New York Times :: She did more than anyone else to invent the Internet news business. After a decade, despite setbacks, she is still setting the pace.
2015/06/30
Native advertising, short-term gains, long-term deception?
Mediapost :: As each generation becomes savvier and harder to reach, brands and advertisers have to think more creatively to reach their target audience, leading many to turn to native advertising.
How the issue of immigration is shaping journalism in Europe - Journalism.co.uk
Journalism.co.uk :: Not-for-profit Italian project Migranti and the pan-european The Migrants Files, are tackling the international debate about immigrants, experimenting with different languages and formats.
The Guardian reaches further into U.S. market with L.A. outpost
AdAge :: The Guardian is expanding its footprint in the U.S., hiring Indiewire Managing Editor Nigel Smith as an L.A.-based entertainment writer to strengthen the paper's coverage of film in America.
BBC3 to be axed as TV channel after Trust approves online move
Independent :: A campaign by stars including Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Coogan to save BBC3 has failed after the BBC Trust announced that the youth channel should cease broadcasting and move online.
Ministers urged to intervene as BBC under threat of losing of Olympics coverage rights
Independent :: The BBC could lose the rights to screen the Olympics from 2022 after Eurosport and its parent company Discovery secured a £920m rights deal to show the Games in Europe.
Greek entrepreneurs rally together to help Greece’s startups through the financial crisis
Tech.EU :: The financial crisis in Greece is coming to a head, and with capital controls in place across the country, startups are unable to pay for their services in order to stay in business. However, Greek entrepreneurs are coming together to help these companies through this difficult time.
Read Neil Murray, tech.eu
Egypt: 5 times the State Information Service scolded foreign media for misreporting terrorism in Egypt
Mada Masr :: The State Information Service (SIS) issued a statement Monday afternoon blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for the assassination of Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat in a car bombing earlier that morning.
(OPiVenture capital and the cost of being too growth-focused
Venture Beat :: There's a fundamental mismatch between the goals of VCs and the goals of businesses. And that mismatch is hurting some good tech companies.
Is the future of mobile film making closer than we think?
Fstoppers :: While there's never been a sure fire way to win work and sustain a living as a photographer or film maker, and particularly not today given how much change we are seeing, having your own unique vision can help set you apart from the crowd.
News Corp offers tabloids for ten cents extra under ‘bundle’ structure with The Australian
mUmBRELLA :: News Corp Australia is running a promotion offering consumers their local tabloid newspaper for just ten cents when they buy national broadsheet The Australian.
Ad blocking’s collateral damage: publisher data
Digiday :: The biggest concern on publishers' minds when it comes to ad blocking is revenue: the more ads blocked, the more publishers lose. A typical gaming site, for example, can see ad blocking rates as high as 50 percent. But ad blocking is also complicating publishers ability to collect data.
‘It’s unnatural': What agency creatives really think about vertical video
Digiday ::Vertical video is having a moment: Evan Spiegel pitched Snapchat’s vertical video format last week, Facebook announced a new vertical ad format, and there’s a new agency devoted to it.
2015/06/29
Egyptian Journalists: Torture, abuse, and a culture of fear
World Policy Institute :: On June 25, 2015, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a special report detailing the imprisonment of Egyptian journalists, which has reached a record high in the last year.
NBC to Donald Trump: You’re fired
New York Times :: Following inflammatory remarks that Mr. Trump made about Mexican immigrants during his presidential announcement, NBC said in a statement that it was ending its business relationship.
'Ego is a liability in the newsroom'
Journalism.co.uk :: Curiosity, flexibility, tenacity – three things the director of digital news projects at The Washington Post says are central to the job in this week's interview
BBC dealt another blow after losing control of TV rights for Olympics
Guardian :: The BBC has lost control of the rights to the Olympic Games from 2022 onwards after the US broadcasting giant Discovery, owner of Eurosport, signed a £920m exclusive pan-European deal.
What the hell happens at a publishing Hackathon?
Publishing Perspective :: More than 20 publishing and reading-related technology demos were developed in a caffeine-fueled 48-hour frenzy at this past weekend's CODEX Hackathon.
Michael D. Eisner brings his media expertise to local TV markets
New York Times :: The former Disney chief’s newest company, Tornante, is teaming up with Sinclair Broadcast Group to produce and distribute new syndicated shows to be aired mostly during the day by local stations.
New day for Gannett newspapers — they’re on their own
Poynter :: The 19,600 employees of Gannett newspapers coming to work Monday will be working for a new company — untethered from growing and prosperous television stations and digital ventures.
‘Look at Me': The first-ever Instagram book is a self-help guide for brands
Digiday :: You’ve read books in print. You might have read books online or on a mobile device. But until now you probably haven't read a book on Instagram.
Inside Complex Media: from print mag to a digital ‘underdog’
Digiday :: At a time where the Web is awash with massive venture capital-funded media companies, Complex has taken things slow. The company, which started as a glossy print magazine aimed young men, has successfully pivoted into a digital-first giant that reaches 40 million people each month across its network of sites.
Michael Wolff says old media won the digital revolution – Why he’s wrong
The Wrap :: The fact that digital mass media is facing downward pressure from advertising is true. But the idea that TV has therefore won is an absurdity.
2015/06/28
MTV rebrand aims to put the channel back in the driving seat of the cultural revolution
Independent :: MTV, which heralded a cable television revolution when the pioneering station launched in America in 1981, boosted by a new wave of visually-conscious music stars, now operates in a very different media landscape. It's now the channel's reality entertainment shows that hold sway
140journos' Melda Åžener: We had to create our own alternative media
Today's Zaman :: As Turkey's mainstream media faces government pressure and self-censorship, a new social media platform managed by university students has been managing to reach people and one of its editors is our guest for Monday Talk this week.
Increasingly, China’s reporters are the practitioners of data journalism
Simon Rogers :: When Western data journalists think about China, it’s often as the subject of data journalism, rather than a source of it. And you don’t have to search hard for smart examples of interesting work.
Jesse Norman ‘nervous’ about notion of pre-screening broadcasts
Guardian :: Chairman of culture, media and sport select committee believes it is not a good idea to get content of ‘potentially political’ speeches in advance.
And the Pulitzer goes to… a computer
Guardian :: Computer-generated copy is already used in sports and business reporting – will machines soon master great storytelling?
