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Thursday, May 7, 2020
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COVID-Explained aims to translate hard science into clear answers to common questions“I’m getting great information from professional immunologists and virologists, but I had the sense that they were having a hard time communicating the details of the science to a broader audience. That’s something I do a lot of.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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The New York Times’ success with digital subscriptions is accelerating, not slowing downIn January, the Times announced it had passed 5 million total subscriptions. Today, it announced it had passed 6 million. Ad revenue is cratering, but the path forward remains sustainable. By Sarah Scire. |
What We’re Reading
Twitter / New York Times Games
The New York Times is broadening some of its crossword branding out to “Games” →
“Did you notice something different? We changed our name from New York Times Crossword to New York Times Games to better represent all the original games our team creates. Visit http://nytimes.com/games to play the Crossword, the Mini, Spelling Bee, Tiles, Letter Boxed and Vertex.”
Press Gazette / Dominic Ponsford
A tech CEO said The Register’s accurate story was “fake news.” The journalists sued for defamation and won →
“According to court documents, Aria Taheri defamed Register UK editor Paul Kunert and reporter Gareth Corfield with a series of highly defamatory Twitter messages, articles and a paid-for Google advert…Taheri evidently took umbrage at Corfield and The Register for reporting accurately that it his company had fraudulently obtained £750,000 from the UK taxman by participating in a VAT carousel fraud scheme.”
New York Times / Neil Irwin
Economic data is about to get weird →
Some measures that would normally be useful shorthands for understanding economic disruptions can either exaggerate or underplay coronavirus-related damage. “Just when we need reliable information the most, the data is at risk of giving misleading signals.”
MLK50 / Peggy McKenzie
The city of Memphis is refusing to include MLK50 on its press release list, possibly violating a federal consent decree →
“Not having the same access to information available to other members of the media whom the City has included on its media advisory list interferes with MLK50 and its journalists' First Amendment rights and is done to deter their coverage of the City.”
The New York Times / Shira Ovide
What to do when your uncle believes coronavirus conspiracies →
Dartmouth’s Brendan Nyhan says “it's counterproductive to spend too much energy trying to refute people we disagree with, whether it's friends, talking heads on television or politicians…Instead, he said it's better to amplify accurate messages.”
Nieman Reports / Catherine Buni
Four ways to fund — and save — local journalism →
“In conversation with more than two dozen journalists, researchers, and industry leaders across a wide range of news models, Nieman Reports examined four broad categories of support — monetization, philanthropy, taxing tech platforms, and public funding.”
European Journalism Center / Adam Thomas
What comes next? News organizations need to adapt to the new normal →
“The majority of news organizations are reliant on advertising. COVID-19 has decreased this income. Many of them have not diversified their revenue and will not survive. They have few alternatives.”
Facebook
Facebook is giving $10.3 million to 144 U.S. local newsrooms as part of the COVID-19 Local News Relief Fund Grant Program →
“The fund is supporting many publishers who are hardest hit by this crisis: nearly 80 percent of recipients are family- or independently owned and more than half are published by or for communities of color.” Another $5.4 million is going to 59 North American newsrooms that participated in Facebook’s local news accelerator. The grants come from $25 million in local news relief funding that Facebook announced in March.
Lenfest Institute for Journalism / Emily Roseman
How “members getting members” brought Zetland to sustainability →
“A member-gets-members ambassador campaign wasn't a brand-new concept for Zetland…[In a 2018 campaign], new recruits got free access to Zetland stories through their ambassador, instead of paying the monthly member fee. But many of those new members didn't stick: only half of them even logged on to Zetland after the campaign ended. Moll believes that giving free access sent the wrong message to their audience.”
Lenfest Institute for Journalism / Joseph Lichterman
The Lenfest Institute is partnering with the Membership Puzzle Project to create a guide to membership models in news →
“This is the culmination of three years of work: a practical, tactical guide to launching a membership program and establishing ‘memberful routines.’ It will be a handbook, a tool, and a knowledge base, and it will cover the full arc of a news organization's membership journey, from determining whether membership is the right model for you to best practices for retaining the members you have.”
The Atlantic / Ed Yong
The problem with stories about dangerous coronavirus mutations →
“‘I think the majority of people studying [coronavirus genetics] wouldn't recognize more than one strain right now,’ says Charlotte Houldcroft at the University of Cambridge. Everyone else might be reasonably puzzled, given that news stories have repeatedly claimed there are two, or three, or even eight strains. This is yet another case of confusion in a crisis that seems riddled with them. Here's how to make sense of it.”
The Washington Post / Rachel Lerman
FCC fines Sinclair Broadcast Group a record-setting $48 million →
“The FCC was investigating Sinclair for its ‘disclosure of information’ to the federal government during its proposed merger” with Tribune Media.
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Anne Schulz, Richard Fletcher, and Marina Popescu
Are news outlets viewed in the same way by experts and the public? A comparison across 23 European countries →
“Although public trust and expert ratings are broadly consistent, relative to what we would expect based on expert opinion of accuracy, TV outlets (especially commercial TV) appear to be slightly more trusted by the public, whereas newspapers and digital-born outlets appear to be slightly less trusted.”
Tampa Bay Times / Claire McNeill
Senior year derailed, a high school journalist pushes toward one last deadline →
“I know that the reporting process is kind of sucky right now because we're sitting in our homes and you can't just go grab random people on the H patio. Anything that students are currently talking about and are angry about, we want to be covering."
The National Press Club Journalism Institute / Jim Kuhnhenn
From Fresno to Houston to Raleigh, communities are rewarding news orgs for COVID-19 service →
“At Raleigh's NBC affiliate WRAL, unique visitors, page views and video views have grown by 50% or more when compared to pre-coronavirus daily averages, according to John Conway, vice president of digital media at WRAL. The audience for the station's newscasts is also up and, Conway said, viewership through its internet video app has skyrocketed, with average viewer time at more than 70 minutes per session.”
PR Newswire
Time for Kids is launching new language editions, starting with Spanish →
“Time for Kids will announce the launch of new digital editions in additional languages in the coming weeks.”
Digiday / Lara O'Reilly
Wired UK says it will grow revenue by 10 percent this year →
“We were ready for a stress test.” OK!