NPR launches a paid podcast bundle, hoping to convert a national audience into local donors
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Wednesday, November 2, 2022
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NPR launches a paid podcast bundle, hoping to convert a national audience into local donorsNPR estimates less than 1% of its 20 million weekly digital users give to their local stations. By Sarah Scire. |
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You are a rat. You are an umpire. You are an engaged news consumer.Call them games or “interactive, fan-centered service journalism.” By Sarah Scire. |
What We’re Reading
Committee to Protect Journalists / Jennifer Dunham
No one has been held to account in nearly 80% of journalist murders in the last 10 years, report finds →
“Somalia remains the worst offender on the index for the eighth straight year. Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, respectively, round out the top five countries on the index, which covers the period September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2022.”
Semafor / Max Tani
Subscription struggles are forcing Insider to reorganize its newsroom (and remove much of its paywall) →
In a memo on Tuesday, editor in chief Nich Carlson told staff that Insider had "made the business decision to move about half of the journalists on our subscription team in front of the paywall." Carlson acknowledged that the attempt to compete with trade publications for tiny micro-scoops was not driving subscriptions.
Adweek / Mark Stenberg
The newsletter-based publisher Puck has roughly 20,000 paid subscribers →
In its first year, the 25-person company has accrued nearly 200,000 email subscribers and 20,000 pay $12.99 per month or $100 per year for access to all its reporting.
New York Times / Gabriel J.X. Dance and Megan Twohey
Bill outlawing online suicide assistance would hold tech companies and websites hosting the content liable too →
“As the trail of suicides connected to the site grows longer — The Times has since identified dozens more deaths, including several young teenagers — no one involved has faced legal consequences. While most states have laws against assisting suicide, they are inconsistent and rarely enforced, and don't explicitly address online activity. It is not clearly established to what extent speech about suicide is protected by the First Amendment.”
POLITICO / A.J. Bauer
Why conservatives can’t stop acquiring media companies →
“Conservatives have often been early adopters or innovators of new and emerging media. They've already proven adept at innovation in digital content creation — leveraging apps such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify to produce and amplify far-right video blogs, live streaming services like Right Side Broadcasting Network and podcasters like Ben Shapiro. They've also launched a seemingly endless array of conservative news sites, from the Daily Caller to Breitbart to Gateway Pundit.”
New York Times / Brian X. Chen
The New York Times: “Personal tech has changed. So must our coverage of it.” →
“When our tech editor, Pui-Wing Tam, and I started Tech Fix in 2015, we focused on what we felt people would care about the most: the frustrating issues created by their technology, and how to solve them … Going forward, Tech Fix will be taking a different direction: zooming out to grapple with tech's impact on society and ways we can stay in control.”
Current / Julian Wyllie
A “true crime for toddlers” podcast is part of a public media accelerator to make more programming for kids →
“Daycare Detectives Inc.” narrates clues that include a trail of “crayon crumbs.”
Twitter / Paul Farhi
There hasn’t been a single story confirming “rainbow fentanyl” appeared in trick-or-treat candy anywhere in the U.S. →
Paul Farhi previously reported about news orgs publishing 1,500+ “rainbow fentanyl” stories in the two months before Halloween, most warning that dealers could slip this drug to trick-or-treating kids.
Axios / Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
The U.S. should ban TikTok, one FCC commissioner says →
“I don't believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban,” Brendan Carr said, citing recent revelations about how TikTok and ByteDance handle U.S. user data.
Bloomberg / Kurt Wagner, Edward Ludlow, Jackie Davalos, and Davey Alba
Twitter has limited employee access to moderation tools even as a major U.S. election looms →
“Most people who work in Twitter's Trust and Safety organization are currently unable to alter or penalize accounts that break rules around misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech, except for the most high-impact violations that would involve real-world harm”
New York Times / Katie Robertson
The New York Times added 180,000 digital subscribers in the most recent quarter →
Also in the quarterly report: The Athletic has lost nearly $29 million in the three quarters since it was acquired by the Times.
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