This is our final issue of the year! We’ll be back in your inbox in 2025. Thanks for reading, whether you’re a long-time subscriber or someone who joined us this year.
In this issue:
📰 Our favorite media writing of 2024
📋 To meet information needs, we need to measure them
📙 Win a signed copy of Lewis Raven Wallace’s The View from Somewhere!
And also: ABC News bows to Trump, Ozy Media CEO sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison, New York Times ignored source’s doubts about Hamas docs, and L.A. Times owner looks to tighten editorial control.
—James Salanga
RACE, LABOR, DISABILITY
Our favorite media writing of 2024
This is a round-up of just some of the reporting, commentary, and analysis about journalism we’ve learned from and appreciated this year.
You Never Get The Full Story — Alex Sujong Laughlin, Defector
Laughlin reviews the podcast Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative, intended to bend traditional journalism roles to create a non-extractive work, and runs up against lingering questions around the ethics of journalism at large: “Pointing out a problem doesn’t solve it, and describing the moral indefensibilities of commercial journalism does not absolve its practitioners.”
Well, Patrick Soon-Shiong lied — Matt Pearce
Sometimes media criticism can be simple. Pearce, the head of the NewsGuild in California and one of the original organizers of the L.A. Times unionization, calls this the bulk of this piece ”an angry run-on sentence.” Choice words: “Stop blaming other people and say what you really mean with your goddamned chest! Patrick Soon-Shiong’s L.A. Times reprimanded many of my coworkers who publicly signed their names to a Gaza letter late last year largely expressing the same concerns that the owner apparently has… But one thing that seems clear now is that my coworkers on all sides of that issue had, and still have, a courage of conscience and a will toward honesty that their powerful owner doesn’t share.”
The Message — Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates' new book is certainly the longest piece of media criticism you might read this year — in part challenging newsrooms for failing to cover Palestine accurately. If you’re curious how he talks about the newsrooms he used to work for, he writes: “When you are erased from the argument and purged from the narrative, you do not exist … the first duty of racism, sexism, homophobia, and so forth is the framing of who is human and who is not.” (The Objective also published a review of the book here.)
The New York War Crimes — Writers Against the War on Gaza
The collective has routinely uplifted Palestinian journalists and exposed mainstream media’s role in reporting Israeli lies without fact-checking and while smearing Palestinian resistance to ethnic cleansing.
Fadi Al-Wahidi, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, was shot by the Israeli military while reporting and remains paralyzed, waiting for medical evacuation. In one piece, his colleague and friend Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif says: “Where are the international organizations and press institutions concerned with the affairs of journalists? Is Fadi being punished simply for documenting the crimes of the Israeli occupation?”
Why I Left the L.A. Times — Frank Shyong, Lunch Box
Shyong spent 13 years at the Southern California paper, becoming its first Asian American columnist and carving out a beat reporting on Asian American communities. In this piece, he muses on the experiences he had working “in the aftermath of decades worth of accumulated mistrust and neglect”, where journalism is headed, and why he’s starting his own newsletter.
After non-endorsement, 250,000 subscribers cancel The Washington Post — Elahe Izadi, The Washington Post
The final word on what happened at the Washington Post, published by The Washington Post. 250,000 people unsubscribed after the Post was not allowed to publish their presidential endorsement.
Journalism is in freefall. These writers aren’t giving up: ‘We can go out swinging’ – Lauren Mechling in The Guardian
Considering the decline of major newsrooms around the country, you might think cooperatives would be the future of news, but there are few articles highlighting places like Hell Gate or The Appeal. This article centers a few of these cooperatives and worker-owned journalism collectives.
Leaked NYT Gaza Memo Tells Journalists to Avoid Words “Genocide,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” and “Occupied Territory” — Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, The Intercept
Illuminating the internal workings of the largest American mainstream newspaper is critical. Here, Grim and Scahill got ahold of internal memos that shine a light on exactly how The New York Times was considering its coverage of Gaza and Israel this year and last.
“Between the Hammer and the Anvil” —The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé — Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept
Scahill, Grim, and Boguslaw dig into how the reporter primarily in charge of one of the biggest New York Times’ stories in 2023 had little reporting experience and a very clear ideological slant. That might be a fit for the opinion section, but not a critical investigative piece — and even then, the argument rested on shoddy fact-checking.
Last, every year, NiemanLab publishes a slate of predictions to highlight what might happen in 2025. Here are a few of our favorites:
Cassie Owens: No more baby steps in fixing crime coverage —“You cannot maintain cultural safety, value Black and Brown lives, establish multicultural ethics, share power equitably, or reject exploitative storytelling through baby steps or sometimey-ness.”
