OFF THE TOP
You might have heard: Majority of Americans say it is important for the news media to reflect the diversity of the U.S. (Knight Foundation)
But did you know: USA Today shares data on staff gender, racial and ethnic diversity (USA Today)
In a piece detailing the organization’s prioritizing of diversity, USA Today Editor-in-Chief Nicole Carroll publicly shared data on the gender, racial and ethnic diversity of USA Today Network newsrooms. A little over 30% of the staff are BIPOC, compared to 40% of the general population, and the newsroom is 48% women and 52% men. Leadership is only 23% BIPOC, but is 57% women. Carroll also announced the creation of 60 new jobs across the news network to expand coverage of inequities around the country. About one-third will be new hires, while the rest will be filled by existing employees.
+ Noted: Emilio Garcia-Ruiz named San Francisco Chronicle editor in chief (San Francisco Chronicle); Shree Paradkar named “first internal ombud” at The Toronto Star (J Source); NC Local News Lab Fund awards $615,000 in new grants to 21 organizations across the state (North Carolina Community Foundation)
API UPDATE
In this week’s edition of ‘Factually’
How the Postal Service story lends itself to misinformation, the “Plandemic” sequel and Russian election interference. Factually is a weekly newsletter produced by API and the Poynter Institute that covers fact-checking and misinformation.
TRY THIS AT HOME
Bay Area News Group finds success with premium subscription tier (Medium, Ryan Nakashima)
With funding from the Google News Initiative, the Bay Area News Group pursued a premium subscription model based on four pillars — an ad-free website, location-based recommendations, exclusive access at live events, and privileged access to the comment section. About one-fifth of subscribers paid $4 more per month for ad-free access, and engagement rose amongst that group. Recommendations of stories based on a user inputting their location wasn’t popular, but event access and privileged commenting have shown some success at boosting engagement and subscription retention.
OFFSHORE
33 local papers in the UK have closed in the last 18 months (Press Gazette)
An analysis by Press Gazette finds that 33 newspapers in the U.K. have closed since the start of 2019, and 265 have shut down since 2005. That year was considered a high-water mark for papers, with automation making it cheaper to produce print publications but before the internet had significantly disrupted their business model. Most of the closures since the start of 2019 were weekly, regional publications. In that same time period, however, 13 papers have debuted. (In some cases, they were once-a-week editions of still-existing papers.) The rate of closures also seems to be slowing; 43 local titles closed in 2018, and 30 in 2017.
OFFBEAT
Fortnite’s battle with Apple and Google could have an impact on news publishers, too (NiemanLab)
Epic, owners of the video game Fortnite, recently sued Apple and Google over their app store policies, which give the tech platforms a 30% cut from any in-app purchase. (Epic’s attempt to circumvent this system led to them getting booted from Apple’s App Store.) The result could have implications for news publishers as well, some of which lose a huge chunk of income when someone purchases a subscription through Apple. This could all change if the court finds that the tech giants’ rules are a violation of antitrust laws and requires alternative forms of in-app payment.
UP FOR DEBATE
Newsweek and the rise of the zombie magazine (The New Republic)
Last week, Newsweek was widely criticized for publishing an op-ed that claimed, falsely, that Kamala Harris may not be eligible to serve as vice president. While the magazine did issue an apology, Alex Shephard argues that it’s a sign of the rise of “zombie” publications, which use a recognizable and formerly respectable brand to push extreme or conspiratorial ideas. Newsweek, in particular, has suffered multiple scandals over the past few years, and now consists mostly of SEO-baiting articles and an opinion section that has “become a clearinghouse for right-wing nonsense.” Shepherd says that the magazine’s controversies are evidence that it is ushering in “pink slime” local journalism under its national brand.
SHAREABLE
Covering Cedar Rapids’ derecho in the middle of a pandemic (Poynter)
Newsroom leaders at The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette were touring a new office space when a derecho hit the area. The storm, which combines hurricane-speed winds with thunderstorms, killed four and left the county without power. The editors mobilized, gathering in the still-functional printing facility to lay out the paper, while a staffer drove to and from the Iowa City bureau to collect stories on a thumb drive while the internet was down. With no electricity or internet, the paper’s print edition helped locals navigate the crisis post-storm, and the paper lent its printing facility to the city so it could print fliers with information about shelters.
FOR THE WEEKEND
+ Successful Pitches shows freelancers the way (Columbia Journalism Review)
+ “Unstoppable innovator”: The meteoric rise of Meredith Kopit Levien, the next New York Times CEO (Digiday)
+ Gabe Fleisher on his life as a teenage political journalist (Columbia Journalism Review)
The post Need to Know: August 21, 2020 appeared first on American Press Institute.
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