China sees mobile boom driving big changes in media, web
Forbes :: China, home to more than one in five of the world’s Internet users, is facing problems that are “extremely important” to resolve as mobile communications transforms the country’s traditional media and information landscape, a report said today.
2015/06/27
Arianna Huffington's next goal: Add 900,000 contributors to Huffington Post’s 100,000 current ones
Capital New York :: What’s one million mean these days? If we’re talking about unique visitors or even page views, that’s small potatoes as smartphone usage balloons all the usual digital metrics. What about one million writing contributors?
How can policy makers support hyperlocal media?
BBC Academy :: When I first started reporting on hyperlocal media in 2009 it was against a daily backdrop predicting the death of newspapers and clarion calls for public intervention to save this vital resource.
Give your investigation a twist using ‘solution journalism’
Investigative Reporters & Editors :: Panelists David Bornstein, Greg Borowski, Tina Rosenberg and Claudia Rowe spoke about the power of solution journalism during a panel at the 2015 IRE Conference. Dubbed “solution journalism,” positive deviants frame an issue around improvements or best practices.
Wayback Machine’s 485 billion web pages blocked by Russian government order
Ars Technica :: An unintended consequence of archive.org using HTTPS for connections.
AOL unveils in-house agency for branded content
Stream Daily :: AOL has launched AOL Partner Studio, an in-house creative agency for branded content. More recently, the studio announced it has partnered with Georgia-Pacific to create and spread a full-scale custom content program across a range of online activations.
One thing we can learn from Circa: A broader way to think about structured news
Nieman Lab :: Circa’s backend placed every news event into a broader, branched network of stories — providing a structured vision of the larger narratives that other news organizations might not identify from day-to-day copy.
Al-Jazeera cameraman Mohammed al-Asfar was killed Friday covering fighting in Syria
Broadcasting Cable :: Mohammed al-Asfar , an Al-Jazeera cameraman, was killed Friday covering fighting in the Syrian province of Daraa, the second Al-Jazeera journalists to be killed there since December, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Turkish journalist faces 23 years in prison for insulting government officials
CPJ :: Istanbul prosecutor Umut Tepe prepared an indictment against CoÅŸkun for "insulting civil servants over their professional duties," according to news reports. CoÅŸkun's lawyer, Bülent Utku, told CPJ that if convicted the journalist faces up to23 years and four months in prison, as cumulative punishment for insulting the prosecutors and judges named in the article.
Meerkat now lets you embed live streams
The Verge :: Just three days after Periscope added the ability to watch replays on the web, Meerkat has announced embeddable live streams. The new feature is available today.
DirecTV now seeks $75m in Al Jazeera lawsuit as carriage deal nears end
Hollywood Reporter :: Satellite TV giant says it has not benefited from the cable news network's recent deals with other distributors.
Trinity Mirror looks for further job cuts
Independent :: Dozens more jobs are at risk at Trinity Mirror after the newspaper publisher doubled cost-reduction plans made just four months ago from £10m to £20m.
2015/06/26
Huffington Post is betting big on video, but so is everyone else
Fortune :: Founder Arianna Huffington says the company is launching a 24-hour video network and will make TV shows and full-length movies.
The Wall Street Journal to shut its India edition, downsize India ops
Medianama :: The Wall Street Journal is downsizing its India operations and will pull the plug on its Indian edition, three sources have confirmed to MediaNama.
Structured journalism: A Duke team tests a new way of reporting on New York City government
Nieman Lab :: This summer, a team of students is testing whether a database-driven, structured journalism model can work well on topics like urban policing and Uber.
Solutions journalism brings data and good news together to engage readers
Nieman Lab :: Rather than pointing out solely what’s wrong with the world — think political gridlock, war, terrorism, and catastrophic climate change — solutions journalism aims to show how people are making things better.
Turkey demands explanation for why journalists were denied entry to Israel
Huffington Post | Reuters :: Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Friday it summoned the highest-ranking Israeli diplomat in Ankara to explain why a group of Turkish journalists and civil society workers were refused entry at Ben Gurion Airport.
De Correspondent, breaking away from the usual ad funded topics
The Media Briefing :: De Correspondent is led by a belief that news companies can turn a profit without advertising. This might sound like bravado to those British news companies who make no profit despite carrying advertising.
I'm tired of all the noise on the internet.
Huffington Post :: I'm tired of clickbait. I'm tired of "controversial" posts and headlines that start with "Unpopular Opinion!" as if that's a selling point, and I'm tired of "Open Letters" where people complain about the person who offended them at the grocery store. Why not just say something to the lady in the grocery store?
Inside LittleThings: a quietly viral site with a huge audience
Digiday :: LittleThings is a case study in how an unknown media brand can build a massive audience seemingly overnight. The site, which gets nearly 40 million unique visitors a month according to comScore, has mastered the art of viral aggregation of inoffensive topics like pets and babies.
IBTimes preps its sales push: ‘It’s time to add that marketing varnish’
Digiday :: IBTimes grew its traffic 38 percent to 21.5 million uniques in the past year, but it’s still an unknown in ad circles. Now, it’s attempting to change that, with the addition of a CMO and plans to hire as many as 50 people on the business side.
The potential and peril of eyewitness media for journalists, educators
PBS Mediashift :: As ordinary citizens gain more access to technology to distribute their eyewitness accounts, media outlets will have to address the legal and ethical dimensions of redistributing and using this content.
2015/06/25
An interview with Wajahat S. Khan about the state of contemporary journalism in Pakistan today
The Diplomat :: Perhaps best known for his widely popular, hard-hitting talk show, “Talk Back,” and “Eye on India” for the local Pakistani news channel, DAWN News, Wajahat S. Khan is one of the best-known Pakistani broadcast journalists in the country today.
What is the future of Irish journalism?
The Journal :: While it’s premature to write the obituary for print media just yet, the Irish digital landscape is large and has room to grow.
Citizen journalism startup The Typewriter needs to decide on a revenue strategy to survive
Startup Daily :: Journalism focused ventures are always fraught with tough times. In addition to being a highly competitive space dominated by two main players in Australia – that is, News Corp and Fairfax.
