Journalism

High-speed broadband and mobile internet have created more opportunities to access free news and information than ever before. But they have also made it harder for quality news and information outlets, particularly ones in rural areas, to survive. Tech has disrupted the local media business model and pushed more journalism behind paywalls — and there's no end in sight. Experts worry that the deployment of 5G over the next few years will worsen the digital divide and have a lasting impact on how rural communities will be able to access quality news and information.

A look at four emerging forms of digital inequality: privacy, education, screen time and news. As ubiquitous as broadband connectivity may seem for those who live in cities or suburbs with comfortable incomes, here's the reality:

Senate has unanimously approved a resolution on protecting press freedom, including calling on the President to be a leader in defending a free press, including a press that promotes "government accountability."

Whereas freedom of the press is a cornerstone of American democracy and is enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution;

We’re announcing the expansion of a new local section on Facebook called “Today In” and starting a test for local alerts from relevant government pages. Today In connects people to local news and information about their community. It is now available in over 400 cities in the US, and we have launched our first international test in Australia. In addition, we have started testing Today In in communities located in news deserts, places that have low supply of local news and community information, by supplementing with relevant content from surrounding areas.

A Q&A with New York Times White House reporter Katie Rogers. 

Over the last few years, Luarene Powell Jobs, an activist, investor and entrepreneur, has been investing in media companies through her social impact firm, Emerson Collective. Buying up a range of unusual properties, she seems to be making an effort to turbocharge storytelling in this fractured digital age. It’s an interesting experiment to watch, because the investments include a panoply of the cool, hip and fresh in a mostly glum content industry.

“Something has to be done,” President Donald Trump tweeted Nov 26. Frustrated by CNN, with which he has an ongoing beef, President Trump suggested that the United States create its own “worldwide network to show the World the way we really are — GREAT!” Despite the proposal’s origin in conflict with the press, it’s a really good idea. So good, in fact, that under another president’s watch — Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 — it happened. Seventy-six years ago, the world was a dark place.

Through a series of interviews with Native media practitioners and experts, Jodi Rave of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance reports on the major trends and challenges for American Indian media today:

After CNN won a temporary restraining order returning to Jim Acosta his White House press pass, the Trump administration issued a letter informing Acosta of its “preliminary decision” to revoke his hard pass based on his “conduct” at the Nov. 7 news conference. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, “The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional.

CNN and the network’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta have asked a federal judge for an emergency hearing after the White House sent Acosta a letter saying it planned to suspend Acosta’s press pass again, just hours after the same judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore Acosta’s credentials Nov 16. Unless the judge extends that 14-day order, it will expire at the end of November.