On not illustrating heat wave articles with fun beach pics, first media interview of Panama Papers source, and will Facebook changes leave news media out in the cold?

The International Journalism Festival weekly round-up. Stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter, by following our Telegram channel, or by joining us on Facebook and Twitter. The round-up will take a break in August and return on Friday 2 September 2022.

Maybe don’t illustrate your stories about lethally hot weather with fun beach pics. New research finds the visuals of heat-wave news coverage are more likely to put a positive spin on extreme heat than the articles themselves.

Panama Papers source says ‘Russia wants me dead’ in first-ever media interview. “John Doe” told German news outlet DER SPIEGEL that he was “astounded” by the success of the investigation, but more needs to be done to clamp down on financial secrecy.

Will Facebook changes leave news media out in the cold? The end of the Facebook News tab, and the tacit admission that the main user feed no longer qualifies as a “news feed,” are only the most recent signs that Meta and Facebook’s interest in news continues to decline.

The rise of short content and summaries: what if you turned all your texts into TikTok, Instagram videos? With the growing popularity of short content-based formats it is becoming essential for all newsrooms, especially those gunning for younger audiences, to get better at summarising.

“I just live with the understanding that I have no privacy.” Khadija Ismayilova speaks out about the consequences of Pegasus attacks.

Beyond the ‘Democracy Desk’: why U.S. newsrooms need to become explicitly pro-democracy. Democratic backsliding, which is the tendency for a democratic system to decay, presents huge problems for journalists as they try to inform the American public. Democracy used to be a background condition of doing journalism, something that you could assume, something that made journalism possible.

Climate Reporting Africa website showcases local journalism tackling the world’s biggest issues. A brand new web-resource that explores the human impact and environmental challenges that have major consequences for local communities across the continent.

TikTok is not the enemy of journalism. It’s just a new way of reaching people. The platform’s rise is best seen as the latest evolution in how we consume news.

Photo credit: Alfred Grupstra via Pixabay