Local newspapers are vanishing. How should we remember them?

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, October 16, 2023 [Local newspapers are vanishing. How should we remember them?]( As smaller newspapers shrink or disappear, it’s easy to romanticize the role they played. But one reporter’s memories of the heyday of local journalism reveal a much more complicated reality. By Daniel Golden, ProPublica. What We’re Reading Los Angeles Times / Greg Braxton [CNN hopes hosts Laura Coates and Abby Phillip can revive the brand →]( “Phillip and Coates say their respective shows will move beyond the headlines and be more analytical than the standard CNN newscast. They also praised the network for elevating two Black women into its prime-time slate.” The Guardian / Maryam Foumani [Iran is accused of threatening “terrified” BBC Persian staffers in London →]( “The Guardian has been told that journalists at the BBC’s Persian language news outlet are being targeted with offensive messages and threats of sexual assault, with reports of family members based in Iran being arbitrarily detained. In one message, an Iranian-British journalist working for the BBC says she was told: ‘On Westminster Bridge is a very deep river. It doesn’t matter that you don’t live in Iran — we can also do whatever we want in London.'” The New York Times / Emma Goldberg [At least 11 journalists have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far →]( Nine Palestinian, one Lebanese, and one Israeli. “Sherif Mansour, coordinator for the Middle East at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said journalists in Gaza were trying to get information out while also scrambling to evacuate and protect their families. Many have lost their houses and offices, and some are working in a hospital because it’s the only place where they can get electricity and internet.” Bluesky [Threads might not be sure, but Bluesky definitely wants to be the journalists’ friend →]( “The size of our user base is rapidly growing, and our users include people who follow political news, sports, entertainment, and more….On Bluesky, journalists and news organizations can self-verify by setting their website directly as their username. For example, some newspapers’ handles that already exist on Bluesky include @nytimes.com, @washingtonpost.com, and @npr.org.” The Guardian / John Naughton [Elon Musk’s master plan: Keep users in the dark, feed them dung, and watch sales mushroom →]( “Welcome to social media, Musk-style. When he first bought what was then Twitter, the image that came to mind was of a delicate clock being donated to a monkey. That has turned out to be an understatement. In his desperation to find a way of getting the platform to earn enough revenue to pay off the debt he incurred to buy it, Musk has become a pretty malignant monkey.” The Verge / Alex Heath [What happens to Snap? →]( “Snapchat’s business goals continue to shrink. Does Evan Spiegel have what it takes to turn things around/” Semafor / Max Tani [Wall Street Journal reporters were split over its Iran-Hamas story →]( “Three people with knowledge of the situation told Semafor that before the story was published, veteran staffers on the national security team at the paper raised concerns about the story, which was written by three of the paper’s correspondents based in the Middle East. Reporters from the Washington, D.C. bureau said that they could not directly confirm the explosive string of allegations shared by their colleagues abroad, and sought more time before publication.” Semafor / Ben Smith [The NewsGuild is demanding a peek inside Ben Smith’s emails →]( “Lawyers for the Guild and its top officers demanded last fall that [Payday Report editor Mike] Elk ‘identify every individual associated with the New York Times that you have communicated with regarding the lawsuit and the allegations…and state the contents of each communication.'” Politico / Brian Rosenwald [Conservative media is to blame for the chaos in the House GOP →]( “The leaders of conservative talk radio and cable news have spent years assailing GOP congressional leaders — including [Kevin] McCarthy — and they are largely responsible for turning far-right rebels like [Matt] Gaetz into stars. Going back to the 1990s, conservative media created the political ecosystem in which torching and targeting Republican leaders is good politics on the right.” Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt [The world’s largest news publisher on TikTok? The Daily Mail →]( “Don’t be surprised if you hear a member of Gen Z saying the Daily Mail ‘slays’ on TikTok or that it’s gone ‘hard af’ with its ‘fire edits.'” The New York Times / Kate Conger [Australia fines Twitter for not providing information on child abuse content →]( “Australia said on Sunday…that the social media service had told officials that its automated detection of abusive material declined after Elon Musk bought the company. The amount of the fine is 610,500 Australian dollars, or about $384,000.” Press Gazette / Aisha Majid [Norway’s biggest daily doubles audio audience with AI-voiced articles →]( “The robot voice, which is based on that of Aftenposten podcast host Anne Lindholm, gives audiences the option to listen to individual articles. Comparing the number of unique listeners of Aftenposten’s podcasts with those who have used the AI-generated listen-to option on its text articles, the publisher found there was little difference between the two — with younger audiences in particular being drawn in by the audio option.” The Verge / Mia Sato [WordPress sites can now officially publish to ActivityPub and the fediverse →]( “ActivityPub allows social networks to talk across platforms, meaning users can see and engage with content on other platforms from where they are without making a new account.” BBC News [BBC journalists held at gunpoint by Israeli police →]( “Muhannad Tutunji, Haitham Abudiab and their BBC Arabic team were driving to a hotel on Thursday when their car was intercepted. They were dragged from the vehicle — marked ‘TV’ in red tape — searched and pushed against a wall…Mr Tutunji and Mr Abudiab said they identified themselves as BBC journalists and showed police their press ID cards.While attempting to film the incident, Mr Tutunji said his phone was thrown on the ground and he was struck on the neck.” The Guardian / Mark Sweney [The auction of the U.K.’s Telegraph poses a litmus test for value of newspapers in the digital age →]( “Media barons and conglomerates, who have hung on to old-world assets for decades in the belief it was right to bet on a sector largely unfancied by tech-obsessed investors, are watching it keenly.” The Guardian / Clea Skopeliti [BBC headquarters were sprayed with red paint in protest over Israel-Hamas coverage →]( “A pro-Palestinian protest group has claimed responsibility for throwing red paint over the BBC’s headquarters, accusing the broadcaster of having ‘blood on its hands’ over its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.” The Verge / Wes Davis [The next, cheaper Apple Vision Pro follow-up still won’t be cheap →]( “Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that the more affordable follow-up to the Apple Vision Pro will ‘likely’ ditch the external display to help it reach an internally-discussed price point between $1,500 and $2.500.” Forbes / Alexandra S. Levine [AI makes real news anchors report fake stories →]( “Doctored news broadcasts relying on the voices and faces of high-profile journalists appear to be a newer, and potentially more dangerous, tack.” Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Eduardo Suárez [BBC expert on debunking Israel-Hamas war visuals: “The volume of misinformation on Twitter was beyond anything I’ve ever seen” →]( “I have not seen a single deep fake. There have been a few AI-generated false images, but they were not that good.” AP News / David Bauder [While the news industry struggles, college students are supplying some memorable journalism →]( “When you ask [Theo Baker] how his year has been, he says it’s been hell, adding an expletive for emphasis. He’s been called out of class to learn of threatened legal action. Another nasty lawsuit threat came on the day after Christmas. Professors would pull him aside to say they were impressed by his work, but were afraid to be seen in public with him.” NBC News / Brandy Zadrozny [How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions →]( “Funded through aggressive online and real-world marketing campaigns and big-money conservative donors, The Epoch Times now boasts to be the country’s fourth-largest newspaper by subscriber count. (Unlike most major newspapers, The Epoch Times isn’t audited by the two major independent collectors of circulation data.) The nonprofit has amassed a fortune, growing its revenue by a staggering 685% in two years, to $122 million in 2021, according to the group’s most recent tax records.” Columbia Journalism Review / Kyle Pope [“Pay no attention to audience metrics” and other advice from outgoing CJR editor Kyle Pope →]( “We need to think of this as a much longer game. Information now enters the media bloodstream in all kinds of different ways, some immediate, some longer-term.” [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](