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Monday 13th June: Imagine a world without big newsbrands
This issue we ask if the global future of journalism is out of the hands of the biggest newsbrands, get insight from a team that aims to defund disinformation, and examine the ramifications of Facebook pulling out of news partnerships.
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Chris.
It's hard to imagine a world where the most important and effective journalism doesn't originate with the big newspaper brands. Their heritage and scale grants them the ability to hold the powerful to account and automatic trust from the public (at least in theory). But director of the Community Information Coop Simon Galperin argues that to save journalism, we need to look elsewhere:
"These journalism innovators are redefining the practice. So much so that the future of journalism no longer lies with The New York Times or CNN or NPR, or any other household brand. Instead, its future is now in the hands of dozens of organizations and thousands of people in local communities using journalism to build cycles of repair — not destruction."
The innovators he refers to are the smaller journalism coops, hyperlocal newspapers and newsletters that are embedded in communities. It's a bold statement, not least because without scale it would be difficult for any journalism to be truly effective. Food for thought nonetheless.
A group of activists who have taken on some of the biggest right-wing personalities online have now launched a campaign to try to defund Fox News' online operation. N.B. for the hard of thinking: you can believe that freedom of speech is paramount and that it's best for the public to limit the reach of outlets that thrive on disinformation.
This is going to be contentious - but if Facebook does go through with cutting its News section, it'll be a pretty clear indication of how much value news from major publishers actually contribute to Facebook's revenue. Lots more to say on this but take responses and statements from both publishers and Facebook with a huge pinch of salt for now.
We speak about this for a bit in today's new episode. In short - Anna Codrea-Rado has called time on her freelancer-focused newsletter after five years. There's lots of insight in her goodbye post but it’s worth acknowledging that running a solo newsletter for that long - and managing to not only inform people but make it worthwhile continuing - is worthy of celebration in its own right.
This week's podcast
This week we catch up with Neal Freyman, managing editor at Morning Brew. We hear about what’s changed in the newsletter ecosystem since, what the rise of the individual journalist-led newsletter means for creators, and what new verticals he wants to launch newsletters in.
Media Voices co-host Peter Houston has been to Cascais, Portugal for the 2022 FIPP World Media Congress. He caught up with speakers and attendees at the event to find out what they’re hoping to learn, what it’s like being back in the room, and how optimistic they are for the future of publishing.
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