By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Aug. 29, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. What’s the matter with the L.A. Times?: The editorial leadership of the L.A. Times was fired this week, in a stunning move. Well, here’s some of the jaw-dropping backstory that led to the axings. Ed Leibowitz of L.A. Magazine details the ineptness of editor-in-chief and publisher Davan Maharaj, who sat on major investigative pieces for years, but had time to ask reporters to check out his new Italian shoes. The story ran in December, but it’s worth resurrecting for it’s excruciating detail of dysfunction at the top of what was once a great newsroom.

2. What we lose when we say goodbye to alt weeklies: The Village Voice is dead, at least in print. So, pretty much, are alt weeklies across the country. Paul Farhi of the WaPo has a nice elegy of what we have lost when those quirky mixes of band reviews, massage parlor ads, and hard-hitting political coverage closed up shop. A good read.

3. Amazing graphics from the 1950s NYT archive: Most people tend to think of “data viz” as a relatively new phenomenon. Not quite. News orgs have been doing impressive data viz for as long as they have existed. Stuart A. Thompson on Medium has a wonderful piece on some spectacular (and forgotten) visualizations done at the NYT during the 1950s. Check out the cool space travel illustrations (all b&w, by the way).

• Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com

Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

July 18, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. Breitbart & its reclusive editor: Trying to pivot a right-wing icon: I’d never heard of Alexander Marlow before this story, yet he is the editor of Brietbart, arguably the most powerful rightwing media site in the country. On one level, it’s an interesting take on a powerful but deliberately reclusive media player. But it’s also a revealing story about how Breitbart, which under the leadership of Steve Bannan, had a meteoric ride backing Trump with a series of caustic and inflammatory stories during the campaign, now is trying in a post-Bannon era to become a little more … mainstream? Well, in a right-wing kind of way. A good read.

2.Two journalistic lessons from Charlottesville: Margaret Sullivan from the WaPo talks about how the events there “should put the nail in the coffin for ‘both sides’ journalism.” And some practical advice from Poynter on how journalists should handle racist words, images and violence.

3. The best reporting advice I ever received was…: Interesting, and a fun read. Lots of great journalists, including David Fahrenthold of the WaPo, share wise advice they were given early in their careers. The words still resonate with these reporters today, with good reason. Great stuff from CJR.

• Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com

Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

July 18, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. Sharing a bed & a beat on opposite sides of the news spectrum: What’s it like when reporters are married, cover the same beat — and work for newsrooms at either end of the political spectrum? Well, it can get … interesting. A fun read about the awkward (but fun) professional life of this couple, Jennifer Griffin, the national security correspondent for Fox, and her husband Greg Myre, of NPR. By Judith Matloff for CJR.

Enjoy ‘3 to read’? Follow us!

2. The new yardsticks for measuring the impact of investigative journalism: In the old days, measuring the impact of an investigative piece was straightforward: How many indictments? That’s changing. A new generation of investigative reporters is measuring impact by some “on less tangible markers like raising awareness and sparking widespread conversation.” It’s a very different way of thinking about impact. An interesting take by Jeff KellyLowenstein for CJR.

3. Legacy media look for lifesaver against Facebook, Google: Legacy newsrooms are splitting with digital natives and are seeking legislative help in their simmering war against the duopoly of Google and Facebook, writes Emily Bell of the Tow Center. The legacy group wants an exemption from antitrust regulations so they can negotiate as one with the social media and search giants. It’s an interesting group of publishers. It includes such longtime enemies as the WSJ and NYT. Will the newsies succeed? Most people see it as a longshot, especially given the near-open warfare between DC and the press.

Break time! ‘3 to read’ returns Aug. 15.

• Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com

Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

June 20, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. Our problem isn’t ‘fake news’ — it’s trust & manipulation: Jeff Jarvis, CUNY J-school prof and blogger, argues the calculated manipulation of news is designed to destabilize our democracy by attacking our most trusted institutions and people. That’s the real issue, he says — not fake news. It’s a solid, and terrifying, statement. But he does offer some solutions: For instance, starve the manipulators of attention by covering their methods, but not their message. Well worth reading.

2. NYT new redesign is all about its reader-centric focus on revenue: Any more doubts about whether the advertising model for news is dying? A perceptive analysis about how the New York Times’s new (subtle) redesign is designed to help get more revenue from the pockets of its most devoted readers. It’s all to further their subscriber-first strategy. By Ken Doctor for NiemanLab.

3. Facebook asks input on 7 ‘hard questions’: Facebook has been bashed left, right and center for its opaque handling — or nonhandling — of everything from fake news to censorship. Now it’s going public, and asking for help, with tough questions it’s dealing with, such as: “Who gets to define what’s false news — and what’s simply controversial political speech?” The questions are fascinating, and will be familiar to news editors. Hopefully it’s a sign FB will be more open in the future. Story by Josh Constine for TechCrunch.

‘3 to read’ likes to get your Shares! 😉

• Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com

Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.