April 16, 2024

• NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism (NPR) / NPR CEO faces criticism over tweets supporting progressive causes (New York Times)

• Did Donald Trump fall asleep in court? Why the trial is posing challenges for reporters and the public (CNN) 

• Strategic buyers breathe new life into struggling media outlets (Axios) 

• Smartmatic and conservative broadcaster OAN settle defamation suit (New York Times)  

• Dozens of Alden newspapers run coordinated editorials slamming Google (Axios) 

• The 'fake news'-ification of local news, and what to do about it (Columbia Journalism Review) 

• The AI that could heal a divided Internet (Time) / Is there enough text to feed the AI beast? (Semafor) / Fortune teams up with Accenture on new gen-AI research tool (Media Post) 

• Twitter/X might charge all new users a 'small fee' before they can post, like, and reply (Mashable) / Verified pro-Nazi X accounts flourish under Elon Musk (NBC News) / X reverses course, tells Brazil court it will comply with rulings (Reuters)

• ‘Reporters at the New York Times have been instructed to restrict the terms 'genocide' and 'ethnic cleansing' in their reporting of the war in Gaza, and to use the word 'Palestine' only in very rare cases, according to a leaked memo shared with The Intercept’ (Reuters Institute)

• Dow Jones Smart Money, a collection of free-to-read personal finance content, launches today (PR Newswire via Financial Times)

• New York Times promotes Lauren Jackson as associate editor of daily newsletter, ‘The Morning’ (Media Post) / TVLine names Kimberly Roots editor-in-chief, Matt Webb as chief content officer and Rebecca Iannucci as managing editor (PMC) / John Sterling, longtime Yankees radio voice, retires after 35-year run (The Athletic) 

• The silly, serious British Press. On fake news, honey traps, and brutal cuts (Columbia Journalism Review) / BBC plans to abolish automatic pay rises for top earners, including on-screen stars (Deadline)

• From Scoop to Civil War: Why is it so hard to portray journalism on screen? (The Guardian) 

Press Freedom

• U.S. Supreme Court rejects Des Moines police department appeal in photographer's lawsuit over 2020 protest arrest (Des Moines Register via Yahoo News) 

• Moscow court arrests in absentia exiled journalist Mikhail Zygar (Moscow Times) / Ukraine Russia war: BBC Russian journalist Ilya Barabanov branded 'foreign agent’ (BBC) 

• India's journalists intimidated into silence, says veteran broadcaster (Voice of America)  

Why ethics matter

“Journalism encompasses a broad range of delivery systems and practices. Some are more reliable than others, but all suffer from a diminishing level of public trust. If responsible journalism is to survive and regain the public’s trust, journalists need to dedicate themselves — proudly and publicly — to basic ethical principles: truth, independence, compassion, and transparency.”

-- Fred Brown, Society for Professional Journalists Ethics Committee chair on why ethics matter in honor of #SPJEthicsWeek.

Join us tomorrow for a conversation with standards editors on building credibility

Strong journalistic standards and systems can help to chart the course for combatting mis & disinformation while rebuilding trust in the news media.

Join us tomorrow at 11:30 am ET for a conversation with standards editors from ABC News, The Associated Press, Axios, POLITICO, and Voice of America. They will raise the curtain on the important discussions that guide their outlets’ coverage. 

Participants will learn: 

• The types of conversations that go on in newsrooms when determining coverage on difficult topics, especially those tied to crises and other disinformation-rich news events

• Factors to consider related to language choice, story/coverage framing, and other critical decisions made during the reporting and editing process 

• Practices to determine validity and value of crowd-sourced content 

• Coverage considerations that can impact civic participation

This program is part of the Institute’s four-part training series focused on ethics in the age of disinformation. The series, produced in part with funding from the Inasmuch Foundation, is designed to provide tools and best practices to support ethical, trustworthy journalism.

Resources

• Tips for Journalists: How to access & customize the LexisNexis database (May 17, 11:30 am ET)
• Guide to accurate and compassionate reporting on drug and alcohol use during pregnancy (Bixby Center for Global and Reproductive Health)
• Journalists create a database of case studies, tip sheets, and other resources related to building local news audiences (Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, University of North Carolina)

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Bara Vaida, and Holly Butcher Grant. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

Get this from a friend? Subscribe, and view the archives.