MommaTDec 17, 2022
Gwen Snyder is uncivil

Journalists, I am begging you:

Organize.

Tap your networks, figure out what collective action you are going to take against Musk, and then do it.

He may not realize it, but his platform lives & dies by your participation.

You may be under attack, but you have the cards.

Dec 16, 2022 at 9:39pmWeb
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 16, 2022

I don't even mean form an organization.

I mean tap all the big names in that chat from last night, secure a commitment to action from everybody, then announce it and do it.

Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 16, 2022

If national journalists collectively deactivated here as a principled protest after announcing a move to Mastodon, this place would die in days.

People go to Twitter to read (and troll) journalism. Take that away, the platform would die.

Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 16, 2022

Newsworthy people, especially politicians, would follow.

They're here for earned media. That's the value added.

You just have to lead the way off a platform run by a man who wants journalism destroyed.

Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 16, 2022

If it sounds overwhelming, it's totally doable!

Reach out, I'll help you make the spreadsheets and the call breakdowns, even.

I just want to see this happen.

Show threadluneellise21 (xe/xer)Dec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder I would even say to accelerate it by blocking them. Celebs, politicians, influencers... anyone who has a large following and generates a lot of traffic.
Show threadTim PalmerDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder
Their employers won’t support it, so they won’t. I don’t see any mass exodus by MSM any time soon.
Show threadLady GeeDec 17, 2022
@timpalmer @gwensnyder Their oligarch employers? How about we as a collective boycott journalists who stay on t witter
Show threadTim PalmerDec 17, 2022
@travellovewine @gwensnyder
Well, I got suspended a month or so ago so I don’t have any interaction any more anyway, at least on Twitter.
Show threadAdam IerymenkoDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder The simplest and most effective thing to do is just leave that platform.
Show threadLady GeeDec 17, 2022
@adamierymenko @gwensnyder like many many of us have already done!
Show threadSascha FreudenheimDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder Never gonna happen. As I said earlier in a different context: there are a lot of people (journalists!) who are deeply invested in criticizing capitalism, or billionaires, or right-wingers, or white nationalists, or or or … and they seem deeply invested in doing it on Twitter, oblivious to the irony and 100% certain that no other platform can replace it. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Show threadLady GeeDec 17, 2022
@SaschaFreud @gwensnyder meh everyone went to Gawker, Huffington post, MySpace and Facebook. People need to stop being babies and move!
Show threadSascha FreudenheimDec 17, 2022
@travellovewine @gwensnyder I agree! I’m just saying that for whatever reason, they think they have a special “community” on Twitter (a community of them speaking to each other) and they won’t give it up easily, even in the face of clear evidence for why they should, or how the platform is violating many things they claim to stand for.
Show threadWill PollockDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder I'm fully down and ready
Show threadRiley S. FaelanDec 16, 2022

@gwensnyder: You just made me imagine an organised strike of journalists who used to labour for Twitter but now insist on applying better terms & conditions, under the threat of taking their valuable tweets elsewhere.

​

Show threadInfiniteOneDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder @BlackAzizAnansi Not only Musk, but fascism in general. We need to annihilate Fascism.
Show threadLady GeeDec 17, 2022
@HumanityExists @gwensnyder @BlackAzizAnansi We obviously can’t depend on journalists for that. They’ve shown us who they are with trump.
Show threadtxvoodooDec 16, 2022
@gwensnyder This is what I've been thinking. EM is completely ignoring that without content, and the users who create it, twitter is NOTHING. Nothing at all.
Show threadKarl Morant 🇨🇦  🖖Dec 16, 2022

@gwensnyder

Maybe Journalists can create a Union that has a Mastodon Instance.

You know, control the means of production and all that.

Show threadBBBruceDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder
This might not be about Twitter’s survival - has a definite “first they came for” vibe.
Show threadAunt TeefahDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder yes! This right here. He has no power unless we (and they) give it to him.
Show threadDan Wentzel 🏳️‍🌈Dec 17, 2022

@gwensnyder “But if we take a stand against Musk we’ll lose our “access” and our “followers…”

I agree with you, but many journalists and other public figures still have a lot of fear about cutting that chord.

Show threadPhoenixSerenityDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder and also start really engaging & not just tooting to gain clout
Show threadLady GeeDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder if they have the will. They don’t have a good track record with the rise of fascism in the US
Show threadRicardusDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder Fuck Musk, do this with their every day interactions with politicians. Musk is meaningless.
Show threadKatie KirkendollDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder they will not because they enjoy the ratings just like the 24/7 Trump coverage.
Show threadStormcrowDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder At least the bigger names are learning they can let go of the teat. Hopefully they'll get some help for their attention addiction and get back to doing solid journalism.
Show threadGrandpa DonDec 17, 2022
@gwensnyder
They should all go to journo, help each other as needed with technology, write the unvarnished truth. They provide the content that draws consumers that attract advertisers.
He is like a newspaper firing all the reporters, printing only ltte's and charging to do so. He is either outrageously stupid or on a mission like Bannon to destroy any shred of post-WWII liberalism.
I think probably a blend of the two.
Show threadMichaelDec 17, 2022

@gwensnyder

With respect, the job of journalists is not to take action against.

It is to shine the sunlight into dark places and to follow stories wherever they lead.

It is to fairly report all sides of a controversy (but that does not mean blindly repeating false claims without calling attention to the lack of empirical evidence).

It is also to be good writers and use AP style. 🙂

Show threadGREENHORSEDec 18, 2022
@gwensnyder the best thing they could do is leave. If all Musk has left are NAZIs and violent white supremacists, his only choice will be to turn it over to someone else.