Ignore the coming election bump

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, December 11, 2023 Today we continue our [Predictions for Journalism 2024]( series, which will run through next week. [Ignore the coming election bump]( “When internet users do not engage with news, it is not because they can’t engage with it. It is because they do not find it worth their while.” By Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. [Experts — not influencers — will cover more Black news]( “Misinformation is the new norm, Black culture is the American mainstream, and we, like any other community, are owed a chance of knowing the truth.” By Dominic-Madori Davis. [A major sports betting journalism scandal is coming]( “The same way Donald Trump’s candidacy is a test for the norms and practices of American political journalists, legalized sports gambling is a test for the norms and practices of sports journalists.” By Brian Moritz. [This election year, don’t forget there’s more than one story]( “A general audience is not looking for more news about war. They are looking for an emotional and intellectual break from things like war.” By Eric Nuzum. [AI gets widely adopted by smaller newsrooms]( “Local news managers who initially brushed off our requests to participate in our prior survey wrote back to us and asked for help with AI.” By Ernest Kung. [Journalists will go on camera for social video]( “When it comes to platforms preferred by young people, like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, research shows that audiences there prefer to listen to influencers, celebrities, and ordinary people, all over journalists.” By Julia Munslow. [Too many news orgs adopt right-wing frames about trans people]( “Reporters and editors have unconscious biases. In the case of trans people, that often manifests in worrying more about people who may mistakenly identify as trans — and regret that decision — than about the challenges that trans people face.” By Gina Chua. [More public funding for local news]( “The local news fellowship model is gaining traction in states beyond California and may be a way to test the country’s comfort with public financing of news.” By Christa Scharfenberg. [News publishers find their brand voice on social]( “How many times have we had perfect opportunities to jump on trends — but seen the hours it takes to get approval shut the doors to the engagement party on us?” By Candace Amos. [Durable over disposable]( “When we listen to people in our community, they want stories that don’t feel like they will be out of date in a few hours.” By Eugene Sonn. [Returning to a contextual focus]( “There is no future in the programmatic display market for publishers. It’s a path to nowhere.” By Thomas Baekdal. [Publishers embrace open source]( “In 2024, we’ll see more publishers drop closed systems in favor of products that aren’t at the whim of Silicon Valley execs.” By Dana Lacey. What We’re Reading New York Times / Ed Yong [Ed Yong: “Reporting on long Covid taught me to be a better journalist” →]( “The patient-centric approach is sometimes dismissed as advocacy, which is positioned as antithetical to journalism. In fact, it’s simply good journalistic practice to give weight to the most knowledgeable sources.” The Washington Post / Tom Rosenstiel and Mariana Meza Hernandez [Actually, people don’t hate the media as much as you think →]( “Nevertheless, that exaggerated narrative of media disaster is becoming a problem in itself. It gets in the way of news organizations taking steps to make matters better, and it feeds an anti-press narrative easily exploited by manipulative politicians. If journalism is going to rebuild its business model and its connection to the public, we need to understand more clearly what people think of it and what they need from it.” ([See also]( The Washington Post [The Washington Post takes a page from Spotify Wrapped with annual social-first wrap-up for readers →]( “In addition to discovering the kind of journalism read most often and receiving recommendations for continued reading, subscribers are now gifted a video with a special message from their most-read journalist.” New York Times / Kate Dwyer [The Nation magazine will publish monthly starting in January →]( The progressive magazine will move to publishing 84 pages once per month — instead of the current 48-page edition currently published every other week — in 2024. Subscriptions have grown 3.8% this year for a total around 91,000. About 80% of the subscriptions are print. Schibsted [European publishing giant Schibsted is taking its news companies private →]( “Schibsted’s remaining businesses would remain as a publicly listed company (preliminarily named ‘Schibsted Marketplaces’) on the Oslo Stock Exchange, consisting of the current business areas Nordic Marketplaces, which includes Delivery, and Growth & Investments.” WSJ / Isabella Simonetti and Keach Hagey [Tucker Carlson is launching his own subscription-supported