From the source’s mouth

A big discussion in journalism circles this week involved The Washington Post’s plan to give sources the ability to “annotate” stories with comments, first reported by New York Times media reporter Benjamin Mullin. The sources’ submissions will be “revealed to readers if they click or hover a cursor over the source’s name in the article,” Mullin wrote.

One impetus for the “From the Source” feature, as noted in The Post’s memo to staff (posted by Mullin on X) is to “continue and deepen the conversation about our journalism on our own platforms, rather than losing those interactions to social media, where sources sometimes turn.”

Since he wrote about the idea, Mullin said on LinkedIn, the response has been very mixed. “Some believe that it is a mistake to expose The Post to after-the-fact grousing from sources,” he wrote. “Others view it as an admirable step toward transparency in an era of deep distrust for the news industry.”

The flurry of takes on social media, both from journalists and the people who deal with them, reflected this mix, though journalists appeared to be more critical than others.

“There is a long tradition in journalism of standing behind reporters when sources, especially powerful ones, criticize their work,” Shane Harris, an Atlantic staff writer who previously worked for The Post and The Wall Street Journal, wrote on Bluesky. “This is the opposite of that.”

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Federal lawsuit challenges ‘unconstitutional’ Key Biscayne media policy (Key Biscayne Independent) 

The Key Biscayne (Fla.) Independent has filed a lawsuit against the Village of Key Biscayne, challenging as unconstitutional a policy gagging village employees from speaking to the press unless permitted by certain government officials. The policy, instituted in November, has impeded the outlets’s news gathering processes, the Independent said. The paper is represented by attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, reports John Pacenti.

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Inside CNBC’s baby boom: 6 pregnant on-air anchors and reporters share how they created community in the workplace (People Magazine)

There’s a newsroom baby boom at CNBC, writes Hannah Sacks. Six of the network’s journalists are currently pregnant at the same time, and two are on maternity leave or just coming back from it. The coincidence has allowed them to create a community of support and sharing, leaning on one another during a pivotal time, Sacks writes. “There’s something really powerful in knowing you’re not doing this alone,” said CNBC’s technology reporter Kate Rooney, who is currently expecting her second baby.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Q&A: Lisa Remillard on leaving the anchor desk behind for TikTok (CJR)

Lisa Remillard has 3.7 million followers on TikTok — but don’t call her a social media influencer. She considers herself a journalist, and she tackles the hard topics that other journalists do — the federal debt ceiling, the Consumer Price Index, ICE raids. In a Q&A with Yona TR Golding, Remillard recounts her path from the anchor desk to short-form internet videos. “I would love for legacy media not to look down on those of us who do this work on social media,” she said. “We’re breaking important news. We have the base and the following, and we’re getting the message out in a way that they’re not.”

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Revenue & Resilience

>> New from API: 8 revenue experiments you can replicate in your news organization (Better News) 

Here are some ideas to steal and adapt as you’re looking to identify new revenue streams. API gave eight local news organizations $5,000 each to run small-scale experiments aimed at trying new revenue strategies. They revived video efforts, found ways to streamline their donation process and piloted different formats for live events, among others. P. Kim Bui details the experiments, captures “big wins” from each and suggests ways other newsrooms can try these tactics.

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What else you need to know

📈 As AI kills search traffic, Google launches Offerwall to boost publisher revenue (TechCrunch)

🔍 What’s really behind the drop in search traffic to news sites? (INMA) 

📺 BBC to start charging US-based consumers for news and TV coverage (The Guardian)

🔒 Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls (Pew Research Center)

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Weekend reads

+ My grandmother stood up to Nixon — Jeff Bezos should take note (The Nation)

+ The high stakes of reporting on homegrown extremism (Nieman Reports)

+ The end of publishing as we know it (The Atlantic)

+ Can AI tools meet journalistic standards? (CJR)