This week Kate Day, Executive Editor of POLITICO in the UK takes us through the publishers’ expansion into and growth in the UK market. She discusses everything from the advantages of being a start-up publisher in a world of legacy giants, how the team chooses what goes behind the paywall, and what sets UK politics coverage apart from the rest of Europe.
In the news roundup, we take a look at Print In A Pandemic, the final fate of Playboy, and what audience’s fatalistic media choices say about the public mood during the coronavirus outbreak.
Print in a pandemic:
- Playboy announced that it’s closing down its flagship print magazine for the rest of 2020
- The Big Issue, a magazine distributed by people in the streets, has been struggling as less people are going out. This week they announced they’d be selling copies and subscriptions online, with money going into a central pot which will then be distributed to vendors
- Regional publishers Archant, Reach, JPI Media, Newsquest and Iliffe joined forces this week to launch a #ThereWithYou campaign to reassure readers that their local title is there to support them in challenging times
- But it’s not all great news for local titles, especially in the US as papers are asking for donations, laying off staff, or abandoning print as social distancing dries up their revenue streams
News in brief:
- Australian Associated Press, which announced earlier this month that they would have to close as the institution was ‘unsustainable’, have put plans to close on hold as a number of offers to buy the service have been received
- LadBible has been praised by the World Health Organisation chief for its ‘Cutting Through’ campaign, which features advice from WHO experts on the coronavirus crisis. They’ve vowed not to chase clicks and views, instead focusing on ‘cold objectivity’ and providing people with the facts
- The UK government has ruled that journalists covering coronavirus classify for ‘key worker’ status, and can therefore access childcare and education provision while schools are shut. No word on whether that covers the Sunday Times for its exposure of the government’s own complete failure to curb coronavirus growth in the UK…
- China has expelled American journalists working for key news organisations like the New York Times and the Washington Post after Trump limited the number of Chinese citizens who can work in the US for five state-run Chinese news organisations
- French antitrust authorities ordered Apple to pay a 1.1 billion euro fine this week for anti-competitive behaviour, accusing them of ‘creating cartels within its distribution network and abusing the economic independence of outside retailers’. Apple is, of course, appealing the decision
