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You might have heard: 2015 saw Tribune Publishing’s acquisition of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Gannett’s purchase of Journal Media Group and its 15 newspapers, and some predicted that ownership changes would continue into 2016
But did you know: 70 daily newspapers were sold in 2015 for a total of $827 million (Bloomberg)
The latest strategy to stay alive in the newspaper business is newspapers eating other newspapers, Gerry Smith writes. In 2015, the industry saw the most deals for the largest amount of money since the 2008 financial crisis, with 70 daily newspapers sold for a combined total of $827 million. Gannett alone purchased 15 daily newspapers in 2015. Even with a surge of acquisitions in 2015, Smith says more deals are expected to come in 2016 as media companies spin off TV stations, leaving newspapers to fend for themselves.
+ Noted: Bloomberg Business rebrands itself as simply “Bloomberg” as part of a homepage redesign that went live on Tuesday (Digiday); Tribune Publishing fires its chief financial officer and auditor after finding “ineffective control environment” in its financial reporting (CFO); Poynter and the National Association of Black Journalists are partnering to create a tuition-free leadership program for journalists of color working in digital media called the Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Journalism (Poynter)
A new tool called FOIA Mapper will help you figure out the best way to request the documents you need (Nieman Lab)
Filing a Freedom of Information Act request can be complicated, but a new Knight Foundation-backed tool called FOIA Mapper is trying to make it easier. Created by data journalist Max Galka, FOIA Mapper tries to help users figure out the best way to request the document they need. The tool includes a centralized, searchable database of government data including logs of FOIA requests other people have made, information systems and various government documents. Users can search for a specific topic, and the database will show if the document is publicly available and how to find it if they need to file a FOIA request.
+ How FOIA Mapper is different from the other FOIA tools the Knight Foundation has supported: “This one was unique in the sense that what he’s attempted to do is use the FOIA process to sort of reverse engineer the systems that store government data so that folks would be able to ask for data in a more specific way that’s hard for the government to say no to” (Poynter)
The Times of London is moving away from covering breaking news to focus on more in-depth analysis (Digiday)
With a hard paywall that’s been up since 2010, the Times of London has established itself as a destination for in-depth analysis, opinion and commentary for its subscribers. Despite that specialty, it has still covered breaking news. But now, the Times of London will move away from covering breaking news as it happens in favor of making sense of it through in-depth stories, head of digital Alan Hunter says: “Readers don’t come to us for breaking news; they can go to the BBC and Twitter for that, which are free. They come to us for the authority of our reporting, opinion and analysis. Breaking news has become a commodity, and it’s hard to charge people for it.”
Snapchat’s latest update includes a redesign of its chat function, making it easier to understand (Quartz)
In an update released Tuesday, Snapchat made its chat function easier for users to navigate, but also made it look more similar to its competitors, Mike Murphy writes. Users now have more options in the chat area, including videos, stickers and voice calls. While some of those features are new, many existed in the previous version. The update provides more signposting for users, which Murphy writes is an important change: “This could perhaps be an indication that Snapchat is trying to make its messaging service feel less exclusive — and easier to use — as it aims to directly take on social messaging competitors like (Facebook) Messenger and WhatsApp.”
+ The software update also came with an update to its privacy policy that could allow for customized ads: Snapchat changed the wording of a clause about how it uses customer information to “personalize the services by, among other things, suggesting friends or profile information, or customizing the content we show you, including ads” (Digiday)
Jeff Jarvis: Publishers need to stop being jealous of platforms and start working with the platforms to solve problems (WAN-IFRA)
When publishers think about how to deal with platforms such as Facebook, it’s not the platforms itself they’re dealing with, Jeff Jarvis says. Instead, it’s the people on the platforms, because publishers need to go to where the readers are. Though publishers and platforms will disagree, Jarvis says publishers should look past these differences and push for solutions: “We have different missions but that does not mean they are not compatible, it’s just different priorities. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make them available. That certainly should be compatible with our mission. If we get past the misunderstanding, there are many things of mutual interest.”
For women’s history month, The Washington Post is combing its archives for interesting profiles of women written by women (Medium)
“Think about it like a Bechdel test, almost. But for journalism,” The Washington Post’s Julia Carpenter says. To celebrate the end of women’s history month, The Washington Post is highlighting profiles of women written by women from its archives. The profiles include Marjorie Williams’ profile of Sandra Day O’Connor and Lynn Darling’s of Maya Angelou. Carpenter also encourages people to share their favorite profiles on Twitter with the hashtag #womenbywomen.
+ New research by the Engaging News Project suggests that solutions journalism could help audience engagement: In their experiences, time on page for solutions journalism articles were higher than non-solutions articles (Engaging News Project)
The post Need to Know: Mar. 30, 2016 appeared first on American Press Institute.
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