 |
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
 |
How publishers are cutting print days — and not losing (too many) subscribers“The key is the consumer will let you know when they're done with the print product. Don't prematurely yank it from them.” By Christine Schmidt. |
 |
“We realized Spotify for news was exactly the wrong thing to do.” Here’s what Kinzen is doing instead“We can give more power to the user to tell the publisher what they really want.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Membership Puzzle Project / Emily Goligoski and Jay Rosen
How to make your journalism more memberful →
“A simple example of a memberful way of working is maintaining a database of members and their expertise that is routinely tapped to provide technical proofreading of articles and investigations. It might take time, but it also adds value. The value includes the added ‘stickiness’ of the member who is consulted about things that member knows a lot about.”
Reuters / Alison Bevege
Australia will block internet domains hosting extremist content during terror attacks →
“In addition to extremist violence, domains hosting any abhorrent violent material — defined as content showing murder, attempted murder, rape, torture, or kidnapping — that is recorded by anyone involved in the conduct also would be blocked, the government said.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
EU regulators take aim at tech platforms’ use of audio →
“‘Hamburg's data protection authority's probing is a step in the right direction, but we need a more unified response from European data protection authorities,’ said [Privacy International researcher Eva] Blum-Dumontet. She pointed to the U.K.'s Department of Health which has signed a deal with Amazon for health advice to be delivered by Alexa as an example of areas that could lead to more privacy troubles.”
Poynter / Kristen Hare
How local journalists uncovered a sex cult years before Hollywood (and The New York Times) paid attention →
“The Albany (New York) Times Union's coverage of Raniere and his alleged cult, Nxivm began in 2003. It included Raniere's attempt to build a headquarters, countless lawsuits against detractors and defectors, his questionable business, his history of preying on minors and the group he built around himself. A reporter working at Metroland, an alt-weekly in Albany, uncovered Raniere's tactics for persuasion, how he silenced critics and his obsession with a former girlfriend. But nothing stopped Raniere or the group until that 2017 New York Times story.”
BuzzFeed News / Craig Silverman
Facebook has to provide data it promised to academic researchers by Sept. 30 or funders will pull out →
“Facebook said in April 2018 it would share data with academics to help them research the effects of social media on democracy. BuzzFeed News revealed last week that funders and researchers were beginning to lose patience with the company because it had not yet provided all of the necessary data, and had said it would not provide some of the data it initially promised.”
Washington Post / Tony Romm
Facebook will require political ad buyers to share more info about who’s paying for them →
“Facebook also said it would more aggressively monitor for, and remove, ads that seek to suppress voting. While Facebook took action against such content during last year's mid-term elections, Harbath said the company hadn't had until now an explicit policy against ads encouraging people not to vote.”
Recode / Peter Kafka
YouTube’s CEO says it’s “more important than ever” to let people upload anything they want →
“Wojcicki and YouTube have discussed much of this in public before. Had she showed any sense of backing away from an open ideology, that would constitute real news. But the fact that one of the most powerful tech executives in the world needs to defend the ideological and legal principle at the foundation of her company is something we wouldn't have imagined just a few years ago.”
The Verge / Bijan Stephen
YouTube says it won’t negotiate with the YouTubers Union, but Google Germany is meeting with the group →
“YouTube has little incentive to respond to those demands so long as most major creators aren't behind them and ready to take action. But the company's willingness to take a meeting shows that, at the very least, the YouTubers Union now has the company's attention.”
Online Journalism Awards
The Journalists of Color Slack admins have won the ONA Community Award →
“This year's ONA Community Award recognizes the dedication and industry impact of the JOC Slack administrators: Aaron Williams, Sisi Wei, Tauhid Chappell, Erik Reyna, Julia B. Chan, Lam Thuy Vo and Lo Bénichou. As volunteers, this group has helped to create a community that puts journalists of color in the same "room," forming a support network that travels with them throughout their careers.”
Folio / Greg Dool
Male magazine editors still earn significantly more money than female ones →
“A sample of 64 female and 59 male editors-in-chief indicated that women in such roles earned $0.83 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Across 79 respondents at the managing-editor level, that figure was $0.86, while at the associate level it dropped to $0.76, based on a smaller sample of 42 respondents.”