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Tuesday, April 23, 2019
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Months from launch, The Markup abruptly fired cofounder Julia Angwin, setting off an editorial exodusThe majority of the site’s editorial staff resigned this morning, and the future of a much-anticipated watchdog for technology companies is very much in doubt. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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Game of Phones: Podcasts and podcast apps are now treating each other like wary rivals, protecting their turfLuminary gets pushback from Spotify and The New York Times: temporary glitch or the real start of the platform wars? Plus: Gimlet gets a union, a new podcast incubator, and Mueller Mueller everywhere. By Nicholas Quah. |
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Pete Buttigieg is on every podcast, and 2020’s retail politics is increasingly happening in earbudsThe podcast audience is proving to be catnip for Democratic politicians, especially those hoping to keep it 1600 come January 2021. By Nicholas Quah. |
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Three editions of the Mueller Report are Amazon bestsellers. How do they stack up?News organizations, book publishers, and even self-publishers with quick trigger fingers are all competing to squeeze the most value out of a PDF anyone can download for free. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
New York / Christopher Barnard
The best cocktail party icebreakers are vintage magazines →
“The magazines are ideal icebreakers, conjuring just enough excitement to get people talking at the start of an evening, something I've rarely seen coffee-table books do. Plus putting them out lets me show off a bit — which, let's be honest, is part of the pleasure of having people over. “
AP
A collection of David Carr’s writings coming in 2020 →
“Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Monday that ‘Final Draft: The Selected Work of David Carr’ was scheduled for the spring of 2020 and will be edited by his widow, Jill Rooney Carr.” Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the introduction.
Digiday / Kerry Flynn
How publishers are using TikTok →
“According to TikTok's pitch deck to U.S. agencies, about 60% of its monthly active users in the U.S. are between 16 and 24 years old. Also like Snapchat, users are heavily engaged with the app, spending 46 minutes per day on TikTok, on average. While TikTok doesn't have a way for publishers to directly monetize on the app, such as through sharing ad revenue, some publishers are still choosing to experiment.”
INMA / Emmanuel Naert
European media initiative fights polarization with a widget called “My Country Talks” →
“In the near future, the profiles will be matched with each other. An algorithm will detect ‘good matches,’ meaning participants who disagree on four out of seven statements will be matched.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope
The media are complacent while the world burns →
“This article is being jointly published with The Nation, CJR's partner in a April 30 conference aimed at reframing the way journalists cover climate change.”
The Irish News / Connla Young
Paramilitary group the New IRA admits responsibility for the murder of journalist Lyra McKee; a 57-year-old woman is arrested →
“In a statement to The Irish News, using a recognized codeword, the group admitted it was responsible for the attack. ‘In the course of attacking the enemy Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces,’ the statement said.” A 57-year-old woman was arrested for the murder.