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Thursday, February 8, 2018
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DNAinfo Chicago will be reborn as Block Club Chicago, relying on blockchain and subscriptions instead of billionaires“We wanted to focus on neighborhoods and we wanted to have a membership model. We didn't get to do it our way at DNA, at least on the business side. So we said, ‘Let's just do it our way now.'” By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
Digiday / Lucia Moses
Google and Facebook make up less than 5 percent of publishers' digital revenue →
“The revenue publishers are taking in from third-party platforms has barely budged in a year — despite platforms' gestures to help publishers to help them better monetize their content as the platforms, particularly Google and Facebook, tighten their grip on digital ad spending.”
Lenfest Institute / Joseph Lichterman
How Charlottesville’s nonprofit news site has shared its reporting with the local paper for nearly a decade →
“The partnership continues today, with Charlottesville Tomorrow stories appearing almost daily in the paper. The arrangement has persisted even as the paper, in that time, has had two owners, three publishers, and four managing editors. And now it will withstand a transition at Charlottesville Tomorrow as [Brian] Wheeler, who has been with the site since the beginning, is leaving this month.”
Bettina Figl / MediaShift
Why small newsrooms can still do data journalism that thrives →
"We can take time to [experiment] and try things out," says Julius Tröger. "When big newspapers like Sueddeutsche Zeitung or Spiegel Online don't have output for a while, or if they fail, there will be a loud outcry. With us, it is the other way around. Nobody knows us, nobody cares – until we do something that stands out."
Twitter / Matt Pearce
Read the first note from new owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to the L.A. Times’ newsroom →
“As someone who grew up in apartheid South Africa, I understand the role that journalism needs to play in a free society. As residents of Southern California, my family and I have seen the vital role that these publications play in binding our communities together.” (Side note: the L.A. Times just lost a ninth member of its newsroom to the New York Times.)
Quartz / Mike Murphy
For the first time ever, Twitter has finally turned a profit →
“It may not grow into an advertising behemoth like Facebook, but at least it's no longer sinking. And if it can keep turning a modest profit, that's something—except for lingering problems of abuse and hatred on the platform, and the rampant bot problem that may or may not have affected the 2016 US election and the UK Brexit vote. Nothing major, then.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
The New York Times’ overall subscription revenue was more than $1 billion in 2017 →
Subscription revenue now accounts for 60 percent of the company's total revenue, and digital advertising revenue increased 14 percent, too.
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
Publishers eye LinkedIn as Facebook's reliability falters →
"When I look at all the platforms, the biggest opportunity to grow audience and revenue is LinkedIn," Owen Wyatt of Shortlist Media said. "LinkedIn is trying to learn with content companies." LinkedIn accounts for less than half of 1 percent of all global referral traffic, according to Parsely data.
Local News Lab / Teresa Gorman and Josh Stearns
With $2 million, Democracy Fund is launching new funds in North Carolina and New Jersey →
“A key goal of these funds is to catalyze new momentum locally around supporting local public-interest news that serves all communities. As such, both funds are built as open platforms for partnership with other funders and donors.”
The GroundTruth Project
Report For America adds nine host news organizations, opens application process →
The winning news orgs: Dallas Morning News; KRWG (Las Cruces, New Mexico); The Macon Telegraph (Georgia, in collaboration with the News Co/Lab of Arizona State University); Chicago Sun-Times; The Victoria Advocate (Texas); The Incline (Pittsburgh) and Billy Penn (Philadelphia); Mississippi Today; and Mississippi Public Broadcasting.