The world is on fire etc.

Media statistic of the week 

According to a new Gallup/Knight Foundation study, “American Views 2020: Trust Media and Democracy,” Americans agree the news media is under attack; they diverge on whether it’s justified. 

Four in five Americans (80%) agree that the news media is under attack politically. However, “Democrats appear more concerned with those who are attacking the news media and its adverse impacts on both journalists and our democracy writ large, while Republicans tend to believe the problem lies with the media itself. Partisans also diverge on whether those attacks are justified.” The study found that 70% of Democrats say the media is under attack, and those attacks are not justified, while only 41% of independents and 13% of Republicans hold this view.

This week in media history

On September 27, 1962, Rachel Carson’s watershed work “Silent Spring” was first published. Originally serialized in The New Yorker, the book shed light on the damage that man-made pesticides inflict on the environment. Its publication is often viewed as the beginning of the modern environmentalist movement in America.

This past week in the media industry 

Hungry for the coverage

Here’s a statement that’s hard to argue with: “It’s 2020, and things have gotten to the point that we may not have the bandwidth to pay attention to all the existential threats we’re facing at once.” That’s Fran Berkman, writing for Digital Content Next. But while it’s natural to worry that focus on one crisis may reduce much-needed focus on another, Berkman explains that the data show a more complicated story. In fact, even though U.S. media coverage of climate change has declined, the audience has not.

“I looked into how coronavirus has impacted climate change in the news. Not surprising that the amount of articles has gone down. Journalism resources were limited even before the virus hit. But it turns out readers are still hungry for the coverage,” he says. “The world is on fire etc, but climate change coverage has DECREASED in recent months. With the pandemic and depleted media finances, there's insufficient bandwidth & sometimes resources. ..Fiddling while Rome burns…” tweets Peter Schwartzstein.

They represent the future 

So, who is covering climate? At the Guardian US, seven Generation Z climate activists from across the United States are. These first-time voters have come together to curate a special climate edition of the Guardian “to bring attention to the physical and mental burdens that our generation is saddled with due to the negligence of past generations. We want to highlight environmental justice during this election season,” they write.

Meanwhile, College newspaper reporters are the journalism heroes for the pandemic era, Elahe Izadi writes at The Washington Post. The pandemic has devastated the local news business, but college newspapers are more energized than ever, she notes. 

“Something is happening with college journalism. The level of interest was already remarkable. Now a new generation of reporters are being forged by the pandemic. They’re covering whole towns, beyond campus. And they seem unafraid of confronting power,” tweets Jodi Kantor.

“This one goes out to student journalists everywhere,” says Brian Manzullo, who adds, “Have said it before, will say it again: Student journalists are journalists, and they represent the future in an industry that gives them plenty of reasons to run.”

A warning (or two)

Jeffrey Goldberg advises, “Consider this @noUpside piece a warning.” In a new piece for The Atlantic, Renee DiResta reveals how The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite. On Twitter, she shares, “I wrote an article for The Atlantic on the age of AI-generated media and text, and how society will adapt to increasing unreality. Since I’ve been playing with GPT-3 for a few weeks, I used it to generate some of the writing in the article (verbatim).”

“Where ever legislatures continue to fiddle while their nation’s Internet burns, computational propaganda personalized to profiles will flood messaging & social media platforms, putting an even higher premium on trust & verification by media,” tweets Alex Howard.

Meanwhile, in a memo to the newsroom, Marty Baron is warning Washington Post staff about covering hacked materials. As Joe Pompeo reports at Vanity Fair, nearly four years since the Podesta email dump blew up the 2016 race, the Post’s top editor is urging his newsroom to slow down in handling leaks and beware of echoing propaganda. Claire Landsbaum calls it “A major case of lessons learned for the media at large.”

Tough love

Meg James and Daniel Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times take a look at what’s been going on in their newsroom for their piece, L.A. Times shaken by a summer of turmoil and scandals. As Jones puts it, “It’s been a summer of troubles for the L.A. Times. My dear colleague @longdrivesouth and I looked at the current controversies.”

Hernandez adds, “It gave us no joy - quite the contrary - diving into this topic. But for the good of the paper, the good of the newsroom, and in service to our readers, I followed @MegJamesLAT’s ace instincts and skills, and we came up with this. I U forever @latimes.” “As hard as some of these revelations are to read, I’m really glad that a story analyzing the shortcomings of the @latimes is able to appear in our paper,” tweets Emily Alpert Reyes.

