Changing From Print to TV


Article in Poynter by Amaris Castillo, 8/27/25

Headline: “Can a print journalist become a TV reporter? Some face significant challenges. Others find success.”

Subhead: “Behind the scenes of a bold program at Scripps, the promise of reinvention collides with the realities of TV news culture.”

“Three years ago, The E.W. Scripps Company, one of the largest broadcast news organizations in the United States, prepared to launch an ambitious initiative. The Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative, a multiyear program with Google, was designed to transition experienced print journalists into broadcast news careers, at a time when local newspapers were closing and newsrooms were shrinking. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/scripps-jji-print-journalists-reinvent-careers-broadcast/

Newspapers Ghosting in Rural Areas

Article in The Guardian by Cy Neff, 8/22/25

Headline:   “Seven Wyoming newspapers were about to be shut. They were given a second life”

Subhead:  “A group of news execs stepped in to buy them, but across the US, 3,200 local news outlets have shuttered since 2005”

“Eight small towns across the vast rural state were reeling from the gut punch of the abrupt closures of their newspapers just a week earlier. Staff had woken up to an email from News Media Corporation (NMC) announcing the immediate closures of the printing presses. . .”

“The scene was not unique. According to the Local News Initiative, 3,200 local news outlets have vanished across the US since 2005. An estimated 55 million Americans do not have access to a local news source. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/22/wyoming-newspapers-nmc-bought

Ethics for Reporters?


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Julie Gerstein & Margaret Sullivan, 8/21/25

Headline:  “Thirteen Journalists on How They Are Rethinking Ethics”

Subhead: “We asked newsroom leaders and ethicists what they’re keeping or changing in an era of Trump, “fake news,” AI, and industry decline.”

“. . .This summer, the two of us—Margaret Sullivan and Julie Gerstein, of the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia University—have been exploring, in a series of pieces with CJR, whether those ethics are sufficient for journalists in the modern moment. Whether, in the face of artificial intelligence, “fake news,” eroding protections for sources, and the weakening of their business model, journalists should adjust their core tenets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/thirteen-journalists-on-how-they-are-rethinking-ethics-newsroom-leaders-ethicists-trump-fake-news-ai.php

Some Support for Indigenous Media


Article in Indian Country Today by Loris Taylor, 8/19/25

Headline:  “Gratitude in crisis: a spark for sustainable Indigenous media resilience”

“On August 4, 2025, Native Public Media and the Public Media Company made an appeal to foundations in support of vulnerable public media stations following the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by Congress. On August 19, 2025, the Knight Foundation, Pivotal, MacArthur, Ford, Schmidt Family, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations stepped forward in a powerful display of solidarity, announcing an infusion of $36.5 million in emergency funding to safeguard public media stations, especially those serving rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities, from imminent closure after steep federal cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/opinion/gratitude-in-crisis-a-spark-for-sustainable-indigenous-media-resilience/

Keeping Public Media From Drowning?


Article in The Washington Post by Scott Nover, 8/19/25

Headline: “Foundations step in to offer $37 million lifeline to public media”

Subhead:  “The Knight, MacArthur and Ford foundations are among those pledging emergency funding after Trump’s rescission stripped federal funding from PBS and NPR stations.”

“Major philanthropic organizations said Tuesday that they are committing nearly $37 million in emergency funding to keep public media stations afloat after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s rescissions bill, which eliminated $1.1 billion in federal funding from PBS and NPR stations over the next two years. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/19/npr-pbs-foundations-funding/

– – – – –

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Steve Waldman, 8/20/25

Headline:  “What Will the Next Era of Public Media Look Like?”

Subhead: “After the demise of CPB, the industry has an opportunity to build more creative models for public support.”

“. . .In response, Knight, MacArthur, and several other foundations announced this week that they were funding a Public Media Bridge Fund to fill the absence of CPB. About a hundred TV and radio stations were receiving more than 30 percent of their revenue from CPB; many of those would be in danger of going dark. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/what-will-the-next-era-of-cpb-public-media-look-like.php

News Channel Clucked Too Much?

