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.
March 27, 2023
“While The Messenger is still evaluating what to do with Grid’s products, it’s likely that Grid’s branding will not live on, a source told Axios…The Messenger’s team is currently interviewing Grid employees for roles at The Messenger, with the hope that most of the company’s editorial talent can join the startup.” —
“Our reader base and our donor base is aging out…We weren’t able to build a bridge to the younger, progressive generation. I think the legacy is worth fighting for, but I do understand why the board feels the way it does.” —JB
The Texas Tribune / Sewell Chan and Brandon Formby
/ Mar 27March 26, 2023
“While Republican state lawmakers quickly took up his cause, publishers and free-speech advocates, including some from conservative media, warn that the bill would dramatically change how journalists do their jobs.” —
The Washington Post / Elahe Izadi and Lori Rozsa
/ Mar 26“The command line is back — it’s just a whole lot smarter now.” —
The Verge / David Pierce
/ Mar 26“But increasingly, it’s this kind of constellation of products that surround the news — with the news being the sun in that analogy — and what we’re really finding is that we can just bring a lot more value to our subscribers, and engage them and retain them over longer periods of time, when we offer a suite of products.” —
Press Gazette / Bron Maher
/ Mar 26“They said the arrested expatriate, Guo Wengui, and his longtime money manager, William Je, called the shots at the company while Donald Trump senior adviser Jason Miller was its chief executive and public face…The revelations show that a man accused of massive fraud on two continents climbed high into Trump’s political sphere and dictated messaging at a social media site that reaches millions of Americans.” —
The Washington Post / Joseph Menn
/ Mar 26“The numbers make for bleak reading: in the past decade about 300 local newspapers have shut as print advertising, the once mighty backbone and lifeblood of the market, has lost more than £1bn in value, mostly to digital companies such as Facebook and Google.” —
The Guardian / Mark Sweney
/ Mar 26“Why aren’t there more?…Many of the people whistle-blowers work with know the same things and actually regard the information in the same way — that it’s wrong — but they keep their mouths shut…Of course, people are worried about the consequences.” —
The New York Times / Alex Kingsbury
/ Mar 26“We see diminished visibility in top stories, either by [news publishers] appearing lower in the top stories order or not appearing at all and then being relegated to Google’s news tab. When you click on the ‘more stories’ link, we’re getting fewer opportunities to rank in top stories.” —
Press Gazette / Aisha Majid
/ Mar 26“Judge John G. Koeltl decided that the Internet Archive had done nothing more than create ‘derivative works,’ and so would have needed authorization from the books’ copyright holders — the publishers — before lending them out through its National Emergency Library program.” —
The Verge / Jay Peters
/ Mar 26
