“An audible gasp”: Quartz, once a high-flying startup, has sold to G/O Media
 |
Thursday, April 28, 2022
 |
“An audible gasp”: Quartz, once a high-flying startup, has sold to G/O Media“Selling was not the plan, but it became the very best path for Quartz.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
 |
Have we moved away from “Mr. Mom” portrayals of stay-at-home dads? Well, sort of“Society has become more forgiving of men who are losing their jobs and choosing to become stay-at-home dads … but that stigma is still there for dads who voluntarily opt out.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
The Guardian / Jennifer Rankin
The E.U. has plans to protect its journalists from vexatious U.K. lawsuits →
“…the European Commission is targeting so-called "strategic lawsuits against public participation", or Slapps, where wealthy individuals and companies attempt to use the law to intimidate or silence investigative reporters and non-governmental organisations…And in a move against London — often called the libel capital of Europe — courts in member states would be able to refuse to recognize or enforce judgments in Slapp cases from non-EU countries.”
Los Angeles Times / Gustavo Arellano
The sheriff of L.A. County has backed down from investigating an L.A. Times journalist for her reporting →
“Villanueva must have thought that blasting a reporter who has published damning article after damning article about him would be a slam-dunk. Instead, he threw up an air ball worse than anything Russell Westbrook could ever offer…Villanueva exposed himself nationally as someone more rattled than a can of WD-40.”
The New York Times / Brian X. Chen
A review of Donald Trump’s Twitter clone, Truth Social →
“To say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. After a wait of two months to join the app, Truth Social seemed unfinished and the crowd felt thin…Truth Social immediately recommended a list of a few dozen accounts to follow, including Fox News, The Epoch Times and, of course, Mr. Trump himself.”
The Washington Post / Dan Diamond and Paul Farhi
A fight over Covid safety at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner →
“…a dinner hosted by Washington's Gridiron Club this month was linked to at least 85 infections that sickened Cabinet members, reporters and other guests. Yet some White House officials and experts worry that those measures are insufficient and that this weekend's events may become another high-profile superspreader event…”
The Verge / James Vincent
Twitter reassures advertisers Musk won’t make the platform more of a toxic hell-hole than it already is →
“According to an email seen by the Financial Times, Twitter has reached out to ad agencies to preempt such fears, telling them that the advertisements they make for big brands won't appear alongside offensive content. The report does not offer any further details but reflects widespread fears that Musk's leadership will lead to an uptick in hateful and toxic speech on Twitter.”
Digiday / Kimeko McCoy
“It changed the way people perceived digital advertising”: Advertisers reflect on iOS 14’s anti-tracking changes a year later →
“…12 months of acclimating to these shifts have made it clear to media buyers that Apple's ATT is an attribution problem, not an advertising one. In other words, the effectiveness of advertising hasn't gone away as a result of it being harder to track people. But it has become more difficult to know how effective those ads are.”
Digital Trends / Phil Nickinson
Today’s your last day to watch CNN+ →
“You know things are broken on the corporate side of things when even the execution gets moved up. CNN+ will cease streaming on April 28, according to an email sent to subscribers. That's two days sooner than was previously announced.”
The Rebooting / Brian Morrissey
Many of the ways publishers showed they were “premium” are going away →
“Media will always attract grifters who hand-wave their way to success. But my bet is the breakouts of the coming years will be more rooted in substance than pizazz. And much of that is because the unfair advantages of being bigger are going away…There will always be a place for craft, don't get me wrong, but it will become harder to signal premium value through packaging.”
The Guardian / Alex McKinnon
News Corp has launched a new $9/month news site for young people in Australia. But who exactly is it for? →
“But the existence of The Oz itself raises some big and obvious questions. Who exactly is it for? Why launch a youth media site in 2022, years after the industry's heyday? And how will The Oz reconcile its attempts to project a progressive, youthful image with its parent company?”
Poynter / Amaris Castillo
Why this family foundation gives out $100,000 of unrestricted money to freelance journalists →
“The idea behind the journalism portfolio was that journalism is critical to a healthy democracy, and so what ways could the foundation support that? And a big aspect of that portfolio then, and still to this day, is about underrepresented voices and marginalized communities, and underrepresented content in journalism.”
The Verge / Alex Heath
Mark Zuckerberg wants to spend big on the metaverse, but investors are skeptical →
“Mark Zuckerberg told the world last October that he was all in on the metaverse, and that the endeavor that would only get more expensive over time. Now that his company's stock price has been hammered in recent months, he is dialing back that rhetoric.”
Press Gazette / William Turvill
David Skok on the rise of his “wonkish” Canadian news startup, The Logic →
“Skok, The Logic's chief executive and editor-in-chief, says subscription numbers have approximately doubled each year since launch…The Logic aims to publish one or two stories a day in total. ‘That really reduces the requirement on the reporters to feel like they're on a hamster wheel always having to churn out copy for scale's sake,’ says Skok.”
Bloomberg / Cecilia D'Anastasio
Twitch wants to take more of its streamers’ money →
“…an effort that would boost its profits but would also risk alienating some of its biggest stars. The updates under consideration would offer incentives for streamers to run more ads. The proposal would also reduce the proportion of subscription fees doled out to the site's biggest performers.”
The Guardian / Jim Waterson
The BBC will cut the number of programs it makes →
“[Director general Tim] Davie said the era of the BBC trying to do ‘everything with every service’ was no longer viable because it ended up spreading itself ‘too thin.'”
No comments