This week, we talk to Mark Alker, Publisher of Singletrackworld.com; Europe’s biggest mountain biking website, and Singletrack Magazine; a bi-monthly print publication. As well as divulging the secrets of specialist media success, Mark discusses community, coffee, and his love-hate relationship with programmatic.
In the news round-up, Esther and Peter battle good old British colds to talk about digital strategy success for The Independent, and Bloomberg News returning to ‘normal’ coverage following Mike Bloomberg dropping out of the Democratic race. The news in brief is coronavirus-themed (with sound effects), from how platforms are tackling misinformation to newspapers you can wipe your butt with.
COVID-19 News in Brief:
- Coronavirus is changing Big Tech: Casey Newton sees ‘hopeful signs’ that big tech companies and social platforms are taking meaningful action to direct people to timely, accurate information about the virus.
- Facebook put a box in the newsfeed sending people to information and has offered free ads to WHO
- Twitter also has an info box and has a zero-tolerance policy on misinformation
- Pinterest has deployed its ‘no search results’ approach
- Google is offering customers free streaming services so they can work from home
- Apple is rejecting coronavirus apps that aren’t from health organizations, app makers say
- But because humans suck, there has been an surge of Virus Misinformation including secret labs, magic cures and government plots, according to the New York Times.There is so much inaccurate information about the virus, the W.H.O. has said it was confronting a “infodemic.” Facebook, Google and Twitter are removing misinformation about the coronavirus as fast as they could find it, but we know how that story ends
- Never one to miss a chance to beat up the press, Trump has claimed the fake news media is doing everything possible to make us look bad’ on coronavirus response
- One legitimate criticism might be that the Whitehouse press corps, and every other political journalist on the planet, is spending too much time reporting COVID-19 and they’re the wrong people to be doing it. Presswatchers suggests that political reporters should be taken off the coronavirus story – “lt’s too damned important to be covered as a two-sided battle over who’s winning the narrative”
- Good news according to Digiday – broadcasters are using streaming services to add and update coronavirus coverage, giving them an advantage over linear TV
- An Australian paper has printed blank pages to help tackle toilet paper shortages. Eight pages in the paper were left blank, except for watermarks. “Run out of loo paper? The NT News cares,” the newspaper read. The editor Matt Williams said it definitely wasn’t a crappy edition…
