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Monday, March 25, 2019
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The long, complicated, and extremely frustrating history of Medium, 2012–present“A beautiful space for reading and writing” and pivoting. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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Instead of helping Canadian news startups, a new government subsidy will only prop up failed models“We don’t need a handout. But a policy that actively disincentivizes new media outlets from launching and growing to serve the information needs of Canadians is bad policy.” By Erin Millar. |
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Canada’s new journalism subsidies will pick winners and hurt startups“The program assumes any subject that doesn’t fit its narrow criteria isn’t worthy of support. It speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of all the important roles that journalism fills in our lives.” By David Skok. |
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A subsidy without a clear purpose doesn’t move the Canadian news industry forward“It is obviously designed to assist traditional, general interest newspapers, but to do what? Keep them on life support and then what?” By Christopher Waddell. |
What We’re Reading
Variety / Janko Roettgers
Here’re the plans for Apple’s news subscription service →
“The service will launch in the U.S. and Canada effective immediately via an update the Apple News app. The company plans to launch it in Australia and the U.K. later this year, and in other European countries in 2021. Subscribers will be able to share their subscriptions via family sharing without any additional charges.”
Digiday / Max Willens and Lucinda Southern
“Bundles always dilute the brand”: Publishers grapple with Apple’s new subscription service →
“Dwell time, Apple's version of time spent, doesn't account for the effort or cost that goes into making content; and the metric puts visual publishers at a disadvantage compared with those that publish long reads or essays. Some see the possibility that dwell time, as a metric, could create perverse incentives that change the kinds of content publishers include in the service.”
The Hindu / Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Social media and messaging apps are at the heart of India’s disinformation crisis →
“With an estimated quarter billion Indians having come online since the last general election, companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter have become central parts of the Indian media environment, including the disinformation problems that it faces.” 52 percent of respondents to the Reuters Institute’s survey say they get news via Facebook, the same amount as from WhatsApp.
Bloomberg / Gerry Smith
Introducing the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez version of the Trump Bump →
“The number of articles about Ocasio-Cortez has surged in recent months, according to Chartbeat, a publishing analytics company. The average article about her gets 1,300 page views, or roughly double what typical political articles generate, the firm found.”
Business Insider / Lucia Moses
Group Nine Media and Refinery29 are said to be in talks to merge →
“Lots of companies are said to have been talking to one another about combining, and any merger would face big hurdles. Investors including Discovery and Turner, which have backed Group Nine and Refinery, respectively, and the boards of both companies would have to agree on the terms.”
Washington Post / Paul Farhi
And now comes the (Mueller) reckoning for mainstream news media →
“Barr's announcement was a thunderclap to mainstream news outlets and the cadre of mostly liberal-leaning commentators who have spent months emphasizing the possible-collusion narrative in opinion columns and cable TV panel discussions.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Mathew Ingram
A dispatch from Facebook’s local news conference →
“Many of the small startups at the conference—which included sites like WhereByUs, Blavity, Spaceship Media, City Bureau, Berkeleyside, and Migratory Notes—seemed glad to have anyone offering help and financing, including Facebook, but one or two admitted they felt a bit like props in a marketing campaign.”
The New York Times / John Herrman
The internet’s endless appetite for death video →
“You realize that these videos aren't circulated by a few maladjusted individuals.”
Journalist's Resource / Chloe Reichel
A tale of two newspapers (metrics) →
“A case study comparing two community newspapers finds that the paper more focused on audience metrics published fewer stories about civic issues, used fewer sources and let reader traffic guide news judgment to a greater degree than the paper that viewed analytics as a secondary consideration.”