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Thursday, January 17, 2019
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Nine steps for how Facebook should embrace meaningful interac— er, accountability“There are broad concerns that Facebook continues to engage in deceptive behavior when it comes to user privacy, and that it is biased against certain groups, but outsiders currently have almost no possibilities to verify these claims.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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“Media is hard”: Corey Ford on why his media venture fund Matter is paused (for now)“We made a lot of investments over time that we knew were never going to be grand slams, but that we thought could be good sustainable, viable doubles that were actually solving a really important problem in this space.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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How New York magazine thinks about having one paywall across multiple verticals“We wanted to take these three different segments and treat them differently and be flexible enough to really target the people who are most likely to convert, rather than have a blanket rule across every site, every user, and treat them all equally.” By Mollie Leavitt. |
What We’re Reading
Poynter / Kristen Hare
Turbulent, challenging, “always kind of a rough field”: Looking back on journalism’s tough decade →
“Between the bookends of 2008 and 2018 sit a recession, a presidency that questions the legitimacy of journalism and the continuing plunge of the very thing that once maintained the media — ad revenue. While the basics of newsgathering haven't changed in that time, nearly everything else has.”
The Wrap / Matt Lopez
More Millennials and Gen Z watch Facebook for news content than YouTube (but not for entertainment) →
“While Facebook takes the crown for video-based news content, YouTube is the most frequented destination for millennials and Gen Z to watch videos for career development and entertainment purposes.”
Reuters / Paresh Dave
Facebook extends its political advertising tools to India, Nigeria, Ukraine, and the European Union →
“Beginning on Wednesday in Nigeria, only advertisers located in the country will be able to run electoral ads, mirroring a policy unveiled during an Irish referendum last May, Katie Harbath, Facebook's director of global politics and outreach, said in an interview…. The [tools] will resemble archives brought to the United States, Brazil and Britain last year.”
Associated Press / Mae Anderson
Sinclair debuts a streaming service for its local TV stations →
“Fox News launched a paid subscription service Fox Nation in November , emphasizing long-form programming and short-form commentary from conservative hosts on Fox News Channel. NBCUniversal plans to launch an ad-supported streaming service next year, while CBS already has a subscription service called CBS All Access.”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
Alexa can now talk in a professional newscaster voice for reading the day’s news →
“Starting today, when U.S. customers ask Alexa ‘what's the latest?’ to hear the day's news, Alexa will respond using a voice that's similar to how a professional newscaster delivers news. The voice knows which words should be emphasized for a more realistic delivery of the news, explains Amazon.”
Des Moines Register / Kevin Hardy
Meredith’s executive chairman will retire in March →
Steve Lacy led the $2.8 billion acquisition of the Time Inc. portfolio of titles in January 2018.
The New York Post / Keith J. Kelly
The Forward is ending its 121-year print run (and laying off 40 percent of editorial) →
“We are announcing that this spring The Forward will complete its evolution from what was once a print-focused publisher to become a digitally focused publication.” The layoffs include the editor-in-chief, executive editor, vice president of marketing, design director, and digital director.