What happens when publishers face a 'news ban'
Plus: Building direct relationships with readers and a new Lead on Substack
Good afternoon,
Hope you’re having a good week so far - the sun is shining here in Lancashire and I got out of the office chair after a busy start to September to recently enjoyed a couple of days in the Lake District. It was warm, sunny and I got sunburnt which is unheard of in a place renowned for being damp for the most part of the year. Here’s the kind of views we enjoyed during a 10-mile trek up some fells on Monday. It was definitely the best way to spend a Monday in a fair while.
So enough of my fell walking and into some updates on some interesting reads which have passed by my feeds in the last week or so…
How Meta’s news ban reshaped Canadian media - Jessica Patterson, Digital Content Next - I’ve mentioned before the challenges being faced in Canada where a government settlement was negotiated to try and force the big tech platforms to pay for news. Meta took some very heavy-handed action.
This piece speaks to various publishers on the frontline about what they’ve experienced in terms of their connections with audiences and relatively how stories and content perform for them since the change kicked in during 2023 - across Facebook and also worth noting across Instagram.
There’s also the law of unexpected consequences when big sweeping blocks like this are put in - see the community and student radio stations which were almost wiped off the internet as a case in point.
I thought Brian Bachynski’s comment about how Great West Media tried to tackle the challenges was interesting - especially about how they introduced a strategy around breaking news. This remains a USP for many local media outlets and the need/want for local information doesn’t disappear because Facebook banned it. All editors will know how their homepage sees a surge when a big news event happens - so ensuring you’re well drilled and ready is crucial.
Using WhatsApp to drive engagement and revenue - Dan Russell, INMA - an insightful read - and very relevant to the above with what’s happened in Canada - as Dan expands on how WhatsApp is being used to drive direct relationships with readers across a variety of titles.
Because of the prevalence and usage of WhatsApp, particularly in the UK, the private-sharing of stories or group-sharing of news and information is increasingly replacing the social-sharing of content as people become concerned about how they make look for sharing a specific piece or content or see a negative reaction from friends-family. We’ll see this become even more commonplace.
You can read my learnings from how we’ve been using WhatsApp on Blog Preston over the past few months to build a hyper-engaged audience nearly 1,000 strong.
Tortoise eyes up bid for The Observer - Charlotte Tobitt, Press Gazette - self-styled ‘slow news brand’ Tortoise, which focuses on podcasts and long-read newsletters, is putting in a bid to hive The Observer off from Guardian Media Group.
I think we’ll see continued splintering off from larger brands of individual titles, to individual investors or start-ups like Tortoise. As I said in a comment to CityPress Chris Hopper I think there’s a lot of synergies and opportunities for Tortoise in obtaining a legacy brand like The Observer to hugely extend their reach as a brand and overlaps in how they approach stories and advertisers too. The past decades have been about mega-consolidations, maybe the next decade will be about tactical acquisitions and more mid-to-smaller media players emerging in the market and it becoming more diverse.
A few parish-pump notices to finish off with this week…
A reminder the University of Central Lancashire’s industry-leading journalism leadership and innovation programme has opened for applications for 2025. There’s some bursary support available and it’s a great course for people who are looking for that next step in their media career development or who have started something themselves and want to upskill and learn.
And The Lead, who we’ve been working with via our editorial consultancy Alma, has taken the plunge onto Substack. It looks great and there’s a clear membership/supporter option available with a focus on writing about health, immigration and climate. Have a read of national editor Dimi’s opening newsletter.
On Friday I’m speaking to the Local News Commission about all things local journalism in the North West of England. If you’ve got any points you’d like me to make, particularly if you run or work within an independent news title in the North West, drop me a line ed@almaonline.co.uk and I’m happy to make them.
That’s this weeks round up and I hope those are food for thought for you.
Have a great rest of the week and keep going.
Ed