At #OxfordLibrary700, the NYT's Mark Thompson connects journalism and libraries as the late James Carey did: "in the wake of conversation we have need not only of the press but also of the library."
Thompson says when he arrived the digital transition at The Times was stalled and marginalized. "Digital people were the most frustrated people in the building." #OxfordLibrary700
The issue of how to make digital central is core to why so many legacy news organizations are stuck and overtaken by insurgents, says Mark Thompson. #OxfordLibrary700
Paradoxically, one of the first things Thompson did when he arrived at The Times was to make a print division to show it was only part of The Times. "What we shouldn't do is privilege print." #OxfordLibrary700
"You have to start prioritizing the future over the past and even the present," says Thompson. #OxfordLibrary700
"A tiny proportion" of the staff at The Times could continue to product print and the vast majority -- 70-80% of staff -- could focus instead on the future, says Thompson. #OxfordLibrary700
When he arrived at The Times, at 7 a.m. about the only people in the newsroom were people vacuuming it, Thompson says. 7 a.m. had to become the new prime time as people woke up to news on their phones, says Thompson. #OxfordLibrary700
The Times tried extensive retraining, Thompson says, but he makes clear that getting new people mattered. 70-80% of the advertising staff changed, for example, as did management. You can turn around a defeated army, he says, but not defeatist generals. #OxfordLibrary700
The Times recognized the need for change but translating that from "paralysis and anxiety" to innovation required much effort and change in management, Thompson says. #OxfordLibrary700 "Fresh faces, fresh voices" and people "not inculcated with psychological barriers to change."
Trying to change the "a-book" of the news report when it was the "holy of holies" was too difficult and so innovation and experiments had to happen around the edges and then people in the core would see and adapt successes, Thompson said. #OxfordLibrary700
In this great talk about change, Thompson retells the story of Cooking as a model for innovation for the newsroom. Then Dean Baquet came in the room and said "we're ready to play" and ready for "risk and experimentation." #OxfordLibrary700
"It's not an accident that change is hard." - Mark Thompson at #OxfordLibrary700.
"I begged, borrowed, and stealed from pretty much my first moment at The Times to make sure we were hiring, not firing journalists." - Thompson at #OxfordLibrary700.
Thompson tried to avoid pitched battles because the conservatives relished fights with the "crazy people who wanted to change the organization," leading to stalemate. So he tried to fight 10 battles at once to win 5 and "wear down the forces of opposition." #OxfordLibrary700
One of the ways to break down psychological barriers was to set crazy goals, Thompson says -- for example, the goal of 10 million digital subscribers. #OxfordLibrary700
"Giving people permission to hope, permission to believe in growth and the real possibility of success ... and the refounding of an institution with its same values, its values preserved" is key, Thompson says. #OxfordLibrary700
"Everyone in the organization can see you're laying your head on the block as well," Thompson says. #OxfordLibrary700
What a *terrific* talk about "the weapons and tactics of change" Mark Thompson just gave to librarians at #OxfordLibrary700. When the video comes online, recommend watching.
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Of course, the #BrokenTimes chooses to cast Biden's speech & the convention in a negative light. He gave the speech he deserved and earned, not defending his record but defending democracy. And why focus on Hillary's failure when she energized the night? 1/
Peter Baker isn't a political reporter. He thinks himself the mindreader. Having kicked Joe to the curb, Baker and the #BrokenTimes kick him once more, ignoring the substance of his speech, not covering his historic accomplishments. 2/ nytimes.com/2024/08/20/us/…
On this day, Nate Silver uses his #BrokenTimes platform to hawk his overlong book & cram his overstretched thesis--river (Silicon Valley) vs. village (institutions)--to a reality he didn't bet on. 3/
I Have Been Studying Poker for Years. nytimes.com/2024/08/20/opi…
What "press"? The broken and vindictive Times? The newly Murdochian Post? Hedge-fund newspaper husks? Rudderless CNN or NPR? Murdoch's fascist media? No. She can choose many ways to communicate her stands with others outside the old press and with the public directly. The old press can and should be bypassed.
