🔶 #59: "Introducing a simple framework to boost the impact of your journalism"

Hello, and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter – Spring edition 🌸

And a first welcome to new subscribers from Latinoamérica21, The European Correspondent, Rappler, The Kyiv Independent, Security Unwired, the European Parliament, Página Internacional, Automattic, Control Data Training, City University of London, the Lenfest Institute, and all of you brave souls working independently.

Have you noticed how consistently long that welcome paragraph has been lately?

It was also the subject of a recent conversation I had with someone who was curious to know how readers (that would be you) react to being publicly welcomed as new subscribers through the name of the company/organisation they work for.

I thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss in public, so I did what I do, and wrote about it on LinkedIn:

Shout-outs in newsletters: to include or not to include? | Mattia Peretti posted on the topic | LinkedIn

Someone working at an investigative journalism organisation last week reached out with a great question that made me think... and I’d love to know your thoughts💡 They wanted to test in their newsletter something I do in News Alchemists, but they were curious to know if I received any feedback about it from my readers: The 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁-𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 that I include at the beginning of my emails. Like this from a recent edition: 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮... (𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺) 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘈𝘑𝘖𝘙, 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭 𝘍𝘐𝘓𝘐𝘈, 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢, 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯-𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵, 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘜𝘒, 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘐𝘔𝘚, 𝘖𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘔é𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘣, 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘵... 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺. They asked if it’s something that readers appreciate or if I ever received any push-back from readers who didn’t like being “called out publicly”. They wanted to try it as well, but some of their colleagues were not convinced: 🤔 Might someone perceive it as a privacy violation? 🤔 Will it be perceived as “too corporate”? Here’s what I replied: 👍 So far, I received little feedback about the shout-outs, but very positive: at least three readers told me that’s a part of the newsletter they really enjoy because they are curious to know who else reads it. I understand your colleagues’ concerns about privacy, which is why I would never call out new subscribers by name. But I don’t perceive listing their organisations as being problematic. 🤷‍♂️ As for the “too corporate” argument, I find that surprising because I see the shout-outs as being exactly the opposite: acknowledging the people who follow and support your work makes your brand feel more human and approachable. People feel seen and realise immediately that you are writing for them, not just publishing into the void (*that’s* corporate in my book). 🙋 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸? 𝗬𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘆? 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. (By the way, the practice to shout-out new subscribers in this way is something I learned from Rishad’s and Alan’s always amazing Splice Media newsletters). | 24 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInMattia Peretti

This is not only about newsletter best practice.

To me, it's one of the many little habits that translate people-centricity from a theoretical concept into something that people in your audience can actually feel.

Here are some of the comments left by readers under that post:

Belonging, community, curiosity, validation, and feeling seen.

You might have already heard me saying that the mission of journalism is much bigger than just "to inform the public". The question I want to leave you with is:

The other side of the debate

Isn't it boring when we all agree though?

I was grateful that some readers took the time to comment on my post on LinkedIn to share their reservations about this practice. Essentially saying that it can feel strange when someone shares information about you in public without your express permission.

I think it's a totally fair argument, so I added a line to the automated email that readers receive when they subscribe, giving them a heads-up and offering the option to opt out:

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Reply to let me know your opinion – or, as always, just use the 👍 👎 at the bottom of this email.

A couple of thank-yous before the links 📚

Last week, I dedicated the newsletter to celebrating what I described as "European organisations doing cool shit that makes me hopeful".

I asked you to nominate other European orgs that deserve a shout-out, beyond the seven I included in the newsletter – and I also asked you to recommend good examples from other regions of the world.

Huge thanks to Verónica and Modupe, who replied sharing their recommendations for Africa and Latin America, which I can't wait to feature in upcoming editions.

Do you also want to shout out your favourite people-centric journalism organisation? You know what to do.

It's time for the links. See you next week! 👋