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Monday, October 29, 2018
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Hunting for reader revenue, Scroll sets up shop for 2019 with more publishers and $10 million raised“The model is designed to reward engagement and loyalty. We think those things are the currency of publishing in the future, that relationship with the consumer. The better you do at that, the better you do under Scroll.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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A massive Facebook group — made up almost entirely of women — is helping to solve a case gripping Australia“We couldn’t get the plans, but through the audience we managed to do it. I feel like screaming, hurray, how awesome.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
The Cut / Noreen Malone
The Skimm has the ear of millions of women. What are they going to do with it? →
“It's also not that much of an outlier, as inclined as its critics may be to regard the Skimm as some unique degradation. Many more people now get their view of the world not through the original reporting source but some kind of ‘value added’ digest, newsletter or otherwise. Bryan Curtis, the editor-at-large of the Ringer, who writes about the press, says that the tone of the newsletter — like that of Twitter — is best understood as post–Daily Show, which almost everything else is now too: ‘Serious news item plus knowing summary plus pop-culture reference. That's the grammar we now process news in.’ Sites like Vox — which proudly caters to wonks in bone-dry prose — also do patient, from-the-beginning explainers. In other words, the objections to the Skimm are more aesthetic than political.”
CNN / Brian Stelter
A “suspicious package” headed to CNN’s Atlanta headquarters has been intercepted off-site →
“All mail, at all CNN domestic bureaus, is being screened at off-site facilities as of last Wednesday, so this package would NOT have come directly to the CNN Center, even if it hadn’t been intercepted first,” CNN president Jeff Zucker wrote. “Our screening process is working and we will keep you updated as we learn more.”
Lenfest Institute / Joseph Lichterman
Using “radical hospitality” to bring communities together to discuss important issues →
“91 percent of participants said they were inspired to act on the issue by staying in touch with people they met at the event or getting involved in projects dealing with housing issues. 89 percent of participants said they planned to discuss what they learned at the Story Circle with family or friends. And 82 percent of participants said they met people they wouldn't typically meet and were exposed to new perspectives.”
The Verge / Andrew Liptak
Two more platforms have suspended Gab in the wake of Pittsburgh shooting →
“A profile on the site maintained by the alleged shooter, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, surfaced the immediate aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting, which left eleven people dead and several others wounded. Screenshots revealed that Bowers had published numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and that has placed Gab under increased scrutiny.”
National Observer / Robert Hiltz and Bruce Livesey
Canada’s Postmedia continues its downward spiral →
“Despite crying poverty to its employees, Postmedia's top executives continue to enrich themselves with growing amounts of compensation. A financial statement issued last year revealed that the company gave its top executives a 33 per cent pay raise in 2017 — from $3.9-million to $5.3-million. CEO Paul Godfrey's compensation jumped from $1.66-million to $1.74-million, while COO Andrew MacLeod's increased from $721,000 to $841,000.”
CPJ / Robert Mahoney
CPJ calls on Trump to dial back rhetoric against media and critics →
“While we cannot say that Trump’s speech directly incites violence, it is clear that some people are influenced by it. Journalists across the country feel unsafe because of the constant hostility and belittling of their role in our democracy by the head of state. It needs to stop.”
Variety / Janko Roettgers
Imax closes its New York VR center and forecasts no new VR investments for 2019 →
“Imax had plans to launch a total of 10 VR centers in multiple countries by the end of that year…. However, this year, Imax has been striking a decidedly different tone. The company closed a separate New York location in June, and shut down its Shanghai VR center in early July. ‘The consumer reaction was extremely positive, but the numbers just weren't there,’ Gelfond said during an earnings call earlier this year.”
Facebook Newsroom / Nathaniel Gleicher
Facebook removes 82 pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Iran and targeted people in the US and UK →
“The Page administrators and account owners typically represented themselves as US citizens, or in a few cases UK citizens — and they posted about politically charged topics such as race relations, opposition to the President, and immigration. Despite attempts to hide their true identities, a manual review of these accounts linked their activity to Iran. We also identified some overlap with the Iranian accounts and Pages we removed in August.”