Journalists Must Talk About Facts In The Midst Of Facebook Debacle

In this edition of the "5-Minute Newsroom," we'll talk about Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the inauguration of our 47th president, the ongoing saga regarding TikTok and Meta's decision to relieve themselves of fact-checkers.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Yes, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on Monday. However, in communities across the country, we'll also be celebrating the legacy of MLK Jr. There will be:

• Parades that can be live-streamed

• Photos (horizontal, square, and vertical) that can be snapped

• Videos to be shot

• Stories to be told

• Weather to be covered

For much of the United States, the MLK Jr. festivities will be ice cold, which can be dangerous for participants. Make sure your morning coverage is not only about the temperatures but also about how to stay warm and keep frostbite away. This is a great opportunity for your meteorologist to shoot a vertical video directed at parade-goers.

Go beyond coverage of the events themselves, and talk to people who attend. Ask them why they're so motivated to celebrate Dr. King's legacy, and why it's important to them. You might stumble upon somebody who marched as part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, or somebody whose parents did.

Maybe they have photos they'd be willing to share with you!

Focusing inward on your community is always the way to approach story angles.

More importantly, make sure you're giving this holiday as much effort as the inauguration since the parades, services, lectures, gatherings, and more will be happening in your towns—and not in Washington, D.C., where the inauguration is happening.

President Trump's Inauguration

At noon Eastern Time on Monday, Donald J. Trump will be the President of the United States for a second time. He will be only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland more than a century ago was the first, our 22nd and 24th president.

The inauguration ceremony will be held in the Capitol Rotunda due to dangerously cold temperatures. The danger is more about the wind chill than it is the actual thermometer temperature. The wind chill at midday is expected to be 12 degrees, the coldest since 1985 when it was last held indoors. On that day, the wind chill was -8 degrees.

In addition to the celebration inside the Capitol, there is expected to be a crowd at Washington's Capital One Arena for a post-inaugural rally.

Coverage opportunities abound for any inauguration, the event itself—and its local impact.

• Talk to your local Congressional delegation.

• Are there any local dignitaries attending?

• How about residents?

• Talk to older populations about the inaugurations they've watched in the past.

• You can also tie it back to weather and the dangers of wind chill.

TikTok On, Off, On Again

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Congress' law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American owner was valid. Ahead of the January 19 law, the TikTok app, CapCut, and Lemon8 all shut down late Saturday night.

It was all the buzz on social.

TikTok and Lemon8 were both back by Sunday afternoon, the result of a promise by President-elect Trump that he would sign an executive order giving ByteDance and American negotiators another 90 days to figure this out once and for all. In one social post on Truth Social, Trump suggested a 50-50 ownership clip between TikTok's Chinese owners and a group from the States.

Many in Congress, including those aligned closely with the incoming president, were not swayed.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had this to say:

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said this:

For those of you in the dark, the primary concern about ByteDance apps is that they're under the influence of and allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. There is no actual evidence that data has been shared with them, and nearly three years ago, the company migrated United States data to Oracle servers in the United States.

That effort (called Project Texas) was met with criticism amongst lawmakers who have always been unswayed by ByteDance.

If your newsroom doesn't already have a TikTok channel, it might not be worth the effort until its future is more firmly secured.

But if you have an audience there, this week is a great time to capture attention that will be back on the app now that it has returned. Broadly speaking, a vertical video strategy isn't about any one platform. It's an omnichannel strategy to grow audience, to connect them to your journalists, and direct readers and viewers to your pillar content.

Be where your audience is, always.

If you're interested in systemizing your social media output, that's something I can help you with! Reach out to me at [email protected].

Facebook's Fact-Checking Debacle

A little more than a week ago, it was announced that Meta's Facebook would eschew fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes system like what is used on Elon Musk's 'X.'

It was allegedly done in the name of freer speech, but the move was met with skepticism.

Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast to talk about the need for more 'masculine energy,' which isn't based on data or even tech workforce employment reality. It felt mostly like a play to position himself as an alpha amongst the tech-bro elite.

Here's why I even mention it:
This moment is a great opportunity for newsrooms to talk about their values, the importance of facts and vetting, and how your newsrooms make it happen every day. Talk about this publicly with transparency into your process!

• Use social media. Video, both horizontal and vertical.

• Write an op-ed for the opinion page.

• Add a page to your website detailing your fact-checking process.

The currency of journalism is the truth, and trust is how that dollar bill moves.

Trust won't grow in a vacuum.

We journalists have to embrace our role both as explainers-in-chief and as evangelists.

👀 Businesses: Activate Like A Newsroom!

Imagine what your public relations and communications efforts could be if your teams truly activated like a newsroom.

• Going direct-to-audience with your messages

• Owning the narrative

• Capturing attention faster

It’s what I do in my new post-newsroom life: work with businesses, brands and entrepreneurs to show them how to ‘activate like a newsroom’ to level up the attention they need to succeed at scale!

Visit my website at doabledigitalmedia.com, or message me anytime at [email protected].

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Stay safe and warm this week! ❤️