Journalism Today. Nov 5 2024

By Matthew Leake

??? 3 top news stories

1. On TV tonight. US news networks are devoting more correspondents to swing states on election night, with some assigned specifically to cover election security and protests, writes Stephen Battaglio in the LA Times. And with charges of voting irregularities expected to arise, channels intend to be more transparent with how they analyse results and call state outcomes. | Read

• A quote. But with the race so tight, “There may not be projections at all on election night,” says Rick Klein, vice president and Washington bureau chief for ABC News. “I think we just need to be honest about the extent of the uncertainty out there even as polls close and the results start to roll in.”

2. NYT editors on the defensive. The New York Times’ top editors have defended criticism from within and outside the newsroom of its editorial line on Donald Trump, writes Maxwell Tani . In an internal meeting Executive Editor Joe Kahn pushed back against external critics, saying they’re a minority “interested in having us be a mouthpiece for their already predetermined point of view.” | Read

?? Our recent piece on the New York Times election night coverage looks at how its ‘Needle’ provides a real-time visual snapshot of the election horse race indicating the likelihood that any of the candidates will win. Deputy Graphics Editor at the NYT Wilson Andrews spoke to Eduardo Suárez on the work that goes into it. | Read

• A twist in the tale. New York Times tech workers went on strike a day before polling day after contract negotiations failed, threatening the paper’s election night coverage. | Read

3. Our latest podcast. The fifth episode of our Fellowship Takeaways series looks at how AI and disinformation have become intertwined, and what that means for journalists battling ‘fake news’. Host Caithlin Mercer hears from Peter pomeranzev of Johns Hopkins University and Dima Saber of Meedan which advocates for reliable and accessible information. | Listen

A quote. “Despite all the funding that's gone into supporting mis- and disinformation work and campaigns for the last decade, very little happened on closed messaging apps. And this is where the effects of Gen AI are obviously the most felt and the most used,” says Dima Saber

?? Chart of the day

???? How Americans get their news. Fox News is the most popular online source of news and second-most popular offline source in the United States according to our Digital News Report 2024. Over a quarter of respondents said they watched local television news or Fox News at least weekly. Just over half (51%) of people watch TV news compared to 72% who consume online news sources including social media. Just 16% consume print news. | Read our USA country page

?? Coffee break

A journalist was killed every four days throughout 2022-23, a surge on the previous two years, according to UNESCO. | Read

This timeline of Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump details his recent public appearances, stunts, posts and conspiratorial claims in the run up to election day. | Read

More than 100 BBC staff have written to director general Tim Davie saying the broadcaster’s coverage is biased towards Israel. | Read

A man has been charged with the murder of Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous expert, and Dom Phillips, a British Journalist, who were killed in the Amazon in 2022. | Read

“Putting some or all BBC content behind a paywall is simply not compatible with public service,” says BBC Chair Samir Shah, ahead of a major speech on the broadcasters’s future | Read

?? One piece from our archive.

Multigenerational teams. Three Zillenial managers who sit roughly between Gen-Z and Millenial age groups discuss how they are uniquely placed to lead multigenerational newsroom teams. Mayu Kato , Global Manager of Analytics at Vogue; Jasper Wilkins , Senior Producer at the BBC; and Anna Lagos , Editor-in-Chief of WIRED en Espa?ol spoke to colleagues from our leadership development team Tania L Montalvo and Priscille Biehlmann on the needs of younger audiences, the importance of communication and how multigenerational teams are good for audiences.

• A quote. “Broadly, I find workplace styles are defined by personality type rather than generation. There’s little correlation between age and traits like confidence, empathy, tone and directness. At the end of the day, I don’t manage age groups, I manage people,” says Wilkins.

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