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This article was originally published in Medians' 10 Links newsletter, sent every other Monday at 2pm. Sign up here!
- GIFTS (Médianes) — Time is running out if you're giving gifts for the holidays. Good news: the Médianes team has put together a selection of gift ideas spotted at media outlets, publishing houses, and design studios. A great way to give pleasure while supporting independent structures. What more could you ask for?
- LOCAL MEDIA (New Yorker) — For six years, photojournalist Ann Hermes visited American local news outlets to capture these spaces that "only members of the press could love". Often cramped, aging, poorly lit, yet steeped in history, these places tell the story of a local press under strain despite journalists' dedication to serving their communities.
P.S. Today, offices are becoming fully-fledged editorial tools: they embody values, serve as backdrops for streams or TikTok videos, and strengthen the connection with audiences.
- PLATFORMS (The Guardian) — Tired of algorithms, some film enthusiasts are turning to Letterboxd to discover movies differently. Without intrusive automated recommendations, the app relies on user reviews and human curation. A model reminiscent of cultural media, built on human judgment rather than attention optimization, that raises questions about our attraction to reviews from strangers over those from acclaimed critics.
- WEB (It's Nice That) — The indie web is alive, creative, sometimes strange… but largely invisible to Google. To discover new gems and bypass algorithms, Elliott Cost and Kristoffer Tjalve launched the Internet Phone Book: a print directory of independent websites, conceived as a map of an off-the-radar Internet.
- PAPER (404 Media) — How to develop a media outlet without depending on platforms? That's the question 404 Media has been trying to answer since its launch: newsletters, RSS feeds, decentralization… and now a zine. A way to distribute its work differently, to regain control, and to reconnect with more tangible forms of publishing.
- DROIT (Sherpa) — A cornerstone of press freedom, source protection remains under threat in France. In a statement signed by Médianes alongside 132 media outlets, unions and organizations, the signatories are calling on the state to end its inaction in the face of a long list of violations of this fundamental principle.
- PLATFORMS (Quartz) — Social networks aren't doomed to be toxic. Proof lies in Echo, launched in the late 1980s: a deliberately small network, with no ads and no growth race. Founded by Stacy Horn, Echo relied on volunteer moderation, genuine goodwill, and special attention to women. A different take on social web to rethink today's platforms.
- AI (The Verge) — AI companies are aiming to become the new gateway to the web. One of them has taken a step in that direction by entrusting MCP, a standard that allows AIs to interact with third-party services (send a Slack message, book a hotel, etc.), to the Linux Foundation to ensure open use for all businesses. A first step toward a web designed for AI first, rather than for humans?
- TREND (Futurism) — After crypto betting on current events, here comes something even more dystopian: the PolyGlobe site that lets you track armed conflicts in real time on an interactive map and bet on how they unfold. Between shaky methodology and a chilling gamification of war, what could possibly go wrong?
- FORMAT (Urbania) — We're ending on a lighter note (or not): we're particularly fond of this Urbania video imagining how French media would react to Nicolas Sarkozy's imprisonment. From CNEWS to Mediapart, via BFMTV and Arrêt sur images, we'll let you make your predictions. Amusing, as long as you don't dwell too much on what it says about our media landscape.
