- PLATFORMS (Adweek) — Are forums experiencing a comeback? Several newsrooms, including Rolling Stone and the Washington Post, are seeing a sharp increase in traffic from Reddit. The reason: a change to Google's algorithm that favors the visibility of these spaces. A trend that could appeal to newsrooms. Though at the risk of creating a similar dependence to the one they have with social networks?
- BEHIND THE SCENES (Libération) — In 2024, readers still take the time to write letters to their newspapers. Isn’t that nice? Not always. Libé invites us to browse through its archives of disparaging—even threatening—letters from male readers (not female readers) appalled by Anglicisms, so-called “woke” terms, or the unforgivable absence of blue in its maps.
- INTERNET (Aftermath) — Game Informer, MTV News … By closing their doors, these media outlets also shut down their websites, sometimes overnight, leading to the sudden disappearance of years of work. A situation that causes distress for readers and especially for the journalists behind these contents. Some are now calling for this kind of practice to be more heavily regulated.
- PAPER (The New York Times) — "Struggling media outlet reinvents itself by launching a print newspaper" could have been a headline published in the columns of satirical media outlet The Onion. Yet, this is a serious endeavor at the heart of its acquisition strategy. Management justifies this choice in part by growing interest among younger generations in "analog" entertainment such as vinyl records or film photography.
- PAPER (International Mail) — A passion for paper is also being reborn through "zines," these handmade micromagazines. In Japan, this practice particularly appeals to young people, who, with minimal resources, create and share their own publications. An alternative way to spread ideas, away from algorithms and the frenzy of social media.
- PLATFORMS (Axios) — Substack continues to attract journalists seeking independence at a time when the job market is struggling. However, while it remains the industry leader, its lax moderation policies and high commissions on members' earnings are pushing some to explore other ways to distribute their work (and we can hardly blame them).
PS: To learn more about this topic, we invite you to (re)read our journalist Marine Slavitch's article assessing journalists' use of Substack.
- COMMUNICATION (Strategy Breakdowns) — In the subject lines of its emails, on its website, and even in the bios of its journalists on X, the newsletter Morning Brew displays the ☕ emoji everywhere, to the point where the media has made it its own. A rather clever practice that allows it to weave its visual identity into its readers' everyday lives, in their texts and Slack messages.
- PLATFORMS (Radio-Canada) — Canada wanted to force major platforms to pay media outlets for content they used. To get around this, Meta simply announced it would no longer display them. Some newsrooms had to find alternatives by setting up newsletters or apps. But these solutions aren't accessible to everyone, especially independent media.
- AI (Press Gazette) — After being accused of plagiarizing articles, the Perplexity AI announces it is launching a program to share advertising revenue with media outlets. These partner newsrooms will also be able to access statistics about their performance in search results. And for media outlets that don't want to participate? Perplexity apparently will continue to cite them without paying them.
- TOOLS (GoodTape) — Want to save yourself hours of transcription? At Médianes we use GoodTape, a service developed by the team behind the Danish media outlet Zetland. It was designed specifically for journalists and therefore promises to secure your audio files. With the free version, however, you will be limited in the number of recordings you can transcribe each month.
