The challenges of protest coverage  

With anti-ICE and anti-Trump protests arising in cities beyond Los Angeles — CNN has a rundown — newsrooms across the country will be deciding how to cover them: how many stories to publish, which images to present and how stories will be framed.

One challenge is the temptation of the “conflict” angle.

“The most substantial problem with protest coverage in general is that the press prefers to emphasize conflicts between protesters and law enforcement as well as acts of protest violence, at the expense of explaining and fact checking the issues that prompted the protest,” Tom  Arenberg, a journalism instructor at the University of Alabama, writes for Birmingham Watch.

The need for fact-checking is real. Breaking news situations are notorious for misinformation and this week’s protests are no exception. This week, CBS News reports on the fake and recycled videos and conspiracy theories circulating online.

There are also decisions to be made about terminology. Poynter’s Tom Jones has concluded that the word “nonlethal” isn’t right to describe rubber bullets and other measures used to disperse crowds and subdue people. “Any weapon can be deadly if a person is hit in just the right spot,” he writes.

Protests in recent years, like those waged by students over Gaza, have inspired insightful discussions and tips about how journalists should approach them. A good example is a 2024 piece from Trusting News’ Mollie Muchna on how it’s important for journalists to explain what sets their protest coverage apart from the other media.

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> The Washington Post’s Hannah Natanson on covering DOGE (NPR’s Fresh Air) 

Fresh Air’s Terry Gross had Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on her show to talk about what happens with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency now that Musk has left the government. Journalists, though, might be more interested in the parts where Natanson talks about her challenges as a reporter investigating the department, how she develops sources and finds stories, including her use of Reddit, how she uses the Signal app and how she protects her sources.

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Small-town newspapers are dying because no one wants to run them (CJR)

The survival problem for some small-town newspapers isn’t that they don’t have the audience, writes Liam Scott. It’s that their owners can’t figure out who’s going to take over after they retire. Citing outlets in North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and other places, Scott says the problem isn’t always money. And when papers like this close, he writes, “they hardly ever reopen.”

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: We are helping 16 organizations deepen community engagement through collaborations with content creators and trusted messengers

News organizations selected for API’s latest grant cohort will partner with trusted influencers on content about food, civic engagement, history or important issues facing their communities. One will help local residents better understand startups in their community. Another will suggest what is and isn’t worth residents’ time and money locally. These are just a few of the projects API will be supporting with $3,000 grants to each of 16 news organizations seeking to build connections and prioritize storytelling in our 2025 Influencers Learning Cohort.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> New from API: 4 ways local news can build local identity — and bring in new revenue

History is a hot topic right now, and local news organizations are well positioned to tap into it to deepen engagement, potentially earning revenue in the process. As History Factory CEO Jason Dressel put it: “Local media’s deep-rooted connection to the identities of the communities it serves offers a unique advantage in capitalizing on this widespread interest in history.” Dressel and three others who attended our April Local News Summit in Nashville on local history and identity have put their insights into writing on how local news can build local identity.

  • Greetings from Denver: This week, another delegation from API is in Colorado for a summit on a related topic: How to bridge connections across generations. News leaders are thinking hard these days about how they can expand their audiences across age groups, and how to design content that has intergenerational appeal. Here’s a peek at Day 1. Watch this space for more updates.

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What else you need to know

🗳️ House Republicans vote to claw back $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid, NPR and PBS (NBC News)

✒️ Washington Post names Adam O’Neal as opinion editor (The New York Times)

🫡 Jay Rosen is retiring from his post as NYU journalism professor after 39 years (PressThink)

📨 Terry Moran launches Substack after sudden ABC News departure (Axios)

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Weekend reads

+ A computer wrote my mother’s obituary (The Atlantic)

+ ‘We are the times’: What Pope Leo XIV and St. Augustine can teach journalists about leadership (Poynter)

+ Listen: Why AI companies don’t want journalism to exist (Prospect Magazine)

+ Americans still have faith in local news — but few are willing to pay for it (The Conversation)