1,000 subscribers: quick changing journalism
There were a couple of good long threads or tweets last week about how journalism is changing in 2023, on the back of the confusion with the attack on the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza.
One from the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch, and one from a guy called Steven Sinofsky, from a software metaphor perspective, who Musk retweeted, so that got traction. You can read the long versions over there.
Burn-Murdoch here: “So you end up with situations where huge, respected news organisations are reporting as fact things that have already been shown by technically adept news gatherers outside newsrooms to be false or at the very least highly uncertain. It’s hugely damaging to trust in journalism”.
Sinofsky here: “It isn't simply the domain knowledge or access to the data, but the checks and balances, and the debate (vigorous as it is) across all those bits and pieces. And it is also the speed at which that system works. The participants are available around the clock, in every language, in every time zone. No newsroom has that no matter how big.”
They are both right with their slightly different takes on the same issues. I have found these things to be the case on the major stories in Spain over the past 10 years, reporting on and via Twitter. The best is a mixture of the stuff that’s out there that most people can’t be bothered to find, analytical thinking about the data points, and the phone calls to participants and experts.
(And reporters and editors at CNN and the BBC are using Twitter just like everyone else is)
Also, when people see that you are taking a story seriously, and are accessible and transparent in your reporting and analysis, they take you seriously at the same time and often get in touch to tell you more. And it is surprising sometimes who gets in touch like that, to enrich the details and context.
One smart guy or girl can be quicker and better than the BBC or CNN if they’re on the ball like that with stories in their domain. Readers know this.
Let’s go: 1,000 subscribers for independence. Grab yours now.