Journalism

WRAL Raleigh, N.C., wants viewers to talk back to it and has launched new technology that lets viewers record what they think on a variety of topics and share those thoughts that end up in WRAL newscasts.

Margaret Sullivan: Misogyny, often racist misogyny, is at the heart of recent attacks on female journalists. And it’s happening all over the world. Sadly, there is a chilling effect on journalism itself. Reporters may decide to pull back to protect themselves, asking whether a particular article is really worth the abuse it will bring. They may decide to leave the profession altogether.

Burns started working at the Nexstar CW affiliate in March 2019. Her last day at the station will be March 26.

Nexstar’s nascent NewsNation cable network has been roiled with high-level departures and “plummeting morale amid dismal ratings,” as summarized by one media writer. It is certainly at a pivotal juncture, and whether it can deliver on the unique, apolitical content it promised will be key to its survival.

Lawmakers on Friday debated an antitrust bill that would give news publishers collective bargaining power with online platforms like Facebook and Google, putting the spotlight on a proposal aimed at chipping away at the power of Big Tech. At a hearing held by the House antitrust subcommittee, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, emerged as a leading industry voice in favor of the law. He took a divergent path from his tech counterparts, pointing to an imbalance in power between publishers and tech platforms.

Former CNN Great Big Story VP Ashley Codianni is joining NBC as executive editor of Today Digital, and Missy Dunlop Parsons is being promoted to executive producer of Today All Day, the morning show’s 24/7 lifestyle streaming channel. In this new role, Codianni will manage the Today.com editorial and social teams, working in tandem with the Today broadcast team to highlight programming across all our digital platforms.

Facebook and Google’s market power, especially over digital advertising, has translated to a potential “extinction level event” for local news operations, broadcast, online and print. That was the underlying message of House Antitrust Subcommittee chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) at a hearing Friday on “Saving a Free and Diverse Press.”

As more of the population gets vaccinated and social-distancing restrictions are relaxed, many anchors have headed back to their familiar sets, where social distance is maintained. But the innovations and efficiencies discovered by the TV news business over the past year are likely to last when the pandemic is hopefully a distant memory.

When Mona Morrow joined the Scripps Cincinnati flagship WCPO in 2000 to run community affairs, she brought a simple idea with her — an idea that was way ahead of its time but two decades later is finally gaining widespread support as an important tool for local newsrooms — a community advisory board.

TV stations make meaningful contributions and connections in a variety of beneficial ways with their communities. Here’s a round-up of how some stations are helping and serving their communities.

Lobbyists for Facebook and Google threw their weight against new U.S. legislation that seeks to aid struggling news publishers by allowing them to negotiate collectively against the tech companies over revenue sharing and other deals. Google, which declined comment on the proposal, launched a website on Thursday asserting it is “one of the world’s biggest financial supporters of journalism” by virtue of the ad revenue and content licensing fees it provides to media.

Contributor Tomi Lahren has referred to facial coverings as ‘face diapers.’ Even news anchor Martha MacCallum has questioned their effectiveness.

The Pentagon said Fox News host Tucker Carlson “essentially demeaned the entire U.S. military” with a segment that decried increasing numbers of female service members and suggested they were weakening the U.S. armed forces.

The 30-year broadcast news veteran is tapped by Marquee Broadcasting to oversee news operations at its Albany, Ga., duopoly.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted a lengthy portion of his show Tuesday night to attacking New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz over her accounts of facing online harassment, claiming that in fact she has “one of the best lives in the country.” After both she and the newspaper spoke out, with the Times calling his segment “calculated and cruel,” he returned to the airwaves on Wednesday to continue lambasting Lorenz. He labeled her a “deeply unhappy narcissist,” denied that she faces online abuse and allowed a guest to baselessly accuse her of “harassing kids and teenagers.”

Geraldo Rivera said that he is considering running the open U.S. Senate in Ohio seat being vacated by Rob Portman. He wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, “Pondering running for retiring @senrobportman seat in United States Senate. #GoBuckeyes.”