Rabu, 31 Agustus 2016

Alexa, give me the news: How outlets are tailoring their coverage for Amazon’s new platform: The latest from Nieman Lab

Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

Alexa, give me the news: How outlets are tailoring their coverage for Amazon’s new platform

News is one of the device’s core features, and there are two main ways — so far — that outlets have utilized Alexa: The Flash Briefing and skills. By Joseph Lichterman.

The Donald, documented: The Washington Post open-sources much of its Trump reporting

“It is meant as a resource for other journalists and a trove to explore for our many readers fascinated by original documents.” By Joshua Benton.
What We’re Reading
Poynter / Melody Kramer
What happened after 6 college newspapers cut their print schedules →
"We’ve cut a day out of print, but that doesn’t affect the work we’re doing. We are interested in pushing boundaries — making our work more interactive and more social online. That’s where most of our readership is anyway.”
Ad Age / Carrie So
Does Facebook Live really make sense for advertisers? →
Mid-roll ads for Facebook Live videos “strives to resurrect the 20th-century TV broadcasting model within the context of a 21st-century social network.”
Poynter / Benjamin Mullin
In Lithuania, one site is using its own journalists to fight adblockers →
In June, 15Min.lt published 12 videos that each feature a different member of its staff, making a plea to readers to whitelist the site or pay a fee to support the journalism. Before the video pleas, 15Min.lt served about 500,000 monthly pageviews users with adblockers. That number has since decreased to 130,000 pageviews per month.
Thomson Reuters
Reuters is working with Graphiq to create data visualizations for clients →
“Visualizations will work across devices and platforms when embedded on publishers' sites, with data updating in real time.”
CNBC / Julia Boorstin
Twitter will now share video revenue with individual content creators →
Creators who publish videos on Twitter will get about 70 percent of the ad revenue, higher than Facebook’s 50-50 split.
Honolulu Civil Beat / Patti Epler
The Honolulu Civil Beat is launching a yearlong paid internship program →
“We are offering it to college seniors or recent grads who want to be journalists so badly that they are eager to spend 12 months working in our newsroom. We are paying them for that go-getter attitude, too — $15 an hour vs. the $9 an hour they'd earn with an SPJ internship.”
Engaging News Project / Gina Masullo Chen and Paromita Pain
A new study has found that journalists really do read the comments →
“All the journalists we interviewed reported reading comments, at least occasionally. Some embraced this task enthusiastically, seeing it as a necessary and welcome expansion of their duties. As a freelancer with 12 years' experience described it: "I sometimes see the comments as the extra track on the album." His thoughts were typical of other journalists who embraced the comments.”
Digiday / Brian Morrissey
Refinery29 CEO Philippe von Bories: Digital news is in for a rough time →
‘News is really important because you want to be able to connect with people on the important issues of the day. ‘[But] it's not a category that's going to build you a huge media company.’
Digiday / Lucia Moses
How The Dallas Morning News made a millennial-minded news app →
A look at The Dallas Morning News’ mobile app, which it launched a year ago to better reach younger readers.
Ad Age / Jeremy Barr
BuzzFeed preps an expansion in news video →
“We’re eager to avoid what’s happening to a lot of television news, where they’ve basically cannibalized reporting for production.”
Reuters
Facebook CEO says group will not become a media company →
“No, we are a tech company, not a media company,” said Zuckerberg.

Kamis, 25 Agustus 2016

Business realities are impacting all college newspapers. But what happens when they’re for-profit?: The latest from Nieman Lab

Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

Business realities are impacting all college newspapers. But what happens when they’re for-profit?

