News startup word salad

Media statistic of the week 

This week, Edelman released their 2022 Trust Barometer and the results are quite interesting. 

Almost seven in ten people worry they are being lied to by journalists , writes Aisha Majid for the Press Gazette: “Two-thirds (67%) of people globally said that they believe that journalists and reporters purposely try to mislead people by saying things they know are false or grossly exaggerated — an increase of eight percentage points on the company’s last report published in 2021.”

A few other stats to consider from Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer:

• 39% of people in the US said that they trust the media – down six points compared to the last survey undertaken in 2021.
• 56% of people said that the media was a divisive force in society. Just one-third (35%) said the media contributed to making societies more cohesive.

This past week in the media industry 

Fact-checking, misinformation and *more* information 

Social scientist and associate professor Taylor Dotson offers up an interesting perspective on fact-checking in a piece for Nieman Lab. The claim? Fact-checking may be important , but it won’t help Americans learn to disagree better.

Dotson writes, “Fact-checking may be vital for media literacy, discouraging politicians from lying and correcting the journalistic record. But I worry about citizens hoping for too much from fact-checking, and that fact-checks oversimplify and distort Americans’ political conflicts. Whether democracy requires a shared sense of reality or not, the more fundamental prerequisite is that citizens are capable of civilly working through their disagreements.”

Vera Novais tweets, “.@BrookingsInst : #factchecking mostly influences politically uncommitted - those who don't have much info about an issue, rather than those who have inaccurate info. #debunking can backfire:Informing people may make skeptics even more hesitant. #fakenews 🧶”

So what’s the potential solution? Dotson recommends news outlets offer not only fact checks, but also “disagreement checks.” For example, “Rather than label the “lab leak” hypothesis or “natural immunity” idea as true or false, disagreement checkers would highlight the complicated sub-issues involved. They would show how the uncertain science looks very different depending on people’s values and level of trust.”

On a similar note also for Nieman Lab, Laura Hazard Owen ponders, Should we spend less time-fighting misinformation and more time ‘fighting for information?’

“Misinformation makes up a teeny-tiny share of what most people read, and we might want to worry a little less about debunking it or trying to get people not to read it, argue the authors of a research note published Wednesday in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review. Instead, they say, ‘more efforts should be devoted to improving acceptance of reliable information, relative to fighting misinformation.’”

One of the authors, Sacha Alta, shares more insights in this handy Twitter thread.

Rest in Peace, André Leon Talley

Editor and fashion industry force André Leon Talley passed away at the age of 73 on Tuesday. 

The New York Times’ Vanessa Friedman and Jacob Bernstein described him as “the larger-than-life fashion editor who shattered his industry’s glass ceiling when he went from the Jim Crow South to the front rows of 

Paris couture, parlaying his encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history and his quick wit into roles as author, public speaker, television personality and curator.” 

Jordyn Holman tweets: “Andre Leon Talley has died at 73. What a life he lived. ‘To think of where I’ve come from, where we’ve come from, in my lifetime, and where we are today, is amazing. And, yet, of course, we still have so far to go,’ he wrote in his memoir.”

The Times adds: “Called ‘a creative genius,’ he was the rare Black editor at the top of a field that was mostly white and notoriously elitist.”

“His earlier memoir, “A.L.T.,” is also a treasure. I met him at the Met gala after favorably reviewing for ye olde New York Observer and he (wearing a cape) burst into smiles. No one else was smiling. They weren’t wearing capes either. Rest in peau de soie,” remembers Alexandra Jacobs .

A deep dive into how often journalists use the phrase ‘officer-involved”

“Following the murder of George Floyd, The Associated Press issued guidance that reporters should not describe instances where police shot someone with neutral language. It didn't work,” report Brandon Soderberg and Andy Friedman for HuffPost.

In collaboration with The Garrison Project, HuffPost decided to examine how often reporters have used the phrase “officer-involved.” They analyzed approximately 136,000 newspaper articles that ran between 2000 and 2021 categorized under “Death and Injuries By Police” in the LexisNexis database.

They say, “The results were disheartening.”

“Always remember that the phrase "officer-involved shooting" is copaganda and reporters should never, ever use it,” tweets Bruce Mirken . 

“The language we use matters,” writes Jennifer Mizgata . 

News startup word salad

Airmail, Puck, Punchbowl, Grid — the list goes on. Think you’re familiar with the mission and ethos behind the many new media companies that have emerged over the past several years? 

Try your hand at this quiz from Defector’s Laura Wagner : Which New Media Company With An Innovative Solution For Fixing The News Industry Said This?

In this 24-question quiz, you’ll need to identify which media company is behind a mission like “We’re proudly built around generationally talented journalists, with unique access to the story behind the story, the plot that only the real insiders know. We aim to cover it all with sophistication, humility, clarity, wit, and just a little bit of mirth.”

Michelle Manafy writes, “Apparently, it is irreverent takes on news startup word salad day (why wasn't I informed?).”