And then, a few days later...an “Incredible look by @latimes at its own racism, an apology and a path to change in the future.” Lisa Fung links to The L.A. Times’ reckoning with racism, a project that Mónica Rhor says “should serve as a model for every media outlet, including the one where I work. Newsrooms can’t accurately or adequately cover race until they turn a clear, unblinking eye on the racism - past & present.”

“A lot of introspection in the L.A. Times today — for its failures to be a newspaper for all people. This came as the result of some powerful organizing over the spring and summer by our colleagues in the Black and Latino caucuses of @latguild,” Matt Pearce shares.

Raising an old journalistic question

In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg wrote about her nearly five decades long friendship with the judge. It was a beautiful memorial to her friend, but was that friendship a conflict for NPR?  

That’s the question Paul Farhi tackles in his Washington Post piece, in which he notes, “The relationship raises an old journalistic question: Can a reporter, committed to neutrality and balance, fairly cover a public figure with whom they have a close friendship?” 

While Jon Campbell says, “I’m glad somebody wrote this because I thought I was losing my mind,” Erika Leigh says, “I feel like, as a journalist, we have the responsibility to get to know the people we are covering intimately. As long as your friendship doesn’t cloud how you cover your stories, I don’t see the issue.” And Justin Katz thinks, “This seems unfair to @NinaTotenberg. We’re in a world where reporters *regularly* post photos of themselves with the people they cover at bars and other parties. Ignoring that, but going after Totenberg seems wrong.”

Even so, it’s “Worth nothing that there are very few working journalists that can dismiss ethical concerns of this magnitude. The rules are not the same for everyone,” says Kainaz Amaria. And on that note, NPR’s Public Editor Kelly McBride agrees that NPR Should Have Revealed the Totenberg-RBG Friendship Earlier. Transparency is the issue, says McBride. “By not discussing its views publicly,” she writes, “NPR leaves open the possibility that there is one set of standards for senior, elite journalists, and another set of standards for the rest of the staff.”

“The public gets to decide if journalism is fair. And to do that, they need information about how it's produced. That's core to our work at @TrustingNews. Thanks, @kellymcb, for giving me the chance to weigh in on this,” tweets Joy Mayer.

Always listen to...

In a column for Nieman Reports, AP’s Global Investigations Editor Ron Nixon argues that Newsrooms Need a Plan to Diversify Investigative Teams, Too. Or as Kimbriell Kelly puts it, “@nixonron on what I've been saying all summer. ‘While it is important to have journalists of color in the newsroom...attention needs to be focused on WHERE they are in the newsroom... it’s important that we don’t forget about investigative teams.’” “You should always listen to @NixonRon -- but especially today,” tweets Alison Kodjak.

Holding them accountable

With Facebook continuing to drag its heels, some experts have decided to take things into their own hands. As Olivia Solon reports at NBC News, some of Facebook’s most vocal critics are tired of waiting for its independent oversight board — so they’re starting their own. The new board is a project developed by The Citizens, a U.K.-based advocacy group founded by Guardian and Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who shares on Twitter, “Facebook is a weapon. A private company, controlled by one man, being used to undermine democracy. We urgently need to hold it to account. Before it’s too late. Today we launch the Real Facebook Oversight Board @FBoversight to try & do just that. Join us.”

Meanwhile, James Vincent of The Verge reports that Twitter is bringing its ‘read before you retweet’ prompt to all users. The prompt shows up when people go to retweet a story they haven’t clicked through to actually read. As Michelle Sammet points out, “So many people use the RT button like there’s no tomorrow. Hope this will help some to become a little more mindful of what they put on their followers’ timelines.” Adds Jon Reed, “cool - too bad the ‘think before you tweet’ prompt is not in development.”

Also at The Verge, Ashley Carman reveals why the days of reposting images on Instagram might be over: Facebook will let people claim ownership of images and issue takedown requests. As she says, “this is actually potentially massive news bc it could upend how instagram works. lots of accounts repost images and grow based on other people’s work. that practice could end very soon.”

New and noteworthy

Radio Milwaukee has launched a new podcast about its city’s systemic racism. Current’s Grace George has the details on the podcast, “By Every Measure.” The title is a reference to the station’s data-driven approach to discussing systemic racism and how the Black experience in Milwaukee trails that of other residents by every quality-of-life metric.

The Markup has released Blacklight, “a real-time website privacy inspector that illuminates the hidden tracking technologies on any website (data detectives, assemble!),” tweets Surya Mattu. As Julia Angwin explains, “Journalism is supposed to afflict the comfortable. So we built an app for that. Introducing Blacklight – a privacy tool that lets you scan any website and see how you are being surveilled. Built by the incomparable @suryamattu.”