Anita Li: Outlets pivot to promoting action, not just news — “‘Useful’ [information] also means focusing less on needlessly anxiety-inducing information that causes paralysis, and instead on concrete solutions that someone can actually take action on.
J. Siguru Wahutu: Media owners will protect the powerful — “As newspaper owners and television executives seek to fence off their privileges, we’ll be left with husks of organizations that not long ago enjoyed audiences’ loyalty.”
Robert Hernandez: We’ll draw the lines we will not cross — “What are your values? What do you stand for now … before it gets any tougher? Are you willing to speak up? Are you willing to quit your job? Are you willing to put your safety on the line for those values?”
Joe Amiditis: We stop excusing the lack of accessibility in news — “Making content accessible isn’t a niche accommodation or something to pat yourself on the back for — it’s a necessary, simple, and strategic move that demonstrates respect for your community and a commitment to actual diversity and inclusion.”
And just for fun, here are ours:
Gabe: The publisher is always right — “In 2025, unless we come together as a journalism field and course-correct away from information consolidation controlled by the ultra-wealthy, it will get worse.”
James: Investing in the disability beat — “Ableism is … intimately connected to other forms of structural oppression and has always been. If newsrooms want to cover that seriously, they must begin analyzing ableism seriously — across journalism’s culture, history, and frames.”
—James Salanga and Gabe Schneider
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CIVIC MEDIA SERIES
To promote civic information, we need to measure it
A newsstand in New York City in 2008. Photo by Ray Dehler via Flickr, illustration work by Erik Rodriguez.
Civic News Company board member Kang-Xing Jin talks about the new Civic Information Needs Census, and the critical importance of measuring information needs for those creating civic information. Read more.
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INSIDE THE OBJECTIVE
Lewis Raven Wallace joins The Objective’s advisory board
Reintroducing The Objective’s advisory board members and a chance to win Wallace’s book, The View from Somewhere. Read more.
WHAT ELSE?
A bit more media
ABC News shows Trump how to silence journalists: Last week, ABC News agreed to pay Donald Trump $16 million and issue a public apology over its accurate reporting about his sexual abuse case. It reflects the growing complication of news conglomeration — because ABC News isn’t just a news organization, it’s connected to entertainment juggernaut Disney. Despite legal organizations saying ABC News could’ve won if it fought back, the company chose not to, setting a dangerous precedent ahead of the Trump administration.
Ozy Media CEO sentenced: On Monday, former talk show host and NPR corporate director Carlos Watson was sentenced Monday to nearly 10 years in prison after being embroiled in a financial conspiracy case. The California-based digital media start-up seemed to be doing well, with big-name interviews and a music and ideas festival, before its 2021 implosion. Among the key moments in its downfall was co-founder Samir Rao impersonating a YouTube executive to talk up the company to prospective investors.
New York Times ignored source’s doubts about Israel-provided Hamas docs: The source was only permitted to review one of the 30 pages of alleged Hamas meeting minutes he was initially asked to verify. The episode just highlights one of the many instances of the Times and other major U.S. and international news organizations permitting Israel to launder its agenda in Gaza. That includes Israel’s efforts to legitimize its attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
L.A. Times owner tells editorial board to “take a break” from writing about Donald Trump: Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong reportedly also banned editorials critical of the president-elect unless they are published with another piece reflecting the opposing view, according to a memo obtained by Status News sent from members of the opinion desk to the newspaper’s executive editor. Management is currently reviewing the change in policies, which also includes a requirement for editors to send Soon-Shiong the text of editorial and its writer’s name before publishing.
JOURNALISM IN A GRAF
Quote of the week
“The time has come to speak up for what you think is right. Don’t let our communities — especially the vulnerable ones that are current[ly] being attacked and dehumanized — down.”
FINALLY…
Resource of the week
This week’s resource is Writers of Color.
An oldie but a goodie, the account has been posting listings with payment for years to create more transparency around media jobs and freelance opportunities.
And speaking of transparency, the Texas Tribune and PEN America are hosting a webinar on Jan. 16, 2025, discussing the ways influencers have shifted our information ecosystem and how to assess their reliability, accuracy, and sourcing. (This event was shared by one of our readers.)
For more style guides, journalism job boards, and tip sheets, check out The Objective’s resource list.
Thanks for reading. We appreciate you being here, and we’ll have more for you in 2025.
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