Journalism

Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists without publicly specifying why, the latest instance of the platform making content or user decisions under Elon Musk without much transparency. The accounts belonged to journalists from publications including CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Mashable.

Lawmakers ended what had been an effort to allow media organizations to band together to negotiate revenue sharing deals with tech giants, leaving the provisions out of a massive spending bill amid intense pushback from industry and advocacy groups. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) was omitted from a bicameral agreement on Congress’s sprawling defense-spending legislation.

Elon Musk is the latest patron for an alternative-media ecosystem — right-leaning but not conventionally Republican — that has emerged in the last two years. Feeding on resentment against mainstream media, new media players have established a power base via Substack newsletters, podcasts and other independent channels. Writers Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald are getting new attention with Musk's ownership of Twitter. And they're reigniting long-simmering debates about what constitutes journalism in the internet era.

In recent years, several new options have emerged in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – especially by opposing free speech restrictions they say are rife at those sites. These newer sites have created a small but satisfied community of news consumers, many of whom say one of the major reasons they are there is to stay informed about current events.

Cox Communications parent company Cox Enterprises inked a deal to acquire well-known news outlet Axios for more than half a billion dollars, in a move the former pitched as part of an effort to diversify its business. As part of the transaction, Cox Enterprises CEO Alex Taylor will join Axios’ board. Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz will lead editorial operations and retain “substantial stakes” in the company.

This study was commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism to understand how news is being consumed in a range of countries. Research was conducted by YouGov using an online questionnaire at the end of January/beginning of February 2022. 2021’s report contained some positive signs for the news industry, with higher consumption and rising trust amidst a second wave of Coronavirus lockdowns.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan announced that an open meeting of the Commission will be held virtually on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The following items will be on the tentative agenda:

The global climate for journalists has become more perilous as autocrats weaponize the media to consolidate power. Those efforts are increasingly being carried out through surveillance and digital attacks.

Law360 announced the formation of its 2022 Telecommunications Editorial Advisory Board which will provide feedback on the publication's coverage and expert insight on how best to shape future coverage. Included on the board is Benton Senior Counselor Andrew Jay Schwartzman. 

When talking about the benefits of broadband, it’s easy to overlook how broadband has become the glue that brings people and communities together. This is becoming particularly important for rural communities but matters to people everywhere. Rural communities have been rapidly losing other forms of media that were the focal point in the past. 2004 was the peak of the newspaper business in terms of readership and revenues. Since then, the number of journalists has been cut in half.