Charleston mistake a cautionary tale for journalism
USA Today :: It's a classic cautionary tale for journalism in the digital age and the era of social media. A Pulitzer-winning New York Times reporter goes for the fake while doing a piece on Dylann Roof, accused of murdering nine people in a Charleston, S.C., church.
How a 16-year-old tricked the New York Times into reporting that Dylann Roof blogged about “My Little Pony”
Fusion :: But she was tricked by a couple of teenagers who took advantage of the media’s hunger for new information about the shooter and our reliance on Facebook as a communication tool.
From video to social, from mobile to paywalls — these data points help define the news business today
Nieman Lab :: We’re bombarded by endless numbers every day — some claiming the exalted status of metrics or, even higher, benchmarks. Making sense of the numbers helps bring a little order to the chaos.
ABC managing director Mark Scott: we’re a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster
mUmBRELLA :: ABC managing director Mark Scott has issued a passionate defence of the embattled broadcaster as he confronted Tony Abbott’s question of “whose side” the ABC is on and accused News Corp of failing to engage in a “rational discourse” over the appearance of Zaky Mallah on its Q&A program.
Dow Jones chief’s tech warning on news undermined by ‘cats on skateboards’
Guardian :: Will Lewis says sharing deals with companies such as Facebook, Apple and Google pose threat to newspapers over control of content
Gawker wins lawsuit against FBI in Hulk Hogan case
Capital New York :: Gawker won its lawsuit against the F.B.I. on Wednesday when a federal judge in Florida ordered the bureau and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys to give the media company evidence related to an F.B.I. investigation into Hulk Hogan's sex tape.
Heftig modeled itself after Upworthy but has to contend with the problem of being too dependent on Facebook
Digiday :: One of the biggest Upworthy knockoffs is Germany’s Heftig.co, which claims 50 million monthly uniques worldwide since launching a year and a half ago, despite a cool local market for startups. But like all social publishers, Heftig has to contend with the problem of being too dependent on Facebook.
Why Angola’s star reporter Rafael Morais won’t stay down
Foreign Policy :: Angola's corrupt leaders keep trying to silence Rafael Marques. So far, without success.
2015/06/24
How Hearken works with audiences to set the news agenda
Current :: Back in 2012, Jennifer Brandel had the best new idea in local news that anyone has had in a long time. Rather than report the same old stories, ask the audience.
Advice for journalists who’ve lost their jobs from journalists who’ve lost their jobs
Poynter :: Layoffs and shutdowns happen at legacy organizations and they happen at startups. At Poynter, they've written both about those layoffs and shutdowns and how the journalists involved recover. Kristen Hare asked some journalists who have been through this themselves if they had any advice for Circa’s staff.
News app Circa is shutting down
Medium :: "Producing high-quality news can be a costly endeavor and without the capital necessary to support further production we are unable to continue."
Is it possible comment sections aren’t as terrible as many journalists believe?
Nieman Lab :: This new study uses old data, but it gives at least some hope that comment sections might not always be as awful as the reporters writing the stories above them think.
Scribd buys social reading app Librify
Venture Beat :: Ebook subscription startup Scribd has acquired Librify, a social reading app, the companies announced today.
German media authorities call for joint analogue cable TV switch-off
Broadband TV News :: The German media authorities aim for a coordinated approach by all industry players to establish a joint date for nationwide analogue switch-off on cable networks.
Graphic News: Comics journalism is going mobile-first in Italy
Journalism.co.uk :: With illustrated news articles designed to be read on mobile devices, the new site has launched an English-language version with nine new stories to reach a wider audience.
Graphic News: Comics journalism is going mobile-first in Italy
Journalism.co.uk :: With illustrated news articles designed to be read on mobile devices, the new site has launched an English-language version with nine new stories to reach a wider audience.
How a team of 50+ international reporters investigated and exposed the World Bank
Poynter :: To show the human consequences of the bank’s investments, reporters from ICIJ, The Huffington Postand more than 20 other ICIJ media partners reported on the ground in 14 countries.
Press Gazette launches petition urging Met Police to cancel harassment warning letter issued to reporter
Press Gazette :: Press Gazette has launched a petition urging Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to cancel a Police Information Notice harassment warning given to Croydon Advertiser reporter Gareth Davies.
How Marc Maron built a brand that helped him land the President
Adweek :: That President Barack Obama said the n-word earlier this week while making a point about racism in America understandably made headlines. That he said it during his appearance on WTF with Marc Maron, an appearance that certainly helped Maron's brand skyrocket, makes sense, too.
Europol to hunt ISIS' social media recruiters
WSJ :: Europe is counting on the help of social media companies in the battle against the Islamic State’s success in attracting Western recruits.
Facebook said it had developed a way to recognize people in photos even if their faces are obstructed
WSJ :: The social network identified individuals with 83% accuracy using a method dubbed PIPER, an acronym for pose invariant person recognition. The method took into account body poses, partial views of faces and other cues.
Facebook said it had developed a way to recognize people in photos even if their faces are obstructed
WSJ :: The social network identified individuals with 83% accuracy using a method dubbed PIPER, an acronym for pose invariant person recognition. The method took into account body poses, partial views of faces and other cues.
Video Production Is On The Rise – But Who’s Watching?
Google scales El Capitan for first-ever vertical Street View collection
The Verge :: Google has tackled the 3,000-foot granite monolith El Capitan in person. The search giant has added Yosemite Valley's El Capitan to its list of Street View conquests.
Axel Springer sells remaining shares in Talpa Germany to Talpa Media
Axel Springer :: Talpa Media, the media group founded by Dutch entrepreneur John de Mol, acquires the remaining 50.1 % shares in Talpa Germany from Axel Springer SE, thereby taking over the TV producer completely.
Trends in newsrooms: Gaming the news
Google calls for anti-ISIS push over ‘inhuman’ beheading videos
Guardian :: Executives vow YouTube will not be used as a platform for ‘brutally violent propaganda produced by terrorists’, but argue against blanket censorship.
Cheat Sheet: A guide to China’s social platforms
Digiday :: China's Internet market is growing remarkably fast: More than half a billion Chinese are online, 80 percent of those 600 million people access the Web via their phones, and they spend an average of 25 hours a week on social.
"I’ve seen the future of journalism and it’s reporting on virtual worlds" - Journalism inside video games
Oberver :: Forget the history of video games. Now, there's history in video games.
