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Monday, May 14, 2018
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Congratulations, sports media: You just got a big business-model subsidy from the Supreme CourtBy throwing out a ban on sports gambling in 49 states, the court opens up a giant opportunity for insider sports coverage — and a lesson on news business models. By Joshua Benton. |
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Collaboration and insights: Here’s what you missed at two useful journalism conferences last week“Attitudes about newsroom collaboration are improving but it can feel like an uphill push sometimes.” By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Sapna Maheshwari and John Koblin
Beneath the sparkle and the canapés at the TV networks’ annual advertising bonanza, a serious upheaval beckons →
“TV is still a good value for plenty of advertisers. Mr. Letang said pharmaceuticals and personal care products were increasing their presences on TV. But the combination of rising prices and falling viewership is giving some big brands pause.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Lyz Lenz
From Taylor Swift to the world’s largest T-shirt cannon: An imagined history of the Internet, in the future →
“Because I hate myself, and because I want my future robots to remember my contributions to this wild weird world before it all dissipates into the ether, or becomes a wasteland of Russian bots and Incels, I spoke with writers, journalists, novelists, and normal people to come up with a definitive list of essential internet reading. This required coming up with a working theory about what makes internet writing uniquely ‘internetty.'”
Digiday / Sahil Patel
How NowThis is looking beyond Facebook →
“Last year, NowThis hired more producers to make more mid- and long-form programming. Today, NowThis has a slate of 15 shows and one-off specials, including four documentaries, in development. This includes nine Facebook Watch shows, some of which Facebook paid for and others that NowThis or an advertiser funded. To distribute other programs on the slate, NowThis is speaking with streaming platforms, like Netflix and Amazon, and some linear TV networks, Stephanopoulos said.”
Buzzfeed News / Steven Perlberg
It’s a good time to be a reporter covering Trump if you like money and going on TV →
“Reporters' windfall has stemmed, in part, from a shift in strategy by CNN President Jeff Zucker and NBC News chairman Andy Lack, two old-school executives leading the major networks that supplement reporters' income (the contributor well for Fox News tends to differ from its rivals). Dinged by critics for featuring roundtables of talking heads, Zucker and Lack have been on a buying spree to sign reporters who break news to paid contributor contracts. That way, when the Washington Post or New York Times breaks a big Russia–Trump story — and they often do — their network will have exclusive access to the bylined reporter. In the hyper-competitive world of political television, the coin of the realm has become five magic words: ‘The author joins us now.'”
Columbia Journalism Review / Kelsey Sutton
Medium will “pay each of the affected publishers four month's worth of any revenue they were making through this program” →
After abruptly canceling the membership programs of its 21 remaining subscription publisher partners, Medium’s VP of product promises help with “smoothing the transition.”
The New York Times / Scott Shane
The new rules when spies hack journalism →
“I happened to have written the sentence that distressed Ms. Chozick, and I don't find either her mea culpa or Mr. Shafer's championing of the old rules fully satisfying. For reporters, withholding valuable information from the public is anathema. But in a world in which foreign intelligence services hack, leak and fabricate, journalists will have to use extreme caution and extra transparency.”
Global Editors' Network / Freia Nahser
A Q&A with The Guardian’s chief supporter officer (sort of) on selling journalism →
“The primacy of our editorial platform does mean that it is not always the case that the 'customer is always right'. But that doesn't mean we don't think of ourselves as having a reader first philosophy. The reader has a right to be listened to, and respected, but at times their opinion might differ to our editorial line — and that is important to acknowledge.”
Washington Post / Margaret Sullivan
All the problems at NBC News aren’t just coincidence — they’re symptoms →
“‘Props to NBC for being so consistent in its terrible handling of everything from Brian Williams to Matt Lauer to Joy Reid to Hugh Hewitt to Tom Brokaw,’ wrote Andrew Kirell, senior editor at the Daily Beast. (Anchor Brian Williams is back on the air, though in a diminished role, after glorifying his reporting history. MSNBC host Joy Reid suffered not a single disciplinary consequence after her dubious claims that some of her anti-gay statements from years ago were the result of her being hacked. And NBC brass gave only a tap on the wrist to a serious conflict of interest by Hewitt, and seemed to shrug off accusations of misconduct by network icon Tom Brokaw.)”