We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more. Here’s some of what we’ve seen lately.
September 16, 2024
“Given the massive ratings surrounding election coverage on domestic networks, it’s perhaps no surprise that international outlets are doubling down on the Harris/Trump race as well. Time will tell if viewers across the pond are more invested in this election than they were in their own.” —LO
Adweek / Mark Mwachiro
/ Sep 16“A deal would enable Döpfner, who has served as CEO since 2002, to cement his control over the company’s media outlets. They include the US news sites Politico and Business Insider as well as the German tabloid Bild and its broadsheet sister Die Welt. Döpfner is expected to keep a minority stake in the classifieds division, which includes jobs platform StepStone and real estate advertising unit Aviv.” —LO
The Financial Times / Laura Pitel, Arash Massoudi, and Ivan Levingston
/ Sep 16“Four columnists have quit the Jewish Chronicle amid a crisis over its political direction, standards and ownership secrecy. The move follows the JC’s decision last week to delete all the articles written for it by freelance journalist Elon Perry. These included a claim, based on ‘intelligence sources’, that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and Israeli hostages out of Gaza and into Egypt. The story was based on a single anonymous source but helped to justify Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeping Israeli forces on the Gaza-Egypt border.” —LO
Press Gazette / Dominic Ponsford
/ Sep 16“The strange thing about going inside GB News is how little there is to go inside. The broadcaster has lived rent-free in the heads of many people, but, physically, it occupies just half the basement of a nondescript building near London’s Paddington station. Its floorspace is that of a large family home. The reception is also the kitchen. A sign reminds staff that any mugs with unfaded logos should be saved for presenters to use when on air.” —AD
The Financial Times / Henry Mance
/ Sep 16“Núcleo [is] an investigative outlet that focuses on covering the societal impact of social networks and AI. When the site started in 2020, over 16% of their traffic came from X, then known as Twitter. After Musk acquired the platform in 2022, their X traffic more than halved to 8.6%. By the time the platform was blocked in Brazil, only 3% of their traffic came from this platform. Núcleo’s Executive Director Sergio Spagnuolo says they actually made the decision to pull out of X in August, which they were going to announce to their audience the first week of September, precisely the week when the block ended up taking place.” —
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Gretel Kahn
/ Sep 16“In Reno, Rupert Murdoch is arguing that Prudence, Elisabeth and James are likely to soft-pedal the network’s ideology, which would undermine its appeal to its right-leaning audience. Rupert and his four eldest children are expected to show up in court this week. People who have worked for Rupert Murdoch say he is incensed by the dispute.” —
NPR / David Folkenflik
/ Sep 16“The Times Tech Guild — a union of 600 members, largely software engineers, which operates separately from the newsroom union — voted overwhelmingly to authorize a potential strike dangling the possibility that workers could walk off the job during the election in November … The paper receives peak volumes of traffic around the elections, including on specialty products such as its election needle.” —
“The deal comes after GNM closed a voluntary redundancy round that saw around 30 journalists, including several high-profile names,
leave the organization.”
—LOPress Gazette / Bron Maher
/ Sep 16“The harassment included death threats, and threatening and defamatory complaint letters being sent to reporters’ families and their employers, as well as landlords and neighbors, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said.” —LO
The Guardian / Helen Davidson
/ Sep 16September 13, 2024
“Secretary of State Antony Blinken said new information showed that the Russian state media company RT, formerly known as Russia Today, was now being deployed by the Kremlin to conduct cyberintelligence and covert influence operations targeting countries in Europe, Africa, and North and South America. It was also being used to procure weapons for Russia’s war against Ukraine, expanding RT’s remit far beyond that of a media outlet, officials said.” —
Washington Post / Catherine Belton
/ Sep 13
