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Thursday, March 21, 2019
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Why are digital newsrooms unionizing now? “This generation is tired of hearing that this industry requires martyrdom”“These are professional-class jobs paying working-class wages, and these people have working-class worries about being downsized, laid off, cast aside in a market that is really stripped down.” By Steven Greenhouse. |
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The New Humanitarian (no longer an acronymed UN agency) wants to move humanitarian crisis journalism beyond its wonky, depressing roots“It’s one thing to have been an internal information center for an international NGO. It’s another thing to become a full newsroom, and an independent newsroom at that — it’s not a switch you turn on and off.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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Research from Canada suggests journalists’ creed can withstand government supportSocial psychologists have demonstrated a significant link between people's behavior, their values, and the norms of their milieu, and that they feel rewarded when they act consistently with their beliefs. By Heather Rollwagen and Ivor Shapiro. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Julia Jacobs
The new Gawker will not be “Gawker 2.0” →
New editor Dan Peres: “In the later years they probably took things too far. There was a lot of gratuitous meanness and sort of misguided decision-making…There's an opportunity to draw on the great things that they did and dismiss some of the not-great things that they did.”
TechCrunch / Anthony Ha
Former Recode editor Dan Frommer is launching a $200/year email newsletter →
It works out to about two bucks per email. “Frommer is launching a new publication, The New Consumer — an umbrella term he's using to describe the changing landscape in e-commerce, online advertising and direct-to-consumer brands. The goal, he said, is to become the first thing that industry executives read in the morning.”
Motherboard / Caroline Haskins
Animated videos dominate the kids YouTube space. Humans are trying to compete against YouTube’s algorithm →
“‘It's difficult for channels like mine to compete with them too, because they can do like two three videos a day, or at least a few a week,’ Mike Moore, who runs Brain Candy TV—an animated learning channel with 186,000 subscribers—told Motherboard in a phone call.’ It takes me a month or two to make a video. You don't get as much watch time from that.'”
Recode / Peter Kafka
Apple will unveil a “Netflix for news” Monday (but isn’t going to compete in the actual Netflix space) →
“One thing Apple won't do is unveil a serious competitor to Netflix, Hulu, Disney, or any other entertainment giant trying to sell streaming video subscriptions to consumers. Instead, Apple's main focus — at least for now — will be helping helping other people sell streaming video subscriptions, and taking a cut of the transaction.”
Global Editors Network / Sinead Boucher
How Fairfax Media’s New Zealand division processed covering the Christchurch attacks →
“On Friday, we paused comments sitewide, both to prevent inappropriate material being published and so that our staff could focus fully on reporting the unfolding story.”
The New York Times / Rebecca Corbett and Dean Murphy
How The New York Times decides what to investigate →
“If the premium outcome is like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm falling off my chair,’ then you start calculating the likelihood you are going to get there, what kind of resources you are going to need and do we have the necessary people?”
Poynter / Rick Edmonds
The American Journalism Project has raised $42 million. Here’s the plan for distributing it →
“Wrinkle No. 1: though the objective is to create much more high-impact ‘mission-driven’ reporting on state and local governance, the grants will be for ‘revenue raising and tech capacity,’ Thornton said.”
Wall Street Journal / Cara Lombardo and Lukas I Alpert
A debt specialist indicates Digital First could raise the funds needed to pay for its attempted Gannett takeover →
“Gannett in a statement called the letter from Oaktree ‘highly conditional’ and said it ‘does not alter the company's assessment of MNG's proposal.'”
The Verge / Vlad Savov
Stadia is about the future of YouTube, not gaming →
“From a gamer's perspective, YouTube is the lever that Google will lean on to stir interest in its nascent game-streaming platform, but from Google's point of view, the new game-streaming platform (hugely ambitious as it may be) is a necessary measure to keep YouTube where it is today.”
The New York Times / Mike Isaac
Apple News’ new paid service reportedly features the Wall Street Journal — while The New York Times and the Washington Post opt out →
“The deal's terms have caused some publishers to recoil, as a 50 percent cut is higher than the 30 percent that Apple usually takes from apps and subscriptions sold through its App Store.”
The Atlantic / Taylor Lorenz
Instagram is the internet’s new home for hate →
“Instagram is teeming with these conspiracy theories, viral misinformation, and extremist memes, all daisy-chained together via a network of accounts with incredible algorithmic reach and millions of collective followers — many of whom, like Alex, are very young. These accounts intersperse TikTok videos and nostalgia memes with anti-vaccination rhetoric, conspiracy theories about George Soros and the Clinton family, and jokes about killing women, Jews, Muslims, and liberals.”