Don't Bury the Lede

We went OUTSIDE! Jenna and Domenic met up with a bevy of other journalists for an informal gathering of community, support and yes- even networking. The event, Media Mixer, is the creation of Samantha Stokes, a business and technology journalist who was hired right before the pandemic-induced lockdown. She, like a lot of other younger journalists spent their first few years in the industry missing...

Ever picked up what looks like a local paper or clicked on a link to what should be a local story only to find pseudo journalism masquerading as local reporting? Congratulations! You just got slimed. Pink slimed that is. Pink Slime Journalism referrers to the low-cost, low-quality local-ish news content oozing across the country, especially prominent in news deserts that lack local coverage. Domen...

Why have so many Americans lost faith in journalism? Is it because we're all terrible manipulative people? Or is it because the public often confuses hard news, with analysis of news with opinions about the news? And is there a clear understanding between misinformation and disinformation? Enter the News Literacy Project! Domenic and Jenna talk with Erin Olson, Sr Manager of State Partnerships for...

Is the onslaught of layoffs affecting the journalism we all consume? Jenna and Dom are just two of likely thousands of journalists that have been laid off, taken buyouts or worked for media outlets that simply went out of business. Officially, nobody really knows how many journalists and what demographics they represented in their respective newsrooms are no longer working in the business. Enter K...

What’s your brand? Your journalist brand? Traditionally, journalists will tell you the organization or the media outlet they work for IS the brand and they are presenting their reporting through that brand. But is that the old way? Phil Rosen, a business journalist turned entrepreneur with a popular financial newsletter, ‘Opening Bell Daily’ says for journalists to survive in this chaotic climate...

Not all news is bad news. Sometimes it's good news. Not feel good stories, but stories that show an answer, or solution to a community's problem. Domenic and Jenna talk with David Bornstein, co-founder of Solutions Journalism Network, an independent, non-profit organization that advocates an approach of solutions journalism, an evidence-based mode of reporting. Bornstein tells Dom and Jenna, journ...

Local journalism is the antidote to polarization. Several people we’ve spoken to have all pointed out that the decline in local journalism coincides with the rise in political polarization. So how do you save local journalism? Illinois State Senator Steve Stadelman and Zachary Richner, founding member of New York State’s Empire State Local News Coalition both say government has a role to play in s...

With so many layoffs taking place in a difficult job market, many laid off journalists will be faced with the question, 'Should I do something else?' Walking away from a competitive and passionate calling can feel daunting and disorienting, so Jenna and Dom turn to a well-respected journalist who pivoted on his own terms, Ken Lovett. Lovett used to be the Albany bureau chief for the NY Daily News,...

"You've been laid off? Well that's ok, you can just freelance until the next job comes along!" That's a phrase many laid off journalists hear immediately after a job loss. But is it that simple? Dom and Jenna talk with writer, author and writing coach Caitlin Kelly about what it really takes to survive as a freelance journalist. What she's gained and given up to do so. https://caitlinkelly.com/ He...

We're 10 episodes in and Dom and Jenna take some time to reflect on their own layoff journey, starting a podcast and having it take shape in real time what were the big news stories that made them realize how big of an impact good and bad journalism can have.

Somebody’s got to save journalism and University of Pennsylvania Professor Victor Pickard might be the person to do it! Victor Pickard joins Domenic and Jenna to share his ideas on a new model of sustainable local journalism, as “the old model crumbles.” He also shares why we need to see local journalism as an essential part of a healthy community if the republic is going to survive. And it all st...

When you title your book, “Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy”… https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087561 You definitely have our attention. In Episode 8 of Laid Off and Looking, Dom and Jenna interview author Margot Susca, an assistant professor at the School of Communication at American University. She discusses her book “Hedge...

In Part 2 of our conversation with Samantha Ragland, Vice President of Journalism Programs for the American Press Institute, Dom and Jenna learn the difference between being burnt-out and experiencing moral injury. Reframing Clinician Distress: Moral Injury Not Burnout https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6752815/ Episode Timecodes Headlines: 1:11 Pt. 2 of our interview with Sam Ragland: 1...

After learning of the fate of VICE News, along with public radio staffers at WAMU and the loss of local DCist, Domenic and Jenna relive the trauma of their own layoff experience all over again. So they reached out to Samantha Ragland, Vice President of Journalism Programs at the American Press Institute to discuss the increasingly layered issue of trauma in journalism. https://americanpressinstitu...

*UPDATE Just before we published this week’s episode, news broke that Vice Media will cease publishing on Vice.com and lay off ‘several hundred’ staffers. We will be addressing this story directly in next week's episode of “Laid Off and Looking.” https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/vice-cease-publishing-layoff-hundreds-ceo-1235919843/?cx_testId=48&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s This we...

If news organizations are leaving twitter, what other platform can journalists use to track developing stories, discover new sources and connect with and support other journalists? Forth. News! https://www.forth.news/ Forth is a new platform created by Xana O'Neill and Jared Wiener, two journalists in their own right, concerned about the way news was treated in the digital space. Forth is a fact b...

How much is too much for one person to juggle? And when do you throw in the towel? As Dom and Jenna continue their job search in media, they can't help but wonder, should I just do something else? Follow Jenna across social media at @JFlanNYS and on her substack https://jflanagan.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=2szw3h Articles mentioned in this weeks show: U.S. economy added 353,00...

Ever since they were laid off, Jenna and Dom have been feeling... disregulated. They talk about their discomfort in unemployment, the uncertainty of the journalism and media job market and how they can take small steps to improve their personal brands. Follow Jenna for more at @JFlanNYS across social platforms or her Substack at https://jflanagan.substack.com/publish/home Find the FrontLine series...