Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Esther. This will be the last one directly from me for a couple of weeks as I squeeze out another baba.
Catch up on the action from FIPP Congress
If you, like me, would really like to be sipping sangria in Cascais right now (okay okay and learning from some of the best minds in media), FIPP have a crack team of journalists covering some of the best sessions.
Peter Houston is out there catching up with guests and speakers for some takeaways we’ll be releasing as a special episode. But if you can’t wait for that, here is our pick of some of the best pieces from the Congress so far.
Andrii Vdovychenko of Burda Media Ukraine talks about the perils of publishing during the Russian invasion
www.fipp.com/news/andrii-vdovychenko-of-burda-media-ukraine-talks-about-the-perils-of-publishing-during-the-russian-invasion
Part of History: How National Geographic Historia is bucking print trends across continents
www.fipp.com/news/part-of-history-how-national-geographic-historia-is-bucking-print-trends-across-continents
Ruwayda Mustafah of Rudaw Media Network reveals how the company is battling misinformation in Iraq
www.fipp.com/news/ruwayda-mustafah-of-rudaw-media-network-reveals-how-the-company-is-battling-misinformation-in-iraq
Publishing industry needs consensus over transparency and accuracy before throwing stones at AI, says chief executive of Impress UK
www.fipp.com/news/publishing-industry-needs-consensus-over-transparency-and-accuracy-before-throwing-stones-at-ai-says-chief-executive-of-impress-uk
Rafat Ali shares his advice on building a vertical media business from scratch
www.fipp.com/news/rafat-ali-shares-his-advice-on-building-a-vertical-media-business-from-scratch
Bringing our writers to the forefront of our search experience
We thought adding Atlantic authors to our existing results page would be simple. We were wrong.
building.theatlantic.com/bringing-our-writers-to-the-forefront-of-our-search-experience-3d44f487b550
This is a fascinating peek behind the curtain at one of The Atlantic’s recent projects. Last year, the data science team brought two interesting trends up: of the top 100 search terms on the site, 30% were Atlantic writers; of the top 20 search terms, half of those were Atlantic writers. This is a masterclass in useful data to collect to better serve users, and how to then design and action it.
Housty, could AI replace journalists?
Could AI like ChatGPT really replace journalists and critics in the future?
internationalmagazinecentre.com/housty-could-ai-replace-journalists
Beyond just a ‘nope’, here, Peter looks at why AI won’t replace journalists, critics, or anyone else in the media who is doing truly creative, clever, insightful work. “If anything, the tide of AI crap that is about to engulf us will push people to seek out top-quality content that could only have been made by a real live human being,” he adds.
Agencies be warned, LadBible’s nerds want your ad budgets
After two days of quizzing the social publisher’s staff in London, The Drum reports back on the progress being made in its quest for credibility among the marketing, publishing and original content industries.
www.thedrum.com/news/2023/06/08/agencies-be-warned-ladbible-s-nerds-want-your-ad-budgets
I’ll finish with a light one ahead of the weekend. The Drum’s John McCarthy spent an intense two full days in LadBible HQ, learning what it takes to maintain the top spot of social publishers. “It was like a trip to Disneyland for a media nerd like me. I was right at home,” he wrote. “My mission was to learn what it takes to really bottle that coveted connection with Gen-Z and sell it to advertisers.”
More from Media Voices
Big Noises: Amy Kean on why media needs more weirdos
Amy Kean talks about about fear, ego, jargon and how to spot a good weirdo rather than someone that’s going to be an HR problem.
voices.media/big-noises-amy-kean-on-why-media-needs-more-weirdos
Report: Practical AI for Local Media
Find out how AI can help publishers take care of work that humans can’t so they can use the time saved to creating valuable commentary and analysis.
voices.media/practicalai
Content is king? ‘Complete b*ll*cks; says media veteran Neil Thackray
If content was truly king, Neil believes the starting point would be a content-focused publishing strategy, but he doesn’t see that.
voices.media/content-is-king-complete-bllcks-says-media-veteran-neil-thackray
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