday. “The Wall Street Journal launched its TikTok channel on Oct. 3, and since then the channel has grown to over 37,000 followers and 600,000 likes. It’s focused on three core content pillars: careers, personal finance and tech,” Guaglione reports.
• Emma Tucker has been named the next Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires , according to NewsCorp.
• In heartbreaking news out of Qatar, NPR’s Russell Lewis reports longtime soccer sportswriter Grant Wahl died while covering the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal at the 2022 World Cup in Doha. “For those of us who play, follow, love the beautiful game, the passing of #GrantWahl is tragic and shocking. His masterful storytelling has been essential soccer reading for many years. Descansa en paz, compa?ero,” tweets Juan Antonio Ramos .
• The News Movement launched in London with a mission to “really understand” Gen Z, reports Charlotte Tobitt for the Press Gazette. “The News Movement’s aim is to create ‘a new way of thinking about how you provide news and useful information’ for 18 to 25-year-olds or anyone who is ‘engaged by new forms of storytelling,’ according to ex-BBC News editorial director Ahmed.
• A fascinating look at creator burnout on platforms like Twitch where content producers livestream daily, from Fadeke Adegbuyi for Every.

From the Muck Rack team

As part of our annual tradition, Muck Rack checked in with a panel of expert PR professionals to make predictions for 2023 .

A few interesting trends emerged: a renewed effort and more accountability around DEI, increased media relations with podcasters and YouTubers and a greater focus on owned media were top of mind for our panel of industry pros.?