Monday, May 3, 2021 |
| And, as usual for this glum moment in media, it’s a private equity firm that wants a crack at finding new places to cut. By Joshua Benton. |
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| Here’s what Modi can do if he really wants to change India’s image of being a “dangerous place for journalists.” By Lison Joseph. |
What We’re ReadingNPR / David Folkenflik
The Colorado Sun is acquiring a chain of 24 suburban newspapers around Denver →“The acquisition occurred in partnership with the National Trust for Local News, a new nonprofit that becomes a co-owner in the new venture and is an offshoot of the Lenfest Institute…’All too often these days, we all know who is first in line to buy newspapers, and that’s hedge funds or the occasional billionaire…We couldn’t count on a benevolent billionaire galloping up on a white horse. And we were worried about a hedge fund coming in.”Los Angeles Times / Meg James
Kevin Merida is the L.A. Times’ next executive editor →“Since 2015, Merida has been editor in chief of The Undefeated, the award-winning ESPN division that plumbs the intersection of race, culture and sports…Merida also spent three decades in traditional newsrooms, including 22 years at the Washington Post, where he rose to managing editor in charge of news, features, and the universal news desk.”The Washington Post / Elahe Izadi
Why your new favorite NPR show might sound a lot like a podcast →NPR has “struggled with the need to bolster a listenership that is rapidly aging. Increasingly, it has branched out into digital media, where younger and more diverse listeners already are, particularly podcasts. Now, programs that have cultivated huge followings in the podcast world are making their way to radio, and to a vastly different group of listeners.”Variety / David Lieberman and Brent Lang
It was still good to be a media company CEO in 2020 →“Looked at another way, a typical employee would have to work 306 years to match what [media company] CEOs averaged in 2020 alone based on each company’s calculation of median worker pay. That’s an improvement from 416 years in 2019, but remains a far higher ratio than you see at most top U.S. corporations.”Los Angeles Times / Stephen Battaglio
NewsNation promised an “unbiased” cable news alternative to Fox News and MSNBC. Nobody wanted to watch it. →“Nexstar executives cited consumer research showing viewers were looking for nonpartisan news coverage. But after eight months on the air, NewsNation has been plagued by minuscule ratings and internal strife over allegations of meddling in news coverage.” Just 27,000 viewers in prime time, versus 2.2 million viewers for Fox News, 1.6 million for MSNBC, and 1 million for CNN.The New Yorker / Sue Halpern
Facebook and the normalization of deviance →“When the sociologist Diane Vaughan came up with the term ‘the normalization of deviance,’ she was referring to NASA administrators’ disregard of the flaw that caused the Challenger space shuttle to explode, in 1986. The idea was that people in an organization can become so accepting of a problem that they no longer consider it to be problematic.”Axios / Sara Fischer
Twitter launches a national campaign to be seen boosting local news →Mostly by buying full-page ads in Gannett newspapers.The Washington Post / Margaret Sullivan
The politicians who tried to overturn an election — and the local news team that won’t let anyone forget it →“The journalists at WITF, an all-news public radio station in Harrisburg, Pa….decided they wouldn’t shrug off the damaging lies of election denialism…The station has stuck to its pledge in its day-to-day coverage ever since, by simply and without fanfare including boilerplate language about how lawmakers conducted themselves during the attempts to overturn the election whenever they are mentioned in the course of regular news coverage.”Nieman Storyboard / Alexander Trowbridge
What working on a farm taught a journalist about visual storytelling →“In which our correspondent explains what he’s doing in a bean field with a selfie stick.”NPR
Hear NPR’s first on-air original broadcast from 1971 →“All Things Considered” turns 50 today.CNN / Oliver Darcy
The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC News all retracted parts of their reports on Rudy Giuliani →“NBC News said in its correction that its story ‘was based on a source familiar with the matter, but a second source now says the briefing was only prepared for Giuliani and not delivered to him, in part over concerns it might complicate the criminal investigation of Giuliani.'”Reuters / Joshua Franklin, Echo Wang, and Krystal Hu
Forbes wants to go public via SPAC →“Forbes’ owner is also fielding offers from bidders including investment vehicle Borderless Services Inc [a fund “specializing in blockchain technology”], which has bid $700 million, and from a consortium led by tech investor Michael Moe, the sources said. Both of these bids would result in Forbes remaining a privately held company.”CNBC / Megan Graham
Amazon’s ads business is booming →“Amazon’s ‘Other’ unit, which is primarily made up of advertising but also includes sales related to other service offerings, grew revenue 77% year over year to more than $6.9 billion, the company reported on Thursday. That’s almost seven times as much revenue as Twitter, which generates substantially all of its revenue through advertising and reported first-quarter earnings the same day.”New York Post / Keith J. Kelly
WNYC money troubles lead to 14 layoffs, including at Gothamist →“WNYC CEO Goli Skeikholeslami in a memo told to staffers that the station is entering fiscal year 2022 with ‘a sizeable deficit’ as sponsorship funding plunged 27 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels…Skeikholeslami said the cuts affected four jobs in news and 10 in other departments.”New York Daily News / Cathy Burke
Workers at the New York Daily News have unionized →“The vote for membership in the NewsGuild was 55-3, the union tweeted Friday. ‘Our newsroom overwhelmingly voted to form this union after more than a year of organizing,’ the new union stated. The News’ parent company is Tribune Publishing,” which is facing acquisition by mustache-twirling industry villain Alden Global Capital.Variety / Cynthia Littleton
Gray Television will buy Meredith’s local TV stations for $2.7 billion →“The addition of Meredith’s stations in Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, Portland, Ore., and other mid-sized markets will bring Gray’s holdings to 101 stations serving 113 markets. Des Moines-based Meredith, meanwhile, is slimming down to focus on its magazine publishing and digital assets.”Twitter / Oversight Board
We find out if Donald Trump gets his Facebook account back on Wednesday →“The Oversight Board will announce its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump on its website…on May 5, 2021 at approximately 9:00 a.m. EDT.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego / Encyclo
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