1/ I'm sorry but this piece has several data/categorization flaws that need to be called out.
https://twitter.com/sarafischer/status/1409843429782216704
2/ Deep in the source credits comes this: "Axios created five groups of publishers based on assessments of their news bias, in consultation with news bias ranking service NewsGuard." But NewsGuard specifically categorizes us as "left-leaning", not "far left" 
3/ I mean, I'd quibble with the one ding Newsguard gave us but if Axios is going to use their sorting methodology, then you don't get to arbitrarily reassign us to "far left" just because it better fits your bullet points thesis.
4/ But leave us out of it, does calling the Atlantic "left leaning" on par with the "right leaning" Fox News make sense...to anyone following media? Is Mother Jones equivalent to Newsmax ffs? (Again Newsguard itself called us left leaning...just like the Atlantic!)
5/ Relying on Comscore data, which is pretty sucky for small publishers, is better than citing Alexa. But media reporters presenting "data" should acknowledge the limitations of data, and the relative accuracy.
6/ Much like the flawed crime rate stuff being breathlessly reported, there's a bias built into the timelines. high traffic is months during pandemic/racial justice protests/presidential election/insurrection. Low traffic is lower, because yes things are less insane!
7/ The % drop in our traffic they indicate doesn't match the line they drew? To say nothing of the radical smoothing of taking average traffic for one six month period and comparing it to average traffic for another period...which I think is what they're doing.
8/ Yeah so pretty sure the Chauvin verdict and the Suez ship disrupting global flow of goods would have in fact gotten coverage during the Trump administration
9/ This is an incredible bit of cherry picking, just to keep the "on the one hand, on the other hand" vibe going, while, of course, not consulting a "liberal" media analyst about what might be happening in the podcast space. Or rosy views about possible further traffic.
10/ To read a much more detailed and nuanced piece about how audiences (ours in particular, but all of them) are doing right now, read @MonikaBauerlein motherjones.com/media/2021/06/…
11) tl;dr When all your revenue comes from traffic or ratings, dips cause panic and layoffs, and platforms and storytelling that can't be monetized are sidelined. When you make your money from reader support, you can keep an even keel in stormy seas.
12/ Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that our traffic dips correspond with Facebook's decision to dial back the flow to progressive publishers, to appease conservatives both in and outside the company: motherjones.com/media/2020/10/…
13/ If you'd like to support our work, which in the past week has included big scoops on Ivanka Trump and the DOJ investigating Georgia over elections laws, hey, it's fundraising season: secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/7L…
14/ Finally, a partisan lens is a very DC POV, but it wasn't a very good one to measure media by a decade ago, and it's a seriously flawed one now. A better metric would be dedication to reporting/fact-checking, and applying such rigor even to opinion or analysis pieces.
16/ knew I saved these for a reason
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
