Friday 8th April: Should journalists be opinionated on social media?

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Lots of noise around this one yesterday. A leaked memo from the NYT has stated that while the paper is more than happy to provide resources to support journalists from harassment, it would be better if they stopped posting on social so much. Dean Baquet said: "If you do choose to stay on, we encourage you to meaningfully reduce how much time you're spending on the platform, tweeting or scrolling, in relation to other parts of your job."

I saw heated responses on both sides, from long threads arguing that being on Twitter distorts journalists' perceptions of the public, to rebuttals arguing that hacks need to be as visible as possible across as many platforms as possible. One tangential thread I'd like to pull in is an otherwise unrelated thread from Robyn Vinter, stating she's been told not to be opinionated on Twitter - but that's exactly what we should be doing.

I'm an advocate for transparency over false objectivity, and Twitter is a great place to nail your colours to the mast. Vinter acknowledges that doing so has certain downsides - but I think overall if you don't want the public to mistrust the press we have to be as available and honest across social media as we can.

On the other side of the coin, here's Jessica Patterson explaining why Axios actually encourages its journalists to engage with social audio. We've been tempted to do Media Voices social audio, and this just might just tip it over the edge.

Nothing to add to this very depressing story other than that you should read it too: "Crucially, industry sources stress that many of those leaving aren’t executives in the public eye but rather 'the experienced, unshowy people who are actually really good at their jobs, and who spend their entire career driven by public service' according to one source working in news."

Anyone who's ever submitted an FoI knows how laborious and time-consuming the process can be, and often for little return. That said, it's a vital part of the journalist's armoury for holding the government to account, so this renewed call to fix the system is really appreciated.

This week's episode:

This week we hear from President and GM of Consumer at Yahoo Joanna Lambert. She talks about the changes at Yahoo over the last few years and how Covid forced them to adapt, its 900 million users including a growing Gen Z audience, and Yahoo’s revenue strategies outside of advertising.

For two years running The Week Unwrapped has scooped the ‘Best News Podcast’, fending off competition from some of the biggest names in publishing. The Week’s Digital Director and podcast host Holden Frith discussed how their signature three story format had to evolve during the pandemic, the importance of varied points of view within the episodes, and why the podcast is addressing an audience in its own right.