[NIEMAN LAB] Business Insider’s Big Bet Against Aggregation — "Reworking a newsroom to produce more original journalism is one challenge, but it’s been another to communicate that shift to readers."

Business Insider’s big bet against aggregation

Facing repeated layoffs and traffic declines, Business Insider turns its back on the aggregation business it pioneered.

niemanlab.org

[INTELLIGENCER] CNN Boss Is Feeling the Tension As Paramount Merger Looms — "'No, the world is crumbling. There’s no reason that David Ellison wouldn't do the stupidest thing possible and give Bari Weiss the keys to CNN.'"

CNN Boss Is Feeling the Tension As Paramount Merger Looms

Mark Thompson is warning the new ownership against “messing with” the network.

nymag.com

Everybody's mini-maxxing.

Why Everything Is Tiny: Maxed-Out US Shoppers Embrace ‘Mini Effect’

Tepid wage growth and stubborn inflation are holding shoppers back from big purchases. Retailers like Lowe's and Trader Joe’s are leaning into growing demand for tiny things.

bloomberg.com

[CJR] What 19th-Century Media Can Teach Us About the Future — "The modern AI-enabled newsroom may come to resemble a digital pastepot: a remix engine echoing the viral textual culture of the pre-wire-service era."

What 19th-century media can teach us about the future.

In an era of change and fragmentation, the history of the early American press shows that media is shaped not only by technology, but by infrastructure, law, and society.

cjr.org

[CJR] Meet the Meteorologists Leaving Broadcast Behind — "From New Jersey to California to Louisiana, weather journalists are leaving traditional TV newsrooms to form all-digital platforms."

Meet the meteorologists leaving broadcast behind.

In an era of extreme weather, indie weathermen are streaming coverage 24-7—and banding together.

cjr.org

[CJR] ‘An Ice Cube That Is Melting’ — "Why, exactly, must 60 Minutes change? It is the top American news program, with an average of more than nine million people watching each Sunday, which Paramount itself was boasting about recently...." www.cjr.org/the_medi...

[CJR] The Insider's Scoop on 60 Minutes — "'I'll say the same thing I said then: there was a time, and I'm old enough to have worked during that time, where there were regulations in broadcasting that would have stopped all this from happening.'"

The insider’s scoop on ‘60 Minutes.’

“There’s no investigative reporting needed to understand what’s going on,” Lowell Bergman says.

cjr.org

[INTELLIGENCER] Steve Kroft Says the 60 Minutes We’ve Known 'No Longer Exists' — "'I think there's a climate of fear that has been introduced,' he says, 'and intimidation by the administration that is affecting a bit of everything.'"

Steve Kroft: The 60 Minutes We’ve Known ‘No Longer Exists’

The CBS News veteran laments Bari Weiss’s overhaul and fears for the show’s future.

nymag.com

[INTELLIGENCER] Bari Weiss Chooses War — "'I think there’s managerial incompetence. Even if you have disagreements with talent, you have to find a way for there to be a graceful transition,' said one CBS staffer."

Bari Weiss Chooses War

In her attempts to shake up 60 Minutes, she has taken the path of most resistance.

nymag.com

[INTELLIGENCER] Scott Pelley Accuses CBS Management of Incompetence, Bias in Fiery 60 Minutes Exit — "Pelley accused the new management of wreaking havoc through 'incompetence and unprofessionalism,' and lamented that 'the waste is heartbreaking.'"

Scott Pelley Blasts CBS Execs in Fiery 60 Minutes Exit

The show’s new head, Nick Bilton, chided Pelley for his “performative display of hostility.”

nymag.com

[COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW] A Star Is Born — "In the case of the Post, he said, the sickness was so far advanced that he felt some measure of relief when it became clear that he would be denied the opportunity to bid on it."

A ‘Star’ is born.

The Post looked down and out. Robert Allbritton made his move. 

cjr.org

[COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW] Deprogramming — "So far, the change seems to be working out: in the month since moving away from programmatic ads, the amount of time people spend on the Prospect site has nearly doubled."

The American Prospect decided to do away with programmatic ads. A month later, people are spending twice as much time on the site.

The American Prospect decided to do away with programmatic ads. A month later, people are spending nearly twice as much time on the site.

cjr.org

[SECOND ROUGH DRAFT] The Baltimore Banner CEO on Progress There and Plans for Their Pittsburgh Newspaper Purchase — "'[I]t's just a shot in the arm for the whole organization. It lifts everything, the journalists and the journalism, the whole brand.'"

The Baltimore Banner CEO on Progress There and Plans for Their Pittsburgh Newspaper Purchase

A conversation with Bob Cohn

dicktofel.substack.com

[PLATFORMER] Are the Twitter Clones in Trouble? — "Start with Meta's Threads, which will turn three in July. Daily active users on the platform have declined in seven of the past eight months, Adam Blacker wrote in a blog post on Apptopia."

Are the Twitter clones in trouble?

A new report says X is resurgent — but it may be missing the bigger picture

platformer.news

[THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER] Josh D’Amaro Lays Out 'Long-Term View' for Disney in First Earnings Report Since Taking Over as CEO — "[T]he executives reiterated the plan to make Disney+ a centerpiece of the company's strategy...."

