What I've been reading: Future of News conference takeaways, a Chrome plugin innovation and building authentic online communities
I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk
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The Future of News conference - Press Gazette - I've seen a fair few different pieces from what looked to be a strong conference and discussion line-up, definitely with AI being the dominate theme from the sounds of it. Two of my former colleagues at Reach had some really strong takeaways from the event - David Bartlett's are here on LinkedIn. I thought David's pull-out around live coverage was very interesting, and it feels like when that 'big news event' happens then having the bells-and-whistles approach to Live coverage is becoming even more essential - and is then the lever for being able to drive registrations, subscriptions, brand recognition. How do you make sure your A-team is on it when those opportunities come (as they aren't always planned for!). Jacqui Merrington's takeaways, again on LinkedIn, were more AI-focused and it is the key gamechanger the industry is grappling with at the moment (feels similar to the rise of social in the late 2000s). There's a strong set of global principles from dozens of publisher groups calling for clear guidelines for the use of AI in media - it's encouraging to see this kind of collaborative step coming so early in the game, rather than a knee-jerk reaction. The bit about respecting copyright is key. While Madeleine White, editor-in-chief of the Audiencers, picked up on with subscription growth starting to level off, how do publishers keep going? This was referenced by Nic Newman and Madeleine had some good ideas on how to tackle this - and diversification of revenue streams to me feels like the absolutely core one. Also worth noting just how much Press Gazette has evolved, go back a few years and it was all reactionary and not really on the media agenda (and still very newspapers rah rah rah) - now it is writing about the topics that the industry is grappling with. A good sign and healthy.
Visiting the American community/independent media sector - Rhiannon Davies, LinkedIn - I studied with Rhiannon on the UCLan journalism leadership and innovation course, she runs Greater Govanhill CIC in Glasgow and she's landed the chance (thanks to the Churchill Fellowship) to go and visit lots of community media/journalism research organisations and much more. The American independent media space is broad, and seems far more well-supported and developed (e.g. the recently announced $500million national fund for local news projects) than in the UK. So it's been fascinating to read Rhiannon's takes as she heads around the States and visits and speaks to people - big thanks to her for sharing what's been scribbled in her notepad as she gets around.
The Myth of Non-Profit Media Immunity: A Deep Dive into Sustainability - Andrew Ramsammy - this is from over in the US but it was an important post from Andrew about how just because a media company is non-profit doesn't make it exempt from the pressures of the wider economy. This line certainly struck true "they are not exempt from the overarching need for viable revenue streams" and has been an important part of my thinking during my time setting up and running Blog Preston during the 2010s.
Bringing together multiple news sources in a Chrome plugin - Manoj Kumar Venkataramanan, The Hindu - obviously the future is mobile (well the present really, we're already there), but hear me out. With more people being back in offices (at least some of the time either through choice or enforced) or in developing economies like India more people working in an office than previously in more manual jobs as the economy expands then don't write off desktop users. I thought this was really smart, the team at The Hindu group brought together their multiple titles in a Chrome plugin, so you open a tab and get a curated feed of their content as a destination from all their titles. A great example of serving a need, being useful and it's a great introductory point to their content and helping people explore more titles in their group.
Cracking The Authenticity Code with Jon Birchall - The Community Exchange Podcast, Open Web - an interesting lesson with Jon (disclaimer: I used to work with Jon when we were at Reach), who is director of editorial strategy at LadBible as he lifts the lid on how they approach different platforms across a diverse range of brands. Jon's spot on that it's combining both the technical expertise but also the great content/the story, if you shoe-horn something into a platform then increasingly it will not be rewarded. You need to be 'of the platform' is my view on how to approach different channels/brands etc. InPublishing ran a series back in 2021 about building online communities/community building, which I contributed to, and is worth a look back through for some good tips on where to start.
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