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Monday, September 26, 2016
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Jeff Israely: Five years in, our news startup is seeing the pace of change slow“The future is already here, and we have to hustle every day to survive. And succeed.” By Jeff Israely. |
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This: Vox.com hires Andrew Golis as its first general manager“He is going to be tasked with thinking about what are the big swings that we want to take in the next few years.” By Joseph Lichterman. |
What We’re Reading
Wall Street Journal / Seth Stevenson
Snapchat announces its first hardware product: video-sharing sunglasses →
The $129.99 sunglasses, from the company now rechristened Snap Inc., use a camera with a 115-degree-angle lens — much closer to the eyes' natural field of view. The video it records is also circular, more closer to human vision.
Ad Age / Jeremy Barr
Business Insider is testing a reader paywall →
Business Insider, which was sold last year to European publisher Axel Springer, will charge $1 for the first month of a subscription, and $9.95 for the successive months. A small randomly selected group of readers will be hit with various levels of a metered paywall, starting with 10 free stories each month.
Poynter / Benjamin Mullin
Jose Antonio Vargas is relaunching #EmergingUS on Medium →
“In February 2015, the Los Angeles Times announced a partnership with Vargas to launch his startup from within the newspaper. That deal ultimately fell through after publisher Austin Beutner was ousted from the Los Angeles Times in a shakeup Tronc, then known as Tribune Company. Later, Vargas tried to raise money for the project on the crowdfunding site Beacon, but ultimately fell well short of the $1 million goal”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
French news publishers believe solidarity is key to staving off adblocking →
“After what publishers believe to be a successful trial of blocking ad-blocking users in March, more news publishers are joining forces against ad blockers and taking a tougher stance in September. Out of France's top 40 publishers, 80 percent of them are part of this operation, more than the number that took part in March, which is again spearheaded by trade body Geste. Publishers include Le Monde, L'Equipe, La Parisien and Le Figaro.”
Bloomberg.com / Yoolim Lee
Jann Wenner to sell 49% of Rolling Stone to Singapore’s BandLab →
“After a five-decade run full of interviews with pop stars and presidents, the founder of Rolling Stone is selling 49 percent of the iconic magazine to an Asian billionaire's son. It's the first time Wenner has admitted an outside investor, a deal that encapsulates the plight of an industry fighting to stay relevant in an online age. Wenner Media LLC also owns Us Weekly and Men's Journal.”
New York Post / Josh Kosman and Keith J. Kelly
Gannett mulls acquiring Dallas Morning News owner A.H. Belo →
“Gannett could afford to buy A.H. Belo, which has a $150 million market cap, and pay roughly $1 billion for Tronc, the former Tribune Publishing, sources said.”
Recode / Peter Kafka
The New York Times is backing TheSkimm, the fast-growing newsletter that wants to be more than a newsletter →
“The Times is part of a group of investors putting a total of $500,000 into the New York-based startup. TheSkimm co-founders Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin say the money is an add-on to an $8 million round, led by 21st Century Fox, that they announced this summer.”
Vocativ
Sportswriters love Marriotts more than you love anything →
“Among the federation of traveling sports writers, many of whom spend as many nights on the road as at home, Marriott points are so embedded in the profession's culture that retired journalist John Henderson wrote a blog, ‘Confessions of a Marriott whore,’ wherein he called the Rewards program ‘as much a part of an American sportswriter's job as a notepad and pen.'”