Update below:

Article in Status by Jon Passantino, 8/18/25

Headline:  “Plucking MSNBC’s Feathers”

Subhead: “After nearly 30 years, MSNBC is dropping its name to become MS NOW a rebrand that sparked tension with NBCU and weeks of behind-the-scenes debate”

“On Monday morning, a little after 9 a.m. ET, Joe Scarborough delivered an unexpected jolt to MSNBC’s viewers. “We have breaking news as it pertains to our network: This morning, a new name of the network, the ‘Morning Joe’ host announced. ‘By the end of the year, we will become MS NOW, which stands for my source for news, opinion, and the world.’ The surprise decision unsurprisingly drew instant cheers from Scarborough, who hailed the network’s bold new logo as ‘very sporty,’ and cheered the name change as proof that ‘we’re independent.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/msnbc-new-name-rebrand-ms-now

– – – – –

Article in Daily Dot by Jamie Jirak, 8/19/25

Headline:  MSNBC is officially changing its name to MS Now, and the internet reacted as you’d expect: with memes and conspiracy theories”

Subhead:  “ ‘It’s not shocking, but it is noteworthy.’ “

“. . .Why is MSNBC changing its name?

“According to the announcement, the name change is happening due to a move to a new media company called VERSANT. MS NOW will no longer be a part of NBCUniversal and NBCNews. Instead, they will be under the same umbrella as CNBC, Golf Channel, GolfNow, and SportsEngine. . .”

“Unsurprisingly, people have a wide range of thoughts about this news. People have taken to social media to share their feelings and make some clever jokes about MS NOW. With name changes becoming increasingly common, some people just aren’t having it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailydot.com/viral-politics/msnbc-changing-name-to-ms-now/

Always Trust the AI Journalists


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Hilke Schellmann, 8/19/25

Headline:  “I Tested How Well AI Tools Work for Journalism

Subhead: “Some tools were sufficient for summarizing meetings. For research, the results were a disaster.”

“Journalists now have access to an abundance of AI tools on the market that promise to assist with tasks such as transcription, note-taking, summarization, research, and data analysis. Are these tools trustworthy enough for use in the newsroom?

“There is not yet a clear answer to that question. While most news organizations have AI policies, the guidelines are typically abstract and broad, and do not address a journalist’s daily workflow. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/i-tested-how-well-ai-tools-work-for-journalism.php

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/

No Asylum for Journalists Now?


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by David C. Adams, 8/12/25

Headline: “The Cuban Journalist Trapped in America’s Immigration Blockade”

Subhead: “José Luis Tan Estrada has been stuck in Mexico since May, locked in asylum purgatory.”

“In 2024, a new ‘Social Communication Law’ declared that all social media outlets are ‘socialist property’ and ‘cannot be subject to any other type of ownership,’ effectively banning independent media. . .”

“At one point, a Cuban asylum seeker might have been welcome on American shores, but Tan Estrada’s journey has been one of extreme peril, made worse by the Trump administration’s blockade on nearly all political asylum or humanitarian cases. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/jose-luis-tan-estrada-cuban-journalist-exile.php

A Trail of Radio Tears


Article in Indian Country Today by Lyric Aquino, 8/8/25

Headline:  Tribal radio stations hit hard by federal broadcasting cuts”

Subhead:  KWSO in Warm Springs is set to lose 40 percent of its budget, while other rural tribal stations across the U.S., which play essential roles in disseminating information such as emergency alerts and natural disaster updates, are facing similarly large shortfalls”

“More than $1 billion in cuts to previously allocated federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has left the fate of 59 tribal radio stations nationwide in question, including in the Pacific Northwest.

“Station managers note the integral role that tribal radio plays in the communities they serve, which are often rural, including delivering essential information such as emergency alerts during natural
disasters. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/tribal-radio-stations-hit-hard-by-federal-broadcasting-cuts/