Archives: 2018

Ricardo BiltonFebruary 8, 2018
A new report offers a primer (and a reality check) on the news membership model
Laura Hazard OwenFebruary 7, 2018
ProPublica and WNYC are launching an investigative Trump podcast that pulls in the crowd
Ken DoctorFebruary 7, 2018
Newsonomics: Inside Tronc’s sale of the L.A. Times (and all the new questions to come)
Tronc is getting a big premium for its flagship asset, and the Times is getting a return to private, local ownership. But a lot of questions remain about where Patrick Soon-Shiong will take his new prize.
Laura Hazard OwenFebruary 6, 2018
Crowdsourcing trusted news sources can work — but not the way Facebook says it’ll do it
A new study finds asking Facebook users about publishers could “be quite effective in decreasing the amount of misinformation and disinformation circulating on social media” — but Facebook will need to make one important change to its plan.
Ricardo BiltonFebruary 6, 2018
With an increased focus on paid newsletters, Substack is opening up its tools to more creators
“People will always pay for news they can put on the company credit card, but we’ve always believed that that it’s far from the only thing people will pay for.”
Shan WangFebruary 6, 2018
Matter will hold free bootcamps in four regions of the U.S. for teams from for-profit local news organizations
Nicholas QuahFebruary 6, 2018
Can public radio powerhouse WNYC navigate a crisis of its own making?
Plus: RadioPublic stands up for the little guys, everybody’s going Hollywood, and Gannett wants to build “The Wire” (but non-fiction).
Shan WangFebruary 5, 2018
This hyperlocal news site in San Francisco is reinventing itself with an automated local news wire
Hoodline is focused on the local stories that can be found by mining large data sets, whether from city governments or from private companies like Yelp and Zumper.
Christine SchmidtFebruary 5, 2018
Discourse Media is launching a membership platform and local news fellowships, as fundraising continues
Ricardo BiltonFebruary 5, 2018
“We get a much better reception now”: Piano says more news orgs are embracing paywalls, reader revenue, and consumer marketing
“The promise of Facebook growth is that, if get your strategy just right, you can get big scale and make money off a relatively small cost base…But there is no media business without a relationship with the consumer.”
Ricardo BiltonFebruary 2, 2018
The Atlantic is killing its comments in favor of a new Letters section to showcase reader feedback
“Design-wise, comments are treated as an afterthought. We wanted to find a way to elevate the best ideas from our readers.”
Laura Hazard OwenFebruary 2, 2018
In Italy, at least, Facebook will let fact-checkers “go hunting” for fake news
Plus: Skepticism about this Biz Stone–backed fake-news-fighting startup may be warranted.
Shan WangFebruary 2, 2018
Here’s how Arc’s cautious quest to become the go-to publishing system for news organizations is going
“The amount of effort we’d have to invest into doing these things is completely outweighed by effort it would take for us to just do it with Arc.”
Christine SchmidtFebruary 1, 2018
Is Facebook celebrating time better spent, or time spent elsewhere?
“People have a great deal of time and emotional energy invested in their online communities. Asking them to throw these connections out and move to another network is a nonstarter.”
Ricardo BiltonFebruary 1, 2018
Learning from the New Yorker, Wired’s new paywall aims to build a more “stable financial future”
“People who have studied the information age at this point recognize that there were a bunch of problems and side effects to the fact that people weren’t asked to pay for content in the early years of the internet.”
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