streaming service →]( “Tucker Carlson Network, whose logo resembles a red pill, will cost $9 a month—or $72 a year—and will initially be solely available through Carlson’s website.” Semafor / Max Tani [A financial news site is using AI to copy competitors wholesale →]( “One of the most highly-trafficked financial news websites in the world [Investing.com] is creating AI-generated stories that bear an uncanny resemblance to stories published just hours early by other competitors.” The Guardian / Edward Helmore [“It’s hell being famous”: The violent death of an S-Town character raises questions of podcast ethics →]( “Last Sunday Tyler Goodson was fatally shot by police in what law enforcement described as a standoff, saying Goodson, 32, had ‘brandished a gun’ at the officers. His death — he was declared ‘brain dead’ on Tuesday — came eight years after the suicide of his friend and antiquarian horologist John B. McLemore.” Financial Times / Oliver Barnes [End times: The Daily Mail is planning to put up a paywall for some stories →]( “As part of the changes, MailOnline, one of the world’s most popular news sites, will charge users in its home market [the U.K.] to read a select 10-15 articles a day, according to a person familiar with the plans — although the vast majority of the nearly 1,500 stories published by the site every day will remain free-to-read.” The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin [Shari Redstone is said to be in talks to sell her controlling stake in Paramount and CBS →]( “In recent weeks, National Amusements has held talks with Skydance, the media and entertainment company founded by David Ellison, who is the son of the billionaire founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison. It’s unclear whether a deal will be reached, and the value the talks place on Ms. Redstone’s stake couldn’t be determined.” Front Office Sports / Michael McCarthy and A.J. Perez [Following its AI scandal, Sports Illustrated let two top execs go →]( “Manoj Bhargava, the 5-Hour Energy drink owner whose firm earlier this year purchased a controlling stake in The Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated, introduced himself in a meandering video call…’No one is important,’ Bhargava told staffers, per one source on hand for the presentation…’The amount of useless stuff you guys do is staggering.'” Press Gazette / Bron Maher [Seven years after being founded to oppose Brexit, The New European is now profitable, with 33,000 paying readers →]( “The pro-Europe, weekly publication ended November with more than 28,000 subscribers, a 62% year-on-year increase. Some 17,400 of the subscriptions are digital and 10,800 subscribe in print…Combined with average weekly newsstand sales of 5,000, [editor Matt] Kelly said the publisher now had a ‘headline paying readership’ of 33,000 a week.” The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr [A CBS reporter refusing to reveal her sources could be held in contempt →]( “U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled Aug. 1 that [Catherine] Herridge must reveal how she learned about a federal probe into a Chinese American scientist who operated a graduate program in Virginia — the subject of several stories Herridge reported [while working] for Fox.” The New York Times / Frances Robles, Ken Bensinger, and Jeremy W. Peters [The conundrum of covering Trump has landed at Univision’s doorstep →]( “While Univision’s shift may upset some Democrats, it reflects the political and business reality: To grow, Univision leadership believes, the company needs to change its programming to better serve the Hispanic voting population, which recent elections and polling suggest is inching to the right.” Press Gazette / Rozina Breen [63 journalists killed in 63 days: The silence from newsrooms is deafening →]( “The silence from many newsrooms about the deaths of journalists in this conflict — including my own to date — has been deafening…Journalists have a fundamental right to cover the news. And they are facing exponential risk in Gaza.” Associated Press / Dasha Litvinova [Russia has put journalist Masha Gessen on its wanted list for criminal charges →]( “Russian media reported last month that a criminal case against Gessen, an award-winning author and an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was launched over an interview they did with the prominent Russian journalist Yury Dud…the two among other things discussed atrocities by Russian armed forces in Bucha, a Ukrainian town near Kyiv that was briefly occupied by the Russian forces.” The New York Times / John Koblin [Cable is turning into Zombie TV →]( “During one 46-hour stretch last week, USA [Network] showed repeats of NBC’s ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ for all but two hours, when it showed reruns of CBS’s ‘NCIS’ and ‘NCIS: Los Angeles.'” [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. 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