Peter Bale - curated media news - bothsideserism; disinformation, and more
Why the press needs to shed ingrained habits to meet the defining crisis of our time.
Margaret is great and observes acutely but I find it hard not to occasionally feel uncomfortable when journalists are asked to call out an egregious political stunt in the course of reporting. This is a bit of a work in progress for me personally but I do hate the "playbook" or "sports" approach to political reporting where everything is about tactics and wins.
Similar issues with this. We do need to find ways to insert genuine fact checks and accurate information into reporting. It is really hard to do in real time but it should be part of the job to give readers access to the real deal.
These localised threats to western reporters are doubly fascinating given the extent to which Chinese publishers, and especially the international broadcast CGTN, actively try to put western countries in bad light with their portrayals of politics, disaster, and mayhem.
The Times has done a great job of technology in the newsroom but I suspect that going up against Substack is another thing entirely. It is another indication though of the phenomenon that newsletters have become which means effectively, email is back as a medium.
This is an old piece but there's been some talk this week about how to charge for the odd bit of reporting, so it's relevant all again. I worry we really are losing a golden age of free access to good journalism.
Friends of mine at Reuters are dealing with this appalling loss. I thought this was a beautiful record of some great work.