EveNews24 explores the growing field of journalism inside virtual worlds
Observer :: EveNews24, one of the big websites covering the virtual universe that is EVE Online, approaches journalism about its topic pretty much the same way that real world journalists do.
Pando pivots to rely on reader revenue over advertising
Nieman Lab :: The “fiercely independent” tech site is moving to a membership/subscriber model and is hoping at least 5,000 readers — preferably more! — will be willing to spend $10 dollars a month for it.
Quartz is pushing further into graphic territory with Atlas, a new platform for sharing and creating charts
Nieman Lab :: “We built Quartz to be a new kind of news organization. And part of that is delivering on a rapid cycle of experimentation and new products.”
On the ethics of web scraping and data journalism
J-Source :: Web scraping is used by many companies. It’s also a great tool for reporters who know how to code, since more and more public institutions publish their data on their websites.
8 Journalists, 4 iPhones, one big experiment. NDR Hamburg tries out mobile journalism
TVVJ :: The outset might have been a little bold: We wanted to try out the possibilities of mobile journalism for a regional newsroom.
When cobras tweet, how do you know what to believe? - Teaching students to verify social media dontent
PBS Mediashift :: What’s the Real Deal?” is an exercise that teaches students to be critical of information on social media platforms.
2015/06/23
Big difference between legacy media orgs and an upstart like Business Insider? Julie Hansen: Speed
Digiday :: “Being able to get things done, being able to make choices and iterate and not have to worry about the legacy media,” Julie Hanson said in this week’s Digiday Podcast.
Apple wants to change the way we read news, and it could upend the entire media industry
Business Insider :: Starting in the fall, iPhone and iPad owners will notice yet another new Apple app on their iPhone called News.
Verizon completes AOL takeover
New York Times :: Verizon Communications completed its $4.4 billion deal for the Internet company AOL on Tuesday, paving the way for the start of a mobile-first video service this summer.
When the President uses the n-word, please quote him without those dashes
Poynter :: When judging whether or not to use taboo language, editors wisely consider the identity of the speaker and the context of the speech.
Instagram overhauls search feature to surface more trending news
Recode :: CEO Kevin Systrom thinks Instagram can be a place to follow the news.
Will online news portals face competition from Youtube's 'Newswire'?
Exchange4Media :: Google-owned Youtube has launched 'Newswire' in parternship with social news group, Storyful. It has been launched with an aim to provide a curated feed of the most newsworthy eyewitness videos of the day.
How Renée Kaplan, FT, wants to get journalism in front of more audiences and more of the right audiences
Nieman Lab :: Financial Times is jumping on the audience development bandwagon. Earlier this year it hired Renée Kaplan, formerly of marketing agency Havas Worldwide and France 24, as the paper’s first head of audience engagement.
How to be small: Advice for hyperlocals from Philadelphia's Billy Penn
Journalism.co.uk :: A smaller newsroom means you can be fast and try 'crazy' things, explains Billy Penn founder Jim Brady.
Local print press is still declining - but what could be their viable alternatives?
The Media Briefing :: Some local newspapers may be closing, but new titles are still being published and digital traffic is up across the board. Emily Shackleton looks behind the curtain to find out what's really going on.
Daily Mail, WPP and Snapchat to launch native advertising agency
Guardian :: Sir Martin Sorrell’s marketing services group joins newspaper and tech company in new venture that aims to work across media and ad industry.
Netflix wins the streaming battle with 1m users – ten times more than rivals Presto and Stan
mUmBRELLA :: More than a million Australians have already signed up for Netflix, according to the first major consumer survey since the service launched at the end of March.
The Washington Post built a social network for its freelancers to better match skills to stories
Nieman Lab :: The Washington Post wants to make it easier to call on stringers to report from around the globe, and they’re taking a cue from Silicon Valley.
2015/06/22
'Bellingcat report doesn't prove anything': Expert criticizes allegations of Russian MH17 manipulation
Spiegel :: The research group Bellingcat has accused Russia of manipulating satellite images from the MH17 disaster. But German image forensics expert Jens Kriese has criticized the analysis. He says it is impossible to say with any certainty whether Moscow is lying.
DW has launched a new 24-hour English-language TV channel today
Deutsche Welle :: From its new studio, DW aims to reach more viewers with first-hand information and in-depth research. The broadcaster also has a new slogan to coincide with the launch of its English-language news channel.
Google opens News Lab to sharpen journalism skills
AFP :: Google on Monday launched an online lab where journalists can learn or sharpen Internet Age reporting skills.
Germany releases Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour
Al Jazeera :: Respected journalist had been controversially detained at Berlin airport at Egypt government's request.
CEO Evan Spiegel in Cannes to pitch Snapchat’s ad platform: ‘We care about not being creepy’
Venture Beat :: Now that Snapchat has moved beyond its ephemeral photo-sharing into being a news and storytelling platform, it’s time for the startup with a $19 billion valuation to make a little money.
journalists ought to join forces with experts for deeper knowledge and sharper story-telling
Monday Note :: At a time when the information world becomes increasingly shallow, journalists ought to join forces with experts. The alliance would bring deeper knowledge to journos and sharper story-telling to eggheads.
US-based Turkish journalist faces libel investigation for book on Obama and Erdogan
Guardian :: Washington correspondent of Hurriyet daily says he has been accused of insulting Tayyip Erdogan in what may be Ankara’s latest media crackdown.
CEO Ashley Highfield believes Johnston Press has reached a 'digital tipping point
Independent.co.uk :: When BBC bosses talk of sweeping up the news reporting role of a declining regional newspaper industry, Ashley Highfield, chief executive of Johnston Press, the second-largest publisher of local titles in the UK, thinks back to the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013.
Brian Williams scandal shows power of news distribution via social media
As the NBC News anchor learned, even amateur sleuths can expose untruths and spread the outrage.
2015/06/21
Turkish editor given suspended prison term for insulting ErdoÄŸan on Twitter
CPJ :: The suspended prison term was given to the editor of the English-language Turkish dailyToday's Zaman on Wednesday on charges of insulting then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan in a July 2014 Tweet.
