Top News:
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Pew: 27% of papers with Sunday circulations of ~50K+ faced layoffs in 2018 vs. 32% in 2017; 14% of digital media sites laid off staff in 2018 vs. 20% in 2017 — If you work at a U.S. newspaper and didn't have layoffs in the last two years, consider yourself lucky.
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @moorehn and MediaPost
Wall Street Journal:
Data shows hundreds of possible bot social media accounts promoted misinformation and content on race during recent Democratic presidential debates — Data shows suspicious social-media accounts targeted Kamala Harris, including with conspiracy theories, during both Democratic gatherings
Discussion:
@blackwomenviews, @reasonvsfear and @amandacarpenter
RELATED:
Hank Stuever / Washington Post:
CNN's overproduced, conflict-obsessed debates were full of cable-news alarmism and resembled prime-time game shows and reality TV, rather than democratic debate — Lately there's a strange caution in the air about the intellectual pitfalls of comparing American politics to the performing arts — or worse, to showbiz.
New York Times:
Four initiatives reimagine local news: journalism as service, focus on schools and education, news via text message, and philanthropy — What happens when the presses stop rolling? Who will tell the stories of touchdowns scored, heroes honored and neighbors lost?
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @rispolimike, @nwatzman and @lasharah
David Shepardson / Reuters:
FCC votes to tighten rules governing franchise fees paid by cable companies to local authorities, which could lead to public access channels going off the air — The U.S. Federal Communications Commision (FCC) on Thursday voted 3-2 to tighten rules governing the franchise fees paid …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Inside Pennsylvania PBS39's nightly solutions-focused newscast, launched ~11 months ago after the station received $82M from spectrum sale — “It wasn't, like, 'bam bam soundbite soundbite you're done.'” — This was a serious case of lemons and (potentially) lemonade.
Discussion:
@frankwords
Sarah Sluis / AdExchanger:
Hearst is building Hearst Audience Select, a self-serve ad platform for small brands to advertise across Hearst properties, to launch in time for Q4 — Hearst is building a self-serve ad platform so advertisers can overlay their audience data against Hearst's to reach readers across sites like Cosmopolitan …
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Print generated $25B+ in revenue in 2018; its steady cash flow attracts investors who realize that lowering overhead reduces costs at a faster rate than revenue — Hedge funds have found that they are able to wring profits out of an ailing product: the print newspaper. But for how long?
Discussion:
@annehelen, @alexbreitler and @reidepstein
MIX / The Next Web:
Sensor Tower: YouTube remains world's top-grossing video app, generating $138M in user spending in Q2 2019, up 220% YoY; US users generated ~70% of this revenue — Google must be happy. YouTube is the world's top-grossing app in the photo and video software category for a second quarter in a row.
Discussion:
9to5Google, more at Techmeme »
Ben Paynter / Fast Company:
How The Daily Show covered the first Democratic debate live on social media, making memes and jokes that helped it beat other late-night shows in engagement — At 7:30 p.m., roughly a dozen comedy writers and digital producers gathered around a large rectangular wooden table inside …
The Guardian:
Mexico's El Monitor de Parral to temporarily halt print edition after bombing; digital edition will not publish crime stories or news with a “political slant” — El Monitor de Parral said it will continue its digital edition, but will not cover any crime stories or news with a ‘political slant’
Discussion:
Committee to Protect …, @verambergen and Breitbart
Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:
Holloway, which publishes in-depth guides about running a startup, raises $4.6M in seed funding from The New York Times, NEA, Lightspeed, and others — Founders need to get smart quickly about the many nuanced aspects of building a company, from understanding weird language in a big term sheet to hiring a key software developer.
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