Ron DeSantis is weaponizing partisan media — and weakening independent sources of news

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Thursday, February 16, 2023 [Ron DeSantis is weaponizing partisan media — and weakening independent sources of news]( “Part of what makes DeSantis different is how he has paired his efforts to elevate partisan media with public policies meant to destabilize independent media.” By Jason Garcia. What We’re Reading Democracy Fund / Sarah Gustavus Lim [Launching a news ecosystem hub: Lessons from New Mexico →]( “I founded the New Mexico Local News Fund in late 2018 after more than 10 years working as a local journalist there.” The Atlantic / Jennifer Senior [What not to ask me about my long Covid →]( “A few months ago, I told a higher-up at The New York Times — we’re talking very high altitude — that I’d been struggling with long Covid. His reply: ‘Is that the excuse everyone at The Atlantic uses when they’re unproductive?'” The Guardian / Ankita Rao [I recently became a mom. It changed the way I view journalism →]( “In my new world, I see every photo or video and think: someone worked so hard to keep this person alive.” Journalism.co.uk / Jacob Granger [How The Conversation is attracting younger readers →]( A text message service is “leveraging the phenomenon known as ‘Sunday Scaries,’ the anxiety felt on a Sunday evening about the looming work week ahead.” New York Times / Norimitsu Onishi [After news anchor’s long career, she found herself the focus of the story →]( “A household name in Canada for decades, Ms. LaFlamme was [unceremoniously dismissed]( last summer by CTV, the country’s largest private television network, after what her employer described as a ‘business decision’ to take the program [‘in a different direction.’]( departure set off multifaceted debates across Canada, especially after The Globe and Mail newspaper reported it may have been [linked to Ms. LaFlamme’s hair]( — which she had chosen to let go gray during the pandemic when hair salons and other businesses shut down.” Vox / Peter Kafka [YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down →]( Wojcicki — one of the most prominent women in tech — started at Google running marketing, helped build its online ad business, and at one point ran the company’s video service that was trying to compete with YouTube. She ended up arguing that Google should buy the site instead. Columbia Journalism Review / Jem Bartholomew [How can newsrooms better serve communities of color? →]( “What made the Pittsburgh project so important was that it was an ecosystem-wide analysis. We didn’t just look at one newsroom in the city, we looked at five. We identified how they as a collective could work together for better coverage.” Court House News / Natalie Hanson [Nebraska violated state law by requiring a news org to pay $44,000 for public records, a judge ruled →]( “The duty is clear, and the statute is unambiguous,” the judge wrote. (The independent news organization Flatwater Free Press had requested public records from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.) ProPublica / Charles Ornstein [How ProPublica’s local stories reach the communities they report on →]( “We do best when our stories are picked up by a wide range of other outlets, from television to radio to news sites.” New York Post / Ryan Glasspiegel [Sports Illustrated’s newest round of layoffs includes top editors →]( “We are saying goodbye to 17 colleagues and have created 12 new openings to reflect the new needs of the SI business,” according to an internal memo. The Hill / Lauren Sforza [Survey: 78% say AI-written news articles would be “a bad thing” →]( “More than 90% of Americans said that they are aware of AI, and of that number, 35% reported hearing about recent developments in AI technology, according to the poll. Around 60% also said they have heard of ChatGPT — an online AI program that can write responses to typed-in prompts.” Columbia Journalism Review / Mathew Ingram [Concerns about TikTok balloon again in Congress →]( “TikTok has recently launched a full-court media press, including taking journalists on a tour of its ‘Transparency and Accountability Center,’ a new facility inside the company’s offices in Los Angeles. Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, has agreed to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month. Per the Journal, this will be the first time that such a senior TikTok staffer has testified before Congress.” Esquire / Brian Stelter [Succession’s family drama looks tame compared to the real-life Redstones →]( An interview with the authors of Unscripted, a new book detailing the deterioration of “sex-obsessed” media mogul Sumner Redstone and a multi-part battle for control of his companies, CBS and Viacom. The New Yorker / Liz Maynes-Aminzade [A life in crosswords: An interview with Will Shortz →]( “Crosswords today are so much better than they were even ten years ago, which are better than the puzzles ten years before that. The grids are more interesting and more colorful than ever before. You have less crosswordese and stupid obscurity, and more lively, colorful, juicy vocabulary.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](