Worldwide pay-TV penetration to exceed 50% in next 2 years
Broadband TV News :: The worldwide pay-TV market surpassed more than 900 million subscribers in 1Q 2015, representing 48% penetration—the market is likely to grow steadily over the next five years, mainly boosted by emerging markets.
Four extreme scenarios of what the news media could look like in 10 years
Nieman Lab :: The future of journalism will come down in one of four ways. At least, that’s what a new report What’s New(s): Scenarios for the Future of Journalism, released by the Dutch Journalism Fund this week purports.
Amazon will pay some authors for every page you read instead of every book you download
The Verge :: Amazon is introducing a new system that completely upends the way authors and publishers make money from their books. Starting next month, the company will pay authors based on the number of pages people read from their books — not the number of copies sold.
Saudi Arabia tells citizens to ignore latest WikiLeaks release
Guardian :: 61,000 leaked cables give rare insight into kingdom’s habit of buying influence and monitoring dissidents.
Nick Robinson: Cameron threatened to close down BBC on election bus
Guardian :: BBC political editor says it is hard to know if PM’s comments were a joke or veiled threat but that they added to pressure felt by corporation’s staff
2015/06/20
Sun to relax paywall as part of drive to exploit social media
Guardian :: Growth of news sharing on sites such as Facebook and Twitter prompts tabloid to make selected digital content available for free.
The mayor vs. the mogul. Michael Bloomberg’s $9bn identity crisis
Politico :: Could Michael Bloomberg have the award-winning high-profile content he craved without undermining his profit center, the all-important terminal?
Comedy Central in the post-TV era
New York Times :: The network is in the middle of a creative renaissance — and a business-model crisis.
The new breed of travel magazines
Financial Times :: Rather than the anticipated closures, at least 15 new travel titles have launched in the past three years in the UK alone. Some are tiny, selling only a few thousands copies; others have print runs of up to 45,000; several more are due to launch later this year
Twitter lays e-commerce groundwork with new product pages
Buzzfeed :: We spend a lot of time within the walls of social media companies. So much, in fact, that some are now ingesting other parts of the internet to spare you the inconvenience of going outside.
BBC receives warning over bias from John Whittingdale
Guardian :: Culture secretary suggests the broadcaster’s output may be judged by an external regulator to ensure it is impartial.
Facebook is moving closer to engineer our perception of the world
Venture Beat :: Researchers at Facebook have taken a step closer to a holy grail of artificial intelligence known as unsupervised learning. They’ve come up with a way to generate samples of real photographs that don’t look all that fake.
Times is first paper forced by Ipso to highlight correction on front page
Guardian :: Press regulator orders newspaper. which had published apology for Labour tax story, to refer to inaccuracy in a more prominent position.
2015/06/19
Google could be of real service to the news industry and the broader cause of journalism. Here's how
Nieman Lab :: Whether they’d do it out of benevolence, fear of regulators, or the quest for a competitive advantage, Google could be of real service to the news industry and the broader cause of journalism. Here’s how.
BBC Trust backs cut to in-house quotas, lifting restrictions on indie producers
Guardian :: Verdict means independent producers of shows such as Sherlock and The Great British Bake Off could pitch across much of TV schedule.
Using the latest in virtual reality technology, BBC Global News is launching a new interactive trade campaign
Advanced TV :: Using the latest in virtual reality technology, BBC Global News is launching a new interactive trade campaign to showcase how it delivers personal, portable and on-demand news for the digital age.
When should journalists take on the role of activists?
Journalism.co.uk :: Are journalists who are silent on issues of privacy and net neutrality doing their jobs correctly, asks Dan Gillmor of the First Amendment Coalition.
'First Draft': best practice advice and guidance for handling eyewitness media
First Draft :: Getting it right from the source: A collection of articles and case studies offering best practice advice and guidance for handling eyewitness media.
Google's three new initiatives to support the discovery and verification of eyewitness news video on YouTube
Google :: We live in a world where anyone can bear witness to what is happening around them and share it with a global audience, and YouTube has become a primary home for this powerful, first-person documentary footage.
Twitter plans bigger push for live events, bid on NFL game with new tool to curate tweets and other content
Wall Street Journal :: Twitter, seeking to be a bigger player in live events, is planning a new product to curate tweets and other content about major sports contests, entertainment events and breaking news.
You want more readers? Publish to social networks, which account for largest share of mobile internet time
eMarketer :: UK adults now spend more time with mobile devices than PCs, and recent research finds that this holds true for internet usage in particular.
Video business: Demand grows for a la carte content, digital subscription services
eMarketer :: On the video subscription front, Q2 2015 was slower than Q1, which saw a flurry of new announcements. However, notable activity included cable TV network Showtime unveiling a new standalone service and YouTube confirming long-rumored plans to launch a subscription tier.
Why newsrooms need to embrace ‘experiences’ as their differentiator
Digiday :: Journalists tend to underrate the importance of packaging stories in ways that will appeal to readers, instead steering clear of anything that might smack of pandering.
BuzzFeed's serious side: Inside its new app, which aims to give people a sense of completion
Digiday :: BuzzFeed jumped into the news app fray Thursday, and the devastating Charleston church shooting gave the publisher a chance to show off its serious side.
Twitter's secret 'Project Lightning' will show the best of Twitter to both logged-in and logged-out users on a variety of platforms
Buzzfeed :: The new tool will have instantly loading videos and rich images, and will occupy a front-and-center location in an upcoming version of the Twitter app.
Andy Coulson could face £750,000 (approx. €1m) legal bill for phone hacking trial
Guardian :: CPS asks court to award costs against David Cameron’s former head of communications who is also a former News of the World editor.
Read Staff, Lisa O'Carroll and agencies, www.theguardian.com
News Corp Australia CEO Julian Clarke to retire as US sheds jobs
Guardian :: News Corp Australia chief operating officer, Peter Tonagh, promoted to chief executive and Michael Miller joins from rival APN News, amid job losses in US.
Read Staff, Australian Associated Press, www.theguardian.com
Brian Williams will still make close to $10m per year for 10% of NBC audience
The Wrap :: Brian Williams will still make close to $10 million per year despite his demotion to a breaking news role at MSNBC, which has at best just 10 percent the audience of the “NBC Nightly News” broadcast.
Fetch TV has created a new mobile ratings app which provides live data on TV viewing
mUmBRELLA :: The Fetch TV ratings app is already the largest window into the TV viewing habits of millions of Australians with the channel selections of tens of thousands of households with set top boxes.