Gannett owns two college newspapers in Florida — it’s closed one and cutting costs at the other. By Joseph Lichterman.
What We’re Reading
The Wall Street Journal / Steven Perlberg
Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports are teaming up to take on ESPN →
SI and Fox Sports “will share ‘significant’ content, according to Rich Battista, president of Time Inc. Brands.” On the business side, “ad sales units from Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports will be able to sell advertising across both entities, and the two companies will share in the revenue. They declined to disclose specific financial details.”
Digiday / Jessica Davies
CNN is going after Africa’s young, mobile audience — starting with Nigeria →
“On the social side, CNN has already dropped its three separate Africa Facebook pages — created for three of their TV shows: ‘Inside Africa,’ ‘African Voices’ and ‘Marketplace Africa’ — to create one Africa Facebook page. Within a few weeks, the new page has pulled in 250,000 followers, 10,000 joining in the last week.”
AP / Lauren Easton
The AP has a new iPhone app →
“The free app lets users personalize their news experience in a big way so they can stay on top of breaking stories of special interest to them. They can do this by customizing their news feed, choosing to follow specific topics and newsmakers as they appear in developing stories…and setting up news alerts by subject.”
WAN-IFRA / Brian Veseling and Ralf Ressmann
Want advice on a youth media strategy? Turn to Africa →
“We find that the younger groups are brand- and platform-agnostic; they want information now and fast, so we have to be everywhere to reach them. We found that the constant engagement is also extremely important, as the younger audience is switched on ALL the time.”
WAN-IFRA / Ingrid Cobben
How a Danish startup is building a community that’s willing to pay for news →
“After a €80,000 crowdfunding exercise à la De Correspondent, Zetland attracted another €1.5 million from investors, on top of half a million in government subsidies. Revenue comes from subscriptions, live shows and a moderator/booking-business.”
The Information / Cory Weinberg
Facebook’s new plan to expand its ad network (including with major publishers) →
“Some of its new targets for mobile ad sales are large publishers such as USA Today and Hearst, which have started selling ads through Facebook Audience Network after plugging into the social network's fast-loading article-hosting platform, Instant Articles.”
The New York Times / John Herrman
Inside Facebook’s (totally insane, unintentionally gigantic, hyperpartisan) political-media machine →
“While web publishers have struggled to figure out how to take advantage of Facebook's audience, these pages have thrived. Unburdened of any allegiance to old forms of news media and the practice, or performance, of any sort of ideological balance, native Facebook page publishers have a freedom that more traditional publishers don't: to engage with Facebook purely on its terms. These are professional Facebook users straining to build media companies, in other words, not the other way around.”
Insider / Nicholas Carlson
Here’s Gawker’s style guide from 2007 →
“In it, you will see why the internet reads like it does today.”
MediaShift / Jason Alcorn
Most newsrooms monitor digital metrics, but many aren’t acting on the data they collect →
A high percentage of respondents surveyed by the Engaging News Project, including editors and publishers, couldn’t even answer whether or not they were using A/B testing in their newsrooms.
Emarketer
US Snapchat users will increase by double-digit percentages this year and next →
“eMarketer projects 58.6 million US consumers will use Snapchat at least once per month in 2016. eMarketer's user estimate would represent 28.3% of US smartphone users and 18.1% of the US population. Both of these percentages would be a considerable gain from two years ago, when Snapchat was used regularly by just 10.3% of US consumers and less than 20% of US smartphone users.”
The Guardian / Jasper Jackson
Facebook and other platforms ‘will rob UK news industry of £450m by 2026’ →
“A report by strategy consultants OC&C predicts that news producers, especially newspapers, are still to feel the full impact of the shift by younger generations to using social media to find their news.”
Vanity Fair / Emily Jane Fox
BuzzFeed is dividing its news and entertainment divisions in a company-wide reorganization →
BuzzFeed Entertainment “will serve as an umbrella for all its entertainment content, including short- and long-form video, lists, quizzes, and micro-content.” BuzzFeed News “will expand under Ben Smith…bringing its health team, global news operation, and video news under his purview.”
CNN / Evan Perez and Simon Prokupecz
The FBI is investigating Russian hacks targeting New York Times reporters →
“News organizations are considered top targets because they can yield valuable intelligence on reporter contacts in the government, as well as communications and unpublished works with sensitive information, US government officials believe.”

Rabu, 24 Agustus 2016

Where does local TV news fit in the digital age? Tegna, a year separated from Gannett, has some ideas: The latest from Nieman Lab

Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

Where does local TV news fit in the digital age? Tegna, a year separated from Gannett, has some ideas

“By following the lead of our employees to create content that is digital first, it frees them up from the sameness of format that is plaguing local television news.” By Shan Wang.

