Still giving Apple 30% of your news subscription revenue? You no longer have to, and here’s how to stop
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Monday, July 25, 2022
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Still giving Apple 30% of your news subscription revenue? You no longer have to, and here’s how to stopNews publishers can now direct iPhone app users to a website to subscribe — instead of being locked into Apple’s system and Apple’s rules. Netflix can show you how. By Joshua Benton. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Kate Dwyer
The New York Times is dipping a toe into live audio →
“From an events standpoint, live audio offers a nearly unmatched level of access for listeners, and it's more efficient to produce. Since guest reporters and lawmakers can drop in from their phones, Ms. Chen said, ‘you can really turn things around more quickly.'”
The Guardian / Ruchira Sharma
How U.K. teens get their news: first, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, then the BBC →
“The only time I visit news sites is to look further into stories I've heard of or seen. Physical newspapers are not of interest to me other than being good for starting the living room fire. I don't think I've ever bought or read a magazine either.”
The Guardian / Tim Adams
Britain’s last match-day football newspaper has closed →
“While in the last 20 years beloved pink 'uns and green 'uns (and the occasional blue 'un and buff 'un) have disappeared from towns and cities across the country, Portsmouth's Saturday evening Sports Mail, 119 years old, held out as the last remaining dedicated matchday newspaper. It was first closed down in 2012 but quickly resurrected at the impassioned demand of fans of Pompey, the island city's club. This time, the obituary is to be believed.”
The New York Times / Tiffany Hsu
Ties between Alex Jones and a radio network illustrate the economics of misinformation →
“‘Misinformation exists for ideological reasons, but there is always a link to very commercial interests — they always find each other,’ said Hilde Van den Bulck, a Drexel University media professor who has studied Mr. Jones. ‘It's a little world full of networks of people who find ways to help each other out.'”
HuffPost / Dave Jamieson
The Atlantic’s tech and business workers are the latest to unionize →
“The organizing campaign is the latest sign that collective bargaining within media isn't just for newsrooms in the digital era. The proposed union would include some 130 members in New York and Washington who are employed in revenue-driving jobs like data analysis, software engineering, graphic design for sponsored content, sales, marketing and customer service.”
Digiday / Sara Guaglione
Publishers saw record Prime Day revenue this year →
“The reasons for this, according to publishers' heads of commerce…are twofold: consumers are looking to save money on deals as prices around them creep up, and publishers are getting smarter about how they handle their content strategy and data insights around Prime Day.”
Bloomberg / Antony Sguazzin
Banned across Europe, Russia’s RT is now betting on expansion in Africa →
“…as President Vladimir Putin seeks to entrench support in a continent that's largely refrained from criticizing his invasion of Ukraine…The entry into Africa contrasts with bans on RT put in place by the European Union, the UK and Canada shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.”
Digital Content Next / Esther Kezia Thorpe
A startup from Acast founders wants to sell podcast eps and news articles à la carte (but don’t call them micropayments) →
“The models that have been tried include driving people to an app to consume the content, or tried with too little money with micropayments. It's also been the wrong timing. For the past 15 years, the newspapers have been putting more and more behind the paywall and optimizing their content for subscription revenue.”
The Guardian / Noah Frank
The rise and fall of Deadspin: How a few “jerks in Brooklyn” changed sports journalism →
“To Leitch, that was a crystallizing moment for Deadspin's place in the sports world: a blog that not only would continue to evolve with and reflect the broader culture within which it was immersed but also would always hold true to its values of reporting on sports without access, favor, or discretion.”
Associated Press / Gabriela Selser
A Nicaragua newspaper says its staff has fled the country →
“Nicaraguan authorities took control of La Prensa's offices in August and arrested two of its employees earlier this month. Those arrests came after La Prensa reported on the expulsion of nuns from the Missionaries of Charity established by Mother Teresa. The government of President Daniel Ortega has moved repeatedly against independent press outlets, as well as shutting down more than 1,000 civil society organizations.”
The Present Age / Parker Molloy
Isaac Chotiner’s Alan Dershowitz Q&A is the blueprint for “cancel culture” coverage →
“The thing about "cancel culture" stories is that they tend to rely extremely heavily on a single person's account. That's unacceptable.”
The Washington Post / Margaret Sullivan
Four reasons the January 6 hearings have conquered the news cycle →
Newsworthiness, pace, a compelling central character, and dumb luck. “The news gods thus smiled upon the hearings and cleared a path for them to dominate. And that they certainly have done.”
Nieman Reports / Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
In Ghana, only some journalists are allowed to do critical reporting →
“These attacks against journalists in Ghana have been increasing and intensifying — and the threat of physical violence is real. The journalist safety watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) documented in May 2022, a total of 14 cases of abusive treatment of journalists in Ghana — five arrests and nine cases of violence — since the start of the year.”
Bloomberg / Ryan Vlastelica
Snap’s terrible ad revenue numbers are worrying the entire digital ad sector →
“Investors are learning that online advertising stocks may be just as vulnerable as old-school media companies amid a looming potential economic downturn.”
The New York Times / George Gene Gustines and Matt Stevens
Web comics’ booming popularity is built on reaching new, female audiences →
“‘The majority of American comics have been the hero story, which is great, nothing wrong with that,’ she said. But ‘in Korea and Japan, they've been telling the romance story, the high school story.'”
The Guardian / Chris Stokel-Walker
TikTok is not the enemy of journalism. It’s just a new way of reaching people. →
“TikTok does things differently – in style, format, and how it presents videos to users – than even other tech platforms, and so was always going to be a more significant break from what's gone before. In a world where horizontal, landscape video dominates our television screens and YouTube, TikTok flipped the notion on its head, offering full-screen, vertical video.”
The New York Times / Tripp Mickle, Kevin Draper, and Benjamin Mullin
Why big tech is making a big play for live sports →
“Last year, sports accounted for 95 of the 100 most viewed programs on television.”
The Washington Post / Erik Wemple
Is 18 minutes enough time for a subject to comment? →
“That's how long Bloomberg News reporter Erik Larson gave Fox News to comment for an article alleging that Dominion ‘said some executives and hosts at the network still haven't handed over any records related to its coverage.’ The headline: ‘Fox Executives in $1.6 Billion Lawsuit Haven't Handed Over Records, Dominion Says.’ Larson cited a July 18 court filing for the scoop. Then it all fell apart.”
The Guardian / Gemma McSherry
“I can’t afford what I used to”: How the cost of living has changed streaming habits →
“We dropped Netflix, but recently rejoined for Stranger Things and canceled again after two months. We joined Disney+ to watch the Star Wars films, but I'm thinking of canceling it too.”
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