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Wednesday, May 29, 2019
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After four years of handing out money for European news projects, Google is expanding its funding to North AmericaProjects, which should be related to local news or revenue generation, can receive up to $300,000 in funding. As in Europe, the launch comes with talk of government regulation in the air. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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“Inextricably linked”: How Chalkbeat works with local funders to start its local bureausTo choose its newest place of focus, the nonprofit education network asked supporters to nominate their own cities — and to help find local funders long before launch. By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
VICE News / David Uberti
Researchers say Facebook has weakened or disabled certain tools to track political ads, right in time for 2020 →
One of five examples of how the platform has done this: “Facebook limited the number of searches an account can make in the Ad Library; researchers can't keep up with the number of new ads flooding in.”
Chicago Tribune / Dawn Rhodes
Charles Whitaker is the new dean of Medill →
The former Ebony editor had been interim dean for the past year.
Columbia Journalism Review / Becca Schuh
A look at viral articles that get turned into books →
“It’s definitely a launchpad and not something you can translate into book sales. What could I do? Say, 'Thanks for reading my article, please join my mailing list,' and months later send a link to my book? If they read the essay, do they even want to buy the whole book? Maybe not."
Columbia Journalism Review / Justin Ray
Why a former TV reporter created “Rate my Professor” for newsrooms →
“Reviews are anonymous, but to contribute one, site visitors must fill out a survey with questions about their salary, the station's news director, and the types of contracts employees are required to sign. There are also queries about experiences with sexual harassment, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and the overall work environment.”
Digiday / Max Willens
Why more newsrooms are hiring membership editors →
“The responsibilities for these roles differ significantly. The HuffPost listing, for a ‘deputy managing editor of membership and innovation,’ calls for someone who can create new engagement and messaging strategies, while Quartz's deputy membership editor listing focuses on identifying ‘creative and compelling editorial approaches for paying readers’; listings posted by BuzzFeed and the Intercept list driving membership growth as a key priority.”
Axios / Sara Fischer and Harry Stevens
2019 is on pace to have the highest percentage of Time covers featuring only women in 100 years →
“Dogs, horses, monkeys and bulls tend to be the most popular animals to grace Time covers, as well as donkeys and elephants, of course. Bulls are a go-to cover image for business stories, naturally.”
NBC News / Alex Johnson
NBC News’ free streaming service launches with eight hours of programming each weeknight →
“In a break from many streaming services that require customers to sign in with cable service credentials — a way for cable operators to ensure that they’re not being bypassed by their content partners — the NBC News service will be unrestricted, without requiring cable authorization.”
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
Times titles halve digital subscriber churn with tailored emails from AI named James →
“The ‘digital butler’ known as James (Journey Automated Messaging for Higher Engagement) creates individualized emails by predicting content that subscribers are likely to be interested in, then sending it in their preferred format at the time they are most likely to read it.”