In his Tech and Media Newsletter, Simon Owens shares how he ran an NPR-style pledge drive to grow my newsletter. “A lot of potential subscribers aren’t all that eager to hand over their credit card information, and a concentrated nudge that only occurs once or twice a year can be just enough to tip them over the edge,” he explains.

Variety reports that its parent company, Penske Media Corp., has set a deal with MRC to operate Billboard, Vibe and The Hollywood Reporter under a newly formed joint venture, dubbed PMRC. In other words, “Almost every major entertainment + music trade publication is owned by one person,” as Lucas Shaw points out. Courtney Smith is “Interested to see how this consolidation under one company goes. How much downsizing...?”

Congrats?

CBS News reported last week that a Manhattan judge tossed out a defamation lawsuit against Fox News after the network argued no “reasonable viewer” takes Tucker Carlson seriously. The suit had been brought by Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who took a $150,000 payoff to squelch her story of an affair with a pre-presidency Donald Trump. She alleged that Carlson slandered her by calling the payout “a classic case of extortion.” 

“You win a lawsuit, but you win it because a judge rules that nobody believes what you say anyway. IS that a win?” Al Tompkins wonders. In fact, as Howard Fineman says, “This is what your call your ‘Pyrrhic Victory.’” 

This. Is. Too. Real. 

Lastly, Ashley Soley-Cerro tells us, “I was thinking about this article while trying to meditate, so now I’m tweeting it.” Here’s Anne Helen Petersen at Wired on How Work Became an Inescapable Hellhole, kicking it off with an unsettlingly familiar play-by-play of the daily routine. As Julie Vadnal says, “This. Is. Too. Real. (And I’m a freelancer!)”

The piece, which is adapted from Petersen’s new book, “Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation,” looks at how technology, instead of optimizing work, has created a nonstop barrage of notifications and interaction. Terri Rupar highlights, “‘my thumb goes to Instagram for truly unknown reasons’ YES WHY.” 

“I just shared this in Slack at 7:51 am and am now tweeting it so I think it has a point,” tweets Joseph Lichterman. And Kristina Lucarelli shares, “Things I did while reading this extremely relatable piece by @annehelen: 1. Bought clothes online 2. Responded to Slack messages 3. Prepped some docs for a meeting later today. 4. Checked Instagram.” We won’t detail our own process here except to say that we agree with Drew Prindle: “This hits home.”

A few more 

• Lara O'Reilly of Digiday explains how Apple’s latest anti-tracking changes are presenting a fresh headache for publishers. On Twitter, she shares, “Publisher ad rates for Safari users have already dropped 60% since Apple introduced its ITP tracker blocker in 2017. Now it's extending that blocker to *all* browsers on Apple devices -- and clamping down on an ITP getaround some vendors were using.”
• On Digiday’s “The New Normal,” Allison Murphy, Senior VP of Ad Innovation at The New York Times, discussed How The New York Times is reshaping its ad business for a cookie-less world.
• In writing about how the media handled last Wednesday’s Breonna Taylor ruling, Tom Jones of Poynter notes, “News leaders sifted through the legal talk and got straight to the point — and the outrage.”
• Brian Steinberg of Variety reports that CNN is shuttering Great Big Story, a streaming-video hub that launched in 2015. It was billed as a way for CNN to compete with upstarts like Vice or Buzzfeed and reach a younger generation increasingly turning to short-form video. Tweets Lisa Fischer, “wow, so incredibly bummed out by this news. @greatbigstory was *the* best internship i’ve ever had and gave a voice to some of the best storytellers i know. what a loss.”

From the Muck Rack Team

The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism’s News Integrity Initiative recently published a report in partnership with Frontline Solutions that outlines how journalism is at odds with its core principles to seek truth and best serve the public, and continues to struggle with diversifying its newsrooms and building trust with changing audiences. The News Integrity Initiative’s Managing Director Jenny Choi has captured some key ways to get started on a path to doing better, in a must-read post on the Muck Rack Blog, Reforming tone-deaf narratives to tell honest and inclusive stories.

As events came to a screeching halt this past spring with the onset of COVID-19, event planners and speakers were left scrambling to find solutions that continued to draw in attendees. Every event became a virtual one — and attendee fatigue followed. How do event planners and speakers create a compelling experience for virtual event attendees? You can start by reading Michelle Garrett’s latest post for the Muck Rack Blog, in which she offers 8 ways speakers can make virtual events more engaging for attendees.

Question of the week

What are your thoughts on that old journalistic question: Can a reporter, committed to neutrality and balance, fairly cover a public figure with whom they have a close friendship?