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Newsletter start-up The Know’s formula for fighting news avoidance
The Know is a UK-based newsletter start-up focused on solutions journalism, issue-based stories and positive news. It has 50,000 subscribers to its daily newsletter, most of which have signed up in the last year, and an open rate of 46%.
What particularly caught my eye about this piece was Chief Executive Lynn Anderson Clark talking about why they ditched the app shortly after she took over. “The top apps people use are always social media…and news apps are actually quite low. I felt, when I looked at the data like if the BBC and The Guardian aren’t breaking that upper echelon, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that either.”
This is a very common but fundamental misunderstanding about the place of apps in a publisher’s product portfolio. Apps are for building habit with a smaller group – they’re not a strong mass market proposition but can make a huge difference with superfans. I’ve had a couple of chats over the weekend with publishers on Twitter who have confirmed really high engagement rates with their apps, even if the download numbers aren’t big.
Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Early yesterday morning, after weeks of rumours, Vice Media Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At its peak six years ago, Vice was valued at $5.7 billion. Now, it has agreed to an asset purchase agreement with a consortium of lenders who had previously invested in it, which have said they will buy out Vice’s assets for $225 million. As always, our thoughts are with the talented teams and staff affected by this.
How to cover AI – a guide for journalists
You don’t need detailed technical AI skills to cover developments, but the more you know the better. Without this knowledge, journalists may end up regurgitating press releases that glorify AI tools or, conversely, report fear mongering stories akin to the Terminator. They may also fall into the trap of uncritically adopting fan-like stances or selecting experts based on their biases. They can corroborate unhelpful narratives like “I Interviewed ChatGPT: What It Said To Me Was Scary” and similar clickbait headlines.
Five tips on newsroom leadership from the International Journalism Festival 2023
This year’s International Journalism Festival was full of insights on how to be an effective and intentional newsroom leader. Here are five quotes that the Reuters Institute team found particularly relevant, from hiring the right people to making sure you’re prepared for crises.
More from Media Voices
Read: What does practical AI look like for local media?
Some local media organisations have been benefiting from AI for years. I explore what it looks like in practice in this extract from our new report, Practical AI for Local Media.
Listen: Practical AI – Lessons from local media
Our special Practical AI podcast documentary explores how local media organisations have got started with AI projects, the benefits they’re seeing, the challenges they’ve faced and what advice they would give to other publishers looking to get into AI. This episode and our corresponding report have been made possible with the support of United Robots.
