As crazy as it seems, we’re only a couple of months away from entering the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, and newsrooms across the country remain in flux amid the threat of variants and breakthrough cases. And hybrid models involving a mix of remote and office work appears to be the new reality for today's news publishers. A recent survey states only 9% of news organizations plan to force all their employees to return to the office as they did pre-pandemic.

Will Sutton is a columnist and editorial writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune & The Advocate, a Harvard University Nieman Fellow and a member of the NABJ, AEJMC, ONA and SPJ. In 2020 Mr. Sutton penned this OpEd for E&P.

Recently Twitter updated its privacy policy and rules of conduct surrounding “private media.” Critics say that the language used is so vague that it’s impossible to see how policing it could be anything but subjective. And forewarned that it is vulnerable to abuse.

It’s been a tough year for media and journalism — from a rise in layoffs and increasing scrutiny around misinformation to trust in media still recovering from an all-time low. So as the media and journalism industry continue the struggle for trust and influence, here are Chris Waiting's top five predictions for 2022. 

Welcome to our new feature: “The J-School Beat” featuring journalism students across the country and their ideas about the future of journalism, the industry and their hopes of making an impact in our world. To start this column, E&P asked Reanne White, a junior at the University of South Florida, to give us her answers to a couple of those questions.

Even as the world of commerce changes, sales remains one of the solid pillars for every size and type of business. In his new book, “Selling with a Servant Heart: Ten Lessons on the Path to Joy and Increased Income,” Jim Doyle helps salespeople and sales managers evolve from a “peddler to a partner.”

Newspapers of various sizes across the country have discovered a proactive program of organizing and hosting events and sponsorships. As a result, they’ve increased revenues, created opportunities for local businesses to engage with organizations and the public differently and strengthened the perception of newspapers as the leading supporter and voice of their communities.

Christopher Jones is a former U.S. Marine turned photojournalist and investigative reporter, whose bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Vox, Pacific Standard magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post and other outlets. Earlier this year, Jones penned a column about the press' failure to meaningfully cover extremists. Instead, he's seen national outlets parachute in and out, and TV news broadcast “riot porn.” Part of that reluctance to report on these groups and personalities may have to do with fear — of the subjects themselves and political backlash.

One of the biggest demands coming from inside newsrooms around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is for leaders to take ownership of the harm they’ve committed or overseen. They also need to hold themselves accountable for future strategies and behaviors, and their newsrooms teams are asking them to.

Our inaugural class of 15 Sales Superstars stand out in their ability to stand up against today's challenging times, stay focused and get the job done for their customers, their communities and the companies they represent. With extreme appreciation and celebration, we introduce E&P's first class of Sales Superstars.           

McClatchy has begun experimenting with publishing transitional real estate stories with artificial intelligence software. And, it's hardly the first news organization to explore the benefits of automated journalism, which in theory can free up journalists from more mundane tasks — if it doesn’t cost them their jobs.

Community newspapers are more likely to succeed with readers, advertisers and the community when all residents’ voices are heard. One of the challenges faced by the News + Record was to determine how to cover the county’s increasing Latinx American population, even though a substantial portion of those potential readers didn’t read or write English.

At launch, only 10 total U.S. creators have gained access to the new feature, as Instagram considers this an “alpha” test meant to allow for feedback from fans and creators alike which it will then iterate upon.

Twitter has long held appeal for journalists looking to connect with audiences and sources. On its best days, the platform is a place where reporters can get story ideas, answer questions and build trust by showing more of their work and process. Twitter Spaces are another way that journalists can continue the conversation, says Eric Zuckerman, head of U.S. news partnerships for Twitter.

the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that the Campaign for Carolina, the University’s campus-wide fundraising drive that publicly launched in October 2017 and closes Dec. 31, 2022, has eclipsed the $4.25 billion milestone. UNC Hussman has surpassed its $75 million goal with its most recent campaign numbers at more than $85 million raised from 3,450 donors. Along with the State of North Carolina’s generous funding, donations from individuals and institutions are the lifeblood of Carolina. The generosity of individuals and private foundations made this momentous accomplishment possible. These gifts make Carolina the eighth public university in the U.S. to surpass $4 billion in a single campaign — and the only university in the history of the South to surpass $4.25 billion.

The tuition-free program is designed for Black-owned newsrooms that want to build product strategies for digital transformation and sustainability; applications will be accepted until Feb. 17.

Three Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a privacy bill that would restrict companies from using a broad range of data for ad-targeting purposes.

To not dismantle the norm of gendered language in reporting on topics like paid family leave is to work to perpetuate and safeguard discrimination.

The noncash transfer will not be final until contracts are approved, but both media organizations said they hope to close on the deal by the end of the month.

In an effort to enhance the region’s journalism ecosystem and answer the community’s calls for additional news coverage, three of Houston’s leading philanthropies — Houston Endowment, the Kinder Foundation, and Arnold Ventures — are launching an independent nonprofit news operation in Houston that will emerge as one of the largest in the country.

A New York Post editor whose departure was announced Tuesday alleged she was fired two months after revealing to an executive that former editor Col Allan had sexually harassed her.

For many media unions, the latest battleground is not the fight for wage increases or promotions: It’s the return to in-person work.

William Lager will join the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism as the Innovation Lab project manager and editor starting Jan. 31.

Tiffany Ap joins Quartz from Women’s Wear Daily, where she was the China bureau chief based in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

Lee Bachlet has been named vice president of growth and development for CherryRoad Media. CherryRoad is a technology company that is quickly building a community media operation. The company …

The Los Angeles Times has hired five new staffers for Metro in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Northern California.

Thought leaderships will illuminate the power of AI during upcoming webinar.

Humans have told stories through pictures for millennia. The long tradition of sequential art brought us the comic strip in the late 1800s, and William Randolph Hearst founded King Features Syndicate shortly after that. Today, King Features’ classic comics are treasured by millions, while King works to develop new products, services, and voices for the 21st century.

Column announces CherryRoad Media as the latest publishing partner to rollout Column's enterprise public notice solution. CherryRoad is one of the fastest-growing publishing groups in the country, following a string of acquisitions in markets across eight states.

Nonprofit service program looks to grow reporting corps to 325 in 2022.

HINSDALE, MA. & CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. (November 15, 2021) – Wallit, a state-of-the-art software firm based in Milwaukee, which provides paywall services to dozens of publishers throughout the United States, has sold a majority stake to MvWd Enterprises, a media group based in the Berkshires (western Massachusetts) and New York's Capital Region. MvWd Enterprises is headed by Warren Dews, Jr. and Mark Vinciguerra.