LETTER

3 to read: News war | Charging readers, big time | Transforming Rolling Stone

Matt Carroll
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Sept. 4, 2018: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail. Originally published on 3toread.co

  1. A decades-old newspaper battle rambles on in small-town PA: Newspaper wars? They’re still a thing? Yep, at least in a few places. Here’s a visit to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the country’s smallest city with two competing daily papers. It’s a nasty fight — which of course makes it all the more interesting. Good story by Dan Eldridge for CJR.

2. Making it work — by charging business subscribers $695 a year: It’s increasingly clear that advertising for news sites will not be a major revenue stream. But charging readers seems to be viable. The latest evidence is the Innovation Leader, a business-focused publication founded by Scott Kirsner, which charges its readers $695 a year. It’s working, apparently. An interesting take on building a strong vertical by Simon Owens on for The Business of Content.

3. The Women Who Transformed Rolling Stone in the Mid-70s: A fun piece about how a handful of women helped transform the amateurish (if fun) old boy atmosphere at Rolling Stone magazine, back when it was a rock ’n’ roll must read. By Jessica Hopper for Vanity Fair.

Extra read: Let me sum this up with one word: Appalling: California man arrested on charges of threatening to shoot Boston Globe employees he called ‘enemy of the people’.

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3 to read

A weekly trio of stories, videos, and data viz about the news media. Curated by Matt Carroll, journalism professor at Northeastern University.

    Matt Carroll

    Written by

    Journalism prof at Northeastern University. Ran Future of News initiative at the MIT Media Lab; ex-Boston Globe data reporter & member of Spotlight

    3 to read

    3 to read

    A weekly trio of stories, videos, and data viz about the news media. Curated by Matt Carroll, journalism professor at Northeastern University.

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