This week, Immediate Media’s Product Director Laura Jenner talks to us about drawing together the needs of different teams across a publishing business, how the roles and responsibilities of a product manager evolve in such a rapidly changing industry, and why the relationship between product and editorial is so important. She also shares her one piece of advice for other product managers in publishing.
Tag: Facebook
Popbitch co-founder Camilla Wright on creating a niche in the celebrity gossip market
This week we hear from Popbitch co-founder Camilla Wright about the origins of the influential celebrity gossip site, whether celebs ever try to plant stories about themselves, and the romanticism of clandestine meetings in dark pubs.
Skift CEO Rafat Ali on paid content and the perils of VC funding
This week we hear from Rafat Ali, co-founder and CEO of boutique travel publisher Skift. We spoke about what connects the dots between paid content, travel, dining and wellness, his belief in trendlines not headlines, his long-term aspirations for Skift vs short-term VC plays, and why he wants to be useless to his business.
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Flipboard Head of Growth Claus Enevoldsen on growing a platform that works for publishers
This week, Claus Enevoldsen, Head of Growth for news aggregation platform Flipboard, talks about being a technology company with media values, how their human-led algorithms work to surface quality content, and why now is the perfect time for a platform like Flipboard. He also dives into the reasons behind their rise in both users and referral traffic over the past year.
Lucy Kueng on how Silicon Valley has changed journalism
This episode, we hear from Lucy Kueng. She’s one of the go-to names for macro and micro industry analysis, a Google Digital News Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and has a tonne of other roles in the industry that allow her to see the bigger picture. We spoke about journalism’s perverse relationship with Silicon Valley, whether publications can make it across the Valley of Death, and how external pressures change internal newsroom structure.
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Columbia Journalism Review’s Mathew Ingram on what publishers get wrong about trust
In this episode of the Media Voices podcast Mathew Ingram, media writer for the Columbia Journalism Review, explains why publishers need to take a more human approach to their memberships, the role of platforms in disrupting those relationships, and whether ‘trust’ is a meaningful metric.
Bauer Xcel’s Ian Betteridge on leading a data-driven digital division
On this week’s episode, Bauer Xcel’s Director of content and audience development Ian Betteridge talks about drawing together the separate roles of editorial and data-driven audience development, how commercial needs drive content strategy and how he brings together the print and digital teams to make the many brands he oversees a success. He also tells the story behind ‘Betteridge’s Law’.
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Allure editor in chief Michelle Lee on representation in magazines
On this week’s episode, Esther interviews Allure’s editor in chief Michelle Lee about its ongoing efforts to improve representation in magazine media, how diversity can help heal divisions in society, and opportunities around new media.
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The Book Of Man founder Martin Robinson on promoting mental health online
On this week’s episode, The Book Of Man co-founder Martin Robinson discusses his journey through the UK magazine industry, the need for a space for men to honestly discuss mental health, and plans for podcasts, longform and membership.
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LSE’s Charlie Beckett on Truth, Trust and Technology
In this week’s episode we hear from the London School of Economics’ professor Charlie Beckett about its Truth, Trust & Technology Commission, on the role of platforms in defining truth, whether media literacy is a good or a bad thing and whether we can still use the term “fake news” as a helpful definition.
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Mic’s Cory Haik on millennial loyalty, meaningful storytelling and the importance of deliberate distribution
This week, Mic’s Publisher Cory Haik talks to us about surviving as a video-first publisher in a platform world, how they retain a loyal and engaged millennial audience, and why she’s not giving up on platform publishing as a sustainable option.
The Disconnect’s founders on experimentation and counter-intuitive bets
This week, Peter speaks to The Disconnect’s co-founders Chris Bolin and Clayton d’Arnault about the philosophy and meaning behind a digital magazine that can only be consumed while offline.
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Refinery29’s Jacqui Kavanagh on authenticity of experience
In this week’s episode of Media Voices, we speak to Refinery29’s Jacqui Kavanagh about the brand’s success in Europe since it launched in 2015, about what authenticity means to brands and audiences, and why experiential is a growth industry.
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Facebook WTF?
In this special episode of Media Voices, the team rattle through some news before doing a deep-dive into the realities of Facebook killing the news industry (again).
Peter, Esther and Chris offer their thoughts on the whys and hows of the decision, plus speculate as to whether this will be good for journalism in the long run and who is most likely to be affected by the decision.
