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Thursday, June 1, 2017
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Billionaire-supported but looking to expand its coverage, The Intercept also turns to reader memberships“We'd be happy to see a healthy portion of our budget paid for by the membership program.” By Shan Wang. |
What We’re Reading
The Information / Cory Weinberg
Facebook preps a new teen-oriented messaging app, with a nod towards parents →
“Code inside the main Facebook app points to an unreleased messaging app aimed at young teens called ‘Talk.’ A reference to unreleased features, written in plain-English text in the code, says, ‘Talk is a messaging app where you fully control the contacts.’ Another command states, ‘Your child uses the Talk app to chat with you in Messenger.'”
Pew Research Center / Michael Barthel
Pew study: U.S. newspaper circulation and revenue continue to fall →
The Pew Research Center on Thursday began releasing reports from the latest iteration of its annual state of the media report. Unlike previous years, which featured one big report, Pew is releasing sections over the next few months. It began the report with newspapers and cable news. While some newspapers, such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, have seen their digital circulations grow, combined print and digital weekday circulation for U.S. daily newspapers fell 8 percent in 2016, according to Pew. That’s the 28th straight year of declines in circulation. Pew also estimated that advertising revenue plummeted 10 percent last year, outpacing an 8 percent decline in 2015. Circulation revenue, meanwhile, stayed flat from 2015 at $10.9 billion last year.
Pew Research Center / Katerina Eva Matsa
Cable news got a Trump bump, Pew says →
While newspapers continue to struggle, cable TV news boosted its audience, revenue, and profits in 2016 with the backdrop of the election of Donald Trump last year. Average prime time viewership of CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC increased 55 percent to 4.8 million viewers, Pew reported. Daytime viewership was also up 36 percent. Revenue at the three major channels increased 19 percent to about $5 billion, with profits also increasing 29 percent.
The New York Times / Susan Lehman
A New York Times podcast about The Daily with Michael Barbaro →
In this podcast, Mr. Barbaro talks about The Daily and the thinking behind it.
Pew Research Center / Michael Barthel
U.S. newspaper circulation has been dropping every year since 1988 →
So don’t blame everything on Tim Berners-Lee. (Blame Ted Turner, too.)
The Atlantic
The Atlantic hit a record audience in May →
“What was especially noteworthy in May is that…the Atlantic piece that captivated the Internet doesn't contain the words Trump, Russia, or covfefe.”
Poynter / Benjamin Mullin
Pitchfork sold, but it hasn’t sold out →
“Now, more than a year since its acquisition, Pitchfork is holding fast to its indie roots as it grapples with big challenges: Competition from algorithmic music services like Spotify and Pandora that encroach upon its status as a musical tastemaker. Reaffirming its place in the profoundly disrupted industries of music and media. Battling for audience share and revenue from competitors like Rolling Stone, Spin, The Fader and general-interest titles. And navigating the rise of platforms like Google and Facebook.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Shelley Hepworth, Carlett Spike, and Pete Vernon
Small newsrooms in out-of-the-way places →
“Local news outlets across the country play an essential role in creating civically engaged and informed communities. Often, these outlets do their work with minimal resources. Sometimes, they do it with hardly anything, with one or two journalists taking on the specialized tasks of an entire news staff. Below, we highlight the efforts of some of these journalists, from one couple who edits the paper from their front porch in North Carolina, to another whose paper is delivered by plane to those living in remote Alaska.”
NewsMediaWorks
Rural Australians see local print and TV as their most trusted sources of news →
“Commercial television (21 per cent), closely followed by local print newspapers (19 per cent) were found to be the most trusted sources of local news, compared to local ABC radio (15 per cent), websites (9 per cent) and social media (4 per cent).”
chicagotribune.com / Robert Channick
Deadline for Sun-Times bids extended to Monday →
“In a note sent out to staff Wednesday morning, Sun-Times editor and publisher Jim Kirk said the deadline for bids would be extended to Monday. The original deadline was 5 p.m. Wednesday.”
Financial Times / Hannah Kuchler
Facebook shareholders to confront Zuckerberg over fake news →
“Impact investing funds Arjuna Capital and Baldwin Brothers are set to put forward proposals at the annual meetings of Facebook and, next week, Alphabet, demanding that the companies evaluate the impact of fake news flows on their reputations and whether it will create public policy risks.”
Medium / Moritz Gimbel
How NBC News created a design system and publishing platform for digital verticals — from the outside in →
“Having been through a few major redesigns we learned the hard way that starting with the homepage or other highly visible portions of the site can doom the project from the outset. Instead, we chose to create a new design system 'from the outside in' — by starting with the new verticals which had only been around for a couple of months and were a complete greenfield in terms of design and content strategy.”
