Now that Twitter's no longer 'a clubhouse for journalists,' firefighters need a safe space just for them

Elon Musk’s Twitter reign of terror has only just begun, but for many journalists, we’re already pretty much at DEFCON-1.

With Musk doing things like reinstating Donald Trump’s Twitter account and thereby making journalists’ breathless daily Twitter coverage of his newsletter less necessary, where can firefighters go to feel valuable? To feel welcome? To feel safe?

They need a place that’s just for them. Enter journa.host:

Troubled over the direction of Twitter, a veteran journalist wanted to build a "reliable home for journalists" on Mastodon. But the conflicts that have at times inflamed Twitter have already caused problems for him and his team. https://t.co/R85c8AAUct

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 22, 2022

More from the New York Times:

The network is the brainchild of Adam Davidson, a journalist who helped found “Planet Money” and has worked at The New York Times and The New Yorker. He said the jump from Twitter to the new site reminded him of his family’s move to Vermont from New York City, a few years ago.

Journa.host is part of Mastodon, a vast network of thousands of servers that look and function much like Twitter. Over the past three weeks, hundreds of thousands of people, seeking an alternative to Twitter as Elon Musk took over, have signed up for Mastodon, according to Eugen Rochko, who created the software in 2016. Many of them are journalists.

…

Journa.host bills itself as “a reliable home for journalists,” and it has greater ambitions than just verifying journalists’ identities, though its rollout has not been without bumps.

Mr. Musk’s early run at Twitter has been chaotic, as he has slashed thousands of jobs and reinstated banned accounts. Many journalists have publicly criticized these and other moves, often on Twitter itself, and some have started, or joined, conversations about Twitter alternatives.

“The period in which Twitter served as a clubhouse for journalists was valuable for journalism as a profession,” said Steven I. Weiss, an investigative journalist who is one of the moderators of journa.host.

“A clubhouse for journalists.” Well, if that doesn’t just say it all.

They really did think this platform belonged to them. The second they were made aware it didn't, they bolted. pic.twitter.com/4VcnAZSqmO

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 22, 2022

"Finally a place where journalists can just talk to each other"

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 22, 2022

Good Lord. These people.

What journalists were missing was an insulated platform where they won’t receive any feedback or be exposed to any outside perspectives.

That should definitely fix their reputations. https://t.co/QzgFNjhAn7

— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 22, 2022

Your sarcasm is noted, AG. It’s also totally appropriate.

I always liked them JournoListing all over the place here in public as if we never noticed.

— NeverTweet (@LOLNeverTweet) November 22, 2022

They never really tried all that hard to hide it, but it’s nice of them to finally just acknowledge it openly. Must be a tremendous weight off their shoulders.

Also kind of funny that he thinks Twitter was a positive for journos, rather than a total unmasking of everything wrong with them

— Pete Lethal (@PeteMitch311) November 22, 2022

For a group of people who claim to have their fingers on the pulse of it all, they sure are lacking in self-awareness.