Three Things for the week of October 26, 2020
Three items from journalism, media, and the nonprofit sector worth noting.
Washington Post Public Editor: The Powerful Have Realized They Don’t Need The Post
Elite national news outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times are the most susceptible to the shift by which powerful figures increasingly bypass the press and take their message straight to the public. The realization at these outlets is dawning, writes Hamilton Nolan recently in the Columbia Journalism Review, that meticulous reporting unearthing politicians’ scandals isn’t moving the needle of public opinion. And powerful figures are increasingly aware of that — and less fearful of the press, as a result, disrupting a balance of power that is crucial for democracy. This trend is already taking place in local markets across the country, where news organizations have been forced to reduce staff due to financial constraints.
Mary-Frances Winters: Nonprofits Must Admit to Systemic Racism to Fight It
Mary-Frances Winters of The Winters Group writes in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that “Philanthropic organizations can’t tackle systemic racism without first acknowledging it exists, then developing a process to reduce it that goes beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.”
Winters adds that “supporting individuals’ well-being fosters both individual and organizational resilience, and increases open-mindedness, acceptance, and innovation. We’ve learned that effective well-being strategies are tailored to an organization’s values and vision.”
In-Car Listening Up in the Latest Share of Ear Study from Edison Research
“The latest research from Share of Ear shows a shift back to the car as quarantine restrictions have been lifted by varying degrees across the country. In-car listening grew from 20% in Q2 to 28% today, not quite equal to the pre-COVID number of 32% of all listening.” That’s the big news from Edison Research’s latest Share of Ear Study.
At-home listening drops but is still 10 points higher than pre-COVID listening. At-work listening increased during the period but is still down significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The other big takeaway was the continued growth of podcasting. The latest findings show that the share of time Americans age 13+ spend with podcasts as a percentage of all their audio listening had tripled to 6% from just 2% in 2014.