The Tortoise Weekly Newsletter

Good morning. Welcome back to the Tortoise weekly newsletter.

Back in April, I published my first newsletter to mark our first birthday here at Tortoise. In that same week, we were meant to be decamping our whole newsroom to the 5th floor of the Tate Modern. Through lunchtime ThinkIns, surprise guests, an exhibition and art talks by our editors, we were going to explore the theme of power. 

One of the key missions of Tortoise is to help address, and close the power gap. Our ThinkIns are at the heart of helping us tackle the "closed" nature of news and the secrets of power.  

But in the week that Dominic Cummings, here in the UK, reminded us all how power corrupts - yes he was an odd fellow even before Covid-19 - the manner in which this week's story has unfolded really is a reminder of how easy it is that once in power, to forget - and become corrupted and elitist. 

Back in January, we hosted a ThinkIn in our newsroom on Dominic Cummings - looking back at this clip it’s good to see that slow and open news, not only stands the test of time, but can also provide those insights we can often miss in the noise of the endless newsfeed. Do take a quick look. 

Being slow and open, helps us listen harder. So, here are my four picks from this week that feel relevant when thinking about power in its many guises. Let me know what you think. 

1. Amazonia

Taking a look at power in a different guise, a long running project at Tortoise is Tech Nations - covering tech giants as countries not companies. Our first series was on Apple back in January - next week, Tech Nations Part Two takes on Amazon - a global company that seems to have morphed into an even more powerful entity during the pandemic. The question many asked at our ThinkIn this week - Is it time to break Amazon up? - will also be the topic of next week’s Tortoise story. Have a watch of the ThinkIn here - but don’t miss next week’s Tech Nations File. If you are not yet a member - Take a 30 day Free Trial. 

2. Powerful Lessons

We all know the power of a university education as an indicator of future economic potential. I am the first generation in my family to have gone to university, and have benefited from not only this, but so much more. My memories of university include: never quite making it to a lecture - the lure of the Kings Arms opposite the History Faculty always got in the way; collective all nighters in the library - pro plus and a diet coke; college bops, bars and balls - hours making friendships that will last a lifetime and, the occasional book read, essay written and question of history discussed. But for hundreds of thousands of students, their upcoming experience might not be so life-affirming. In this week's file Chris Cook explores universities in crisis and what will happen to them post Covid-19 - you can read it here. 

Do also subscribe and download our weekly podcast, the Slow Newscast, which narrows in on Swansea University, the sister city to Wuhan - not sure there will be many exchange students this year. 

3. Resistance journalism

"[Farrow's] work, though, reveals the weakness of a kind of resistance journalism that has thrived in the age of Donald Trump: that if reporters swim ably along with the tides of social media and produce damaging reporting about public figures most disliked by the loudest voices, the old rules of fairness and open-mindedness can seem more like impediments than essential journalistic imperatives. 

 That can be a dangerous approach, particularly in a moment when the idea of truth and a shared set of facts is under assault."

On Tuesday, Ben Smith from The New York Times joined us in our virtual newsroom for an Open News ThinkIn in light of his takedown on Ronan Farrow. Tortoise is drawn to taking on the powerful and giving a voice to the voiceless - and today, social media narratives are another source of power for us to scrutinise. Yet Ben warned us of the impulse felt by many journalists to side and feed social media narratives. Resistance journalism sounds quite appealing - yet it clearly comes with risks and rewards. 

4. The aliens are coming

As if 2020 couldn't get much stranger, it seems we're not the only ones emerging from a lockdown. After 17 years underground, a species of cicadas (members of an insect superfamily) are beginning to make an appearance again. Scientists at Virginia Tech University expect as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre to emerge later this year in parts of Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia meaning there will be a lot of noise due to the 'alien-like wail' they produce. You can track the cicadas on Cicadas Mania here. Strange times indeed. 

Thanks for reading and stay well,

Katie.