Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Chris.
The Mill’s two-year roadmap to breaking even — www.journalism.co.uk
We spoke to The Manchester Mill’s CEO Joshi Hermann just over a year ago, and while the local news startup was doing well then, it’s doing even better now. This excellent write-up from Journalism.co.uk is an inside baseball look at how you go about launching and scaling local news for the modern era.
One thing that especially stuck out to me was quite how freeing Substack has been for the fledgling outfit: “‘Ten per cent (in revenue share) is a lot. But it means that you don’t have to worry about tech,’ says Hermann, adding that the platform is incentivised to fix any issues quickly in a bid to keep you on. It is also less hassle than dealing with IT agencies.”
Look, overreliance on any third party platform is distinctly dangerous. Terms can change all the time, and the platforms’ own futures are never secure. But evidently Substack is working for The Mill, and it’s allowing them to concentrate on what really matters for a journalism outlet’s business model – reporting the news that matters.
The Week Junior, keeping children reading with magazines they want to read — whatsnewinpublishing.com
We love The Week Junior. A great idea that runs counter to many preconceived notions about what children want to read, and a fantastic business model to boot. Peter’s written a celebration of it for WNIP.
Kelvin MacKenzie, Rupert Murdoch and the hunt for tabloid gold online — pressgazette.co.uk
Kelvin MacZenzie is set to launch a new digital-only rag called the Daily Disclosure. The man’s a bigoted loser, obviously, and his lack of business judgement in launching a far right digital news site in 2023 is matched only by his lack of awareness at how pathetic elderly men whining about things being ‘woke’ is. He should call it the Daily DOA.
Twitter lawyer warns Elon Musk’s rushed timelines put the company at risk for billions in privacy fines — www.theverge.com
Oh and speaking of losers… Twitter’s chief privacy officer, chief compliance officer, and chief information security officer have all stepped down. This shortly after the launch of the new Verification system went less than swimmingly.
New podcast:
Can we stop the endless decline of trust in the media? — voices.media
Our seventh episode looks at trust in the media, the growth of news fatigue and avoidance, and the opportunities and dangers in the future, from AI to platforms. Will transparency in reporting help bring round reluctant or sceptical readers, or do we need to do more? Joining us this week to discuss the year in trust is Martha Williams, CEO of World Newsmedia Network.
How Reuters News Agency uses data to build trust in its reporting — voices.media
This year has seen trust in the news fall to an historic low. Despite this bleak picture, there are concrete steps news publishers can take to build and maintain trust in their reporting. One factor that is growing in significance is using data, infographics, maps and charts to add context and help audiences to understand what is going on.
