This week, we talk to Andy Serwer, Yahoo Finance’s Editor in Chief. He discusses what strategies he’s used to grow the publication to become the leader in financial news online, which platforms he uses to reach his business-focused audience, and how financial news has been affected by the crisis in trust. He also talks about how the publisher is integrating new technologies into the newsroom, and why he left his legacy publishing past behind.
In the news roundup the team discusses editorial independence around DMGT’s purchase of the i, Bloomberg’s owner running for president, and a raft of media misbehaviour in the UK. Peter resurrects Conspiracy Corner for one week only.
News in brief:
- WhatsApp turns a profit from its business service in India, a year after its business service launched
- Guardian chief exec David Pemsel has resigned from the Premier League top job before even starting, after allegations about text messages to a former female colleague surfaced
- Zilla Byng Thorne apparently sold her shares in Future, upon which shares fell. But it turns out they were sold without her consent…
- The NYT has launched a new experiment to involve their readers in the reporting process by getting them to submit questions on a given topic
- Facebook has issued a corrective label on a user’s post at the request of the Singapore government after new laws were introduced. The notice, visible only to users in Singapore, says “Facebook is legally required to tell you that the Singapore government says this post has false information” on a post containing accusations about the arrest of a whistleblower, and election rigging
- Platforms and Publishers: The End of an Era report from Tow centre. It confirms what we all knew… “the belief that the massive audiences platforms offer would lead to meaningful advertising revenue for publishers, was a “bubble” and a “distraction”. Finally, publishers believe “the scale game is over”
- Ad tech company Inform is suing Google for damages arising from misuse of its monopoly of the search and mobile industries, which it says is undermining competition in the ad market
- TheSkimm is said to be on track to make $30 million in revenue this year (profitably), but its growth has slowed (on 7 million subscribers mind you), and it’s looking for an investor or buyer to boost that
- Founder of the web Tim Berners-Lee is advocating for a new ‘contract for the web’ that would give people more control over their data, according to a piece he wrote in the NYT. Most of the big tech platforms have signed on as supporters, but that doesn’t mean anything will change
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