Top News:
Hamilton Nolan / Fusion:
The real threat to journalism is concentration of media in the hands of rich owners with ulterior motives — This week, one little attack on a reporter by a temporarily insane politician has us all fretting over the “Rough Treatment of Journalists in the Trump Era.” The real threat to journalism is much more insidious.
Discussion:
Politico, @evansryan202, @karltaro, @hamiltonnolan, @athertonkd and @libbycwatson
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Shelley Hepworth / Columbia Journalism Review:
CJR begins publicly logging incidents when norms that protect press freedom in the US have been pushed
Mike Allen / Axios:
Sources: White House plans to diminish the role of on-camera daily briefings — On Day 129 (and the beginning of the 19th full week), the next phase of Trump's presidency is becoming clear. — Facing political and legal jeopardy, he follows his instincts and runs the government even more like a campaign …
Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / WWD:
Traffic to women's magazines over past year as they go digital: Vogue up 25.6%, Teen Vogue up 176%, W nearly doubled, Glamour down 1.6%, Allure up 53% — The most recent comScore data provides a snapshot of the transition to digital. — Legacy media is in a transitional moment …
Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:
Borrell report details how local media organizations can prosper in the age of Facebook and Google, says publishers and advertisers need to collaborate — Content is king. But newspapers especially should heed the lament of Shakespeare's King Henry IV: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Andrea Wenzel / Columbia Journalism Review:
Profile of Curious City, a radio series creating stories from listener questions, and the offline strategy it's using to expand its demographics — A Curious City journalist interviews a community member in Chinatown, Chicago. Photo courtesy of Bill Healy/WBEZ.
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
The four key elements of a successful fake news story: emotional appeal, veneer of authority, effective insertion point, and an amplification network — Plus: The faces of a Russian botnet, an alt-right newsletter to subscribe to, and “falsehoods in a forest of facts.”
Discussion:
Softpedia News and Forbes
Robert Levine / Billboard:
Spotify settles class action suit filed by a group of songwriters over mechanical rights, to set up $43.4M fund as compensation for unpaid royalties — Spotify has reached a settlement with a group of songwriters who had sued for copyright infringement, eliminating an potential complication …
Discussion:
TechCrunch and hypebot, more at Techmeme »
Tina Nguyen / Vanity Fair:
Breitbart ranked #281 in May according to Alexa, down from #45 in January, while ComScore says the site had 10.7M uniques in April, down from 23M in November — A media business based on attack has been much less successful when forced to defend. — With its former chairman Steve Bannon …
Discussion:
@brhodes, @adamblickstein, @stphn_lacey, @scalzi, @davidfrum, @reaganbattalion, @noahchestnut and @tripgabriel
Max Willens / Digiday:
Behind the Village Voice website redesign and an effort to increase its $50/year subscriptions — The Village Voice wants to sell subscriptions. About 18 months after it changed hands, the alt weekly unveiled a new website this week that supports a broader range of digital ad units …
Josh Russell / Courthouse News Service:
Owners of Russian bank Alfa Group sue BuzzFeed for defamation for publishing Trump dossier; BuzzFeed calls suit a “shameless attempt to bully and intimidate” — MANHATTAN (CN) - Unhappy with BuzzFeed over its reporting of the infamous “Pissgate” dossier, the owners of a Russian bank …
Discussion:
@pkafka, AOL, @juliaioffe, Politico and @emptywheel
Bloomberg:
Sources: DirecTV Now lost 3K customers in February while growth in March was roughly flat — New subscribers to web-TV service have slowed in early 2017 — AT&T CEO: We've ‘pulled back’ on marketing after fast start — AT&T Inc.'s live online video service, DirecTV Now …
Discussion:
Forbes, Fortune and Business Insider
Matthew Zeitlin / BuzzFeed:
Reporters mourn the passing of a not-so-secret username and password for the Wall Street Journal paywall, media/media — Username: media. Password: media. Everyone knew about it, but nobody talked about it. … It was good while it lasted. — For years, one of the best/worst kept secrets …
Discussion:
@pierre, @zackwhittaker, @mattzeitlin, @davidluhnow, @kpolantz, @mikeisaac, @davidenrich and @bydanielvictor
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