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The quirk of the calendar means tonight will mark the final Editor’s Note of 2024 as both Christmas and New Year’s fall on a Wednesday, which means I really do get two days off.
While I am looking forward to the holidays, I must confess a part of me feels a little guilty about missing two beats in the weekly cadence of this nocturnal note to you.
The precursor to this newsletter was my coronavirus news briefing, a nightly sprint that turned into a pandemic marathon.
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For months in that first lockdown, I turned out a dispatch six days a week. Not even the death of my mother — in hospital during COVID just days before Christmas, when she would have celebrated her 84th birthday — knocked me off my stride.
I blame my competitive nature, infused by a sense of duty, for the more than 500 notes cranked out over the longest two years of our lives.
I’m reflecting on those COVID-inspired notes because in recent weeks I’ve heard time and time again from readers about how meaningful they were in those dark days.
There was the couple who thanked me at our event earlier this month for Free Press Patrons at The Forks. There was a stranger who pulled me aside at a Christmas party to talk about their lasting impact. There was someone I hadn’t seen in years who referenced them while we chatted at a fancy gala as a source of strength.
The 14 previous editors in the 152-year history of the Free Press did not have the chance to forge connections with readers by way of a personal note sent daily over two years of unrelenting challenges. As the 15th editor, I’m grateful to have had that opportunity, which led to this weekly note.
And as the 15th editor, I am ever mindful this job requires me to build runway for the person who will follow me. In part, that’s why this newsletter will be a key part of our arsenal if we adopt an “insurgent strategy” as proposed in industry predictions for journalism in 2025.
“Insurgents succeed because they know exactly what they are fighting against,” Saba Long wrote for The Neiman Lab.
“The media industry must confront bad actors — whether misinformation campaigns, coordinated attacks on journalism, or exploitative platforms — with precision and determination. Incrementalism is no longer an option. Media insurgents must act with urgency and boldness, recognizing that the stakes are nothing less than the future of an informed public and a functioning democracy.”
Long says this insurgency requires building a belief in journalism through school curriculum, developing countermeasures to debunk false narratives and protecting the integrity of information platforms.
“By embracing clarity of purpose, bold action, and collective resolve, the media will reclaim its role as an indispensable pillar of democracy. The stakes are clear, the fight is inevitable, and victory belongs to those who act decisively and refuse to let others define their story.”
I will have a lot more to say about that insurgency and the fronts on which the Free Press will be fighting in the nightly notes to come in 2025.
But let me end tonight on a more peaceful note, with my thanks to you for reading, my prayers that your holidays are filled with comfort and joy — and finally, my best wishes to you and yours in 2025.
Happy New Year!
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