10 years after Serial: Nieman Lab looks at crime news now

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, October 28, 2024 [10 years after Serial: Nieman Lab looks at crime news now]( In our package: Digital news outlets reimagine the crime beat; TikTok creators balance ethics and money; public radio stations see more true crime in their future; AI might reshape court reporting. By Laura Hazard Owen. [In 2020, talk of “defunding the crime beat.” Where are we four years later?]( “Sometimes as journalists, we move around with an attitude that the community is just not going to [understand] us….I think that’s a huge obstacle to being able to do this better.” By Sarah Scire. [The future of true crime sounds like…public radio?]( Amid the downturn in audio, some executives think the public radio model — with a dash of true crime — might provide a way forward. By Neel Dhanesha. What We’re Reading NPR / David Folkenflik [Total meltdown: An astonishing 200,000 subscribers have canceled The Washington Post since Jeff Bezos blocked a Kamala Harris endorsement →]( “More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters…The figure represents about 8% of the paper’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well. The number of cancellations continued to grow Monday afternoon.” Semafor / Max Tani [Four Washington Post opinion staffers have now resigned their roles over the non-endorsement controversy →]( David Hoffman and Molly Roberts join Michele Norris and Robert Kagan. “I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.” Times Insider [The New York Times answered reader questions about its election coverage →]( Who picks headlines? Is The New York Times “sane-washing” Donald Trump? Why does the Times conduct polls? Press Gazette / Bron Maher [Bloomberg launches a Weekend product to bring in new subs and give existing ones a reason to stay →]( “It’s more important to me that we have the right stories that really help people think in a different way on the weekend and that it’s completable, so that it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming scroll of too many stories on the weekend.” CNN / Brian Stelter [How social media video clippers have become some of the most powerful outlets of the 2024 campaign →]( “They watch campaign events and cable newscasts for hours on end, looking for the standout moments — those worth clipping and sharing with millions of people via social media…There are a handful of media commentators and activists who post day and night and have outsized influence because the moments they catch and clip inspire news stories, TV segments, and fundraising campaigns.” Bloomberg / Amanda Mull [Print magazines are having a (limited) revival in 2024 among high-end readers →]( “Several titles across genres, including Field & Stream, Nylon, Saveur, Sports Illustrated, and Vice, have committed to restarting their previously abandoned physical products in 2024. Small, print-forward indie publications, such as Apartamento, Bitter Southerner, the Drift, and HommeGirls, continue to eke out space in their respective niches, and they’ve been joined by dozens of print upstarts every year since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.” Financial Times / Hannah Murphy and Peter Andringa [Twitter is nowhere near hitting its 2024 revenue goals from political advertising →]( “Last year, X chief executive Linda Yaccarino told industry figures she was aiming to make $100mn annually in political ad revenues in an election year…trying to offset revenue losses caused by big brands pulling spending from the platform. However, data from X’s political ads transparency library analyzed by the Financial Times show that the company has brought in less than a fifth of its target as of October 23.” The Verge / Wes Davis [Instagram saves the best video quality for its most popular content →]( “In general, we want to show the highest-quality video we can…But if something isn’t watched for a long time — because the vast majority of views are in the beginning — we will move to a lower quality video. And then if it’s watched again a lot then we’ll re-render the higher quality video.” The New York Times / Neil MacFarquhar [Media organizations criticize Israeli strike that killed three journalists →]( “Both Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, and [Ziad T. Makary, Lebanon’s minister of information] called the attack a ‘war crime.’ The prime minister, who posted a statement on X, said, ‘This deliberate aggression certainly aims to intimidate the media to cover up the crimes and destruction being committed.'” The Wall Street Journal / Isabella Simonetti [CNN’s Dana Bash, a trusted political referee, is having a moment →]( “Bash’s calling card among the Washington political elite is that she doesn’t play favorites. She has developed a reputation for maintaining ties on both sides of the aisle, making her part of a dwindling group of TV personalities whom big-name Republicans and Democrats seem to trust.” Press Gazette / Dominic Ponsford [Guardian journalists have backed a strike over a possible sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media →]( “According to the NUJ, an ‘overwhelming’ 93% of the group’s journalists, on a turnout of 70%, indicated their willingness to take strike action and 96% voted in favor of action short of a strike.” Semafor / Max Tani [How Democrats are helping restore Fox News to cable dominance →]( “Democrats’ recent flirtation with Fox also reflects a changing of attitudes. Top Harris aides also do not harbor the same personal grievances with Fox that Biden’s team did.” The Guardian / Keir Starmer [Keir Starmer: Journalism is the lifeblood of British democracy, and my government will protect it →]( “I am determined to show that traditional democratic British values are the only way to deliver the change that working people need — that is my political project in a nutshell. And there can be nothing more traditional, democratic or British than a robust free press, fearlessly holding the powerful to account.” The Hollywood Reporter / Karin Klein [Ex-Los Angeles Times editorial writer: Why I resigned over the endorsement call →]( “If Soon-Shiong had decided early last spring that he no longer wanted to endorse on presidential races, that would have been fair, neutral and legitimate…But by making the decision at the 11th hour, when the candidates are in place, polls are tight and almost anything can throw the race one way or the other, Soon-Shiong’s anti-editorial stance is actually a de facto decision to do an editorial — a wordless one, a make-believe-it’s-invisible one that unfairly implies grievous faults in Harris that put her on a level with Donald Trump.” The New York Times [Like The New York Times daily word game Connections? Try Connections: Sports Edition →]( “Group sports terms that share a common thread,” under The Athletic’s brand. 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