Branding Journalists?


Article in Poynter by Sophie Endrud, 8/12/25

Headline:  “Young journalists are told to ‘build your brand.’ What does that even mean today?”

Subhead:  “In demystifying this catch-all phrase, professors, media executives and journalists of all types weigh in”

“Eager young journalists flock to summer coffee chats and tell-all panel events, looking for the precise tools to jump-start long and sustainable media careers. Instead, they are left stalled on this loaded, ambiguous piece of advice: “Build your brand.” ”

““Suddenly, having your own presence online, and thinking about what your brand is and how that might help you land your next job or create the next opportunity, or just create some security for you in this crazy industry, like that stuff starts to become really important,” said Craig Silverman, co-founder of Indicator. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/young-journalists-are-told-to-build-your-brand-what-does-that-even-mean-today/

Economist Calls Out Media Lies


Article in Raw Story by Daniel Hampton, 7/31/25

Headline: ” ‘Lies!’ Nobel economist Paul Krugman slams media for endorsing Trump’s ‘pure fantasy’ “

“Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman unloaded Thursday on media outlets that he feels are failing to call out President Donald Trump’s ‘lies.’

“Krugman, who recently left The New York Times, citing editorial disagreements, took the opportunity to bash news outlets in a new piece published to his Substack.

“Krugman lamented that reporting on Trump’s trade deals are being misreported, pointing to a Times headline that reads, ‘Trump is winning his trade war. What will that mean for the economy?’ . . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/paul-krugman-2673797348/

Declining Newspapers Ads?


Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, 7/31/25

Headline:  “Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.”

Subhead:  “Craig Newmark’s simple site was hailed as a disruptor and blamed for the collapse of classifieds. But journalism’s business failures ran deeper.”

“The decline of newspaper print classifieds and the ripple effects that gutted newsrooms began, by many accounts, in 1995. That’s when Craig Newmark invented Craigslist, the homely but oh-so-successful site that matches buyers and sellers, mostly for free, with only a few listings carrying a modest charge.

“Did Craigslist drive the downfall of print classifieds?

“ ‘I’ve always wondered about that,’ Newmark said in a Zoom interview July 1. ‘I think it had an effect.’

“But portraying him and the list as torpedoing an otherwise great business model is way overblown, he still believes. Citing an influential essay by Thomas Baekdal, Newmark contends that the root of newspapers’ trouble was the loss of readers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/did-craigslist-kill-newspapers-poynter-50/

TV Network Validates Climate Change


Article in The Nation by Mark Hertsgaard, 6/26/25

Headline: CBS News Leans Into the Climate Connection”

Subhead:  “Since Trump’s election, the network has produced more than 60 stories on the climate crisis.”

For years, most TV newscasts have neglected to make the climate connection with the kind of extreme heat blasting much of North America this week. In the summer of 2024, for example, when record high temperatures brutalized outdoor workers, withered crops, and worsened hurricanes, only 12 percent of US national TV news segments mentioned climate change, though its role in driving such extreme heat has long been scientifically indisputable.

“This week, CBS News decisively broke that pattern. David Schechter, the network’s national environment correspondent, aired two pieces that left no doubt that the ghastly heat afflicting tens of millions of Americans is climate change in action. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/cbs-news-climate-journalism/

Sinking Media Outlet?


Article in AP by Staff, 6/23/25

Headline:  “With its stock in sharp decline, Trump’s media company will buy $400 million of its own shares”

“President Donald Trump’s media company plans to buy back up to $400 million of its stock, which have lost 46% of their value this year. . .”

“The company said early this year that it lost $400.9 million in 2024 and its annual revenue declined 12% to $3.6 million.

“After winning the U.S. presidential election in November, Trump transferred all of his shares in the company — worth around $4 billion on paper — as a gift to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Trump’s shares amounted to more than half of the company’s stock. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-buyback-stock-truth-social-385a1389bbc8508477fb272a4bfcf179

AI Journalism / Ghost Books


Article in Slashdot by Anonymous, 6/2/25

Headline:  Business Insider Recommended Nonexistent Books To Staff As It Leans Into AI”

Business Insider announced this week that it wants staff to better incorporate AI into its journalism. But less than a year ago, the company had to quietly apologize to some staff for accidentally recommending that they read books that did not appear to exist but instead may have been generated by AI. . .”

“. . .But a few were unfamiliar to staff. Simply Target: A CEO’s Lessons in a Turbulent Time and Transforming an Iconic Brand by former Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel was nowhere to be found. Neither was Jensen Huang: the Founder of Nvidia, which was supposedly published by the company Charles River Editors in 2019. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/02/1537210/business-insider-recommended-nonexistent-books-to-staff-as-it-leans-into-ai

Media Missing Something?

Article in The New Republic bu Michael Tomasky, 4/25/25

Headline:  “Trump Just Did the Most Corrupt Thing Any President Has Ever Done”

Subhead:  “He’s using the White House to get rich from anonymous investors—and it’s hardly even a news story.”

“Imagine that Joe Biden, just as he was assuming office, had started a new company with Hunter Biden and used his main social media account to recruit financial backers, then promised that the most generous among them would earn an invitation to a private dinner with him. . . .”

“Take a minute, close your eyes. Let yourself see Jim Jordan’s face go purple in apoplexy, hear the moral thunder spewing out of Jesse Watters’s mouth, feel the shock (which would be wholly justified) of the New York Times editorial board as it expressed disbelief that the man representing the purported values and standards of the United States of America before the world would begin to think it was remotely OK to do such a thing. The media would be able to speak of nothing else for days. Maybe weeks. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/post/194420/trump-memecoin-dinner-corrupt-president

 

Rt, Wing Listeners Flying Away


Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffem 4/17/25

Headline:  “Callers to conservative radio shows voice their displeasure with Trump’s tariffs”

Subhead:  “Caller: ‘To me, this is just reckless, and I’m so angry. I’ll be darned if I’ll vote for another Republican again.’ ”

“Conservative radio listeners have been vocal about their displeasure as President Donald Trump’s tariffs created economic uncertainty and sent stock markets plunging.

“Though many right-wing media figures have dismissed the stock market volatility and praised Trump’s tariff policy, some listeners of right-wing radio shows were displeased, calling in to pronounce it ‘reckless,’ ‘sloppy,’ and ‘the single biggest, dumbest move in political history’. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/callers-conservative-radio-shows-voice-their-displeasure-trumps-tariffs

Media Deals in the Works?


Article in the Washington Post by Eric Wemple, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Has the media made any deals with Trump?  I answered your questions”

Subhead:   “From Erik’s Q&A on the media with readers from  Monday, April 14”

“Are the DOGE job losses similar to the newspaper industry’s?

“I’m a former newspaper executive who faced laying off my share of staffer for almost a decade. The DOGE cuts have felt eerily similar to the news industry’s cuts and have left me feeling uneasy about my former role. Tell me if I’m right for feeling guilty or tell me what are the differences  between DOGE tactics and the news industry’s? . . .”

Check-to-Check Financial News


Article in The Guardian by Zach Vasquez, 4/12/25

Check-to-Check Business News Channel offers ‘financial news to regular folk living paycheck to paycheck’. Whereas the S&P means nothing to the hosts or their audience, other signs – such as ‘candy bars are up from ‘sure, baby, to “put that back” ‘, are dire signs. Meanwhile, healthcare spending remains at zero, while millions of Americans are investing in healthcare alternatives such as ‘just lay down, take an Advil, or just pray it goes away’.”

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/13/saturday-night-live-jon-hamm-host

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKznUoQa-I&t=9s