2015/06/18
What Is ‘lowercase-j journalism’ and why do brand editors love It?
Contently :: Lowercase-j journalism isn’t without its challenges. Timing, politics, and even the weather can affect a story’s success. “When you enter complicated societal conversations, particularly ones that are trending, you run a great risk of failing,” Hussey said. “You just never know.”
Disney/ABC move away from monolithic, “big iron” infrastructure to much more agile, “virtualized” systems
Multichannel News :: Disney/ABC Television Group will soon be in position to spin up new types of channels that could be made available for a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, or perhaps just around specific events.
The BBC has developed a technology that allows viewers to pick TV shows to watch using their brains
The Verge :: The BBC has developed a technology that allows viewers to pick TV shows to watch using their brains instead of a remote.
How the FT is opening communications with a new audience
Media Briefing :: The paywalled site has recently been seen making concessions to publishing on other platforms and social acquisition as a whole, but the business publisher's plans are more experimental still, and could have wider implications for how a paywalled site interacts with an audience.
Focus on intent-driven traffic: About.com’s native ad formula: data-driven explainers
Digiday :: About.com's focus on evergreen explainers and how-to's means you won't see many of its stories in your Facebook or Twitter feeds. But the site says that that focus on intent-driven traffic gives it an edge with sponsored content, which it argues performs better when readers actively search for it.
Next interview in ... Skype's real-time translator now speaks French and German
The Verge :: After adding Italian and Chinese support a couple of months ago, Microsoft is now bringing French and German to its Skype Translator app.
Why Trinity Mirror has done industry a favour with plan to judge journalists on personal online audience
Twitter has acquired an artificial intelligence company
Venture Beat :: On Wednesday, Twitter announced that it has acquired Whetlab, a startup focused on machine learning technology.
“This is the Year of Addressable TV, It is Totally Transformational” GroupM’s Gotlieb
Beet.TV :: The opportunity for advertisers to deliver TV ads to specific homes , via cable and satellite boxes and connected TV’s is “totally transformational” and it is happening now, says Irwin Gotlieb, Chairman of GroupM, WPP’s media buying umbrella group.
Brian Williams moved off NBC Nightly News permanently
Guardian :: Presenter who gave false account of Iraq helicopter incident reportedly will not return as senior anchorman, possibly moving to cable channel MSNBC instead.
Behind Alibaba's decision to launch a Netflix-type service for China
AdAge :: There are 649 million internet users in China (that's twice the entire U.S. population), two thirds of whom watch online video, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. And with stakes so high, China's online giants have been battling to outdo each other by creating content.
Ad networks controversial practice of cookie-bombing
Digiday :: Attribution has a viewability problem: Ad networks buy a lot of low-quality ad inventory so they can drop as many cookies as possible to maximize a campaign’s chances of getting credit for the conversion.
2015/06/17
Interactive guide helps newspapers boost online readership
RJI Online :: A group of senior capstone students at the Missouri School of Journalism have created a guide to help newspapers — particularly those with small newsrooms — expand their online audiences.
Bonnier generates about 25% of Its revenue from digital
AdAge :: Bonnier, publisher of nearly three dozen special interest titles like Scuba Diving, Field & Stream, Savuer and Popular Science, generates about 25% of its revenue from digital,
Google Trends now with real-time list of trending stories based on Search, YouTube, Google News
Google Blog :: On the new google.com/trends, you’ll find a ranked, real-time list of trending stories that are gaining traction across Google. In addition to Search, Google now looks at trends from YouTube and Google News and combines them to better understand what topics and stories are trending across the web right now.
Ads for Snapchat's Live Stories feature are going for hundreds of thousands of dollars a day
Recode :: Snapchat built a brand out of disappearing photos, but now it’s building a business from content that has a little more staying power.
Newsrooms find a diverse masthead means better coverage and new audiences
Nieman Lab :: “Until the mastheads at the top of organizations understand how critical this reporting is for our democracy, it’s not going to change.”
Crowdsourcing 'The Counted': How The Guardian aims to put the audience at the heart of its journalism
Nieman Lab :: The Guardian launched The Counted, a large-scale interactive project which counts every person killed by law enforcement officers in the United States.
Bankrupt in 2008, Ziff Davis beat the odds with its digital turnaround
Digiday :: Ziff Davis, a storied print brand that's taken on many forms and passed many hands, struggled in the shift from analog to digital. That started to change in 2010 when Time Inc. executive Vivek Shah took the beleaguered publisher and reinvented it as a media company.
A new media population: digital will account for 50.4% of adults in China's daily media time
eMarketer :: This year, for the first time ever, digital will account for 50.4% of adults in China's daily media time, or 3 hours, 5 minutes, eMarketer estimates. In many markets, digital media usage represents a shift away from traditional media, like TV and print. But China is different.
2015/06/16
Australians love world news and digital media but never mind the politics
Guardian :: Survey of 12 countries finds Australians consume most international news and get it more on digital devices but rate political news lower than other countries.
CBS News' Clarissa Ward is the only American broadcast network correspondent inside Yemen right now
Huffington Post :: CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward has woken up each morning since Friday in Yemen. She is one of the first foreign reporters to gain access to the country since the Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign began in March.
In new deals with Apple and Facebook, a delicate balance for The Times
New York Times :: The Times is moving into some risky territory – providing its expensive-to-produce journalism to millions of people without charging them for it. That’s a tricky proposition when the most hopeful thing that has happened in these recent turbulent years at The Times is finding nearly a million digital subscribers.
Bloomberg-Backed Journalism Startup The Trace tackles gun violence 'epidemic'
Huffington Post :: Gun enthusiasts have plenty of options for industry news and firearms reviews. And the National Rifle Association boasts its own media arm to amplify any perceived threats against Second Amendment.
Public radio needs more weekend hits, and fast
Current :: With the current weekend powerhouses getting on in years, it's time for some new programs that can build audience.
Bloomberg is creating a team dedicated to reporting on campaign finance and lobbying practices
Poynter :: Bloomberg is creating a team within its Washington, D.C. bureau dedicated to reporting on campaign finance and lobbying practices, Poynter has learned.
