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Monday, July 11, 2016
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McSweeney’s Meets Internet: A little publisher survives holding tight to its eclectic, literary roots“We were able to build a pretty tremendous amount based on a shoestring, but now we’re just getting a little more reactive to the realities of a shoestring business.” By Shan Wang. |
What We’re Reading
Society for News Design / Kyle Ellis
Jim Brady on launching washingtonpost.com 20 years ago →
“Well, our publishing system was pretty Stone Age, though efficient. We dragged files we wanted to publish into a special folder on our desktops that somehow published the pages; I still don't quite understand how. But there was no real CMS.”
RTDNA/Hofstra University / Bob Papper
There’s a record number of minority and women TV news directors, according to an RTDNA survey →
The minority workforce in TV news rose to 23.1 percent, according to the latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey. But the minority workforce in radio slipped again from the year before.
CNN / Brian Stelter
Twitter to live stream the conventions through a deal with CBS →
“A simulcast of CBSN, the news division’s streaming service, will appear on Twitter whenever the convention is in session. The deal gives CBSN more exposure and fits into Twitter’s emerging live-streaming strategy.”
Medium / Alyssa Bereznak
Facebook Live is becoming a new home for church sermons →
“Though the concept of livestreaming sermons is by no means novel — hundreds of religious institutions across the continent offer some form of online spiritual guidance — Facebook Live offers accessibility to houses of worship that once found the technology too cumbersome or expensive.”
Journalism.co.uk / Caroline Scott
Hindustan Times uses Snapchat filters to enable sexual assault survivors to speak freely on camera →
“The complex face-mapping software used by Snapchat allows users to transform their appearance with a range of filters, and turn themselves into a dog, a lion, or a fire-breathing dragon, for example…He found that Snapchat's filters enabled him to get raw, emotional interviews with the young survivors taking part in the climb.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
Carrie Budoff Brown will be the new editor of Politico →
Replacing Susan Glasser.
BuzzFeed
The new season of Mr. Robot debuted on BuzzFeed’s Snapchat Discover last night →
Maybe Snapchat really is the new TV.
Shorenstein Center / Thomas E. Patterson
Harvard study: Coverage of the presidential primaries focused more on the horse race than the issues →
“The press did not heavily cover the candidates' policy positions, their personal and leadership characteristics, their private and public histories…Such topics accounted for roughly a tenth of the primary coverage.”
Digiday / Jordan Valinsky
A day in the life of Sarah Amos, ABC News’ head of digital live video →
Amos oversees two types coverage: “The first is raw coverage, encompassing press conferences, affiliate feeds and even live animal cams. The second is producing anchored coverage hosted by ABC News journalists, which doesn't have a set schedule because it only occurs during breaking news.”
The New York Times / John Herrman
As online video surges, publishers are turning to automation from companies such as Wochit and Wibbitz →
“In pursuit of more lucrative video advertising and success on dominant social platforms like Facebook, a growing number of publishers have turned to technology that promises to streamline video production, sometimes to the point of near-full automation.”
Knight Foundation
The Jim Bettinger Challenge Fund will help JSK Fellowship alumni initiative journalism experiments inside newsrooms →
The Fund will provide support of $5,000 to $20,000 to U.S.-based John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship alumni for projects. The Knight Foundation (also a supporter of Nieman Lab) is investing $100,000 in seed funding to help launch the initiative.
MediaShift / Ben DeJarnette
Here are 3 ways California public media stations are collaborating on election coverage →
Public radio stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento have created California Counts, a collaborative effort to cover the election.
The New York Times / Liz Spayd
Liz Spayd’s first column as New York Times public editor: The Times should listen to its readers →
“I don't worry that The Times will go too far in incorporating reader ideas, nor do I think it will be careless in doing so. I worry that it won't go far enough.”
Medium / Gary Vaynerchuk
Why social media won’t “ruin” millennials →
“Millennials are no different from Gen Y, Gen X, or any previous generation when it comes to being affected by a culture shift.”
Poynter / Sonali Prasad
How The New York Times used The History Project to document a power plant’s dirty secrets →
“The result was an interactive timeline, published earlier this week by The New York Times. It was made using The History Project, a web application that functions as a modern time capsule and interactive storytelling platform rolled into one.”
PostGhost
RIP PostGhost, 2016-2016 →
“As per [Twitter’s] request, postghost.com has been shut down. We created the website postghost.com to provide the public with a more accurate history of public statements made by the most influential public figures on Twitter.”