On the subject of covering this terrible year
Media statistic of the week
New research from Pew Research Center shows Many Americans Get News on YouTube, Where News Organizations and Independent Producers Thrive Side by Side. Galen Stocking, Patrick van Kessel, Michael Barthel and Katerina Eva Matsa have the details on that study, which found about a quarter of all U.S. adults (26%) say they get news on YouTube, where independent, personality-driven channels are as popular as news organizations. Those independent channels are also more likely to be negative.
This week in media history
On November 18, 1928, Mickey Mouse made his film debut in Steamboat Willie, the first animated talking picture.
This past week in the media industry
The social media quandary
The election is finally (mostly) behind us in the U.S., but polarization in America is getting worse as social media dominates politics. At Vox, Rani Molla explains how America’s polarization problem is actually bigger than we thought it would be, and social media seems to be making a bad situation worse.
Not only that, “The declining trust in news has been years in the making and coincides with rising use of social media as a main source of information,” writes Adam Satariano, in his New York Times piece exploring new research that shows Republican distrust of news may be helping election misinformation spread.
For that story, he spoke with Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford, who highlights from the piece, “‘People on the right have lost faith in the news [creating] an environment where a significant part of the American public feels alienated from established news media, but they still want information’ and seek out alternative sources.”
Meanwhile, several countries around the world are considering regulating social media — but what might that look like?
Rula Jebreal notes, “Facebook wants us to think there are no alternatives to their algorithms (that undermine democracy) & that laws cannot keep up w their tech. That’s A Lie. Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Chris Wylie has a different view. His advice to 38 Governments.” Jebreal links to Chris Fox’s BBC interview with Wyile about a new report published by the Forum for Information and Democracy that offers up ideas for how social media might be regulated.
The boundaries between journalism and its interlopers
Mark Coddington and Seth C. Lewis of Nieman Lab have written about an interesting new study examining the question, how do audiences view the boundaries between journalists and social media content creators? As the study findings show, in some key ways, audiences judge them the same.
Tweets Hunter Schwarz, “A study on how audiences view journalists vs. influencers found the standards people expect of journalism — editorial independence, working for their audience and not advertisers, etc. — are bleeding into their expectations for influencers.”
The study also explores how news organizations use TikTok, challenges in covering white nationalism, newsbot–audience communication and the organizational behavior of Russia Today.
The steady and calm voice
Looking back at the frenzied coverage of the election by the cable networks, “Screen-addled America was glued anew to the tube this election season, and on the old-boy Cable News Network, this young woman was a breakout star.”
Alexandra Jacobs is referring to CNN’s Abby Phillip, and to learn more about the journalist whose deliberate commentary and context stood out “in an election dominated by fast-talking policy dudes,” be sure to read the profile of Phillip by Katherine Rosman of The New York Times, Abby Phillip of CNN on Donald Trump and More.
“Well-deserved plaudits for @CNN’s smart and elegant @abbydphillip, who was terrific all year and broke out on election night,” says Kevin Sack. Adds Elizabeth Holmes, “Thrilled to see this @NYTStyles piece on my CNN election coverage fave @abbydphillip, the steady and calm voice amid all the stressful screaming. Then I saw @katierosman wrote it. Of course she did! A must read.”
What they’re facing, what we’re facing
US journalists weren’t the only ones keeping a close eye on our elections. Poynter’s Kristen Hare spoke with local journalists from Kenya, Canada, Turkey, Poland and Brazil on what's next for U.S. journalists. “Intl journalists shared what they’re facing, what we’re facing & thoughts about how to cover this transition,” she shares.
Meanwhile, Misinformation Is Threatening Brazil’s Elections, Too, as Robert Muggah, Louise Marie Hurel and Pedro Augusto Francisco report at Americas Quarterly. “Today, social media is very much a battleground in which politicians leverage their digital mobs for political advantage, and the vast majority of the offensive content in circulation is propagated by individuals with extreme right sympathies,” they write. “Worrying implications for democracies around Latin America,” tweets Brian Winter.
It’s time to rebuild local news
“After nearly four years swimming through a tangled morass of chaos, misinformation, and an executive power hostile to its purpose, the US media is coming up for air,” notes Lauren Harris, and in her new piece for Columbia Journalism Review, she argues that now we need to rebuild local newsrooms. Tweets CJR, “So many civic challenges are tied to the destruction of local news. It’s time we act like it.”
On Twitter, Harris adds, “Frustrated with hyper-partisan discourse? Rebuild local news. Don’t know the first thing about how national politics will affect your community? Rebuild local news. Don’t see yourself represented in national narratives? Rebuild local news.”
At Digiday, Steven Perlberg takes a look at how a crop of startups are trying to make for-profit local news work. As he tweets, “from Axios Local to @davidplotz’s new podcast startup City Cast, people are once again trying to make for-profit local news work.”