Report: The New York Times is expanding to Australia and Canada

Having faced some difficulties with an earlier era’s attempts in large non-English markets, the Times is turning its focus next to more familiar territory. By Joseph Lichterman.

Hot Pod: Can a political podcast avoid being overtaken by events?

Plus: Vox Media’s making moves in audio, more podcast/broadcast partnerships, and the importance of sound design. By Nicholas Quah.
What We’re Reading
Mashable / Ariel Bogle
Facebook is testing autoplaying videos with sound →
“It’s an intriguing trial run, given Facebook’s own research has found 80 percent of people react negatively when mobile video ads play loudly without warning.”
Medium
Necessity, invention and The Daily Tar Heel →
Among many changes at the University of North Carolina’s independent student paper, detailed by new general manager Betsy O'Donovan: It’s eliminating Tuesday print edition, adding engagement, wedding, anniversary, and obituary sections, and piloting a creative services agency.
Search Engine Land / Barry Schwartz
Google warns it will crack down on “intrusive interstitials” in January →
“Google will reinforce its emphasis on the mobile search experience with a new penalty affecting “intrusive interstitials” on mobile web pages.”
The Verge / Casey Newton
Pinterest acquires Instapaper →
“The goal is “to accelerate discovering and saving articles on Pinterest,” the company said in a statement. It will continue to operate as a standalone app, and the Instapaper team will work on both that app and on Pinterest generally. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.”
The Ringer / Bryan Curtis
What happened to the St. Louis media when the Rams skipped town to L.A.? →
“In between moments of genuine sadness, the St. Louis media has allowed itself to indulge in a little schadenfreude.”
Today
NBC’s Today now has a recipe bot for Facebook Messenger →
“Thanks to the the mad geniuses from our innovation lab, we’ve launched the brand new Today Food Bot on Facebook Messenger to answer the very important question: what should I eat now?”
Medium / Jeff Jarvis
Is native advertising another false messiah? →
“I have long wondered whether native advertising would do what advertising is supposed to do: drive sales. What is the efficacy of replacing five-word banners with 500-word stories? Perhaps we are beginning to find out.”
Digiday / Jessica Davies
How Trinity Mirror raised its programmatic ad yields by 40 percent →
“To start it on the right track, it's rejigged internally, creating a centralized programmatic team of 20 people. Each specializes in a specific area, like video-on-demand, data, ad tech, sales, all overseen by director of programmatic Amir Malik, a former Googler inherited from Trinity's £220 million ($290 million) acquisition of regional publisher Local World last November. They'll then feed into the rest of the commercial division.”
The Tennessean / Getahn Ward
The Tennessean to sell offices, pursue new Nashville Home →
“More broadly, the major industry chains have been selling off real estate to reduce overhead, leaving prime downtown locations for cheaper rental space in the suburbs that's better designed to reflect the industry's transition to digital media. Such property sales have also raised cash to help pay down debt.”
The Ringer / Joon Lee
How Marques Brownlee became “the best technology reviewer on the planet” →
“YouTube personalities used to feel like secret discoveries for those in the know, but that exclusivity is starting to dissipate as young people flock to the site as their primary source of information and entertainment.”
Newsweek / Lucy Westcott
Women journalists share their stories of sexual harassment →
“53 women and two men…contacted Newsweek about their experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault related to their jobs in journalism. In mid-July, I emailed friends and colleagues a Google Form seeking stories, posted it on Twitter and Facebook, and was soon inundated with recollections of inappropriate jokes, comments on race and appearance, and unwanted touching and worse by sources, colleagues, bosses and the public.”
Digiday / Max Willens
How The Hill is using Snapchat to cover the presidential race →
Its audience is made up of the “kind of millennials that flood DC every summer for Capitol Hill internships,” and to cater to them, The Hill account offers both glamorous and unflattering looks at DC's seats of power.
TechCrunch / Josh Constine
Facebook’s new teens-only app Lifestage turns bios into video profiles →
The standalone iOS app is for people 21 and under — anyone older will only be able to see their own profile.
Gawker / Tom Scocca
Gawker was murdered by gaslight →
One more post from Gawker’s last day of publication: “If you want to write stories that might anger a billionaire, you need to work for another billionaire yourself, or for a billion-dollar corporation. The law will not protect you. There is no freedom in this world but power and money.”