We’re reading:
- Editorial standards put BBC reporters in tough spot over pay equity issue (Scott Nover): A good explainer of the background to the BBC gender discrimination furore, with comparisons to other organisations and a look at the context at the BBC
- When harassment drives women out of journalism (Katherine Goldstein): What could have been if women weren’t hounded out of journalism, with profiles of various women journalists and their stories
- Peter’s enjoying his copy of new indie print magazine Foul Play. Some really nice design touches but loads of great reads unlike too many style over substance indy mags
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Is digital dying?
According to Betteridge’s law, the answer to all headline questions is, of course, no. But the last few weeks have seen some stories about digital media organisations that have shaken the firm belief that digital can stand alone profitably with a bright future as print lies spluttering.
In a single week it emerged that Buzzfeed and Vice are going to miss their revenue targets, Mashable was sold for $50 million, and the resistance to the Duopoly is growing as Broadcasters, the FT’s Lionel Barber and the Guardian’s Kath Viner have all waded in.
These events all set the tone of this episode of the Media Voices podcast, dedicated entirely to this question of whether we’re witnessing the beginning of the end for digital media.
People have long been saying ‘print is dead’ but it is becoming clear that digital was dead from the start – at least as a sole revenue source – despite all the hope and all the resources that companies have been pouring into it.
The Death of Digital Special
In this very special episode of Media Voices, we discuss the conflux of news about BuzzFeed, VICE, Mashable and many more and ask whether the dream of a digital future for publishers is over before it began.
It’s Media Voices’ first birthday! The team briefly reminisce about the travails of launching the podcast, their favourite episodes, and their plans for the future.
One of those plans is to make Media Voices so good you have to listen to every single episode. The only way we can do that is if you tell us what you like, what you don’t like and what should be doing that we haven’t even thought about. Please take a few minutes, complete our survey, and tell us how we could make Media Voices better for you.
What we’re reading:
- Newsonomics: The New York Times’ Mark Thompson on regulating Facebook, global ambition, and when to stop the presses (forever), via Nieman Lab
- A mission for journalism in a time of crisis, via Guardian
Subscribe to Media Voices on iTunes here or by searching for ‘Media Voices’ in your favourite podcast app.
Dennis Executive Director Kerin O’Connor on The Week’s enduring appeal
This week, publisher of The Week Kerin O’Connor takes us through the reasons behind the magazine’s continued success on the newsstand, and how it encourages a relationship between it and its audience.
In the news round-up the Media Voices team talk about the Guardian’s membership success, the spectacularly frightening changes to the Facebook news feed, and ask whether we should be nice to the Duopoly. Listener beware, you’re in for a scare!
What we’re reading:
- “News you don’t believe”: Audience perspectives on fake news’, via RISJ
- ‘The Gender Trap with Media on Social Channels’ via Thomas Baekdal
- ‘Why bad ads deserve to die, and what might replace them’, via LA Times
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University of Oregon’s Damian Radcliffe on local journalism in the Pacific Northwest
In this week’s episode, the University of Oregon’s Carolyn S. Chambers professor in journalism Damian Radcliffe takes us through his latest report into local journalism in the Pacific Northwest.
In the news round-up, the gang discuss strict new NYT social media guidelines for journalism, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s statement on moderating news content, and whether publishers should ‘punish’ audiences who come in through social. We can’t stop making analogies; we’re like sharks who just have to keep swimming.
What we’re reading:
- Medium makes its ‘open paywall’ available to all writers – via WSJ
- What Facebook did to American democracy – via The Atlantic
- Real news about Fake News – via Nieman Lab
Subscribe to Media Voices on iTunes here or by searching for ‘Media Voices’ in your favourite podcast app.
Background music courtesy of Nicolai Heidlas Music via SoundCloud -@nicolai-heidlas
Future’s Rock titles Editor in Chief Scott Rowley on covering rockstar deaths
This week Scott Rowley, Editor in Chief of Future’s rock titles, takes us through how his magazines responded to death of Tom Petty in real time, and why he believes reporting on rock star deaths is devolving into a “bun fight”.
In the news round-up, the gang discuss Glamour magazine moving to a bi-annual publishing schedule, whether Google and Facebook failed in the wake of the Las Vegas shootings, and whether Rupert Murdoch is really publishing’s White Knight (no). Esther imitates a sheep.
We’re reading:
– Why objective journalism is a misleading and dangerous illusion
– Is ‘guerrilla war’ being waged on news broadcasters?
– If journalists take sides, who will speak truth to power?
Subscribe to Media Voices on iTunes here or by searching for ‘Media Voices’ in your favourite podcast app.