Concepts for Giving Tuesday – The New York Instances

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Good Morning. It’s Tuesday and we have some ideas about the news.

In the early days of the internet, it seemed to have the potential to destroy traditional print media. However, the impact has turned out to be more nuanced.

The Internet has instead been a boon to some publications with a national audience. The New York Times has never had so many subscribers or readers – or employed so many journalists – as it does today. The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and several others are also thriving.

At the local level, the digital revolution was as devastating as it was feared.

Hundreds of local news organizations have collapsed as their advertising revenues disappear and the pandemic exacerbates the crisis. At least 60 local newsrooms have closed since March, Poynter said. Some of them were more than a century old, like The Eureka Sentinel in Nevada; The Mineral Wells Index in Texas; and The Morehead News in Kentucky.

This is not a story of creative destruction where nimble newcomers replace older companies. Often nothing can replace a closed newsroom, so communities do not receive independent information about local government, schools and businesses. (A recent Times investigation found that some partisan groups have started posing as local publishers to pass political propaganda as news.)

There are consequences for society. When a community’s newspaper closes, voter turnout and bipartisan votes tend to decline, while political corruption and government waste increase, academic research has shown. A democracy has trouble functioning when its citizens cannot stay informed.

What can be done Finally, savvy business owners can figure out how to make local news profitable. But some have tried unsuccessfully in recent years. For the foreseeable future, the only reliable answer seems to be philanthropy. Americans have long accepted that the arts, higher education, and organized religion all depend on donations. Local journalism is now in the same category.

“We need philanthropists across the country to promote robust local journalism,” said Sarabeth Berman, executive director of the American Journalism Project, which funds local news sites. “If you’re interested in education, you have to worry about whether school and charter authorities are covered. And if you care about the environment, make sure you have reporters like Ken Ward Jr. covering the West Virginia Coal Country. “

There are many other shining examples of the new nonprofit journalism. But even more communities receive little to no quality coverage.

I decided to write on this topic this morning because today is Giving Tuesday when people take a break from shopping online to focus on donating to charity. If you are concerned about the state of the local news, you can donate through NewsMatch, which routes donations to local publications or to your local public radio station.

• President-elect Joe Biden’s election for economic advisor suggests that his administration will focus on workers and organized labor, including calling for a higher minimum wage and a stronger social safety net. It’s unclear how much Biden can achieve if Republicans retain a Senate majority after the Georgia runoff election in January.

• Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received their first president’s Daily Letter, a top-level intelligence report. Previous incoming presidents received their first just days after the election.

• President Trump has raised approximately $ 170 million since election day as his campaign solicited donations for an “election defense fund”. The money could also finance his next political move.

• Election officials confirmed Biden’s victories in Arizona and Wisconsin despite efforts by the Trump campaign to reverse the results. And Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp rejected Trump’s request to invalidate the postal vote.

Other great stories

• A government watchdog said the labor ministry’s weekly unemployment figures suffered from data issues that have often overstated the unemployment figure. The watchdog also noted that the government has underpaid many of the people who receive these benefits.

• Supreme Court justices reacted with frustration and some confusion to Trump’s plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the calculations for the allocation of congressional seats.

• A white man fatally shot and killed Aiden Ellison, a black teenager, during a confrontation over loud music in an Oregon hotel parking lot last week, authorities said.

Tomorrow reads

Real crime: Samuel Little, America’s most prolific known serial killer, has confessed to 93 murders in more than 30 years. The Washington Post is investigating how he escaped attention by targeting mostly black women, whose disappearances have often been ignored.

Deck the halls: Melania Trump, the first lady, unveiled this year’s White House decorations – a traditional display of green trees adorned with red, gold, and silver ornaments and white lights. The bold aesthetic choices that led to snappy memes in the Christmas past are missing.

From the opinion: The 1993 New York Mayor’s Race between David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani predicted today’s polarized national politics, writes Michael Tomasky. And Michelle Goldberg, Bret Stephens and Paul Krugman have columns.

Lived life: Debra White Plume posed as an activist trying to protect the traditional Oglala Lakota way of life, police bullets and mining companies. “If someone wanted to label me, it would probably be a water protection,” she once said. White Plume died at the age of 66.

How ShoeSite.com became Zappos

Tony Hsieh wasn’t that interested in shoes. The tech entrepreneur who helped make Zappos an online shoe and apparel powerhouse also admitted this in media interviews.

His obsessions were customer service and corporate culture. These obsessions helped him revolutionize the shoe industry – and eventually sell Zappos to Amazon for $ 1.2 billion. The 46-year-old Hsieh died on Friday from the consequences of a house fire.

Hsieh (pronounced “Shay”) invested in Zappos in 1999 when it had the less catchy name of ShoeSite.com and the concept of selling shoes online was confusing. Shoes seemed like the ultimate product that required trying on in a store. To make it easier for customers to buy online, Zappos offered free shipping and returns. Hsieh encouraged employees to spend hours on the phone with a customer to ensure satisfaction, the Wall Street Journal reports.

He also focused on keeping employees happy – also to provide better customer service. Shortly after hiring new employees, Zappos offered them a bonus to weed out less dedicated employees. One of his core values ​​was “creating fun and a little weird”.

“Imagine a greenhouse where the CEO in a typical company is possibly the strongest, tallest, most charismatic plant that all other plants will one day aspire to,” he said in 2017. “For me, I really think of my role as an architect of the greenhouse, and then all the plants inside will thrive and thrive on their own. “

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to cook

The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee had grown out and processed. Today’s puzzle is up – or you can play online if you have a game subscription.

Here’s today’s mini crossword and a clue: Twos in one deck (four letters).

Thank you for spending part of your morning with The Times. Until tomorrow. – David

One clarification: In yesterday’s email, it was not clear to us where a cyber attack ended distance education. It was in Baltimore County (which is out of town).