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Monday, October 24, 2016
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The New York Times is buying the gadget and technology review site The Wirecutter for $30 millionFor the price, the Times is getting one of the real bootstrapped success stories in the past decade of digital media — and a toehold in a growing e-commerce revenue stream. By Shan Wang. |
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From East Coast to West Coast: The company behind Miami’s The New Tropic is expanding to SeattleWhereBy.Us is one of the most interesting digital startups working in the local news space. After starting in Florida, it’s launching The Evergrey in Seattle, and it has its eye on additional markets. By Joseph Lichterman. |
What We’re Reading
Shorenstein Center / Jeffrey Rosen
National Constitution Center CEO on the future of free speech in a digital world →
In a talk at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center Jeffery Rosen “argues that Twitter, Facebook, and Google are facing increased pressure to moderate content in a way that is inconsistent with First Amendment protections—in the name of promoting civility rather than democracy.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Louise Lief
What the news media can learn from librarians →
“Why librarians? Their job is to navigate the world of information, help scholars and students get what they need, and distinguish good information from bad. They've faced their own technological disruptions, and have responded by developing a set of principles to help their public assess the credibility of information and use it ethically.”
MediaShift / Benjamin Bathke
German chatbot startup Spectrm tries to help publishers reach larger audiences →
“If Max Koziolek is right, online journalism never had a content problem. The crux, he says, has always been distribution.”
Quartz / Tim Fernholz
You may soon be able to see a free daily satellite photo of nearly anywhere on Earth →
“After two years in operation, the satellite-imaging startup Planet tells Quartz that it is now photographing more than 50 million square kilometers of the earth every single day. That's about a tenth of the world's surface area, or half its landmass.”
Facebook Newsroom / Joel Kaplan and Justin Osofsky
Facebook will start allowing more “newsworthy” and “significant” posts even if they violate its community standards →
“We will work with our community and partners to explore exactly how to do this, both through new tools and approaches to enforcement. Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them.”
Politico / Ken Doctor
Gannett approaches a possible billion dollar deal to buy Tronc — and layoffs, too →
“Next week appears to mark a witching hour, in which a trio of portentous elements and significant dates converges to create a massive and transformative shift in the fortunes of the daily news business.”
Digiday / Lucia Moses
How Quartz makes sure it’s a global brand →
“Quartz monetizes its audience proportionately, so 44 percent of its ad revenue was billed against non-U.S. inventory last year. Those advertisers tend to be global or foreign companies trying to reach upscale readers outside the U.S., like Credit Suisse, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Economic Development Board.”
AdWeek / Lauren Johnson
Jeff Bezos isn’t convinced that The Washington Post can survive on payment services →
Amazon founder and Post owner Bezos also said that he wants to move the Post from “making a relatively large amount of money per reader, having a relatively small number of readers — that was the traditional Post model for decades, [a] very successful model by the way,” to “a model where we make a very small amount of money per reader on a much, much larger number of readers.”
Wall Street Journal / Lukas I. Alpert
Business Insider launches a markets data site with help from its German corporate parent Axel Springer →
MarketsInsider.com will be powered by data from Finanzen.net, Axel Springer's German finance portal that crunches numbers coming from 100 exchanges around the world. The new site is designed for mobile-first and will offer data tools like personalized portfolios, watch lists, and customizable charts.
Digiday / Sahil Patel
The 15-month-old Tasty accounts for 37 percent of BuzzFeed's video views →
It’s also one of the biggest publishing brands on Facebook: Tasty's Facebook page was the third-biggest video account on Facebook, with nearly 1.7 billion video views, according to Tubular Labs. Its videos have averaged 22.8 million video views in the first 30 days alone, over the last three months.
Politico / Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer
Politico launches an audio Playbook in 90 Seconds →
The format’s built for the Amazon Echo, but also available as a podcast.
Facebook
The Information launches new paid products for students and investors →
The student plan is $19.50 a month (the normal subscription price is $39/month). The investor plan starts at $10,000 a year.