Laden...
Like most editors, I love to put a “!” in the comments of stories I’m editing. This week, I had several “!” moments:
— When The New York Times told reporters, in 2022, to tweet less and scale back the takes, they mostly complied, a new study analyzing more than 185,000 tweets showed. My !: Women were significantly more likely to comply. From Josh’s story: “The paper originally didn’t intend to study gender effects, but a secondary analysis found women were more likely to translate the memo into action: ‘Specifically, although both male and female news workers increased their proportion of professional content posted on Twitter after the policy update, females showed a significantly larger amount of the increase.’” The two reporters mentioned by name in the study as having cut back on tweeting the most are both women of color.
— Trump demanded that everyone, including news organizations, start calling the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Josh surveyed a bunch of publishers, and most say they’re sticking with “Gulf of Mexico.” As for Gannett: A spokesperson said Gannett “will continue to use both references to provide clarity and accuracy for readers. For example: ‘The Gulf of Mexico, now referred to as the Gulf of America by the U.S. government…’” My !: But here’s a sentence from Gannett’s Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: “After all, it’s not every day people living along the Gulf of America, more commonly known in the U.S. as the Gulf of Mexico, experience snow.”
— Journalist/scholar Meredith D. Clark’s book about Black Twitter was published last month. Hanaa’ asked Meredith if she sees sparks of the old Black Twitter on other platforms. My !: Answer: “The place where I’m seeing [some of that spark] now and where people are talking about it is Threads.” Also TikTok. Bluesky is not mentioned.
— Decks appear to reduce subscriptions. A new study about paywalls found that “teaser elements” like decks and intros in front of the paywall decrease visitors’ likeliness to subscribe. “Readers who see information-dense nuggets like ledes and decks, the authors write, may feel they’ve learned all they need to know in front of the paywall — and don’t need to subscribe to learn more,” Sophie wrote. This may not be surprising to anyone who’s tapped a clickbait headline only to read the two-sentence deck and realize you need absolutely nothing else from that story.
P.S. A bit of Nieman Foundation housekeeping. Ann Marie Lipinski, the curator of the Nieman Foundation (and my boss), is stepping down after 14 years. “It has been a profound privilege to lead Nieman, not in spite of the industry complexities but because of them,” she said. “Each year, journalism faced new challenges and each year, a new class of fellows rose to confront them. Fortifying those journalists for the future is essential. I am grateful to the colleagues who joined me in that work, strengthened collaboration here on campus and supported a global community sometimes fighting for the very right to practice journalism.”
And Mark Armstrong is officially the editor of our sister publication, Nieman Storyboard. Subscribe to Storyboard’s weekly newsletter here.
— Laura Hazard Owen
From the weekTrump wants news outlets to get on board with “Gulf of America” — or else. Will they?The White House’s move to block AP’s reporters over its house style has turned a debate about language into one about power. By Joshua Benton. |
If you ask New York Times reporters to spend less time on Twitter, will they? (Spoiler: yes)An analysis of more than 185,000 tweets by New York Times staffers showed they got less opinionated — and less frequent overall — when a management memo asked the newsroom to scale back the takes. By Joshua Benton. |
“Lightning in a bottle”: Meredith Clark on Black Twitter’s journalistic impact, legacy — and writing its “obituary”“No matter what the technology is, we’re going to be using it.” By Hanaa' Tameez. |
Less is more, and discounts work: A new study looks at the minutiae of paywall strategy“Reducing the information density of teaser elements on paywalled articles and offering discounts may help newspapers increase their online subscriber numbers.” By Sophie Culpepper. |
Nieman Lab | View email in browser | Unsubscribe
You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org.
Nieman Journalism Lab · Harvard University · 1 Francis Ave. · Cambridge, MA 02138 · USA
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏Laden...
Laden...
