Journalism Today. 4 Feb 2025
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Exploring the future of journalism worldwide through engagement, debate and research. Based at University of Oxford.
By Gretel Kahn, Matthew Leake and Eduardo Suárez
??? 3 Top News Stories
1. What’s the true impact of fact-checking in the UK? Recent decisions by Meta and Google have stirred debate about the role of fact-checking in fighting misinformation. But do these efforts impact politicians’ behaviour? Or are they primarily a tool to help audiences navigate a labyrinth of contestable claims and provide essential context? A new project by our British Fellow Tom Edgington, who works at BBC Verify, looks at these questions through interviews with UK politicians, strategists, and advisers spanning administrations from Tony Blair to Rishi Sunak. | Read · Download Tom’s full project
?? What did the project find? Tom’s interviews revealed a spectrum of attitudes toward fact-checking. Some politicians viewed it as a necessary tool for accuracy, while others dismissed it as an “irritant.” Participants from current and more recent governments were significantly more aware of and engaged with the work of fact-checkers. There is evidence that politicians and strategists do adjust their behaviour in certain circumstances, particularly when reputational risk is high.?
2. News scams in Canada. In August 2023, Instagram and Facebook owner Meta blocked links to news outlets for users in Canada in response to a law designed so social platforms compensate news publishers for hosting their content. However, a piece by Bloomberg’s Thomas Seal, describes how users of social media sites have been persistently shown ads for get-rich-quick schemes masquerading as stories from legitimate news sources. | Read
??From our archive. In 2023, Gretel Kahn wrote about the effects Meta’s block of news in Canada is impacting small publishers in the country who relied on traffic coming from Meta’s social media sites to inform their audiences. | Read
3. The Sun sets up a paywall. One of the UK’s biggest newspapers the Sun is paywalling some of its content for the first time in almost 10 years. Subscribers to Sun Club will pay ￡2 per month to access columns from some of its leading writers, including outspoken television presenter Jeremy Clarkson and political editor Harry Cole as well as exclusive video content of the Royal Family. | Read
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?? Applications for our Journalist Fellowships are now open. The deadline to apply is 13 February at 23:59 UK time. Here are the key links: All you need to know | How to apply | Projects from our Fellows | Our funders | Our current Fellows | Join our online webinar
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?? Join our climate event
A free online panel. On Wednesday we are hosting an important discussion around how the news media can best engage audiences with stories around climate change. We will cover findings from our recent yearly report tracking how people receive climate news, who they trust to tell the story, perceptions of misinformation, and experiences of climate change and extreme weather. The event takes place on Zoom and will also be live-streamed across social media. | More info
?? Wednesday 5 February, 14:00 (UK time)
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?? Chart of the day
Addressing climate change. Our latest report on climate change and news audiences examines whether people think different institutions and groups within society are doing too much or too little to address climate change. Environmental activists stand out as the only group with a positive net score. The news media is seen more critically, scoring ?21, indicating people expect the news media to do more. But at the same time, it is clear that the public expect much more from other institutions, and that the news media fares relatively well in this regard. | Read the report
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? Coffee break
Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is calling for a more tempered approach to covering political matters at his newspaper — even in the opinion section, as he has posted repeatedly in support of RFK Jr.’s position as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Soon-Shiong is the founder of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, biotech, and artificial intelligence startups. | Read
Journalists for UK's Mirror have expressed concern that new page-view targets for reporters are encouraging coverage that does not chime with the title’s brand values. | Read
US local news outlet El Tímpano is changing its reporting practices to protect immigrant sources by limiting the sharing of identifying details and educating sources on online privacy and the risks of speaking to a reporter. | Read
Gerald Flynn, a journalist from digital outlet Mongabay, was denied entry to Cambodia just as his reporting has repeatedly unmasked the political and business elite profiting from the plundering of Cambodia’s natural resources.| Read
Reporters Without Borders has denounced President Trump’s decision to freeze US foreign aid and close USAID which serves smaller, individual media outlets that cater to audiences living under repressive conditions. | Read
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?? One piece from our archive
Reviving local news. Our Finnish Journalist Fellow Hanna K?yhk? wanted to explore how local journalism in her own country could retain readers, engage new audiences and make them feel that local news is essential in a democracy. Hanna's project is based on her own experience as the editor-in-chief of this local newspaper and on her conversations with several editors and media managers in Finland. | Read
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