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Thursday, May 28, 2020
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The Toronto Star’s owner once dreamed that it would be a nonprofit. Now it’s being sold to a private equity firm.The buyers say a lot of the right things. But since they seem to have no publishing experience, there's no way to know what their plans are for the corporation, or for the newspaper. By Magda Konieczna. |
What We’re Reading
The Guardian / Gill Phillips
How the free press worldwide is under threat →
“In recent years, another way of silencing journalists has proliferated: the use of what are known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or Slapps, where defamation or criminal lawsuits are brought with the intention of shutting down forms of expression such as peaceful protest or writing blogs…Before she was killed in 2017, the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was facing around 40 libel lawsuits filed by companies, government officials and individuals, which were described by her son Matthew as a ‘never-ending type of torture’.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Zoë Beery
Here’s some of the bad news that’s been quietly buried under pandemic stories →
From rolling back environmental protections to plans to restrict foreigners’ work visas, the Trump administration and other government agencies are pushing their agendas through, even as coronavirus stories continue to dominate headlines.
Poynter / Tara Kelly
Two months, a voluntary 30% price increase, and 18,000 new paying readers: What eldiario.es did after COVID-19 struck →
“The publication didn't wait around to see what happened next. Along with salary cuts for top staff, eldiario.es announced it was raising membership fees and issued a pledge for new members and donations. The response was phenomenal — 97% of members agreed to the voluntary hike and its membership base has doubled in just two months.”
The New York Times / Maggie Haberman and Kate Conger
An executive order could curtail protections for social media companies →
“Such an order, which officials said was still being drafted and was subject to change, would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter are suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts, among other examples.”
The Drum / John McCarthy
Now that publishers run virtual events, do they hunger for a real return? →
“Now there are no geographical constraints on attendees, a lot of friction has been removed. Speakers are seemingly more willing to commit to a video call rather than days of travel to a conference. It was this friction that also kept attendees seated and engaged however, which is a trade-off.”
Adweek / Scott Nover
Why Trump can’t claim Twitter is violating his free speech →
"If there is a First Amendment issue here at all, it's the issue of threatening the use of presidential authority to compel a private platform to speak or to refrain from speaking," said Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida. "Nobody has a 'free speech right' to insist on using a non-governmental platform to convey his message."
Thomson Reuters
Reuters Tomorrow’s News 2020 survey shows that accuracy and impartiality are the ‘defining’ factors of trusted content →
The survey found that business leaders “turn to news brands first for 'trusted content in a trusted environment' (87%) and have a more favorable opinion of a brand if it appears on a trusted news site (64%).”
The Guardian / Mark Sweney
Daily Mail owner’s print advertising revenues plunge by 70 percent →
“Daily Mail & and General Trust, which also owns Mail Online and the Mail on Sunday, said that total revenues across its consumer media division were down by a third in April. In April, DMGT said circulation revenues fell by 17%, with total advertising revenue down 46% — with print ads down 69% and digital advertising falling 16%.”
BuzzFeed News / Craig Silverman
The Drudge Report has been linking to this Armenian guy’s site instead of The New York Times →
“Drudge didn't link to the New York Times. Instead, the site sent visitors to a copy-pasted version of the story on dnyuz.com, an obscure site filled with content plagiarized from publishers, including the Times, the Atlantic, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times, among others. Since November, the links on the Drudge Report have sent roughly 8 million pageviews to the site, according to data from analytics service SimilarWeb.”
The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education / Odette Alcazaren-Keeley
African American media demands comprehensive post-coronavirus reform →
“Ethnic media's critical role as a trusted source of news and information for diverse communities continues to evolve. Its voice is even more crucial in chronicling the COVID-19 crisis for audiences of color, and holding institutions accountable in the aftermath of the pandemic.”