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Monday, June 12, 2017
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When certainties fade: The changing state of academic research into the changing world of news“Nostalgia provides reassurance and self-gratification, but it is also intellectually and socially stultifying. It is time to move on, make sense of the present by learning from history, not by clinging to it, in order to help shape more productive futures.” By C.W. Anderson and Pablo Boczkowski. |
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Membership programs are paying off for news outlets — and so is helping them set up their programsAfter helping five pilot news organizations together raise more than $1 million in six months, the News Revenue Hub has spun off into its own standalone organization. By Shan Wang. |
What We’re Reading
Wall Street Journal / Deepa Seetharaman and Lukas I. Alpert
Facebook is building a feature allowing users subscribe to news publications directly from its mobile app →
“Many details remain up in the air, but discussions have centered around making the feature available only on stories published natively to Facebook through its Instant Articles product. Talks have also focused on how to structure the arrangement, with Facebook leaning toward a metered-payment model, which would allow users to read some articles for free each month before prompting them to pay, three of the people familiar with the matter said.”
Backchannel
Backchannel is moving from Medium to Wired →
“In the time since Backchannel launched, Medium has shifted its business strategy, and it's no longer as focused on helping publications like ours profit. To bring you the tech reporting that matters most, we must fund it.”
Poynter / Kristen Hare
McClatchy is beginning to launch podcasts at its regional papers →
“The company’s 30 newsrooms around the U.S. have historically operated independently, said Davin Coburn, McClatchy’s senior podcast producer. When his department launched, Coburn was looking for shows that encouraged collaboration between those newsrooms. He knew that, along with shows on politics, sports and investigative journalism, he wanted a podcast on LGBT issues.”
The Telegraph / Christopher Williams
The Guardian is switching to the tabloid format for print, outsourcing printing to Trinity Mirror →
The Guardian will soon abandon its European-style "Berliner" print format and go tabloid to help stem heavy losses (it was the first and only major UK title to adopt the Berliner format, which is taller than tabloid and narrower than a broadsheet). The contract will also allow the newspaper to scrap or sell its three Berliner presses, which cost £50m in 2005. It spent a further £30m on printworks in London and Manchester.
The New York Times / Jeremy W. Peters
A Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, a false tweet, and a runaway story →
“Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec wrote on May 17 that James Comey, the recently ousted F.B.I. director, had ‘said under oath that Trump did not ask him to halt any investigation.’ It mattered little that Mr. Comey had said no such thing. The tweet quickly ricocheted through the ecosystem of fake news and disinformation on the far right.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Ricardo Baca
The sale of marijuana magazine High Times offers it an opportunity for more ambitious journalism →
In recent years the 43-year-old magazine was so focused on its stable of successful events that the content of the magazine sometimes came off as something of an afterthought. (Its sale to a Los Angeles-based investment firm valued the business at $70 million.)
Quartz / Josh Horwitz
China’s WeChat has a great new tool for fighting fake news, but there’s one little problem: Beijing →
“Of course, fake news is a bit more complicated in China, where authorities can portray political dissent as spreading dangerous rumors. In 2013 Beijing appointed a new internet czar.”
Recode / Peter Kafka
Apple is going to let podcast creators – and advertisers – see what listeners actually like →
Basic analytics are (finally) coming to Apple's podcast app in an upcoming refresh. It's a big deal.
Washington Post
The Washington Post to start experimenting with audio articles using Amazon text-to-speech service Polly →
“The Post will explore personalized playlists in future iterations as well as integration with its mobile apps.”
Univision
Univision Sports is partnering with Mexican sports startup Juanfutbol to launch a Facebook-native soccer channel →
“UnivisionDeportes.com and juanfutbol will partner to create a new sports storytelling arm designed for bilingual, bicultural Hispanic millennials who over-index on mobile, digital video and social.”