Need to Know
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Useful insights for people advancing quality, innovative and sustainable journalism
|
You might have heard . . .
Far-right, far-left media offer easier-to-read political news coverage than mainstream outlets (The Journalist’s Resource)
. . . but did you know:
‘Hyper-partisan’ politicians get four times the news coverage of bipartisan colleagues (The Hill)
A new study of extreme partisan politics found that Marjorie Taylor Greene, deemed the most “hyper-partisan” member of Congress, received 10 times as much news coverage in the 2022 election cycle as Don Bacon, the most bipartisan member of Congress. This was true even though Bacon was running in a close race while Greene faced an easy reelection. Overall, a study of the seven most and least partisan members found that the more partisan Congresspeople earned four times as much coverage as the least partisan. The study was co-commissioned by Starts with Us, a group that seeks to counter excessive partisanship in politics; they are calling on news organizations to feature more bipartisan politicians and create recurring segments on bipartisanship.
+ Noted: CNN wins first Oscar for ‘Navalny’ (Variety); Group Black submits bid of about $400 million for Vice Media (Wall Street Journal); The Messenger, a media start-up, aims to build a newsroom fast (The New York Times)
|
Americans seek stories of solutions and inspiration from the media (Substack, More in Common)
More in Common, in collaboration with the American Press Institute, sought to find out what Americans want to read or watch in the media. Findings suggest Americans want a balance of positive and negative stories and have a desire to see more solutions-oriented reporting. Americans also view national media as more helpful for understanding others who are different from them and see local media as more helpful for learning about issues that impact people’s everyday lives.
|
What newsroom leaders should know about working with Gen Z employees (The Fix)
As more members of Gen Z enter the workforce, Anastasiia Shevchenko writes that their expectations about the workplace could shake up newsrooms. Members of Gen Z are more willing to “walk away” from jobs that are stressful or require unreasonable sacrifices. Gen Zers also prioritize mental health, and they don’t mind talking about it in professional settings. And Gen Z is far more diverse than previous generations. “A lack of diversity and representation in media is likely to discourage young people from pursuing journalism as a career,” writes Shevchenko.
|
How BBC host's tweet, suspension upended UK's sports weekend (ABC News)
Last week, British soccer player turned TV host Gary Lineker was suspended from the BBC after tweeting that the government’s new asylum policy was comparable to Germany policy in the 1930s. In response, many hosts and reporters refused to appear on air in solidarity with Lineker, disrupting sports coverage across the BBC. The suspension has called into question the BBC’s strict idea of impartiality and how it applies to the social media requirements of freelancers like Lineker.
|
Why every checkout counter in America sells those $14 magazines (Poynter)
Special interest publications, sometimes called bookazines, are high-priced periodicals devoted to single issues like a classic movie or the death of a celebrity. These magazines, mostly published by Dotdash Meredith and a360media, are the only magazine segment to see a growth in sales in the last few years. Instead of marketing these as inexpensive “impulse buys,” special interest publications cost between $13 and $14 and are positioned as a highly curated keepsake for deeply engaged readers.
|
The scale of local news destruction in Gannett’s markets is astonishing (Nieman Lab)
In the wake of Gannett’s most recent annual report, Joshua Benton argues that “no company has done more to shrink local journalism than it has in recent years.” While Gannett is generally viewed as less pernicious than Alden Global Capital, since its merger with GateHouse, the chain has lost half of its employees and closed 30% of its newspapers. Benton argues that the chain’s extreme budget cuts have contributed to a mass drop-off in circulation for its papers — and a huge decline in quality. “Gannett has increased local ignorance at a scale no other company can match,” he writes.
|
|
Reply to this email to send us questions, comments or tips. Know someone else who should be reading Need to Know? Send them this link to sign up.
|
