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Monday, August 12, 2019
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PodPass wants to build the identity layer for podcasting (before some big tech company does it first)“Ultimately, we hope that a critical mass of podcasters, hosting providers, and apps/platforms will help shape and adopt PodPass as a generative strategy to expand podcasting — creating more value for listeners and creators alike.” By Jake Shapiro. |
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How The Wall Street Journal is building an incubator into its newsroom, with new departments and plenty of hiresWhile local newspapers play the 2019 Consolidation Games, the national dailies are busy with the Great Digital Subscriber Race — and making sure they have the right teams and tech in place to win. By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
Sahan Journal
Sahan Journal, a news outlet for and about Minnesota’s immigrant communities, launched today →
We previously covered Sahan Journal here.
Wired / NILESH CHRISTOPHER
In India, TikTok videos are a new hate speech minefield →
“During the five months between November 31, 2018 and April 19, 2019, the company removed 36,365 videos that breached its rules on hate speech and religion, and another 12,309 videos deemed to include dangerous behaviour and violence. The amount of hate speech and violence removed from TikTok outnumbers pornographic content by 20 times.”
MediaPost / Melynda Fuller
TheStreet has been acquired for $16.5 million →
“Maven's acquisition of TheStreet is its fourth this year, including its Sports Illustrated deal, and acquisitions of HubPages and Say Media, which it merged together.”
Medium / Aron Pilhofer
“The Gannett/GateHouse deal is even more depressing than I imagined” →
“Yes, Old Gannett has always run a lean, top-down operation. But the journalistic mission was, and still is, at its core. Old Gannett is a news business, not a business that happens to own newspapers. There's a difference, and I think we are seeing that difference on full display.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
The Financial Times is using newsletter polls to increase retention →
“Since March, the publisher has run 27 polls in its most popular newsletter, FirstFT, a subscriber-only newsletter that has well over 100,000 followers, according to the publisher. This newsletter is a morning roundup of the top global stories containing links to other FT articles, which the publisher measures via click-through rates. So far, the FT has seen the polls drive the highest click-through rates of all other links, though it wouldn't share specific numbers.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Emily Bell
What does licensing news mean for Facebook? →
“Arguably, Facebook is taking something it is historically bad at—cultivating relations with news organizations—and attacking the problem with something it is extremely good at—copying and often improving features offered by competitors, in this case, Apple.”
The New York Times / Charlie Warzel
Dueling hashtag trends after Epstein’s death show how our information system is poisoned →
“The Epstein saga provides ammunition for everyone, leading one researcher to refer to Saturday's news as the ‘Disinformation World Cup.’
NPR / Liana van Nostrand
Critiquing NPR listeners on #pubradiovoice, vocal fry, and “sounding like America” →
“Even the show’s reviews on iTunes are full of complaints about the voices of the hosts, both of whom are women, especially their vocal fry. Simstrom ascribes those criticisms to gender: ‘I have long had a theory that part of what people take issue with about our show is women speaking authoritatively about science.'”
KUNC / Rae Ellen Bichell
How this Colorado town is looking to libraries to fund local news →
“The city is doing a feasibility study right now about how to better fund the Longmont library, including the possibility of starting a special district. Kerr says they’re asking stakeholders ‘a sea of questions’ about the future of the library, and its role in creating local news content is among them.”
Journalism.co.uk / Daniel Green
Brexit, climate crisis, and school rules: This U.K. newspaper is helping kids understand the world around them →
“Eddy said that explainers work well, particularly when they cover areas of interest to children. On Brexit, First News ran a two-page article featuring an analysis by an economist and a European health expert; the issues discussed included travelling abroad and the Northern Irish border.”
Poynter / Kristen Hare
How the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is working with (funding) local newsrooms →
“That funding, typically $10,000 to $12,000 for editorial and the same amount for community outreach, includes help for video projects, reporting, interactives, data and travel.”
Pew Research Center / Monica Anderson and Dennis Quinn
46 percent of U.S. social media users are “worn out” by political posts →
“People who use social media sites are also more likely today than in the past to describe the political discourse on these platforms in negative terms. Roughly two-thirds of users (68%) now say they find it "stressful and frustrating" to talk about politics on social media with people they disagree with, up from 59% in 2016. Conversely, 27% of users today say they find these interactions "interesting and informative," compared with 35% three years prior.”
Bellingcat
A months-long phishing campaign has targeted journalists who cover Russia →
“The target list of over 30 individuals using the end-to-end encrypted ProtonMail email service includes journalists, researchers, academics, employees of NGOs, and political activists. The one common denominator among them is the Russian focus of their research or activist work.” Targets include reporters at The Guardian and the BBC.
The New York Times / Max Fisher and Amanda Taub
How YouTube radicalized Brazil →
“YouTube's search and recommendation system appears to have systematically diverted users to far-right and conspiracy channels in Brazil. A New York Times investigation in Brazil found that, time and again, videos promoted by the site have upended central elements of daily life. Teachers describe classrooms made unruly by students who quote from YouTube conspiracy videos or who, encouraged by right-wing YouTube stars, secretly record their instructors.”