Mediagazer: How nine news outlets used automation for reporting on the pandemic, from continuously updated charts to automated stories sent to Slack for journalists' review (Samuel Danzon-Chambaud/Columbia Journalism …)

1:00 PM ET, August 9, 2021

Top News:

Samuel Danzon-Chambaud / Columbia Journalism Review:

How nine news outlets used automation for reporting on the pandemic, from continuously updated charts to automated stories sent to Slack for journalists' review — For all the news organizations that have adopted automated journalism over the last decade or so, the COVID-19 pandemic …

Discussion: datajournalism.com, @gijn and @danzonchambaud

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku adds 23 more Quibi shows to The Roku Channel and says Nielsen estimates it ranked as the No. 6 streaming channel by household reach in the US in June — On Aug. 13, the company will premiere 23 new Roku Originals (each of them from Quibi's library) exclusively on the Roku Channel to stream for free with ads.

Discussion: Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Ad Age, The Wrap, @xpangler, Light Reading, Adweek, CNBC, @gerryfsmith, @claireatki and deadline.com

Lizzie Widdicombe / Vogue:

Profile of Jen Psaki, who some White House reporters credit with “lower[ing] the temperature” even as her briefings are not “exceptionally informative” — It's a summer Friday. President Biden is at his Delaware beach house, where he delivered a brief speech about that morning's encouraging jobs numbers.

Discussion: @noahshachtman, @brianstelter, @jacoblongstl, @sabrinasingh46, @emilylgoodin and @kmunoz46

Azi Paybarah / New York Times:

How Gov. Cuomo's hometown paper The Albany Times Union's anti-off-the-record stance put it on a collision course with the notoriously press-controlling governor — The Times Union's strait-laced, minimal-schmooze, no off-the-record principles put it on a collision course with the notoriously press-controlling governor of New York.

Discussion: Washington Post, @susannecraig, @jdawsey1, @adamnagourney, @sulliview, Poynter, CNN, @whodatgirl_2bd, @cezary, @loritodd, @eisingerj, @stephaniemlee, @harrysiegel, @alexburnsnyt, @rmc031, @biancajoanie, New York Post and Talking Points Memo

Scott Deveau / Bloomberg:

Activist investor Dan Loeb says his optimism of Disney+ has borne out, calls for Disney theatrical content to stream on Disney+ for no extra fee on release day — Activist investor Dan Loeb is calling on the Walt Disney Co. to do more to leverage its leadership position in sports …

Discussion: @brasstackscap, ValueWalk and @business

George Gene Gustines / New York Times:

A number of popular comic book creators, including DC Comics' James Tynion IV and Marvel's Nick Spencer, join Substack — A group of creators will publish new comic book stories, essays and how-to guides on the platform as a way to connect directly with fans.

Discussion: Substack, ScreenRant, The Empire of the Tiny Onion, @79semifinalist, @hamishmckenzie, @riteshwriter, @declanshalvey, @comicsbookcase, @georgegustines, @paulg, Polygon and Bleeding Cool

Jen Mills / Metro.co.uk:

Anti-vaccine protestors try to storm the Television Centre in London, which was BBC's headquarters until 2013 — A group of protesters have attempted to storm BBC premises in west London this afternoon. — The demonstrators, who are angry at coronavirus restrictions and about vaccine policy …

Discussion: The Sun, The Independent, Mirror.co.uk, Daily Mail, @kevglobal, LBC and @jimwaterson

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Dish Network reports Q2 revenue of $4.49B, up from $3.19B YoY; pay TV subs dropped by 67K, compared to a 96K drop in Q2 2020, as Sling TV added 65K subs — The company, led by chairman Charlie Ergen and CEO Erik Carlson, gained Sling TV users, but lost Dish TV customers.

Discussion: The Streamable, MediaPost, Light Reading and PR Newswire

Julia Fioretti / Bloomberg:

Sources: Cloud Village, the music streaming arm of Chinese gaming giant NetEase, is postponing the launch of its $1B Hong Kong IPO — - Cloud Village tested investor demand for the IPO last week — Tech shares have been hit by Chinese regulatory clampdown

Discussion: Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

As trackers, webcams, and other internet-of-things devices become cheaper and more user-friendly, they could become standard tools in journalists' toolkits — Want to find out what the city is doing with homeless people's belongings when it “clears” an encampment? An answer's now just $29 away.

Discussion: @mikeelgan, @niemanfdn, MediaPost, @niemanlab and @jbenton

Reporters Without Borders:

19 journalists from 7 countries who were listed as possible spyware targets have filed complaints against NSO Group in Paris with RSF; cases also referred to UN — Seventeen journalists from seven countries who were listed as potential or actual victims of Pegasus spyware have filed complaints …

Discussion: The Wire, @msuiche, @pranesh and @rebecca_vincent

Max Willens / Digiday:

Parsely study of 1,400 publishers: in H1, traffic to sites that have 30K to 1M page views per month was down 40% compared to 2019 and down 27% at smaller sites — Going into 2020, publishers wondered whether their site traffic, after being lifted all year by a nearly relentless news cycle, might come down to earth.

Discussion: @glenngabe, @lmoses, @elanazak, @chrismoranuk, @niemanlab, @dcnorg and What's New in Publishing

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Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
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Kim Hart / Axios:
Policy paper proposes revamping the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to fund a wide range of content producers, including independent journalists

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Steven Perlberg / Insider:
Texas Monthly's president says the outlet has made 20+ Hollywood licensing deals in the last 18 months, totaling about $1M, in an effort primarily for marketing

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Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
At a panel, Jay Rosen and The Correspondent's Rob Wijnberg discuss lessons learned and why the startup failed, partially due to an excessive focus on marketing

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From Techmeme:

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The Baltimore Banner:
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Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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