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Thursday, April 4, 2019
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Smart speakers are on the rise. Will news grow with it?“Forming a relationship with people on their speakers in the kitchen may make it easier to form a relationship with them on their headphones and in their cars.” By Gabe Bullard. |
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As the new CEO of the Center for Public Integrity, Susan Smith Richardson wants to serve communities far beyond Washington“So many of the lessons that have come out of local journalism can be interesting in thinking about reinventing journalism on a national level.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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In Australia, a new law on livestreaming terror attacks doesn’t take into account how the internet actually worksIt forces every part of the internet stack — platforms, hosting providers, ISPs — to remove violent video before they’re even made aware of it. By Andre Oboler. |
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The Guardian’s nifty old-article trick is a reminder of how news organizations can use metadata to limit misinformationIf we know lots of people on social will only glance at our headlines and not tap through, why can’t we bring better information to them where they are? By Joshua Benton. |
What We’re Reading
Financial Times / Michael Moritz
A Swedish newspaper’s reinvention points the way for the industry →
“Dagens Nyheter is profitable and circulation revenue is at an all-time high. Digital-only subscriptions — billed at SKr120 (about $13) per month — have reached 160,000, compared with 170,000 for the bundled print and digital version. Dagens Nyheter has managed to extract the "paper" from newspaper and in so doing bought a ticket for the future.”
Reynolds Journalism Institute
These are the new RJI fellows for 2019-20 →
Including staffers from AP, McClatchy, Solutions Journalism Network, and hyperlocal site PlanetPrinceton.
Pitchfork / Noah Yoo
Drowned in Sound, the early online music review site, is shutting down →
“Like At the Drive-In’s hiatus (rather than LCD’s ‘retirement’), Drowned in Sound will not be commissioning new reviews or features for the foreseeable future.”
Splinter / Jack Crosbie
BuzzFeed union recognition drags on as the company canceled a three hour meeting (five minutes after it started) →
“According to an email the union reps sent to their colleagues, [CEO Jonah] Peretti has passed the buck on all union matters to [editor-in-chief Ben] Smith, who has ‘deferred to the company's lawyers.'”
Poynter / Melody Kramer and Betsy O'Donovan
Why women are primed to pioneer zero-waste journalism →
“Zero waste means considering every aspect of the journalism you publish and figuring out how it can be refused (either abandoned or automated), reused, remixed or recycled in service to your readers.”
The Atlantic / John Wihbey
How policymakers could help the news industry →
“Under ‘news neutrality,’ everyone would have a right to access news sources without charge, and at the fastest possible speed. (At the moment, this change would have more of an effect on video news than on text.)”
Fipp / Jessica Patterson
The National Journal moves away from advertising revenue completely →
“All of our journalism properties are a hundred percent supported by subscription revenue,” National Journal’s president Kevin Turpin II said. “We’ve also created — and this is what we’ve been working on for the last five or six years — a research and advisory division separate from our journalism properties that has various revenue streams. This part of our company probably reflects more of a consulting model than a media company.”
Center for Cooperative Media / Stefanie Murray
CNN / Brian Stelter
Time, under new owner Marc Benioff, has grown its staff by “just under” 20 percent and is focusing on live events →
“Monday was Time’s first day as an ‘independent company, unattached from Meredith’s transition services,'” editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal said.
Business Insider / Rob Price
Facebook is partnering with The Daily Telegraph to publish sponsored articles downplaying “technofears” and praising the company →
“‘Fake news, cyberbullying, artificial intelligence — it seems like life in the internet age can be a scary place,’ the articles say. ‘That’s why [sponsored content unit] Telegraph Spark and Facebook have teamed up to show how Facebook and other social media platforms are harnessing the power of the internet to protect your personal data.'”
The Membership Puzzle Project / JOE AMDITIS
What is participation “worth” and how should we measure it? →
“Formulas for calculating the lifetime value of a subscriber are relatively straightforward. Membership, on the other hand, can be much more complicated.”