Yesterday marked the end of an era: Digital media outlet Buzzfeed News is shutting down. It’s a huge loss not just for the close to 200 employees losing their jobs, but for the news landscape in general — Buzzfeed News reporters doggedly covered the internet and social media as they became home to communities where social justice movements and right-wing misinformation both took root. 

The outlet gained consent from Stanford student Chanel Miller to post her full trial statement to her attacker in 2016. And its investigations department covered stories from the real human cost of Amazon’s next-day delivery to broken promises from the nation’s leading psychiatric service provider. Its comprehensive style guide gave reporters a tool to navigate rapidly evolving internet verbiage at a time when most major news outlets neglected to take online conversations seriously — a condition mainstream coverage still suffers from today, especially when outlets and individuals alike see social media as separate from “real life.” 

But much of the brand’s fall is a result of management’s failure to invest in the news and investigations division, which previously survived downsizing in 2017 that shut down its in-house audio department in favor of looking to video-on-demand and social media content in its relentless pursuit of clicks and revenue. 

Though Buzzfeed is a publicly owned company, it isn’t immune to the same problems that plague privately owned, corporate media helmed by billionaires. News wasn’t profitable, so it got cut — a reflection of an industry, not just an outlet, that values placing profit over people. Cooperatively owned newsrooms and unions are important, making it possible for workers to build power within institutions, employee protections and developing contracts that hold companies to humane treatment of their workers, even during layoffs.

But even moreso, journalism at large must shift away from a model that relies on the truth that “billionaires have always owned the media”, accepting memos from executives that start with an apology and don’t end with redistributing wealth or stepping down. After all, Buzzfeed was gutted despite its strong union.

When ownership of journalism outlets is concentrated in the hands of the ultra-wealthy — despite outlets’ individual editorial independence — neither journalists nor audiences benefit. It’s sad that Buzzfeed’s shutdown happened the same day Twitter’s blue checks’ transformation, heralded by the site’s owner Elon Musk, is complete, taking the badge from a symbol meant to verify their identity online to a signal someone has an extra $7-12 a month. 

At a time when fascism is on the rise, it’s dangerous that industry leaders continue to litigate “objectivity” while there are greater stakes: Journalists are being discredited, whether online or through losing their jobs. The foremost platform for marginalized journalists, writers and communities to gain traction and audiences when critiquing media, access work opportunities, and find community given the lack of protections during the ongoing pandemic is falling into disarray.

Trans and queer people are clearly under attack — despite some major newsrooms failing to cover that with clarity, gravity and care. Newsrooms, for all their promises of diversifying themselves, remain primarily white across all beats, and where they have a diverse reporter corps, there’s still segregation between reporters and editors. Now is the time to look to independent media and reporting that adheres to values through action, not just name.

Acknowledging and analyzing what’s happening together, in collaboration, not competition, is how journalism must move forward. Traditional models — for supporting newsrooms, for building diversity — aren’t working: In many cases, they may be perpetuating the same systems of oppression that keep the status quo alive. But that shouldn’t warrant giving up, or rolling over and thinking the status quo is “good enough.”

We have to believe in a better media if we want to build it.

If you’ve been impacted by layoffs or want to help those who are: Journalist Kati Kotal in partnership with Poynter built a site for journalism mutual aid with resources to help coordinate aid for laid-off reporters.Inside the Newsroom is also offering free trials to its journalism jobs board. DM @InsideNewsroom_ or email [email protected]. 

—James Salanga, Co-Editor

What happened to the reckoning in food media? We’ve launched our first-ever print issue on the “reckoning” in food media. You can get your own copy by signing up to support our work. Read more.

As transgender America struggles, national news doesn’t know what to write. For The Objective, Assigned Media’s Evan Urquhart takes national news’ inaction to task, calling for outlets to do better at clearly communicating risks and stakes as legislative attacks are continuously leveled against trans people. Read more.

A new youth-led climate protest group will ‘blockade’ the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The group, Climate Defiance, aims to hold reporters accountable for falling short on their urgency in prioritizing climate coverage, reports The Objective’s Democracy Correspondent Jacob Gardenswartz. Read more.

Solidarity from Black Atlanta to Palestine. Scalawag covers the Atlanta Police Department’s training programs in apartheid Israel, where American and Israeli authorities exchange notes on violent and oppressive practices against Black and Palestinian bodies, respectively. Read more.

COVID is still dangerous. Journalists need to cover it that way. In Nieman Lab, Kendra Pierre-Lewis says many legacy media outlets have shied away from addressing the continued lethality of COVID-19 on communities throughout the United States. Read more.

Media outlets fail to live up to the goals of their DEI promises. While outlets have advertised diversity as a new principle in hiring standards, Sara Guagoline’s piece in Digiday shows how many legacy media corporations are still mainly hiring white reporters for critical roles. Read more.

U.S. journalists’ beats vary widely by gender and other factors. A new Pew Research Center surveyed over 12,000 working journalists and found the industry remained predominantly white. Demographic data misses some categories, including Native and gender non-conforming journalists. Read more.

5 days until … The Campaign Journalism Conference, jointly hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. The Chicago-based conference will cover how journalists report on the 2024 campaigns.

8 days until … Beyond Objectivity, a Society of Professional Journalists event co-hosted by the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix) SPJ chapter and the Asian American Journalists Association. 

19 days until … Arrested on the Job, a webinar hosted by the National Press Club looking at how American journalists can deal with hostility from sources and potential arrest from police.

Looking for a job? Here are a few places to look: INN | ONA | JournalismJobs.com | 10 Jobs and a Dog | NABJ | AAJA | NAHJ | NLGJA | @WritersofColor | MEO Jobs | Freelance Journalist Rates | Source Jobs | Opportunities of the Week ($) | West Coast Media Jobs

How about a style guide? Trans Journalist Association | Diversity Style Guide | Tribal Nations Media Guide | NABJ Style Guide | Disability Language Style Guide | AAJA Guide to Covering Asian Pacific America | NAHJ Cultural Competence Handbook |  SPJ Race & Gender Hotline | AMEJA Media Resource Guide | The Press in Prison | The Conscious Style Guide

Want to get in touch? You can reply directly to this newsletter! 

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you soon. 

This issue is by James Salanga and Nawar Nemeh with editing by Gabe Schneider and Curtis Yee.