The Splice Slugs: Medium switches its business model, CCTV’s global plans, and Norway turns off FM radio
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2017. A big thank you again for all the support you’ve given Splice in the past year. Thanks for all the notes of encouragement. Let’s make newsrooms great again in 2017! Happy new year to all of you. — Alan Soon
Medium cut 50 jobs (about a third of its staff), mostly in sales and support. They’re also shutting their offices in New York and Washington, DC. CEO Ev Williams didn’t clearly explain why the job cuts were needed, except to say the company needs to move away from a doomed advertising strategy while ensuring that creators and writers were rewarded. He didn’t say what this could look like. “It’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet. It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to.”
…The problem isn’t that Medium doesn’t have strong metrics to drive an advertising model (it does). Ev clearly understands that advertising as we know it is not just broken, but is responsible for destroying many great publishers out there. Investor MG Siegler’s view on this is worth reading. “The reality — again, perhaps hard to see in the midst of such numbers — is that it behooves no one to simply continue down a path if you know the end result isn’t ultimately going to be successful. And so, the prudent yet extremely difficult move is to swallow your prideful metrics and course correct.”
As you know, Facebook won’t own up to its responsibilities as a media platform. But here’s another example of why they need to start taking responsibility for the service they provide: This week, assailants bound, gagged and tortured a man with special needs — all on Facebook Live. Is this an algo’s problem to fix?
Not everyone is convinced that Google is helping publishers with its fast-loading AMP mobile platform. For one, the URL ends up as google.com, which creates confusion for readers. “It looks like a Google story. That’s part of the reason why you’re getting the nervousness from some of these publishers.”
Snapchat is using machine learning to optimize ad campaign performance. It’s something called Goal-Based Bidding and is available to marketers buying ads through Snapchat’s API. This is how it works.
Here’s an interesting argument: The crisis around fake news presents an opportunity for brands to step forward with a point of view. “It’s no secret that every brand is an expert in something. Take a look at any corporate blog or social-media account and it should be plain to see. And it’s here that there’s an opportunity.”
China’s state broadcaster CCTV launched a global platform to help rebrand the country’s image overseas. President Xi wants CCTV to “tell China’s story well, spread China’s voice well, let the world know a three-dimensional, colorful China, and showcase China’s role as a builder of world peace.” It has channels in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian.
…Back home, CCTV created a series of (propaganda) content to reach millennials. “There isn’t any dry language or political jargon. People can relate to it.”
Twitter’s head of business in China left the company. Kathy Chen was hired just seven months ago in Hong Kong. She’s the latest high-profile exit under the Twitter’s plan to reduce 9% of its headcount.
Under orders from the Chinese authorities, Apple pulled news apps by the New York Times off its app store in China. “We have been informed that the app is in violation of local regulations.”
…Meanwhile, a Chinese news app called Bingdu is paying its users to read its content. It awards points based on the number of stories read and how often those stories are shared. The points can be exchanged for money or gifts.
Iran banned the game Clash of Clans. The authorities are worried that the game promotes “tribal conflict”.
Mark Zuckerberg’s resolution for the year: “My personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year. I’ve spent significant time in many states already, so I’ll need to travel to about 30 states this year to complete this challenge.” Is he starting to take an active interest in politics?
If you enjoy Kara Swisher’s work, this podcast is worth a listen. I have. Twice. This is a solid interview with Kara about her work in tech journalism, her disdain for media companies that don’t want to change, Facebook’s bullshit about not being a media company, being an entrepreneur and bad conferences. And there’s also a bit about Jesus. Listen here.
The Adenauer Fellowship is open for applications in Asia. The journalism fellowship covers tuition fees and semester grants for post-grad students and interns. Details here.
The International Journalists’ Network picked out the best investigative journalism pieces of 2016. Here’s the list.
If Trump rounds up whistleblowers and journalists, you can thank Obama for it. Yes, you can. In the past 8 years, the Obama administration prosecuted 9 cases involving whistleblowers — compared with only three of all previous administrations combined.
A16Z put out a comprehensive list of top tech policy developments of 2016. It’s mostly U.S., but that’s the stuff that will change how the world works.
Norway will turn off its FM radio network next week, forcing a shift to digital receivers. 66% of Norwegians are against the move, partly because many cars still don’t have DAB receivers in them.
France has a new law that gives permission for employees to avoid work emails and other communication during certain times. They’re calling it the “right to disconnect”.
…And in India, Google rolled out free high-speed internet at the 100th railway station, so people can, well, stay connected.
Quote of the week
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Have a great weekend everyone!
a.
From our readers
“I love Fridays. The Economist and The Splice Newsroom arrive.” — Pontus Sonnerstedt
I started The Splice Newsroom consultancy to help solve a difficult problem: getting newsrooms to adapt and evolve in the ongoing shift to digital with the right strategy, operations and training. I help transform traditional newsrooms and support the development of editorial startups. What can I do for you?
Questions or feedback? Want to sponsor this newsletter?
Email me at alansoon@thesplicenewsroom.com.