Kamala Harris must speak to the press
Margaret Sullivan theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Look at the press' behavior. When given a chance to ask questions, they sound like they're in a lockerroom, seeking quotes, not policy. This does nothing to inform the electorate. I know the argument about testing a candidate: but the press as currently configured aims for game & gotcha.
Job 1 is to inform the electorate about policy & stakes. That is up to the candidate to communicate and voters to judge. The press is unnecessary in that process. It can still analyze all it wants. But its questions will do nothing more to inform....
This is the lead story in The Times, at the same time that stock premarket indications are green. The story reports nothing; doesn't even predict anything. It says something bad could happen, which is always true. This is journalism wishing for chaos. That's not journalism. There is so much else to lead a newspaper with. The Times is broken. 1/
Getaloada the story:
"Investors are braced for potential turmoil." Aren't they always?
"In spite of this sober optimism after such a dizzying week, nervousness remains about where the economy could go next, rather than where it is now." WTF does that even mean?
This is bullshit.
Jake Nelson, a wonderful journalism prof in Utah, says here I overplayed media's influence re Biden dropping out. He has a point; big media is much smaller. Media like to think they have influence until it comes time to take responsibility for what they say. But in the case of the market, cause and effect is murkier given that it is such a creature of bullshit vibes. 3/
The Post rewrote this headline and made it worse insofar as it backed farther away from just telling the truth: Trump made a racist attack on Harris. "Contest into new phase"? That is the editors' attempt to say less: i.e., nothing. The Post is broken. 1/
The Post's headline yesterday is so abhorrent that it should lead to editors losing jobs. This infamous 2020 headline in the Inquirer led to its editor losing his job. 2/
The Post is now run by two agents of Murdoch, Will Lewis and Matt Murray. They are responsible for this. They should be held accountable. Two former No. 2 editors at the Post--one a Black man, one Latino--could have been made editor. Instead, Bezos installed a Murdochian who hired a Murdochian. 3/
What the fuck, MSNBC? You preempted your excellent weekend programming, @TheWeekendMSNBC and @AliVelshi, and now you've silenced @Morning_Joe in favor of your anodyne streaming news cos-play called Now? This is when we need the analysis and conversation these shows bring us (yes, with controversy; that is how public discourse works through it: with discussion). It is shocking that NBC/Comcast do not understand their own company's programs and raison d'etre. Bring back @JoeNBC and @morningmika. They may drive me crazy sometimes, but we need the dialog they enable.
Did some numbnuts NBC/Comcast/Universal executive decide an assassination attempt was a good time to promote its foundering streaming show? (I feel like we're living in AppleTV's Morning Show. UBS>NBC.) Or did this essentially Republican megacorporation decide to silence liberal voices? That's my theory and that's nothing short of election interference.
MSNBC: You'd damned well better not preempt @NicolleDWallace, @JoyAnnReid, @maddow, @chrislhayes, @Lawrence, and @AriMelber today or I'll come organize a picket line at 30 Rock.
Who's in charge there: journalists or Republican media moguls? MSNBC is the alternative to the bothsidesing of the Times, Post, and CNN that we need.
What the hell are you thinking?
In this defensive @NewYorker reaction to @JoeBiden (finally) criticizing the press that has been criticizing him, @jaycaspiankang shares an important insight about the falling power of the press, but I come to a different conclusion... 1/ newyorker.com/news/fault-lin…
Kang says that media are weakened and that's what makes it easy for Trump and now Biden alike to attack them. I say what it shows is that as media realize they have lost the agenda, their response is to shout louder and more often. That is what we see every day in the @NYTimes. 2/
In The Gutenberg Parenthesis, I chronicle--nay, celebrate--the death of mass media & the insult of the mass. Kang makes me see that I next need to examine mass media's behavior in their death throes. They are not accustomed to being talked back to, by their subjects or by the public. They respond with resentment. They dig in. 3/