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The changing face of punditry and op-eds — www.cjr.org

Newspapers and journalists are constantly in a state of acute paranoia and self-reflection. What are we writing, and for whom? And most crucially of all, are we making a difference? Over the weekend we came across two examinations of the nature of opinion writing in newspapers, with a particular focus on whether doing so increases engagement with readers or is ultimately only for the benefit of other writers.

The first, linked, from CJR, asks whether political punditry even lands among the public. More, it suggests that doing so is actually a betrayal of one of the central tenets of journalism: "In implying, falsely, that the average reader’s opinion necessarily matters in the grand scheme of things, the journalist’s fundamental obligation to the truth is violated." A bit navel-gazey for my liking, but a fascinating read.

Meanwhile Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman has called it quits, arguing that opinion-writing in 2021 requires a "conformity of opinion" and alignment with the paper's political values. I saw some immediate repudiations and counter-arguments to this, but at least one thing is clear - the industry's tendency towards self-reflection isn't going away any time soon.

City A.M. returns to print today — www.cityam.com

The metro newspapers have been hit the hardest by the lack of footfall from the pandemic. Now, after eighteen months, City A.M. is returning to London’s streets as a physical newspaper this Monday. One for any history books documenting the pandemic's impact on publishing.

Behind the scenes of Andrew Neil’s departure from GB News — amp.theguardian.com

Maybe one day we won't have to report on GB News, but it is not this day. As we discuss in today's podcast (see below) Neil's departure is more acrimonious than the channel would like us to believe - with the Daily Mail also reporting he was on the verge of being sacked before he quit.

After sales talks fall through, Axios preps bigger push into paid newsletters and local news — www.businessinsider.com

We've yet to see how Axios' local newsletters are going to perform in the longterm, but nevertheless.... "The news startup plans to expand its local news unit and 'Axios Pro,' which will charge business-oriented readers for niche newsletters."

This week's podcast:

Social Spider MD David Floyd on finding a better way to fund local news — voices.media

On this week’s episode of Media Voices we hear from David Floyd, MD of Social Spider, a community interest company that publishes five community newspapers in London. He tells us about finding a new model for local news – one that’s maybe commercially viable enough – and about why local news matters.

NDC Mediagroep's Ard Boer and United Robots' Cecilia Campbell on how robot journalism is powering the modern newsroom — voices.media

In this episode Cecilia Campbell of United Robots helps myth-bust some of the common fallacies about what robot journalism can – and can’t – do. To help illustrate what is possible we’re also joined by Ard Boer, Product Manager for Sport at NDC Mediagroep, who tells us how their sports team is making the most of robot journalism.