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This article was originally published in Medians' 10 Links newsletter, sent every other Monday at 2pm. Sign up here!
- DESIGN (Medians) — Whether they amuse or annoy you, mascots have made a comeback. After a notable return in tech (seeking to rehabilitate its image, particularly among young people), they are now spreading to publishing, politics… and why not media? At a time when newsrooms are trying to recreate closeness and embodiment, could they become the ideal spokespersons?
- INDEPENDENCE (Medians) — Do we still need to create media outlets? The context is challenging, the media landscape already crowded… Yet so many voices, territories and topics remain neglected. Still, there's no question of diving in blindly: should you create or join and strengthen an existing project? How do you lay the foundations that will ensure a project's longevity? We help you find the answers.
- LOCAL (The New Yorker) — The magazine with the most recognizable mascot in American press has taken an interest in hyperlocal newsletters sprouting up in territories hit by media desertification. A simple, low-cost, and technically accessible format whose success reflects strong attachment to news delivered by local figures.
- ARCHIVING (Nate Silver) — Disney's magic also includes making 200,000 hours of journalism disappear with a wave of a wand. That's the calculation made by Nate Silver following the sudden disappearance of the FiveThirtyEight site, a news outlet he founded in 2008, which was purchased and then shut down by the American giant's media division. A stark reminder of the fragility of journalism published on the Internet, whose precarious existence depends on very little.
- FORMAT (Reflets.info) — As the 2027 presidential election approaches, covering the far right and its figures has become a major editorial priority for some newsrooms… and mapping has emerged as the ideal format to present this work. Following StreetPress and Libération, Reflets.info is launching Link-ed to document and map far-right networks in France.
- JOURNALISTS (Frustration) — 40% of journalists leave the profession after just seven years in the field. A genuine social sorting process that excludes people from middle and working-class backgrounds, who face precarious conditions, unsustainable work schedules, and a sense of illegitimacy fueled by sexist and racist discrimination. A lack of diversity that contributes to insularity in newsrooms and public distrust.
- LOCAL (University of Bath) — What if hairdressers were the best allies of environmental media? A recent study suggests that hairdressers are underestimated influencers in environmental matters, thanks to the trust they build with their clients. A thought-provoking angle for media outlets, often (too) focused on debates about formats and platforms, print versus digital: what are the places where information circulates, is shared, and builds community?
- NEWSLETTER (The Verge) — Substack is facing a new brain drain. Recently, several flagship newsletters chose to leave the platform for Beehiiv or Ghost. The reasons: a 10% commission that can quickly add up, a relatively siloed technical ecosystem, and persistent criticism over lax moderation of neo-Nazi content.
- AI (WIRED) — Could AI systems become Marxist? A Stanford team found that models placed in harsh management scenarios developed challenging discourse favorable to collective representation… But the revolution will have to wait: these systems develop no political conviction and simply reproduce scenarios drawn from the texts they were trained on.
- WEB (Spencer's paradoxes) — "Internet has no benches." Like cities designed for cars rather than pedestrians, the web was shaped by large corporations to capture attention and move at high speed through endless feeds; not to linger, rest, or stumble upon strangers. Spencer Chang, digital artist and designer, calls for creating new public spaces, "benches," to recreate spontaneity on the web.
P.S. Among his experiments: a collaborative fridge on which strangers move words like magnets to create patterns or sentences together, in real time, and above all, without distraction.
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