Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

The problem of ‘casting calls’ for sources — www.cjr.org

This is a totally predictable, totally depressing and totally vital read for anyone interested in journalism's relation to the public it serves. We've known for years that most media organisations aren't representative of the public, and that it inevitably means we have huge gaps in our knowledge of given topics. But when one of those topics suddenly becomes relevant, we're in desperate need of sources embedded in those neglected communities. So what happens?

This article from Columbia Journalism Review looks at how news orgs too often drop in, get all the information we need from sources, and bomb back out leaving a wrecked relationship in our wake. It's a bad look for the industry and if you have any examples of news orgs that do it properly then please let me know:

"Marginalized people are not just sources for news; they’re also the audience, Jiménez said, adding that stories to be told in communities of color are not only ones of trauma. She suggests that reporters build relationships during the “off times”—not everything in journalism has to be transactional."

Hearst sells Marie Claire to Future — www.nytimes.com

Marie Claire U.S. had been part of Hearst since 1994 in a joint venture with French company Marie Claire Album. Now, after a turbulent few years, it's being sold to Future plc, with Zillah Byng-Thorne stating it's part of the company’s plan to increase its North American audience “significantly.”

How science journalism accelerated Süddeutsche Zeitung’s digital subscriptions — wan-ifra.org

This one's really interesting, if only because it implies that the public really are interested in science and medical journalism. As the article makes clear Süddeutsche Zeitung has been quietly investing in setting its science coverage apart for years - and now it has the proof that's paying off.

Two-thirds of public believe certain news topics shouldn't carry any ads — www.thedrum.com

The latest from me for The Drum, around the likelihood that keyword-based ad exclusion is going to continue. We know that publishers are hurting from having brands choose not to advertise against terms like 'Trump' and 'Covid' - but the reality is that two thirds of the public support ad exclusion against certain news topics, so that's not going away any time soon.

This week's episode:

Mental Floss Editor in Chief Erin McCarthy on the title's 20-year mission to make readers smarter — voices.media

This week Mental Floss Editor in Chief Erin McCarthy tells us about how it's celebrating its 20th anniversary, how the magazine started in a university dorm room, its mission to help people feel smarter, and how the team decides what to cover.

Publisher Podcast Insiders Meetup — docs.google.com

We're looking to establish a regular meetup (virtual at first, but hopefully face-to-face in the future) for people working on podcasting in publishing companies to come together and share tips, learnings, and help each other with challenges. Our first group call is on Wednesday 26th May at 16.00 BST - learn more and RSVP on this link!