Archives: 2019

Christine SchmidtMarch 13, 2019
How to build a newsroom culture that cares about metrics beyond pageviews
“The most powerful predictor for how metrics adoption will go in a newsroom is whether reporters are interested in how their communities experience and respond to journalism.”
Christine SchmidtMarch 13, 2019
Collaborating at the Capitol: A new Illinois reporting service nearly doubles the number of statehouse journalists
Reporters in Oregon, Pennsylvania, Florida, and now Illinois are banding together to share statehouse coverage.
Julia ThomasMarch 13, 2019
“WhatsApp has come in to fill the void”: In Zimbabwe, the future of news is messaging
A look at how outlets like 263Chat, Kukurigo, Center for Innovation and Technology, and Magamba Network are distributing news via the app. WhatsApp connections comprise almost half of all internet usage in Zimbabwe.
Laura Hazard OwenMarch 12, 2019
Refinery29’s Unbothered is made for and by black millennial women
“A lot of the time, diversifying content is tied to a financial decision. And while I do think that targeting black women is a very smart financial decision, it was also very important that we communicate that this is out of an authentic desire to fill a void.”
Nicholas QuahMarch 12, 2019
The podcast industry is growing out of its teen years — and facing a new identity struggle
Plus: The latest podcast-listening statistics, podcaster burnout, and messes and misconduct.
Laura Hazard OwenMarch 12, 2019
WhatsApp fact-checking, deepfake detection, and five other AI/news projects get funding
Christine SchmidtMarch 11, 2019
The New York Times wants to know your religion, marital status, Insta handle, hobbies, areas of expertise…
But only for journalistic purposes — not to target advertising.
Joshua BentonMarch 11, 2019
Trump wants to kill federal funding for PBS and NPR (again); it won’t happen, but it’s still damaging
Framing public media as a partisan issue encourages people to think of it through a political lens instead of as users and consumers.
Laura Hazard OwenMarch 11, 2019
Sahan Journal wants to be a “one-stop shop” for immigrant news in Minnesota
“We are not doing a good job with having a diverse angle of coverage, which is different from diversifying the actual staff.”
Matthew Ricketson and Alexandra WakeMarch 8, 2019
Should news orgs be legally liable for the traumatic situations they put reporters in? A landmark court decision in Australia says yes
A judge ruled that a newspaper, like any employer, has “a duty to take reasonable care against the risk of foreseeable injury, including foreseeable psychiatric injury,” to its staff. Will the threat of lawsuits push newsrooms to provide more support to journalists?
Laura Hazard OwenMarch 8, 2019
BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti: Yes to scale, yes to platforms — still
“I know it’s popular to quit social media or say the internet is terrible, but we can’t give up.”
Laura Hazard OwenMarch 8, 2019
If Facebook goes private, where will the misinformation go?
Plus: YouTube adds fact-checks (in India), and Facebook moves to combat anti-vaxxing after receiving loads of public pressure.
Christine SchmidtMarch 7, 2019
Five recommendations (and many examples) for how to nurture engagement in European newsrooms
Christine SchmidtMarch 6, 2019
Spirited Media is selling off its local sites and pivoting to consulting
“You’re going to have micro-community sites with 72 lost-dog stories a day and [you’ll have] investigative reporting — but most of the things between those are going to struggle if we can’t figure out the model.”
John KeefeMarch 6, 2019
How to buy into journalism’s blockchain future (but this time in only 33 steps)
Five months after its failed token sale, Civil is back with a revised, streamlined process. If you’re not an experienced cryptocurrency trader, though, it’ll still take you a while.
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