Reflections on journalism’s busy fall, with an eye on 2023
We’re off the road, closing out 2022 and planning for next year
When I was working for Digital First Media a decade ago, I started taking pictures from the many hotel rooms I was staying in, each capturing a reflection of me against whatever was outside. It was a boredom killer and a way to chronicle the thousands of travel miles I was piling up each month.
I’ve now done more than 300 of these #nighttimehotelreflections photos, and they have a tiny-but-devoted following – heck, I’ve even spawned some imitators. But I don’t know that I’ve ever posted as many as I have in the past eight months. Since March, I have been going nonstop – as has the rest of the Journalism team – hitting conferences, visiting grantees, doing reconnaissance on potential grants and attending inspiring dinners like those hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Center for Journalists. It has been a grueling-but-inspiring time.
But that part of 2022 is over, and there won’t be many planes, trains or automobiles to worry about for the rest of the year. Instead, the journalism team will be hunkering down to make sure we get our committed 2022 grants approved and all our payments out the door. This means we won’t be able to start conversations about potential new grants until January. So if you’re ready to hit “Send” on that proposal but are wondering whether you can have a little more time to refine it, feel free to take it. 😀
Before the end of 2022, we’ll use this newsletter to lay out for you how the Journalism team will operate in 2023. We’ll talk about our areas of strategic focus, which team members will handle which, the best methods for reaching us and much more. The idea is to assure that everyone in the field has some real insight into how we operate and why we operate that way.
But, because this is a holiday week, I wanted to keep this edition short and sweet. So Happy Thanksgiving to all, and thanks for being a subscriber to this newsletter. 🦃
Other news around the horn…
Nonprofits
🌎 NewsMatch creates its own center of gravity. What began as a brainstorm by former Knight Vice President of Journalism Jennifer Preston in 2016 has turned into a massive nonprofit news fundraiser on track to help 320 newsrooms raise $50 million this year. It’s a simple idea: harness national and local funders to provide matching funds for newsrooms so they can pitch donors on a multiplier effect for each dollar they give. Mississippi Today, for instance, is now offering donors a 4x match for every donation, thanks to local and national matches. What started as 17 matching funds in 2016 has ballooned to include nearly 1,000 matching local businesses, major donors and local and family foundations last year. “When you grow local news, you accelerate positive change in your communities,” said Josh Stearns of Democracy Fund, a longtime partner in NewsMatch. Follow along and give at NewsMatch.org this month and next.
🚦Signal Cleveland launches with “resident-first perspective.” It’s easy to get caught up in the $7.5 million the new nonprofit in Cleveland raised from funders including Knight, American Journalism Project and local foundations and donors. But what’s most impressive is how community-centered Signal Cleveland is right from the start. They already have a corps of Cleveland Documenters covering public meetings. They’re creating a vibrant library of explainers and civic resources, with this guide to the city’s Board of Control leading the site recently. “We’re committed to reporting on a variety of topics from the resident-first perspective and to holding our local leaders accountable,” wrote Lila Mills, Signal’s editor-in-chief.
Research
💡Discuss the future of democracy, tech and media. Once the turkey’s been served, the football games are over, and your indigestion is easing up, it’s time to tune into “Informed,” a free online event on November 28–30 produced by Knight’s research team to delve into the future of democracy in the digital age. Featured speakers include Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, the secretaries of state of Michigan and Georgia, and Doha Mekki from the Department of Justice. Get ready to geek out on media policy and register now!
🤔 Does local news matter? Why, yes, it does. The American Journalism Project produced a series of four online conversations between nonprofit news organizations and researchers. The takeaways? Local news is vital to democracy; it offers trusted information and holds the powerful to account; and nonprofit journalism offers a model that moves away from partisan politics and focuses on local issues. The power-packed panels included publishers such as San José Spotlight, Documented, WFAE and Nevada Independent, with researchers from Louisiana State University, George Washington University and Temple University. Check out the summaries and video from the panels here.
Technology
🤖 Toronto Star automates break-and-enter stories, context not included. While the Toronto Police Service reports 35 to 55 break-and-enter crimes each week, the daily Toronto Star doesn’t have the staff to write about all of them. Instead, they automated stories based on the open data from the police, with six roundups each week. Critics were not impressed, saying the stories lacked context and could perpetuate stereotypes about poorer neighborhoods. But Cody Gault, product manager for content at the Star, told Nieman Lab that break-ins actually happened most often in more populated areas, and that the series has helped free up reporters to cover other topics in more depth. The paper also automates health inspection reports for local restaurants.
📺 Move over, gramps. Millennials flock to streaming TV news. The old evening newscasts from the networks have genuinely become old, with Nielsen reporting the average age of viewers being over 65. The networks pivoted to free ad-supported streaming newscasts such as ABC News Live, NBC News Now and CBS News Streaming, found online and on smart TVs. While they started small, their audiences are growing, with an average age 25 years younger than the evening news shows. Plus, CBS also added local streaming news from stations in its 13 markets. “I have daughters who are in their 20s, and they don’t watch our programming on linear television and I don’t think they ever will,” ABC News President Kim Godwin told the LA Times. “They’re well informed, getting their news from a variety of streaming, digital and social media channels.”
Jobs
📰 The weekly Lakeville Journal in northwest Connecticut is looking for a CEO and publisher with some digital knowhow to remake this recently christened nonprofit.
Upcoming Events 📅
Informed from Knight Foundation
Online
November 28–30, 2022
Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit
Online
January 31–February 1, 2023
Knight Media Forum
Miami
February 21–23, 2023
Nashville
March 2–5, 2023
Austin
March 10–12, 2023
International Symposium for Online Journalism
Austin
April 14–15, 2023
Tweet of the Week
News @ Knight Credits
Written by Jim Brady, with Mark Glaser
Edited by Jessica Clark and Kara Pickman