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Tuesday, May 1, 2018
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Newsonomics: Alden Global Capital is making so much money wrecking local journalism it might not want to stop anytime soonDigital First Media’s financials — revealed here — show how the company has ridden its deep cuts to nearly $160 million in profits and the highest margins in the business. By Ken Doctor. |
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Google wants to do for podcasts on Android what Apple did for podcasts on iOSPlus: the BBC moves to monetize outside the U.K., talent agencies keep moving in, and 50 billion is a big number. By Nicholas Quah. |
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Is audience engagement a mushy construct based on anecdata — or something audiences actually want?“You know what? There doesn't need to be data. We all know this to be true.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
This is the 81st class of Nieman Fellows →
Twenty-seven amazing journalists from the U.S. and around the world (Nigeria, Israel, Denmark, Colombia, the Netherlands, Italy, Myanmar, Germany, Ukraine, Japan, the U.K., and Turkey). They’ll be coming to Harvard for a year of study in the fall. New this year: 3 Abrams Nieman Fellows for Local Investigative Journalism, who will receive funding for up to 9 months of reporting on a project after their time at Harvard.
Recode / Kurt Wagner
In its biggest update since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook will allow users to opt out of letting Facebook collect their browsing history →
“As part of an upcoming feature called ‘clear history,’ users can delete their browsing data from Facebook's servers, or ask the company not to collect it to begin with. Your browsing data could still be retained in an anonymous, aggregated set for companies that use Facebook for analytics purposes, but it wouldn't be tied to your profile or used for targeting, a spokesperson confirmed. If you don't have a Facebook account, you can't opt out of this data collection.”
Axios / Sara Fischer
There is now something called The News Project and the Associated Press has signed on as a partner →
“A group of media, journalism and tech companies has joined veteran media executive Merrill Brown to create a full-service publishing platform specifically built for digital news publishers called The News Project (TNP). Brown says his company is different from other digital publishing platforms, like Maven, SquareSpace and Medium, because his focuses solely on news.”
Reuters / Paresh Dave
23 days until GDPR: Four publisher trade groups rebuke Google’s interpretation of the privacy law →
“‘Your proposal severely falls short on many levels,’ publisher groups wrote to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, adding that it ‘would undermine the fundamental purposes of the GDPR and the efforts of publishers to comply with the letter and spirit of the law.’ Signing the five-page letter, which ends on several questions to Google, were Digital Content Next, European Publishers Council, News Media Alliance and News Media Association.”
Variety / Todd Spangler
Twitter announces 30 new or renewed video deals with NBCUniversal, Disney/ESPN, Vice Media, and more →
News shows include a renewal of Buzzfeed’s “AM to DM,” a debut of a Vice News live show on space exploration, and a show from the parent company of the Weather Channel. Twitter recently said video accounts for more than half of its ad revenue and video views have nearly doubled in the past year.
Axios / Kia Kokalitcheva
Substack raises $2 million to prove newsletters can help media →
“Substack says it's not planning to integrate advertising features to its newsletter service, but does think about written content beyond news emails. For example, journalist Matt Taibi is publishing his book, ‘The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male,’ in the form of a newsletter via Substack.” We covered Substack’s progress in February.
The Atlantic / Alexis Madrigal
Even amid scandal, is Facebook unstoppable? →
“On the eve of its big annual conference, things are looking up for the world's most profitable advertising company.”
Medium / Alastair Coote
Here’s a guide to nearly all of the code written during the Guardian Mobile Lab’s two years of experimentation →
“We wrote a lot of code in the two years of the mobile lab and, wherever possible, we open sourced that code to support our team's mission of openness and collaboration, so that others can use it, learn from it, or just satisfy their curiosity by working out how we did something. But GitHub isn't the easiest place to discover which code does what, so for posterity, here's a quick rundown of the most noteworthy code we've published, with notes about what each does.”
Twitter / Cory Haik
Mic’s Cory Haik, in response to Digiday story, says Mic is not running out of money →
“1) Mic is not solely Facebook dependent (though we do our best to smartly reach audiences there, because, digital journalism + 2B people), nor is it running out of money (in fact we are on track to break even with the business by early 2019).”