Simon Owens thinks, “Axios’s move into local newsletters is super interesting. I’m actually quite bullish on this strategy. Consumers love local news roundups delivered by email and local businesses are hungry to place native ads in these newsletters.”
It’s all about the money
Although Trump is leaving the White House, he’s not likely to be out of the public eye any time soon. And now, sources tell Mike Allen of Axios that Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network. Rodrigo Campos thinks “He must feel comfortable to try and take down Murdoch... who hasn’t had a string of bankruptcies. Oh and democracy be damned. It’s all about the money.”
Mia Jankowicz of Business Insider has more details on that Axios scoop that Trump wants to start a digital media channel to take revenge on Fox News and usurp its audience when he leaves office.
Substack’s moment
Jon Allsop tells us, “On the subject of covering this terrible year and what might come next for the press, @CJR is today starting to roll out a new magazine that will look at this transitional moment from a bunch of different angles. First up today: @cliomiso on Substack.” He links to Clio Chang’s Columbia Journalism Review profile of The Substackerati.
Highlighting “The most successful people on Substack are those who have already been well-served by existing media power structures,” Anna Codrea-Rado shares, “For me, the tension with Substack is that in order to succeed, you need to be more entrepreneur than writer.” Adds Lainna Fader, “‘Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system—or replicate the flaws of the old one?’ is a v interesting question and given that only wealthy white men seem to be able to make it financially workable, seems pretty much same old same old!”
However, Megan McArdle says, “Greenwald, Sullivan and Yglesias got so big by starting blogs that they could sell to traditional publications. They are not monetizing an audience they acquired through larger institutions, but reclaiming one they created themselves.”
‘Not a healthy sign’
Al Jazeera is reporting that India has issued an order bringing the regulation of online news portals and content providers such as Netflix under the authority of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a first step to regulate digital media. News on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will also come under the ministry, as will audio-visual content on online platforms.
Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of thewire.in news website, told Al Jazeera, “In my view, digital media is already regulated and if the government is looking for an additional layer then this is not a healthy sign and no democracy has this kind of a thing. That in itself should give us reason to be cautious.”
A few more
- From Andy Meek at Forbes, These 5 Journalists Will Help You Understand The World Better In 2021.
- On Veterans Day last week, Military Veterans in Journalism announced a $250,000 investment from the Knight Foundation aimed at supporting veterans through six-month fellowships, workshops, mentorship and two paid staff positions for MVJ. As Poynter’s Kristen Hare points out, vets only make up 2% of journalists. This group wants to change that.
- Max Willens of Digiday reports that news publishers are dialing up the marketing heat on their subscription products. Nieman Lab highlights “One example from @maxwillens: In the last six months (during the pandemic!), @dallasnews has been experimenting with more short-term, affordable subscription options.”
- Disney Plus Subscribers Surpass 73 Million Mark as of October. Elaine Low has those details at Variety, and David Friend notes, “In less than a year, Disney Plus amassed 73.7 million paying subscribers (as of Oct. 3). That compares to Netflix's roughly 195 million subscribers signed up over about a decade.”
- As John Otis puts it, “The anarchy in Peru has been bad for the press.” The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 35 journalists have been injured covering anti-government protests in Peru.
From the Muck Rack Team
How about something good for a change? Every month for the past three years, we’ve shared the worst of the worst for our feature, “The month in bad PR pitches.” But PR pros are also wondering, what about the journalists who are tweeting about good pitches? As Jessica Lawlor says, weary, PR pro, this one’s for you. Head over to the Muck Rack Blog for our roundup of This month in good PR pitches.
For over a decade, PR professionals across the globe have turned to the 7 Barcelona Principles as a common framework for measuring the effectiveness of their PR and communications efforts. First adopted at a summit convened by the International Association of Measurement and Evaluation Communication (AMEC) in Barcelona, Spain in 2010, the principles have been a driving force in moving communications practitioners away from antiquated metrics like AVE and towards measurable goals and outputs. Recently, AMEC released Barcelona Principles 3.0 to serve as a reminder that how words are translated and interpreted internationally truly matters. As Muck Rack’s Emma Haddad discusses on the blog, the updated Barcelona Principles explain how to measure PR in context.
PR pros love a peek inside the minds of the journalists they pitch and work with on stories. Muck Rack recently had the opportunity to chat with Beau Yarbrough, investigative and watchdog reporter for the Southern California News Group. Get to know him a bit better in our feature, 6 questions with Beau Yarborough.
Also on the blog, Jennifer Lay, Vice President of Xenophon Strategies, a boutique crisis communications and issues management PR firm based in Washington, D.C., discusses how she uses Muck Rack to save time building media lists, easily connect and follow-up with top tier media by pitching directly in-platform, and streamline team processes and collaboration for list-building and pitching. Read on to find out how Xenophon Strategies uses Muck Rack to achieve PR goals.