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This article was originally published in Médianes' 10 Links newsletter, sent every other Monday at 2 pm. Sign up here (for free).
- INDEPENDENCE (Medians) — In 2023, Meta decides to ban Canadian media outlets to avoid having to pay them as required by new legislation. A major blow for the press, particularly for independent structures that rely directly on their readers for funding. This episode nonetheless spurred the implementation of new practices and initiatives to strengthen their independence from major tech firms.
- PLATFORMS (Business Insider) — Tumblr is experiencing an unexpected resurgence, attracting young people in particular who are looking to escape social media giants. The blogging platform is indeed perceived as a safer space, away from an increasingly commercialized, polarized Internet dominated by lifestyle influencers. In 2025, 50% of active monthly users are from Gen Z (born between 1990 and 2010).
- STUDY (Nieman Lab) — Impartiality is often touted as a sacred principle of journalism. But who really upholds it? A recent study shows that young people, women, and disadvantaged communities prefer news that aligns with their views. In other words, those with less power see "objective" media as a neutrality biased in favor of the status quo.
- NEWSLETTER (Journalists Pay Themselves) — For some, the Substack newsletter platform embodies an ideal path toward financial independence supported by subscribers. Yet the platform is not necessarily the promised land, argues Lex Roman, author of Journalists Pay Themselves, who believes the platform captures a portion of its users' revenue and audiences.
P.S. This article was recommended to us by Jean-Patrick Labouyrie, author of the Podmust newsletter about the podcast industry. Want to share a read? Write to us at [email protected] !
- TREND (Link in Bio) — There was a time when certain photographers would leave the film's edges visible to attest to the authenticity of their shots and the absence of retouching. Today, facing the omnipresence of AI, this need to highlight the handcrafted dimension of creative work is reasserting itself, and creators are increasingly shedding light on the process and the people involved.
- FUNDING (Sphera) — Donald Trump's freeze on humanitarian aid brought many projects to an abrupt halt. This was the case for Polish media outlet Krytyka Polityczna, which found itself — almost overnight — unable to fund part of its activities. You can read the testimony of its editor-in-chief, Agnieszka Wiśniewska, in the latest edition of In Vivo, the newsletter from our colleagues at Sphera.
P.S. Sphera is a network of independent European media outlets that joined Médianes in October 2024. Learn more.
- TOOL (CDJM) — The Council for Journalistic Ethics and Mediation is launching a new service for journalists: SOS Deonto, a service designed to answer (quickly) ethical and deontological questions that professionals may encounter in the course of their reporting and investigations.
- TOOL (Disclose) — The investigative media outlet Disclose launches Disclose Data, a platform bringing together more than 65,000 official documents on environmental assessments of development projects in France. A massive effort to collect and sort data, partly done with AI, that makes it easier to identify projects that flew under the radar. A button even allows users to flag a document to the editorial team.
- MODEL (Arrêt sur images) — In recent years, Rue89Lyon has undergone a major transformation. From a free digital-native outlet, the local media organization became a cooperative funded by subscriptions and run by its journalists. Marie Allenou and Pierre Lemerle, associate journalists at the outlet, discuss the newsroom's landmark investigations and the ongoing support campaign to strengthen its finances.
- LIBRARY (The Hedgehog Review) — Long before Google, the public library was often the only resource for our most improbable questions. Fortunately (and especially for journalists), it was enough to call the librarians tasked with searching through all the documentation at their disposal to find the answers. A method sometimes more effective than our current search engines and their countless results.
