Exploring Populism and Popularity
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Version 0 of 1. This newsletter is one small attempt to bring you, our audience, into the process of journalism as The New York Times expands in Australia — but how else might we listen and learn from readers and subscribers? How about a tool that lets you submit links to improve a story you’re reading? Or a form in an article that lets you contact the writer anonymously? Or a Facebook Messenger bot that helps you choose what to read next based on your mood? These are some of the ideas I was asked to judge this week at a two-day hackathon focused on audience engagement, led by the Walkley Foundation and the Global Editors Network. Dozens of journalists, developers and designers from various media outlets, including SBS, The Australian and Storyful, joined together to develop prototypes for deepening connections between journalists and those who support us. As is often the case, I heard a mix of concern about journalism’s future and excitement about all the new ways to tell stories and connect people to the issues they care about. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about these connections and how they occur, not just for journalists but also for those we cover. Populist leaders in particular have proven adept at audience development. Donald Trump’s Twitter feed is a homing beacon for his electorate. Pauline Hanson’s Facebook videos are both diary and diatribe, and especially in her case — as she campaigns for her One Nation political party across Western Australia before Saturday’s election there — I’ve been wondering which messages or themes are most potent for her supporters. This is a question I’ll explore in more depth at some point, but I started my reporting with a call to Frank Mols, a political scientist at the University of Queensland who has studied populism for roughly a decade. “One Nation really taps into two things,” Professor Mols told me. “The fear of foreigners and immigration is one, but deep down what they are really tapping into is class envy — ‘we’re hard-working families and our electricity bills are going up and we want to send our kids to good schools and all these people in the cities, they just don’t see it.’” “There’s an interplay between these two issues — envy and identity politics,” he said. This analysis of Mr. Trump’s budget by Eduardo Porter, The New York Times’s economics columnist, fits into this argument; so does Amanda Taub’s recent column on the crisis of white identity. Both are worth reading for global context as you try to make sense of Saturday’s election results. Below are a few more stories from The Times that I’ve found striking since our last newsletter, including Jacqueline Williams’ writing about a potential terrorism threat from the small town of Young in rural New South Wales, pictured above. Don’t miss our latest set of recommendations either: readers shared their own favorite places in Australia. As always, we hope you’ll also share this newsletter if you like it, and tell your friends to sign up here. You can also follow me on Twitter (@damiencave) to see who won the hackathon... and to guide me through the triple j Hottest 100. ______ Lebanese Muslim families have been welcomed in Young for decades, but after the arrest of Haisem Zahab, a 42-year-old electrician accused of using the internet to try to help the Islamic State develop a guided missile, those bonds of trust have started to fray. “That is symptomatic of what exactly’s been happening in the last couple of years — when the actions of a small number like this Young man” discredits “the Australian Muslim community at large,” said Dr. Jamal Rifi, a Muslim community leader in Sydney. “It is a phenomena that’s been happening across Australia.” ______ How did Aboriginal Australians get to the island? A genetic study of 111 Aboriginal Australians, published on Wednesday, offers an interesting — and, in some ways, unexpected — view of their remarkable story. ______ Uber has already disrupted transportation in Sydney, and around the world. But did the company have to deceive regulators to do it? Read The Times’s investigation of Uber’s “Greyball” scheme; and check out the impact, with the company backing away from the program. ______ I’m still listening to the playlist from last year’s music issue of The New York Times Magazine, and this year’s might be even better. Plus, the design of this feature, incorporating music, imagery, text! Just brilliant. (Here’s the 2016 edition.) We asked for your favorite places in Australia... Gordon Howe: Kerry Molinari: Brian Naylor: John Collins: Also, here’s Watching’s latest guide to what to watch on Netflix this month. I’ll be tuning into Keanu. |