And yes, don't worry, there’s an answer key! Good luck.

PBS launches new diversity initiatives (and joins TikTok)

Denise Petski covers a range of announcements made by PBS yesterday in Deadline.

“They include a commitment to create a pipeline of diverse documentary filmmakers and a pledge to include more diverse perspectives in key production roles. PBS also said it will launch on the video-focused social media platform TikTok,” she writes of PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger’s announcement during the TCA Winter Press Tour.

PBS also announced $3.6 million over three years to support mid-career nonfiction filmmakers through the org’s William Greaves Fund and an early-career filmmaker mentorship program and an executive fellowship program.

Is journalism broken?

An opinion piece titled “Journalism Is Broken and I Alone Can Fix It!” by Jack Shafer for POLITICO garnered attention this week.

“Someone needed to call bullshit, and that's a job for @jackshafer ,” tweets Steve Chapman . 

In the piece, Shafer writes, “But the mission statements and manifestos these media visionaries compose upon starting their new thing rarely breaks fresh ground. Instead, they retreat to well-grooved cliches handed down, it seems, from earlier visionaries who were handed them by even earlier visionaries. Sometimes it feels like cliches all the way down.”

“Oof, I... feel seen,” tweets Chris Krewson . 

Simon Owens adds, “Too many media startup entrepreneurs delude themselves into thinking they're reinventing the wheel. They're not. That's not to say their startups won't be successful, but the success rests mostly in the execution.”

A puzzling fellowship opportunity

Good news for puzzle lovers! 

You can apply for the New York Times Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship starting on Feb. 7. 

The New York Times announced the new fellowship for crossword constructors aimed at increasing the number of puzzles created by underrepresented groups, including women, people of color and those in the LGBTQ community, reports Sarah Scire for Nieman Lab.

The chosen fellows will receive three months of mentorship from one of five puzzle editors as they work to construct a puzzle for general submission. The fellowship idea came from Everdeen Mason , the Times' editorial director for Games.

Marjorie Ingall tweets, “this is great news. it is WILD doing both the NYT and the Atlantic crosswords; the latter is, to put it delicately, MUCH MUCH less dependent on old-white-man knowledge.”

“Puzzles, so hot right now,” adds Johannes Klingebiel .

‘The writing has gone downhill’

Yikes all around.

Lindsey Ellefson for The Wrap covers the latest going ons at Entertainment Weekly, which has been in turmoil a year after the ouster of the outlet’s top editor amid misconduct accusations. 

In her piece, “Entertainment Weekly Has Become ‘a Joke,’ Staffer Says in Bombshell Internal Email” , Lindsay reveals details of an internal email sent to top editors in early January that said the “writing at EW has gone downhill.”

That’s not all though. As Ryan Scott tweets, “There is a twist ending here that really caught me off guard” and Hannah Shaw-Williams says “This went in uhhhh a slightly different direction than I expected.”

A few more

• DAZN launches production arm DAZN Studios in an effort to double down on original content, according to Alex Ritman from The Hollywood Reporter. The announcement comes just as the sports streamer prepares to world premiere its documentary feature La Guerra Civil, directed by Eva Longoria Bastón in Sundance.
• Also on the entertainment front, Leo Lewis and Christopher Grimes explore whether Sony will become the entertainment group it always wanted to be in a piece for the Financial Times.
• Startup NewsGuard says its own business is reliable enough to turn a profit . The company more than doubled its revenue in 2021 versus the year before, thanks to licensing deals with advertisers and other firms that use its ratings, reports Brian Stelter for CNN.
• Wendy Fry reported that photojournalist Margarito Martínez Esquivel was shot to death outside his home in Tijuana, in a story for The San Diego Union-Tribune. He worked as a journalist and “fixer” assisting international outlets including the BBC, as well as for The San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Rest in peace.
• Axios’ Sara Fischer writes that The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on data-driven tech investigations, had $6.8 million in revenue in 2021 — mostly from philanthropy — up from $4.2 million in 2020.
• Sara Fischer for Axios also exclusively reports The Arena Group, a digital publishing company formerly called Maven, plans to acquire AMG/Parade , the parent company to the storied American magazine Parade, in a $16 million cash and stock deal.
• Do you plan to subscribe to CNN Plus? They just added Rex Chapman , former NBA star and social media personality as the latest media figure to join their lineup, reports Jennifer Maas for Variety.

From the Muck Rack Team

At Muck Rack, we’ve always strived to give back to our greater community. Whether it’s through monetary donations or volunteer opportunities, our team is passionate about driving social good. So early last year, we made it official by establishing the Charitable Giving Committee. The committee’s mission is to take responsible action toward sustainable results by supporting non-profit organizations that align with Muck Rack’s core values, striving toward an equitable and more diverse tomorrow. 

On the blog, take a look inside Muck Rack’s Charitable Giving Committee .