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Friday, February 8, 2019
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Here’s where your new readers are going to come from in 2019SmartNews and Flipboard: still soaring. Twitter and Linkedin? Dropping. And…is Facebook traffic making a comeback? By Kelsey Arendt. |
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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing — no, seriously, it is, according to this new researchIf you thrive on emotion, read this. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Charged Tech / Owen Williams
Google News is broken →
“I do find the lack of transparency on Google News startling: Google is acting as an unaccountable, uninterested gate-keeper, approving sites at random with little oversight. If you find yourself, like me, on the ‘rejected’ side of the fence, you’ll be wondering why, but don’t have any recourse.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Kevin McElwee
The typical freelancer will take home around $200 per article at 20 cents per word →
“To make the federal minimum wage, the typical freelancer would have to write about six articles per month.”
Local Media Consortium
This project wants to help local newsrooms develop branded-content revenue →
A joint effort of the Local Media Consortium and the Local Media Association.
Wall Street Journal / Rory Jones, Benoit Faucon, and Keach Hagey
Saudi Arabia sought Vice’s help to build a media empire →
“A Saudi government-controlled company had already hired Vice to produce documentaries on social reforms in the ultraconservative kingdom. The new proposal would elevate relations to a joint venture, similar to Saudi pairings with other Western media outlets, according to people briefed on the meeting.”
New York / Max Read
Can subscriptions save all media companies, or just The New York Times? →
“You don't have to buy a platform interpretation of the digital subscription business. But if you do, you can begin to pick out possible futures for the digital news media industry.”
The Daily Beast / Maxwell Tani
New York Times staffers blast Jill Abramson for plagiarism: “One more piece of ammo” for “fake news” haters →
“Multiple current Times editorial employees fretted that the paper's critics would gleefully use the revelations to unfairly malign the company, which had nothing to do with the book.”
Storybench / Gibby Free
Six fascinating projects from the 2019 Computation + Journalism Symposium →
“Leveraging crowdsourced auditing, researchers at Northwestern University endeavored to get to the bottom of the Apple News trending stories algorithm.”
Engaged Journalism Accelerator
How Krautreporter uses data to commission articles that grow its membership →
“Qualitative data is also important to Krautreporter. For example, they ask new users five questions when they register, including what do you study, what is your field of expertise and where do you have people you can contact in different countries? 36 percent of members have filled in this data, which allows them to find sources of expertise within their own subscriber database.”
The Lenfest Institute for Journalism / Joseph Lichterman
How Reach NC Voices converses with people across North Carolina →
“The platform launched in January 2017 and supports different types of communications such as SMS text messaging, email newsletters, and surveys. These functions are designed to help readers inform EdNC's coverage and also ensure that their voices are heard by policymakers.”
The Atlantic / Robinson Meyer
Jeff Bezos wrote a blog post on Medium →
“His blog post is, well, a blog post. But it is also so salacious, so bizarrely stimulating, that it overwhelms the thinking brain and presents instead as pure spectacle.”
Wall Street Journal / Cara Lombardo
Digital First to attempt an overhaul of Gannett board →
“Gannett rejected Digital First's $12-a-share offer Monday, concluding it undervalued the company and questioning how it would be financed. Gannett also raised concerns in its rejection letter about Digital First's record of laying off large numbers of editorial staffers at its publications, which include the Denver Post.”