Publications hire diverse outspoken writers and then get anxious when these writers start tweeting about politics. Some outlets ask staffers who don’t cover incendiary beats like politics to refrain from commenting on political goings-on. While few publications would say it, it’s all but required for young journalists to jump into the culture war online. But these qualities have been in conflict and competition for long before Twitter and newsrooms understood a journalist's exposure during breaking news and had their backs accordingly. That’s less a change in the industry than it is a failure of newsroom leaders to understand the information war it sends its journalists out to fight in each day.

Source: New York Times January 29, 2020 22:41 UTC