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Wednesday, June 26, 2019
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TV is still the most common way for Americans to get local news, but fewer people are watchingCable news is growing, local TV news is declining, and network news is roughly flat. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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SmartNews has shown it can drive traffic. Can it drive subscriptions too?“If the publisher ecosystem is healthy, then SmartNews is healthy. That’s going to be an important thrust going forward.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
The Washington Post / Cat Zakrzewski
The 2020 test: How platforms are preparing to combat disinformation in this week’s Democratic debates →
“This is the first time tech companies companies will be monitoring a U.S. presidential debate since overhauling their election integrity strategies post-2016. Debates are a prime target for actors aiming to plant bogus information and amplify tensions because they're one of the key moments during an election when many Americans are tuned into politics — even if they don't typically pay attention to the day-to-day news cycle.”
Poynter / Rick Edmonds
How The New York Times revamped its local coverage →
“In that respect, the Times, for all its resources, had the same slow-to-change newsroom dynamics that chains and individual metro papers have been grappling with for years. Culture change was part of the fix.
the Guardian / Michael McGowan
In Australia, media companies are scrambling after a judge rules they’re liable for Facebook comments →
“News organizations in Australia were already liable for Facebook comments made on articles posted on their public pages, but until now the test related to whether a publisher had been negligent in not removing potentially defamatory comments. However, in a pre-trial ruling on Monday, Rothman found media companies in effect had a responsibility to pre-moderate them.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Paula Ramón
Inside Venezuela’s news abyss →
“I call my aunt frequently to hear how she is getting by. ‘Everything is okay in here, darling,’ she told me in March, after five days without electricity or water. ‘I just watched the news. The power is back. It was a sabotage, but the government fixed it.’ The truth, for her, is whatever state TV broadcasts.”
TheHill / Joe Concha
Some Democratic hopefuls want a review of Sinclair’s acquisition of regional sports networks →
“‘It is clear that Sinclair has an explicit interest in, and commitment to, relaying partisan political messages to its viewers — making its recent anti competitive expansion attempts into millions of additional households all the more concerning,’ they wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice.”
Apple Newsroom
Apple News now has a guide to the Democratic candidates →
“The candidate guide offers readers one convenient place to find information on each candidate from a diverse set of news sources, including ABC News, Axios, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, Politico, The Hill, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, USA Today, Vox and others.”
Hmm Daily
Civil newsroom Hmm Daily is closing →
“For various reasons, all the futuristic underpinnings of the system took longer to develop and deploy than had originally been planned, and the innovations were harder to use. The Hmm Daily business model ended up consisting of spending a time-limited cash grant while asking readers to send us regular old fiat-currency United States dollars….”
Daily Kos / David Nelwert
Twitter banned this journalist for his book-promoting profile picture. Here’s why he compromised →
“The problem for them wasn't the image itself but rather its isolation: If it appeared in a way that provided better context, then they were fine with it.”