Wednesday, September 26, 2018
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A new study of The Independent’s 2016 shift to online-only finds that its print readership didn’t move to digital when the newspaper did. It’s now “more glanced at, it seems, than gorged on.” By Joshua Benton. |
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“What we are seeing now is that revenues are plunging, acceleration of this downward spiral is getting faster and faster and news coverage more and more sparse. And that's a recipe for catastrophe.” By H.G. Watson. |
Digiday / Max Willens
The New York Post plans a paid membership program →“Rather than focus on a metered paywall like its crosstown rival, The New York Daily News, the New York Post is planning to pursue consumer revenue through memberships. The Post intends to orient them around extra services or experiences targeted at fans of its sports coverage, or its popular gossip news sub-brand Page Six.”
TechCrunch / Natasha Lomas
Tech and ad giants sign up with Europe's first weak bite at 'fake news' →“Only slightly less vague and woolly is a commitment that signatories will ‘put in place clear policies regarding identity and the misuse of automated bots’ on the signatories' services, and ‘enforce these policies within the EU’. (So presumably not globally, despite disinformation being able to wreak havoc everywhere.)”
The New York Times / Jaclyn Peiser
New York Magazine teams up with a new nonprofit outlet (led by a New York Daily News alum) to cover local news →“The City will be accessible through the magazine's website, and some of its articles will be posted there. The magazine will also provide technological infrastructure and office space, at least for the time being. But there will be no financial connection between the two organizations…. Ben Smith, the editor of BuzzFeed News, will be the chairman of The City's board of directors. Other members include Sarah Bartlett, the dean of the CUNY journalism school; Richard Ravitch, a former lieutenant governor of New York; and S. Mitra Kalita, the senior vice president for news, opinion and programming for CNN Digital.”
Forbes / Parmy Olson
Why WhatsApp’s cofounder left Facebook →“It's also a story any idealistic entrepreneur can identify with: What happens when you build something incredible and then sell it to someone with far different plans for your baby? ‘At the end of the day, I sold my company,’ Acton says. ‘I sold my users' privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.'”
Slate / Will Oremus
Apple is wooing the media with a human touch and a huge audience. But where’s the money? →“The problem, publishers say, is that Apple doesn't sell many ads within the app—not nearly as many as you'd find on most websites—and it doesn't make it particularly easy for publishers to sell their own. Apple News doesn't support some of the common ad formats or systems that dominate ad sales on the web, and not all media companies find it worthwhile to develop and sell custom ads just for Apple News. (Those that do can keep all the revenue or they can let Apple sell them, in which case Apple takes a 30 percent cut.) As Matt Karolian, the Boston Globe's director of new initiatives, told me, ‘The juice ain't worth the squeeze.'”
Motherboard / Jason Koebler and Joseph Cox
In a class-action lawsuit, a content moderator sues Facebook and says the job gave her PTSD →“An outsider might not totally comprehend, we aren’t just exposed to the graphic videos—you’ll have to watch them closely, often repeatedly, for specific policy signifiers," one moderation source told Motherboard. "Someone could be being graphically beaten in a video, and you could have to watch it a dozen times, sometimes with others present, while you decide whether the victim’s actions would count as self-defense or not, or whether the aggressor is the same person who posted the video.” Facebook has roughly 7,500 content moderators worldwide.
The Guardian / Anne Davies
How the culture of News Corp might change under Lachlan Murdoch, who is said to be more conservative than his father →“The downsized empire will be focused on News's traditional news business – newspapers, online real estate, book publishing and Foxtel – alongside a growing portfolio of sporting rights, to which it added cricket rights in Australia in April. The Murdochs also will hang on to the top-rating Fox News channel in the US and Fox sports cable channels after the Disney sale. The Murdochs had also hoped to keep the UK satellite TV service, Sky, and take full control but met resistance from UK regulators concerned about the extent of the Murdochs' media influence, and was ultimately outbid by Comcast. So what will News Corp be like under Lachlan?”
BuzzFeed News / Charlie Warzel
Safari's "Siri Suggested" search results highlighted conspiracy sites and fake news →“The Siri Suggested problem seems to stem from what researchers call a "data void," which is what happens when a term doesn't have ‘natural informative results’ and manipulators seize upon it. Many of the sites surfaced by the Siri Suggested feature came from conspiracy or junk sites hastily assembled to fill that void.” Users can email results they feel are inappropriate to applebot@apple.com.