Bloomberg is creating a team dedicated to reporting on campaign finance and lobbying practices
Poynter :: Bloomberg is creating a team within its Washington, D.C. bureau dedicated to reporting on campaign finance and lobbying practices, Poynter has learned.
Twitter rolls out auto-play video
Wall Street Journal :: The auto-play function, which Twitter has been testing for several months, will apply to all video content uploaded directly to Twitter, including GIFs and six-second Vines.
NFL drafts its first chief content officer
StreamDaily :: Former WB boss Jordan Levin's duties will include overseeing the league's digital and OTT content.
The rise of mobile and social news - and what it means for journalism
Huffington Post :: The existential question of a decade ago 'who is a journalist?' was born out of the access of the general populace to publishing tools. Now the question has been replaced by 'who is a publisher?'
Guardian’s executive editor of digital: 'Mobile has snuck up on us'
Journalism.co.uk :: A panel of experts from the Guardian, the Financial Times, BBC and Twitter discussed the key findings in Reuters Institute’s latest Digital News Report in London today.
Times-Picayune and Birmingham News to join new regional company
Poynter :: NOLA Media Group and Alabama Media Group, two media companies owned by Advance Local, will join a new regional company for the Southeast, NOLA.com reported Monday.
Mobile strategy: Washington Post launches news app on all Android devices
Poynter :: The ongoing development of the app continues the Post’s adherence to a course charted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought The Washington Post in 2013. According to Washington Post reporter Steven Mufson, Bezos’ vision for the business future of the newspaper included “a new ‘daily ritual bundle’ that would combine a wide variety of material.”
Irish half as likely to pay for online news as Finns and Danes
Irish Times :: Survey notes that smartphones are ‘defining device’ for consuming journalism.
Surge in smartphone use is threatening online news organizations
Huffington Post | Reuters :: A surge in the use of smartphones as the leading device for accessing online news and the growing influence of social media could lead to an uncertain financial future for news organizations worldwide, a think tank said on Tuesday.
How publishers try to get their reporters and other staff to think mobile-first
Digiday :: Just about every publisher is seeing the same uptick in mobile traffic -- but they've found different ways of responding to it. With mobile comes new challenges to monetization but also hurdles when it comes to getting desk-bound reporters to understand how mobile readers, now the majority, experience their output.
Adobe wants to take over the stock image world
The Verge :: Adobe is releasing a wide range of updates to its Creative Cloud apps this morning, but the biggest release isn't an update — it isn't even an app — it's an entirely new service.
News is becoming a surprisingly good business: BuzzFeed a burgeoning journalistic force
Digiday :: When Mark Schoofs arrived from ProPublica to launch BuzzFeed's investigative reporting unit in January 2014, the site's investigative roster consisted of one person: Schoofs. Now, just 18 months later, the investigative unit has 17 staffers, and two more are on the way.
2015/06/15
Guardian News & Media launching mobile innovation lab with $2.6m Knight grant
Current :: Guardian News & Media announced Monday that it will use a a $2.6 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to establish an editorial and production team for developing new approaches to deliver news and information using mobile technology.
How AmeriCorps can be a model for improving local journalism
Nieman Lab :: The “bleak reality of local news,” Steve Waldman writes, is that the ad-based revenue model can’t support stories that take a lot of time to write but don’t pull in clicks.
The Time Inc. guide to keeping millennial employees engaged
Digiday :: Media companies love to talk about how they’re reaching advertisers’ favorite age group. But to put out products that sell well with millennials, it helps to actually have a lot of them on staff. Last year, Time Inc. formed a group for them, New Media Upstarts.
2015/06/14
The redistribution game for news
Monday Note :: Forget the 70-30 split for subscription between publishers and distributors. Today, for publishers, the new norm is a 100%-70% split of ad revenues, depending on who sells the ad. For news distribution, re-intermediation will be intensely competitive.
Computer algorithm picks history’s ‘most creative’ paintings
Ars Technica :: A visual algorithm has been developed that its researchers believe can accurately rank historical art works according to their creativity, a study published in arxiv reveals.
App Discors is trying to provide context around the news — this time using opinion writing
Nieman Lab :: The app, Discors, presents news stories alongside columns and analysis, photos, and a timeline, all in one stream. Can it build an audience while remaining self-contained?
Nick Denton and Gawker’s newsroom direction
New York Times :: Gawker Media, which built a digital empire on snark, now finds itself confronting the same challenges as the establishment media companies it once aimed to upset.
The Sunday Times' Snowden story is journalism at its worst – and filled with falsehoods
The Intercept :: Last night, the Murdoch-owned Sunday Times published their lead front-page Sunday article, headlined “British Spies Betrayed to Russians and Chinese.”
News UK: Mike Darcey departure opens door for Rebekah Brooks return
Guardian :: Chief executive to step down, fuelling speculation about renewed role at the top for former editor of the Sun and News of the World.
NYT will block employee access to desktop homepage for a week to emphasize the importance of mobile devices
Poynter :: Starting Monday, The New York Times will temporarily bar employees inside its Manhattan headquarters from accessing the desktop homepage in an effort to emphasize the importance of mobile devices.
Is the Internet a failed utopia?
Ars Technica :: Is the Internet still an equal playing field, or are the megacorps taking over?
How these filmmakers self-distributed their documentary
Indiewire :: "Part of our decision to self-distribute was to try to see if I could prevent myself from descending into Jekyll and Hyde levels of craziness."
Jonathan Dimbleby warns of 'powerful vested interests' attacking BBC licence fee
Radio Times :: The veteran broadcaster and son of one of the BBC’s most famous wartime voices Richard Dimbleby delivers a passionate defence of the Corporation as it seeks a new funding settlement this year.
2015/06/13
NPR chief says network positioned for growth after struggles
AP :: NPR's new president and CEO says the public radio network has turned a corner and is positioning itself to grow its already sizable audience, along with its journalistic content and funding from donors.
YouTube takes on Amazon's Twitch with YouTube Gaming
AdAge :: YouTube has created a gaming-specific version of its video service to make a direct run at Amazon's Twitch.
YouTube takes on Amazon's Twitch with YouTube Gaming
AdAge :: YouTube has created a gaming-specific version of its video service to make a direct run at Amazon's Twitch.
How big a deal will adblocking on iPhones and iPads be for publishers?
