OFF THE TOP

You might have heard: Americans aren’t sure what’s true in this health misinformation age (Poynter) 

But did you know: Fact checkers take stock of their efforts: ‘It’s not getting better’ (The New York Times) 

Three out of 10 Americans still believe that President Biden’s victory was a result of fraud — the same percentage that believed it in the wake of the 2020 election. It’s a sign that years of fact-checking and social media corrections have not been successful at correcting this misapprehension. Growth in the fact-checking industry has slowed, while fact-checkers around the world are facing more harassment. Meanwhile, social media companies have scaled back their investment in anti-misinformation work. [newsletter align=right]

+ Noted: Marion police chief suspended post-raids. Newspaper owner speaks. (Substack, The Handbasket); Amanda Zamora will step down as publisher of The 19th at the end of this year (The 19th); The Marshall Project announces Mississippi local news team (The Marshall Project); Philadelphia journalist Josh Kruger fatally shot inside his own home (The Philadelphia Inquirer); Guardian US announces creation of new investigations unit (The Guardian); The Society of Professional Journalists faces a “dire situation” (Nieman Lab)   

API RESOURCE

These news orgs are building beats from reader donations

Local news organizations are getting increasingly comfortable with — and adept at — asking their audiences to make a donation to support their journalism. Some have had success asking audiences to support a specific beat or coverage area, including opinion, investigative journalism, religion reporting and solutions journalism. We’ve rounded up several examples here, so that others may copy their efforts. 

TECH TALK TUESDAY

Getty made an AI generator that only trained on its licensed images 

API’s Elite Truong says: This is a good example of incredibly effective marketing of a polarizing emerging technology and editorial strategy at work. There’s an opportunity to not only make their own archive and body of current assets LLM-proof but also leads to perhaps revolutionizing the wire service and business opportunities coming from evolving with the times and the tech but retaining your own assets. My dream for local newsrooms is to find ways to evolve and grow with this tech and the next trend.

TRY THIS AT HOME

Philadelphia Inquirer launches 7-figure ad campaign to lure millennials (Axios) 

The Philadelphia Inquirer has launched a new ad campaign, which will include outdoor advertising as well as print and digital components. The paper plans to spend at least a million dollars over the next three years on the campaign, which is designed to convince millennials to subscribe to the paper. There has already been hometown support for the campaign — all five major Philadelphia teams have allowed their logos to be used as part of the campaign. 

OFFSHORE

Five years after the Khashoggi murder: No justice, no closure (The Washington Post)

Five years after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, there has been no justice or closure on the killing, writes the editorial board of The Washington Post. While eight people have been convicted of killing Khashoggi, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA has determined ordered the killing, has not been held accountable for his death. The Saudi government has also continued to hand down draconian sentences to people who criticize the government. 

OFFBEAT

Journalists can be TikTokers too (Nieman Lab)

Journalist Sophia Smith Galer says that TikTok has become over-saturated with news explainers, but there is still an unfilled role for journalists on the platform. She writes that there is a gap for “personality and niche driven, platform-first content” from individual journalists. In place of news explainers, she says TikTok users want unique, specialized storytelling that is produced and filmed with the platform in mind. Smith Galer says that she has started focusing on a higher production quality for her videos and making longer videos, which TikTok now prioritizes. 

SHAREABLE

The small pro-labor news site that has the Biden White House’s ear (The Washington Post) 

More Perfect Union is a 28-person news organization focused on labor advocacy that was launched in February of 2021. The outlet has been influential in the Biden White House, and its executive director helped connect the president with the striking United Auto Workers. More Perfect Union has covered unionization efforts at Amazon, Starbucks and John Deere as well as workers strikes at Kellogg’s and Frito-Lay. Its video-first approach has found success on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and its unapologetically pro-worker stance is highlighting a side of labor stories not always seen in mainstream media. [newsletter]