Selasa, 23 Agustus 2016

Why this Mexican sports site is experimenting with as many new story formats as it can: The latest from Nieman Lab

Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

Why this Mexican sports site is experimenting with as many new story formats as it can

From Facebook-only verticals to Telegram bots to an in-house Snapchat imitator, Juanfutbol is trying to thread the needle between social distribution and site loyalty. By Joseph Lichterman.
What We’re Reading
The Information / Tom Dotan
How CNN is fending off digital rivals →
“Internally, the network is projecting its digital operations will produce around $280 million in revenue, with as much as $150 million in profit, according to people familiar with the company's finances.”
The Onion
Media Intern Looking Forward To Moving Up At Company That Won’t Exist In 8 Months →
“Fondly imagining herself having her own cubicle in the office that will be rented out to a different business by spring, Cordcrusher Media intern Nicole Dunn, 21, told reporters Monday she's hoping to land a full-time position at the company that will not exist in eight months.”
The Awl / Alex Balk
Alex Balk on Gawker’s demise and the state of public lying →
“Gawker was stupid, loud, bullying and ill-informed, and most days it was the only honest thing you could read.”
Gawker / Choire Sicha
Choire Sicha on Gawker’s demise and the beatification of dead titles →
“Whatever it is you love now, from the daring to the harebrained, from The Dodo to Extra Crispy to Mic to The Ringer to The Daily Beast to The Awl to Upworthy to The Guardian to The New York Times, you'll discover that they'll each seem far more lovely to you when they're gone.”
The Wrap / Itay Hod
BuzzFeed vs. CNN: How one snarky comment ignited a fight about the future of news →
CNN chief Jeff Zucker: BuzzFeed and Vice aren’t really “legitimate news organizations.” BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith: “The median age for CNN viewers this year was 61.” And so on.
Refinery29 / Alexandra Ilyashov
15 industry experts on the state of the teen magazine in 2016 →
“So what do all these changes mean for the future of the teen title? Do teens even want or need print magazines anymore?”
The Telegraph / Telegraph Sport
The Telegraph’s Roboblogger is now publishing automatically →
Roboblogger uses real-time data to create charts and graphics about soccer matches. “We’ve started publishing our first posts automatically, without any user intervention,” said said Adriaan Pelzer, Telegraph head of editorial development. “This milestone was planned since the beginning of the project for the start of the new Premier League season, and we managed to stick to that.” We wrote about Roboblogger earlier this summer.
WNYC / John Hockenberry and Sarah Ellison
Trump TV: Coming to a screen near you? →
“Trump — understanding that a loss in November is imminent — has ulterior motives post-election: To create his own conservative media empire.”
Medium / Adam Smith
Why The Economist still publishes (mostly) without bylines →
“Our articles are the work of The Economist's hive mind, rather than of a single author. Similarly our tweets are collaborative, gradually refined through a process involving at least one writer and two editors.”
Bloomberg / Gerry Smith
NBC’s $12 billion Olympics bet stumbles →
Primetime broadcast viewership for the games in the much sought after 18-to-49-year-old age group has been down 25 percent from the London games in 2012, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
The New York Times / Liz Spayd
New York Times public editor on Facebook Live: Too much, too soon →
“It's as if we passed over beta and went straight to bulk. What I hope is that The Times pauses to regroup, returning with a rigor that more sharply defines the exceptional and rejects the second-rate. After all, the world has a glut of bad video and not enough of the kind The Times is capable of producing.”
Digiday / Max Willens
How Gimlet hopes to win the podcasting arms race →
“It expects to exceed its 2015 revenue of $2.2 million by "multiples" this year, per [co-founder Matt] Lieber, and it's currently using a recent round of venture funding to fuel expansion and stay competitive in a growing arms race to snap up as much top-tier podcasting talent as possible.”