This political era has nearly killed off newspaper endorsements for president

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, October 24, 2022 [This political era has nearly killed off newspaper endorsements for president]( In 2016, U.S. newspapers were nearly unanimous in rejecting Donald Trump. Blowback from his supporters didn’t change their opinions — it only made them keep quiet about it. By Joshua Benton. What We’re Reading The Wire [Indian news site The Wire has retracted its stories about Meta →]( “We are still reviewing the entire matter, including the possibility that it was deliberately sought to misinform or deceive The Wire. Lapses in editorial oversight are also being reviewed, as are editorial roles, so that failsafe protocols are put in place ensuring the accuracy of all source-based reporting.” Press Gazette / Aisha Majid [The Washington Post is the global push notifications champ, sending 147 over two weeks in September →]( Beating out 116 for the BBC, 112 for The New York Times, 98 for CNN, 71 for the AP, 61 for Bloomberg, 45 for The Guardian, and 34 for both The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. “In 2021, the worldwide publishers on [Airship’s] platform…collectively sent 446 billion push alerts, a 2% increase compared to 2019 and 28% more than in 2018.” The New European / James Ball [The man who would be media king, Mathias Döpfner →]( “Unless you count the Scottish-born Logan Roy in Succession, Europe has long lacked a media mogul to whom the English-speaking world pays any attention…Most controversial of all, in US circles at least, is his apparent support for Donald Trump — and his desire to make Politico a counterweight to what he reportedly sees as a tack to the left from the New York Times and the Washington Post.” The Guardian / Edward Helmore [Hosts leaving, viewers switching off: Why U.S. talkshows are past their prime →]( “If the traditional rules of late-night comedy are changing, and the profits it summons for the networks are diminishing, then that’s in keeping with award shows and primetime — everything in fact except sport, which demands live viewing.” BBC [54% of listens on BBC Sounds are for live content, not podcasts →]( Also 65% of total listening time. “This quarter BBC Sounds launched Local To Me, a new feature that helps listeners find more content relevant to their area, and the power of local radio was also demonstrated when the Liz Truss BBC Local Radio Interviews was the most listened to episode of Newscast since the podcast began.” The Moscow Times [Russia’s RT has suspended a host who called for people to “drown” and “burn” Ukrainian children →]( “[Anton] Krasovsky, a pro-war presenter under EU sanctions, said Ukrainian children should be ‘thrown straight into a river with a strong current’ or ‘burned in a hut’ for calling Russians occupiers.” The New York Times / Kate Conger, Ryan Mac and Lauren Hirsch [Twitter tries calming its employees as a deal with Elon Musk looms →]( “Employees’ fears were stoked on Thursday when The Washington Post reported that Mr. Musk planned to cut Twitter’s staff by as much as 75 percent in the coming months, reducing its work force to a little over 2,000 people.” Semafor / Ben Smith and Max Tani [A top Fox lawyer’s “big screw up” could reveal some of Lachlan Murdoch’s secrets →]( Viet Dihn’s not being licensed to practice law in California for nearly four years “could open up otherwise privileged, and potentially sensitive or embarrassing, communications with Murdoch to discovery because they don’t qualify for attorney-client privilege.” The Washington Post / Pranshu Verma [Reporting in Iran can get you jailed. This outlet is doing it anyway. →]( “Iran Wire has become an essential player using technological savvy and internet sleuthing to determine a death toll from the protests. Its live video footage is regularly shown on CNN. IranWire’s network of citizen journalists — everyday citizens wanting to hold the government accountable — help it break news on stories capturing global attention…” Breaking the News / James Fallows [“There are only five media stories” →]( Quoting Margaret Sullivan’s new memoir: “There was the ‘Evils of Facebook’ column; the one about the tragedy of local newspapers’ decline at the hands of hedge-fund owners; the Fox News damage-to-society column; the ‘don’t magnify political lies’ column; and the one about the mainstream media’s intransigent flaws.” Press Gazette / Andrew Kersley and Charlotte Tobitt [Al Jazeera’s U.K. journalists are the latest to vote to strike →]( “The group chapel revealed that, on an 80% turnout, 96.97% of those who voted backed strike action while 100% called for action short of a strike.” The Guardian / Danielle De Wolfe [The great podcast robbery? Sony and Spotify accused of stealing shows →]( “In the last couple of weeks alone, two David vs. Goliath pod battles have again raised the question: Why does it seem so easy to get away with stealing podcast ideas?” The Globe and Mail / Marie Woolf [Facebook warns it could block Canadians’ access to news over Ottawa’s online news bill →]( “The tech giant upped the stakes in the battle over the online news bill, warning it may block Canadians from sharing or viewing news content out of frustration over the government’s ‘misguided’ approach. Facebook issued its warning after it was not called to give evidence before a Commons committee considering Bill C-18 to voice its concerns and suggest changes, alongside Google.” The New York Times / Tiffany Hsu [In testing by researchers, TikTok was happy to run most false ads about upcoming elections →]( “TikTok failed to catch 90 percent of ads featuring false and misleading messages about elections, while YouTube and Facebook identified and blocked most of them, according to an experiment run by misinformation researchers, the results of which were released on Friday.” (YouTube caught them all.) Associated Press [A senior Pakistani journalist killed by police in Kenya was a “case of mistaken identity” →]( “Arshad Sharif, 50, had been living in Kenya after leaving Pakistan in July to avoid arrest after criticising the country’s powerful military. Nairobi police said Sharif was shot in the head and killed on Sunday night after the car in which he was traveling with his brother, Khurram Ahmed, drove through a roadblock on the Nairobi-Magadi highway.” The Guardian / Jim Waterson [The Telegraph quickly deleted a pro-Boris Johnson article after he quit the Tory race →]( “Telegraph journalists have privately mocked the decision, suggesting it was an attempt to spare the blushes of a senior Conservative politician — only for it to rapidly backfire as archived copies circulated online.” Vulture / Nicholas Quah [When a Supreme Court podcast gets you fired from your day job →]( “I don’t know exactly how they found out about it. If I had to guess, I would say we were profiled by the [New York] Times in July and there was a picture of us in that piece.” Artnet News / Sarah Cascone [Meet the illustrator behind the colorful “Great British Bake Off” drawings →]( Tom Hovey was working an entry-level editing job at a new cooking show when he confessed to his bosses that he was an aspiring illustrator and that the T.V. job was nothing more than a paycheck to him. As it happened, that show was Bake Off. New York Times / Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson [Are we past peak newsletter? →]( “A Substack co-founder, Hamish McKenzie, said it was inaccurate to associate Substack with other media and tech companies that had cut back on newsletter products. He said the company was more similar to tech platforms like Twitch and OnlyFans.” The Daily Beast / Justin Baragona [Here’s what it takes to get banned from Newsmax →]( “Newsmax condemns in the strongest terms the reprehensible statements made by Lara Logan. We have no plans to interview her again.” [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. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](