Newsrooms: Forget mobile ad rev | Public radio’s existential crisis | The end of contemplation
By Matt Carroll <@MattatMIT>
This week: The mobile ad market is slim pickings for newsrooms, public radio can’t figure out if it wants to live in the past or the future, and have we really reached the point where we can’t just sit and contemplate life for more than 20 seconds? Get “3 to read” via email? Email 3toread (at) gmail.com.
- Newsrooms are fighting for mobile ad market crumbs: For anyone counting on digital ads to help newsrooms, Derek Thompson of The Atlantic has a somber assessment: “…digital is eating legacy media, mobile is eating digital, and two companies, Facebook and Google, are eating mobile.” All the growth is in mobile, two players control half of that, and everyone else is fighting over slivers. (Collective sigh, everyone. Now get back to work figuring a way out of this revenue mess.)
- Public radio’s existential crisis: A powerful look at the problems facing public radio — it’s biggest stars are old or retiring, as is its audience. Podcasts are popular with younger people, but compete with local public stations, ramping up tensions between station execs who cling to the older stars and those who are pushing to create a new generation of radio and podcast stars. A good read by Ellen Gamerman of the WSJ.
- The end of contemplation: A thoughtful look at how our many devices and incessant need for stimulation has made us … unthoughtful. Teddy Wayne of the New York Times takes a deep breath and wonders what we’ve lost in our frenetic chase to stay connected.
- Get notified via email: Send note to 3toread (at) gmail.com
- “3 to read” online
Matt Carroll runs the Future of News initiative at the MIT Media Lab.
