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Tuesday, July 7, 2020
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Podcast creators of color grapple with a system that doesn’t let them own their work"You can look at any number of instances over history in our country. Black creators often get the short end of the stick when it comes to ownership.” By Kameel Stanley. |
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SiriusXM makes a move for podcasts, buying Stitcher for around $300 millionPlus: Spotify makes a play for Latinx podcast listeners, and turmoil at WNYC continues. By Nicholas Quah. |
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News coverage of violence in protests is more complicated than it may seem, new research showsPlus: How journalists use Slack to promote transparency, what early adolescents think about news, and how social corrections of misinformation occur on WhatsApp. By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis. |
What We’re Reading
The Seattle Times / Scott Greenstone
After coronavirus shuttered presses, Seattle’s Real Change street newspaper is printing again →
Coronavirus didn’t just affect the newsroom staff, but the newspaper’s vendors as well, many of whom are homeless and rely on Real Change as a source of income. When printing was halted, Real Change set up a donation page where donors could send money to vendors using Venmo. It also opened a food pantry in its office.
International News Media Association (INMA) / Leigh Gilmore
The Wall Street Journal’s pivot to virtual events offer opportunities to use new audience data →
“One critical benefit of running virtual events is the access it provides to data. We know who registered, who chose not to, who didn't show, who dropped midway. We can quickly come to know the behaviours and preferences of different demographics, and be able to programme, format, and price accordingly. This rich data will allow us to share with advertisers/sponsors who was in attendance and how best to engage them. For sponsorship and audience development going forward, the data will be a rich seam to mine.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
Why subscription publishers can’t quit Facebook ads →
“News, and particularly subscription publishers, have had a characteristically fraught relationship with Facebook. ‘I believe in the intent of Google to support the news industry, I don't believe in the intent of Facebook to support it at all,’ said one subscription publishing executive. While Facebook's official route for driving subscribers has yielded moderate results, it is a good vehicle for lead generation, like targeting specific cohorts with ads offering subscription deals where readers need to enter an email address to get the offer, then retarget to get the full conversion.”
The New York Times Company / Kim Perry and Matt Ericson
Charo Henríquez is the new editor of newsroom development and support at The New York Times →
Henríquez was previously the senior editor of the team, which was formerly known as Digital Transitions. “She'll be heading up the team at a pivotal moment in its evolution — as it works more closely with Product teams, develops new embedded training approaches and expands newsroom support efforts,” according to the announcement.
Axios / Sara Fischer
The Information is launching a free weekly Chinese-language newsletter to expand its audience in China →
Yunan Zhang, one of The Information’s four reporters based in Hong Kong will be the lead writer. The newsletter is aimed at bringing “coverage of Silicon Valley and Chinese tech to the Greater China audience and Singapore and to introduce its China coverage to a wider Chinese audience.”
The Guardian / Joanna Partridge
The U.K.’s largest newspaper publisher will cut 550 jobs →
“Reach, formerly known as Trinity Mirror, said its group revenue had tumbled by 27.5% during the second quarter, compared with a year earlier, as newspaper sales and advertising plummeted during the coronavirus crisis.”
The Interface / Casey Newton
What’s really behind “tech” vs “journalism” →
“Workers still face significant obstacles as they lobby to create more fair and equitable workplaces. But Twitter in particular has given them a place where not only can they be heard, but — crucially — employers can't really fight back. If you tweet that you hate your manager, your manager is almost certainly not going to tweet back at you…Thus tweets have given workers an asymmetric advantage in the unrest — a one-sided argument is easy to win — and we're seeing it play out in new ways all the time.”
The Daily Beast / Adam Rawnsley
Conservative media outlets published opinion pieces from false personas pushed by a propaganda campaign →
Raphael Badani has bylines at a range of conservative outlets like the Washington Examiner, RealClear Markets, American Thinker, and The National Interest. The only problem? He doesn’t exist. His profile photos are stolen from the blog of an unwitting San Diego startup founder. His LinkedIn profile, which described him as a graduate of George Washington and Georgetown, is equally fictitious.