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Monday, October 22, 2018
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What happens when Facebook goes down? People read the newsWithout a News Feed to scroll through, more people head directly to news sites for their information fix. By Josh Schwartz. |
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How to successfully pitch The New York Times (or, well, anyone else)Most bad freelance pitches are bad for the same few reasons. But they're often salvageable with a little tweaking. By Tim Herrera. |
What We’re Reading
Thinknum / Joshua Fruhlinger
Job openings at the major digital-native publishers are trending down →
“Today, while [BuzzFeed, Vice, and Vox Media] continue to do well, they’ve spent the last year or so in what could be called a correction period. All saw some form of layoffs and property shutdowns across editorial, video, and broadcast…they’re all in the middle of, or emerging from, periods of slowdown when it comes to hiring.”
AIGA Eye on Design / Madeleine Morley
Wired’s 25th-anniversary cover is a peek into the past, present, and future of magazine design →
“A magazine cover is now better off communicating a single, strong idea, not a laundry list of features…We always wanted Wired to be more like a book you collect, and less like a magazine you throw away.”
PR Newswire
The Times of India and the South China Morning Post are teaming up →
“As a part of this alliance, select content from SCMP will be published on Times of India’s digital, mobile and web platforms, and Times of India will be SCMP’s primary partner in India for content syndication.”
The Guardian / Bethan McKernan, Patrick Wintour, and Jon Swaine
The U.K., France, and Germany — without the U.S. — urge Saudi Arabia to clarify what happened to Jamal Khashoggi →
“In a joint statement released on Sunday, the UK, France and Germany said: ‘There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened on 2 October – beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible.'”
Axios / Jim VandeHei
To fix “fake news”: “If your Facebook feed is filled with garbage, it means you were reading garbage in the first place.” →
VandeHei’s recommendations: Politicians should stop saying it, media organizations should ban reporters from sharing snark, social media companies should have a FCC for social media standards, and individuals should quit clicking on garbage. Media Twitter has some thoughts.
The Intercept / Glenn Greenwald
A far-right billionaire is using his media outlets in Brazil to intimidate journalists in presidential election coverage →
“Ever since publication of Saturday's report about R7, the captive operatives inside Macedo's media conglomerate – those who once functioned as journalists but have now been forcibly converted into Bolsonaro warriors – have been intensively investigating not only the journalists at the Intercept but also our families.”
The New York Times / Natasha Singer and Nicholas Confessore
Conservatives are creating their own apps as Facebook workarounds →
“One start-up has built an app for the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association that has been downloaded more than 150,000 times. Supporters of President Trump can download an app from Great America, a big-spending pro-Trump political action committee, or America First, Mr. Trump's official 2016 campaign app, which has some features that remain active. Many backers of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas use Cruz Crew, an app built for his re-election campaign.”
The Correspondent / Jay Rosen
Why one of The Correspondent’s main investors has a public service veto to guard the site’s principles →
“As a minority shareholder, SDM [Dutch foundation Stichting Democratie & Media] doesn't make or interfere with day-to-day business decisions of media companies. To keep with the historic public interest mission of the foundation, we ask for a priority — or 'golden' — share that provides us with specific veto rights. At The Correspondent, these rights allow us to intervene where necessary to protect the platform's editorially independent and ad-free status, as well as its dividend cap.”
The Business of Content / Simon Owens
How Slate built a live events business (with 25 shows a year) around its most popular podcasts →
“A podcast is something you're used to listening to for free. I think people will pay for the premium experience of attending. They will pay to see their favorite people live and be part of the energy of it. But to go from paying zero to paying $85 or $100, I think it's a threshold that few people would be willing to cross.”
The New York Times / Editorial Board
Facebook and Twitter have a responsibility to address systemic misinformation, instead of reacting to reporters’ individual flags →
“Of course, it would be far worse if a company refused to patch a problem that journalists have uncovered. But at the same time, muckraking isn't meant to fix the system one isolated instance at a time. Imagine if Nellie Bly had to infiltrate the same asylum over and over again, with each investigation prompting a single incremental change, like the removal of one abusive nurse.”