Nieman Lab :: As we wrote on Wednesday, the next version of iOS — the operating system that powers iPhones and iPads — will allow developers to make adblockers for Safari.
The reason almost no Internet companies go public - CNBC
CNBC :: The truth is that the IPO is dangerous, and Twitter is evidence.
Journalists assaulted while covering protest in Western Kenya
CPJ :: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on Tuesday against four journalists covering a peaceful protest in western Kenya and calls on authorities to investigate the attacks and hold the assailants to account.
Jason Whitlock is out as head of the Undefeated, the website ESPN was building around his personality
New York Times :: Jason Whitlock was replaced Friday as the head of The Undefeated, ESPN’s website about the intersection of race and sports, just weeks before its planned kickoff.
Canadian public broadcaster's crisis: 'When you create celebrities, you create monsters'
Guardian :: Gutted by a conservative government and forced to emphasize ‘host culture’ over content, the CBC has faced three scandals involving presenters in recent months, the latest Evan Solomon’s alleged influence-peddling in art deals.
Oculus Rift needs to move past gamers
Forbes :: Oculus Rift has a lot of name recognition right now. For many, the Rift is basically synonymous with modern VR. But the broader public isn’t excited about VR because they want to play a third-person RPG.
Katie Couric re-ups with Yahoo in a $10 million deal
Recode :: The famous news anchor will continue to be the Silicon Valley Internet company's most famous hire.
2015/06/12
Facebook’s first batch of Instant Articles registered 4.3 times more engagement than average link posts
Buzzfeed :: It's been almost a month since Facebook debuted its new "Instant Articles," and while it's too soon to tell if the initiative is increasing reach for participating publishers, early data suggests the posts -- which are designed for sharing -- are garnering far more engagement than usual.
Current Newspapers made offer for The Gazette
Washington Post :: The local media headline of the week is a depressing one: The weekly Gazettes, which cover Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, will print their final editions next week.
Article: Condé Nast on How Digital Has Changed the Concept of In-House Agency
eMarketer :: Earlier this year, Condé Nast launched a branded content studio, 23 Stories, which aims to help its advertising partners reach users, as well as ramp up engagement through content that's been developed and distributed by the publisher's editorial team.
Anatomy of a niche publisher: Sneaker News, the ‘CNN for kicks’
Digiday :: Sneaker News proves that even the most niche publisher can build a big, loyal audience. The site, which gets 4 million unique visitors a month, launched in 2006 with a focus on the minutiae of all thingssneaker.
Grading The NYTimes, a year after the Innovation Report
Digiday :: It’s been a year since The New York Times’ internal Innovation Report was leaked, broadcasting the paper’s digital failures. So what’s changed since? Call it a good start.
The AP already pumps out nearly 5,000 stories written by a robot a quarter used to expand coverage, not replace existing coverage
Q13 Fox :: This story was not written by a robot, but in the future it might be.
Russia: Investigative journalist Elena Milashina facing death threats
HRW :: A quasi-official Chechen media outlet has issued apparent death threats against a veteran Russian investigative journalist, Human Rights Watch said today. The Russian authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the apparent threats.
2015/06/11
Should journalists know how many people read their stories?
The Atlantic :: The New York Times and Washington Post will soon make web-traffic data available to their own reporters.
Wall Street Journal to merge European and Asian editions in broadsheet format
Guardian :: News Corp-owned paper to relaunch foreign versions in September after going compact a decade ago. The Wall Street Journal is to merge its European and Asian editions in a relaunch that will see a return to the full-colour broadsheet format.
Dubai: Journalism education and the next war
Huffington Post :: Although Dubai remains a bastion of stability and wealth amidst ruinous events nearby, conversations here resonate with conspiracy theories and grim prognostications about the ISIL war and other conflicts raging in the neighborhood.
Apple's 'News' app stokes fear among journalists
CNN Money :: It's called News. That's it: News. The name sounds confident and all-encompassing. But once you have something like the News app, algorithmically compiling stories from the world's biggest media organizations, what happens to existing news sites and apps? Who will control the distribution of the news?
Washington Post launches 'PowerPost' to report real-time, monitoring the social conversation around top political stories
Washington Post :: PowerPost will feature original news, curate the top headlines from around the web, highlight policy showdowns and explain the motivations of the key players in D.C’s political inner circle. It will also monitor the social conversation around top political stories and newsmakers.
Twitter opens Asia HQ in Singapore, and it's hiring big
CNBC :: Twitter launched its swanky new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore on Thursday as the microblogging site looks to scale up its presence in the region with more than 100 new jobs.
Finally, publishers step up their e-sports game
Digiday :: It's high time for e-sports -- a professional video gaming industrial complex with competitions that are watched by 30 million people -- to be taken a bit more seriously.
2015/06/10
The Huffington Post opens citizen journalism video network with BroadbandTV
Huffington Post :: In 12 months, The Huffington Post hopes that 50% of the content on its site is video.
Next version of Safari will let users block ads on iPhones and iPads
Nieman Lab :: Adblocking is coming to the iPhone with iOS 9.
UK editor Blathnaid Healy explains how new formats are born at Mashable
Journalism.co.uk :: UK editor Blathnaid Healy explains how new formats are born at Mashable and outlines some of the organisation's recent experiments
Missouri newspaper will use mail carriers instead of newspaper carriers
Poynter :: The Moberly Monitor-Index, a Monday through Friday newspaper in Moberly, Missouri, will switch from newspaper carriers to delivery via the U.S. Postal Service in July.
Spotify’s ratio between free and paid users just grew for the first time in over two years
Tech.eu :: Spotify has just released their latest (free and paid) user numbers, and there's one number in particular that stands out from the others. And it's great news for the company, if it can turn it into a trend.
Read Neil Murray, tech.eu
Ziggo ends personalised TV viewing data collection
Broadband TV News :: Ziggo has stopped collecting personal viewing data of its customers, following a report by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP).
Google introduces location-aware search to answer questions while you’re on the go
Venture Beat :: Google knows where you are — and now it can answer questions based on that knowledge.
John Preston: How selling to Publicis will change independent Match Media
mUmBRELLA :: Match founder John Preston talked to Nic Christensen about the deal, why he sold, what it means for independent media agencies and the wider agency landscape.