More than half a million Americans have died of COVID-19. This week, we take a look at how our nation has marked this grim milestone. Also, covering the Texas energy crisis, Ted Cruz’s Cancun vacation and understanding the influence and power of the Black Church. From the Missouri School of Journalism professors Amy Simons, Earnest Perry and Kathy Kiely: Views of the News.
Amy Mitchell, Mark Jurkowitz, J. Baxter Oliphant & Elisa Shearer, Pew Research Center: “How Americans navigated news in 2020: A tumultuous year in review”
Roy Peter Clark, Poynter: “Journalism and the language of loss: An appreciation of Sunday’s New York Times”
Sheri Fink, New York Times: “Worst-case estimates for U.S. coronavirus deaths”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “Opinion: CNN’s Chris Cuomo is reminding us of why conflicts of interest poison the news”
Marc Fisher, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Allie Gowen, Arelis, R. Hernández & Lori Rozsa, Washington Post: “The youngest victims of a national calamity, and the people they left behind”
Texas Power Crisis
Kerry Flynn, CNN: “’Thank God for The Texas Tribune’: Power crisis shines light on local news”
Staff, Austin American-Statesman: “Friday’s Statesman may not be delivered on time, but we’re still here for the community”
Erin Douglas & Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune: “No, frozen wind turbines aren’t the main culprit for Texas’ power outages”
Alexis Benveniste, CNN: “As Texas went dark, Fox News blamed windmills”
Ted Cruz’s Cancun Vacation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kSy5qg2ghc
Roy Peter Clark, Poynter: “Especially where Ted Cruz is concerned, always get the name of the dog”
Michael Hardy, New York Magazine: “Ted Cruz abandons millions of freezing Texans and his poodle, Snowflake”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “Opinion: Five takeaways from Sean Hannity’s interview with Ted Cruz about Cancun”
Frank Pallotta, CNN: “’Saturday Night Life’ mocks Ted Cruz’s trip to Cancun and others who need to apologize”
Aaron Blake, Washington Post: “Why Ted Cruz should’ve known this was a bad idea”
Influence of the Black Church
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULhwJIBnIos&feature=emb_logo
Richard Prince, Journal-isms: “Black-Church coverage ‘lacks depth, range’”
Besheer Mohamed, Kiana Cox, Jeff Diamant & Claire Gecewicz, Pew Research Center: “Faith among Black Americans”
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News: “Can I get an amen? Black Americans’ faith, religious practice detailed in Pew study”
Christina Sturdivant Sani, Washington Post: “’The Black Church’ explores the ‘most important institution’ in African American history”
Bill Keveny, USA Today: “How Oprah picked the title for PBS documentary on the Black church in America”
Christina Ianzito, AARP: “PBS documentary looks at powerful role of ‘The Black Church”
Australia’s Facebook news ban
Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab: “Facebook got everything it wanted out of Australia by being willing to do what the other guy wouldn’t”
Georgia Hitch, ABC News (Australia): “Facebook to reverse news ban on Australian sites, government to make amendments to media bargaining code”
Mike Isaac and Damien Cave, New York Times: “Facebook strikes deal to restore news sharing in Australia”
Elizabeth Dwoskin & Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post: “Facebook’s brazen attempt to crush regulations in Australia may backfire”
Rachel Bovard, New York Post: “Australia took a stand against Facebook – and got silenced”
BBC: “Facebook Australia: Tech giant faces growing criticism over news ban”
Caroline Fisher, Kerry McCallum, Kieran McGuinness & Sora Park, Nieman Lab: “As Facebook pulls news in Australia, rural and elderly Australians will be hardest hit”
Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab: “In Australia, Facebook’s ban on sharing news stories has sent publishers’ traffic tumbling”
Ian Carlos Campbell, The Verge: “Australia’s ABC News shot to the top of the App Store charts facing Facebook’s news ban”
Damien Cave, New York Times: “Facebook’s new look in Australia: News and hospitals out, aliens still in”
Alan Soon, Splice Media: “Facebook’s ban on news is a damning view of Australia’s media industry”
Fan Yang & Robbie Fordyce, Nieman Lab: “The WeChat model: How Facebook’s Australian ban could change the business of news”