Josh D’Amaro Lays Out “Long-Term View” for Disney in First Earnings Report Since Taking Over as CEO

Disney reported its fiscal second-quarter earnings early Wednesday morning, beating Wall Street expectations, with D'Amaro laying out his thoughts on AI, original IP, and that new Abu Dhabi park.

hollywoodreporter.com

[INTELLIGENCER] The White Man Claiming the New York Times Discriminates Against White Men — "The paper itself was first to break the news of the suit but did not name the employee who made the complaint."

The White Man Crying Discrimination at the New York Times

“You’re giving the Trump administration a weapon.”

nymag.com

[THE REBOOTING] The Guardian's U.S. Push — "Reader revenue has grown 35% a year for the past two years, with a still-growing 150-person newsroom."

The Guardian's U.S. push

It's now bigger than The Washington Post

therebooting.com

[SEMAFOR] What's Next for Letterboxd? — In just a few years, the company surged from around a million users in 2020 to more than 26 million users earlier this year, according to filings.

Exclusive: What’s next for Letterboxd?

The controlling investor in Letterboxd, the cinephile social platform, is looking to sell its stake.

semafor.com

[DEFECTOR] Tony Dokoupil Is Still Eating Shit, Even If No One’s Watching — "The CBS anchor is a dud with poor direction, and everyone knows it — including the people who work with him."

Tony Dokoupil Is Still Eating Shit, Even If No One’s Watching | Defector

Chances are you haven’t seen or thought of Tony Dokoupil in a while, and you wouldn’t be alone. Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News is lagging well behind ABC and NBC’s nightly news programs, recently dropping under 4 million viewers per night. But TV ratings aren’t necessary for what you can see with your own eyes: The…

defector.com

[VULTURE] Why Disney Fired 1,000 Employees Last Week — "In a world where Disney must compete with the Netflixes ... of the world, perhaps the Disney future that D'Amaro envisions looks more like a tech company than a family friendly entertainment giant."

Why Disney Fired 1,000 Employees Last Week

Freshly minted CEO Josh D’Amaro is telegraphing what kind of company he wants to lead.

vulture.com

[NPR] NPR Receives $113M in Charitable Gifts — "'This remarkable investment will enable NPR to continue to deliver the nation's finest public service journalism, meeting audiences where they are today and will be in the years to come.'" www.npr.org/2026/04/...

[THE NEW YORK TIMES] Condé Nast Shutters Self Magazine — "Self, the health and fitness publication that has been online-only since 2017, will cease to exist, and health and wellness content will be folded into other Condé brands like Allure and Glamour." www.nytimes.com/2026...

[DEREK THOMPSON] How 'Zombie Flow' Took Over Culture — "Entertainment and tech companies have gotten smarter about putting consumers into bastardized flow states that leavespeople feeling drained and sad rather than challenged and enlarged as selves." www.derekthompson.or...

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR / VOX (NYC or DC) : This looks like a great opportunity to oversee coverage plans and stories for some of the most important subjects today — climate change, energy, emerging technology, artificial intelligence, global health.

Editorial Director, Vox

NYC or DC

job-boards.greenhouse.io

DISTRIBUTION ARCHITECTURE : Arguing that AI summaries have rendered the anecdotal lede obsolete fails to grasp the multi-modal nature of modern news. These aren't competing devices; they're different gateways for different intent. We're building multiple entry points.

Why Starting Long News Stories With Anecdotes May Have Outlived Its Usefulness

Factoring in both impatience and AI

dicktofel.substack.com

Love this framing. Systemic reason people gravitate toward LEGO, coloring, puzzles. Beyond nostalgia, it's a response to a media environment demanding fractured attention. Tactile friction in a world designed to be frictionless. Don't dismiss of the need for low-stakes focus as a restorative habit.

Drew Breunig@dbreunig.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In my head, I've started referring to these as "rosary games." You play them like one might say the rosary as you work your way down the beads. They're games you play to engage you attention just a bit, allowing you to mediate, wind down, or focus. They're not challenging. They're not urgent.

SENIOR EDITOR, ESSAYS & COLUMNS / THE CUT (New York) : You know the job. Work with writers to develop first-person and opinion-driven storytelling across The Cut's core coverage areas of fashion, beauty, politics, sex, and celebrity. Win the internet.

Senior Editor, Essays & Columns, The Cut

New York, NY

job-boards.greenhouse.io

INDUSTRIAL LITERACY : The AP's pivot is the final, quiet fracturing of the foundation. For years, the creators have propped up a specific kind of digital mirage — independent voices pretending to report while actually just aggregating the labor of wire services.

AP plans staff cuts, restructuring amid broader business shift

The Associated Press is restructuring away from hyper-local print coverage and toward video and national topics.

axios.com

PARTNERSHIPS EDITOR / HIGH COUNTRY NEWS (Remote) : HCN is looking for someone to build on its collaborations with other media outlets, and to coordinate with editors and writers in other newsrooms.

I spent 15 years running newsrooms, now I'm mostly focused on the systems that scale and sustain them. Here for media business news, to track the industry's evolution, and to share the best of what I'm reading. ➝ nbjackson.com ➝ linkedin.nbjackson.com ➝ wiki.nbjackson.com ➝ x.nbjackson.com