Three Things for the week of November 9, 2020
Three items from journalism, media and the nonprofit sector worth noting.
In this post-election week edition, we share some insights into journalism in a post-Trump era contrasting the landscape for national journalism outlets and local news, plus the danger of a discriminatory database, and radio listening on the rise.
Journalism in the Post-Trump Era
With the calls this weekend that (now) President-Elect Joe Biden surpassed the threshold of electoral votes to win the 2020 Presidential election, there will be plenty of columns written that look at how media outlets covered the 2020 election, and where national news outlets will be headed in a Post-Trump White House. The winners over the past four years include, of course, The New York Times, who announced last week that it surpassed seven million digital subscribers for the first time.
Unfortunately, the future is still very much in doubt for local journalism. In late October, Poynter looked at the possibility of an intervention from Congress with the introduction of HR 7640, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate is also looking at addressing the crisis in local news with the Future of Local News Commission Act of 2020.
While these efforts are primarily designed to address challenges facing the newspaper industry, non-profit journalism continues to find ways to fill the gaps left behind by shrinking or shuttering print outlets. One recent upstart is the Missouri Independent, which started publishing last month, covering state government, politics and policy in Missouri. Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit focused on coverage in state capitals across the U.S.
The publication was caught in some political crossfire late last week that was chronicled by Kathy Kiely, the Lee Hills Chair for Free Press Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism, in a column on Saturday in the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune.
The best news in all of this is the recognition of the need for local journalism to hold those in power accountable. But we need to move from recognition to revenue for local journalism to sustain itself in the year’s ahead.
Your Discriminatory Database May Be Turning Off Donors. Here’s What to Do About It
“How databases manage your constituents’ identities sends a loud and clear message about whether or not you deserve their support,” that’s one of the messages from Kathy Johnson Bowles recent column in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. One of the challenges noted in the piece is that the “rules established for data management are based on antiquated notions of etiquette, assumptions about identity, stereotypes, and Anglicized or Euro-centric conventions for names.”
Johnson Bowles details some scenarios and solutions in this thought-provoking column that suggests that any implicit-bias training should include employees who design forms and databases containing names.
Nielsen Audio: Radio Listening and Listeners Returning To Pre-COVID Levels
Nielsen Audio released a report recently tracking radio listening over the past eight months noting that radio’s weekly reach has nearly entirely returned to Pre-COVID levels. The study, “On The Road to Recovery with AM/FM Radio,” tracked the past eight months of data in the top 50 radio markets and found that 97% of radio’s weekly audience has return and listening in October was only down around 5% when compared to March 2020 before the pandemic changed the lifestyles of most households in the county.
Morning drive continues to lag behind listening in other dayparts and weekend listening was actually higher in October than it was in March. Another interesting takeaway is that in-vehicle listening, where most radio listening happens, doubled from the week of April 30, 2020 to October 1, 2020.
