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Monday, January 28, 2019
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BuzzFeed laid off its Director of Quizzes because lots of people are willing to make quizzes for free“This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed’s editorial staff. BuzzFeed Community is a place where anyone create a post. Learn more or post your buzz!” By Joshua Benton. |
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Newspapers cost more than twice as much today as they did a decade ago (and that was a smart move by publishers)Once print advertising collapsed, newspapers hiked prices to get more money from readers. If they hadn’t, they’d employ even fewer journalists and be in even worse shape today. By Joshua Benton. |
What We’re Reading
Splinter / Rafi Schwartz
Inside BuzzFeed’s Slack conversations with Jonah Peretti on Friday →
“IMO now is probably a god time to bring therapy puppies in for every office.” … “Jonah Peretti: good idea about dogs, we will do it.” … “I wish I was getting paid out my PTO, could spend even more time with my dogs :( “
9to5Mac / Guilherme Rambo
Here’s what Apple News’ magazine subscription service will look like →
“Today, we've been able to activate the landing page for this new service on Apple News running on iOS 12.2. It looks like the subscription service will be called "Apple News Magazines" and it will be associated to the user's iTunes Store account, just like Apple Music. There are many mentions of ‘bundle subscription’ in this beta, which makes us believe this can be a part of Apple's plan to release an all-in-one media subscription which will include Apple Music, TV shows and magazines.”
Slate / Jeremy Littau
The crisis facing American journalism did not start with the internet →
“Decades of sparse investment and enormous debt service left these companies exposed and hamstrung at a time when investment was needed, when mobile devices were changing the field at breakneck speed. The cost to the public is enormous.”
The Washington Post / Margaret Sullivan
Cancel in protest? Or stay with a local newspaper that's being strip-mined for profits? →
“The paper has become almost useless to me, and it feels like paying for it is only helping a hedge fund instead of advancing journalism.”
Time / Billy Perrigo
How volunteers for India’s ruling party are using WhatsApp to fuel misinformation ahead of elections →
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has drawn up plans to have three WhatsApp groups for each of India's 927,533 polling booths, according to reports. With each group containing a maximum of 256 members, that number of group chats could theoretically reach more than 700 million people out of India's population of 1.3 billion.”
Reuters / Stephanie Nebehay
The U.N.’s human rights office appoints a team to conduct an inquiry into Jamal Khashoggi’s murder →
“Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told Reuters on Thursday she would travel to Turkey next week to head an ‘independent international inquiry’ into Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2.”
J-Source
Introducing the Canadian Journalism Innovators, a collaborative of media outlets to tackle the lack of money, innovation, and diversity →
The nine participating media outlets so far are The Narwhal, Taproot Edmonton, The Pointer, Indian and Cowboy, The Sprawl, Media Indigena, The Public Record, The Deep, and The Discourse. The Vancouver Foundation has made an initial investment in the initiative.
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
The Guardian is still on track to break even in April this year →
“Guardian News and Media editor-in-chief Katharine Viner has said a hard paywall ‘isn't really a conversation’ at the news group anymore as she declared its "rewarding" donations method to be working.”
The Wall Street Journal / Benjamin Mullin and Joe Flint
Four years after splitting with ESPN, Bill Simmon’s The Ringer made $15M in podcast ad sales in 2018 →
“Advertisers pay between $25 to $50 for every 1,000 people who hear each ad on The Ringer's podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter. The Ringer keeps at least two-thirds of the money, with the rest going to Midroll, the audio-advertising vendor that sells much of The Ringer's ad space, the people said.”