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A Hungarian investigative news site finds YouTube success with an “old-fashioned” documentary
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A Hungarian investigative news site finds YouTube success with an “old-fashioned” documentary
“In a bizarre way, the government propaganda also helped create some buzz around the film.”
By Sarah Scire
ProPublica wanted to find more sources in the federal government. So it brought a truck.
“It’s funny how you can know nothing about something like LED billboard trucks and then suddenly become an expert in them.”
By Neel Dhanesha
Far fewer Americans are hearing about Trump’s attacks on the media this time around, report finds
It’s not because they’re tuned out entirely. About 40% of Americans say they’re paying more attention to political news with Trump in the White House for a second time.
By Sarah Scire
How can we reach beyond the local news choir? Spotlight PA’s founding editor has ideas
In the wake of the 2024 election, where “democracy” was not a top issue for most voters, local news messaging focused on democracy may not suffice to build the broad coalition essential to give local news in the U.S. a sustainable future.
By Sophie Culpepper
Robert W. McChesney, America’s leading left-wing critic of corporate media, has died
After studying the early days of radio, McChesney developed a holistic critique of media structures that exposed how open they were to manipulation by those in power.
By Joshua Benton
“Some hard and important lessons”: One of the most promising local news nonprofits looks back — and ahead
The National Trust for Local News is a nonprofit organization with a mission so important even its harshest critics want it to succeed.
By Sarah Scire and Sophie Culpepper
Jeffrey Goldberg got the push notification of all push notifications — and a hell of a story
His inclusion on a high-level Signal chat about American war plans highlights how the Trump administration is operating — and how much of a threat it is to a free press.
By Joshua Benton
There’s another reason the L.A. Times’ AI-generated opinion ratings are bad (this one doesn’t involve the Klan)
At a time of increasing polarization and rigid ideologies, the L.A. Times has decided it wants to make its opinion pieces less persuasive to readers by increasing the cost of changing your mind.
By Joshua Benton
The NBA’s next big insider may be an outsider
While insiders typically work for established media companies like ESPN, Jake Fischer operates out of his Brooklyn apartment and publishes scoops behind a paywall on Substack. It’s not even his own Substack.
By Jordan Teicher
Wired’s un-paywalling of stories built on public data is a reminder of its role in the information ecosystem
Trump’s wholesale destruction of the information-generating sectors of the federal government will have implications that go far beyond .gov domains.
By Joshua Benton
New York Times bundles give European publishers a subscription boost
“There’s no reason to think this shouldn’t work in most markets where subscription-based payment is already well advanced.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
A Hungarian investigative news site finds YouTube success with an “old-fashioned” documentary
“In a bizarre way, the government propaganda also helped create some buzz around the film.”
By Sarah Scire
ProPublica wanted to find more sources in the federal government. So it brought a truck.
“It’s funny how you can know nothing about something like LED billboard trucks and then suddenly become an expert in them.”
Far fewer Americans are hearing about Trump’s attacks on the media this time around, report finds
It’s not because they’re tuned out entirely. About 40% of Americans say they’re paying more attention to political news with Trump in the White House for a second time.
What We’re Reading
House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats
House Democrats are investigating the FCC’s “abuse of authority” in investigating news companies Trump dislikes
“We write to express deep concern over your actions to target and intimidate news organizations and broadcasters in violation of the First Amendment…directing FCC staff to devote time and resources to bogus investigations constitutes a violation of the law, gross mismanagement, extreme waste of funds, and an abuse of authority.”
The Verge / Emma Roth
Substack says it’ll legally defend writers “targeted by the government”
“Substack plans to protect foreign writers ‘residing lawfully’ in the U.S. who may be targeted by the government for what they write. The company is partnering with the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) to provide legal support to impacted writers — whether they publish on Substack or not — citing recent attacks on free speech.”
American Journalism Project
John Thornton, venture capitalist and Texas Tribune founder, dies at 59
“John was the godfather of nonprofit local journalism. He had the radical clarity and moral urgency to see that saving local news wasn’t just necessary — it was possible.”
The Fix / Romain Chauvet
How European publishers are approaching Trump 2.0 coverage
“We will not write anything just to show what character he might have. Purely national decisions that don’t alter the ways of the rest of the world are usually not covered by us on a daily basis.”
Axios / Sara Fischer and Felix Salmon
Newsmax valuation soars in MAGA media boom
“It’s unusual for a standalone cable news network to go public, especially in this environment, as advertising sales for traditional networks face pressure from streaming. But Newsmax has seen its ratings climb in the wake of President Trump’s election.”
The New Yorker / Joshua Rothman
Are we taking AI seriously enough?
“The message, for those of us who aren’t computer scientists, is that there’s no need for us to weigh in. Either AI fails, or it reinvents the world. As a result, although AI is upon us, its implications are mostly being imagined by technical people. Artificial intelligence will affect us all, but a politics of AI has yet to materialize. Understandably, civil society is utterly absorbed in the political and social crises centered on Donald Trump; it seems to have little time for the technological transformation that’s about to engulf us. But if we don’t attend to it, the people creating the technology will be single-handedly in charge of how it changes our lives.”
The Guardian / Michael Savage
“I can’t cope with it any more”: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off
“After discovering that a third of those ditching their subscriptions complained of news fatigue, executives at Spain’s eldiario.es started looking at a new product that concentrated on the best news of the month, or stories with a constructive angle. Dagens Nyheter in Sweden is another outlet consciously including more positive pieces even on difficult topics.”
New York Times / Benjamin Mullin
What happens if Republicans cut off funding for NPR and PBS?
“In February 2011, NPR assembled a 36-page document that detailed exactly what would happen if the Treasury stopped cutting checks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the government-backed company that supports NPR and PBS. The document, which has not previously been reported, is bleak. It describes a precarious radio system that will bear the blow poorly, with consequences for listeners across the nation….NPR can weather the funding cut, its document predicts, thanks in part to aggrieved listeners: Executives predict a sudden boom in donations if Congress defunds it, as listeners rush to defend their favorite programs. But they will likely give more in big-city markets.”
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
Vox sees a boom in paying readers for explainer journalism in Trump’s second term
“[Editor-in-chief and publisher Swati Sharma] said the ‘biggest difference’ from Trump’s first term was ‘the types of stories people are hungry for’: last time, the dominant narrative was the ‘palace intrigue’ inside the White House…[in] this administration, almost for everyone, there is more of a desire of explanatory journalism and understanding the context.”
The Guardian / Oliver Milman
“Chaos”: Trump cuts to Noaa disrupt staffing and weather forecasts
“Noaa’s data collection activity is still being affected, though, with the agency reducing the number of weather balloons it releases in six locations across the US. The balloons, fitted with weather instruments, are crucial in providing the information for weather forecasts.”
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