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Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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After weeks of pandemic-driven decline, podcast listening seems to be inching back upPlus: Luminary survives its first year, a 10-minute podcast rooted entirely in spite, and why limited-run audio docs are in a particularly tough spot. By Nicholas Quah. |
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In a cosmic irony, it’s the big chain-owned newspapers that can’t seem to get any help from the governmentThe momentum in the newspaper industry is all towards consolidation, chains merging into megachains. But it’s their very size that hurts them when seeking federal stimulus dollars. By Joshua Benton. |
What We’re Reading
Variety / Jem Aswad
Facebook will allow musicians (and publishers) to create paid livestreams →
“The company did not specify when that option will become available or provide further details, including whether there is a limit on how much a performer can charge or whether Facebook will charge a fee or percentage; a rep did not immediately respond to Variety's request for further information.”
Mediapost / Wendy Davis
Michigan has revoked its order banning ads for “non-essential” items →
“The ban ‘damages Michigan’s advertising industry by prohibiting lawful speech, while providing no benefit to public safety,’ the Interactive Advertising Bureau, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Network Advertising Initiative and Association of National Advertisers stated earlier this month.”
Poynter / Al Tompkins
NAHJ and NABJ are taking their combined convention virtual →
“There were hopes that holding the conventions in Washington, D.C., this summer would be an open invitation to presidential candidates to appear.”
TechCrunch / Manish Singh
WhatsApp’s new resending limit cuts the number of “highly forwarded” messages by 70% →
“This change is helping keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations.”
The Wrap / Jeremy Fuster
Journalism profs ask networks to stop carrying Trump’s briefings live →
“The letter's demands echo those [NYU’s Jay] Rosen has regularly made on his media analysis blog PressThink…he has called for the media to review briefings and to only report on statements from the president that can be verified by an outside source, pointing out when necessary where Trump is lying.”
WWD / Kathryn Hopkins
Bustle Digital Group received a $7.5 million Payment Protection Program loan →
“This came two weeks after BDG, which publishes Bustle, Nylon and Mic, implemented a series of cost-cutting measures, including laying off two dozen staffers, introducing a temporary tiered pay reduction and shuttering Millennial-focused site The Outline.”
The New York Times / Ben Smith
Condé Nast was once “the Vogue company,” but now it’s “the New Yorker company” →
“The bigger question may be what becomes of the glossy magazines in whatever new age we are entering. Condé Nast is the defining brand of American inequality; its original slogan was ‘class not mass.'”
Poynter / Kristen Hare
Here’s what we know so far about the layoffs at Gannett →
“Without official word from Gannett or the newspapers impacted about numbers, we're including each layoff that's been reported by affected journalists on social media or otherwise reported elsewhere.”
Axios / Sara Fischer
For the first time in years, business (not politics) is the top news category →
“Of the several hundred global news websites measured by SimilarWeb for this analysis, business and finance news websites grew 42% year-over-year, while other types of news, like sports, lost significant traffic.”
Twitter / Erik Wemple
The New York Times responds to Sean Hannity’s threat of legal action over column →
“In response to your request for an apology and retraction, our answer is ‘no.'”
New York Times / Gavin Edwards
Six daily newspaper cartoonists on giving the funny pages a jolt of reality →
"I've been making jokes about existential dread for a long time, but all of a sudden, everyone's looking for that kind of humor."
The Boston Globe / Jaclyn Reiss
The Boston Globe ran 21 pages of death notices in its Sunday edition →
“One possible reason for the size of the Sunday death notice section is that with funerals and memorial services suspended due to pandemic gathering restrictions, some families who would otherwise run notices on other days might opt for that edition, the Globe's most well read.”