AX Mina | Nieman Journalism Lab

Articles by AX Mina

AX Mina is director of product at Meedan and cofounder of The Civic Beat.

We can’t predict the future — but it’s essential to plan for it

“In our increasingly complex world, to really think about the future of news, we have to think across disciplines: technology platforms, youth trends, global public health, and civic institutions.”

We navigate deep uncertainty with community

“As much as it can feel like very little can be done, we all have agency to shape and define the futures we’d like to see.”

Journalism in a time of permacrisis

“The work ahead needs to include supporting the whole person in the workplace and ensuring we have the energy, joy, and spirit to show up fully for our selves, our teams, and our audiences in difficult times.”

When care becomes a core tenet of journalism

“Issues of care extend not just to newsrooms but also to how we do the news; our audiences are suffering, too.”

2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary

“Calling 2020 a black swan takes away from the fact that COVID-19 and the misinformation surrounding it were utterly predictable.”

The Forum we wanted, the forum we got

“Without proper care, public spaces like the Roman Forum — designed first and foremost as a place for commercial and state business — can readily become places of exclusion, rumor, disease, politicking, exploitation and open violence as they steadily approach entropy.”

The death of consensus, not the death of truth

“We need a vision for a new journalism, and a clear path to supporting and sustaining it in a world where consensus can no longer be taken for granted.”

Memes and visuals come to the fore

“What concerns me more than the fact that memes and visuals spread misinformation is the idea that the media industry as a whole may be falling behind agents of disinformation when it comes to fluency with the norms and practice of internet culture. This leaves many journalists and audiences vulnerable to new forms of manipulation.”

2017 is for the attention innovators

“New strategies of attention have shaped many of the (often divisive) outcomes of recent referenda and elections across multiple continents, and they will continue to be a driving force in 2017 and beyond.”

Adapting to a more global, more diverse Internet

“Thanks to denser networks that foster better pipelines for attention, the Internet gives communities a pathway directly to newsrooms.”