It’s Thursday. Here’s a pop quiz: How many media stories do you think you’re about to get?
- UK newspaper distributor will do same-day Amazon deliveries: “Connect Group will make early morning deliveries at the same time as it delivers daily newspapers and use contractors to fulfill a second delivery in the afternoon.” Connect distributes The Guardian and The Mirror, Rory Gallivan reports. (Wall Street Journal)
- Longtime S.F. Chronicle editor William German dies at 95: “Mr. German began his career at the paper as a copy boy. When he retired 62 years later, he was the dean of West Coast editors. He had helped transform The Chronicle from the No.3 newspaper in a four-newspaper city to the largest paper in Northern California.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
- BBC battles Ebola in Africa with WhatsApp: “The service will deliver information on preventative care, health tips and breaking news bulletins specific to the region about the virus in French and English, and often in audio formats,” writes Alastair Reid. (Journalism.co.uk) | Related: 5 tips on covering Ebola from the Dallas Morning News and KERA News. (Poynter) | Related: 5 Ebola falsehoods, via PunditFact. (Poynter)
- Ken Doctor on Kushner’s OC Register: “Aaron Kushner, by age 40, may be setting a land-speed record for entry, meteoric rise, embarrassing fall and exit from the newspaper industry.” (Nieman Lab) | Related: A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Times alleges not only that Kushner has failed to pay more than $2 million owed to the Times for delivery services, but also that the Register kept tips intended for the LA Times newspaper carriers who delivered the Register. (OC Weekly) | Related: “I admired his daring approach, his insistence that investing in newspapers rather than constantly cutting them back and weakening them would give them a better chance to prevail in the digital age,” Rem Rieder writes. (USA Today)
- Another alt-weekly closes: The Knoxville News Sentinel, which owns the Metro Pulse, laid off all 23 staffers, including everyone at the alt-weekly. “Yes, it’s true. We don’t exist anymore. We no longer have jobs either. This week’s issue will be our last,” Metro Pulse wrote on its Facebook page. (Poynter)
- Indianapolis TV news crew carjacked: No one was hurt after the van was stolen by a gunman after a reporter and photographer for WXIN covered a prayer vigil. (Fox59)
- Ernie Pyle statue has a misspelling: The Indiana University alum who covered World War II is referred to as a “U.S. War Corespondent.” The sculptor says it could become “part of the lore of the piece.” (Indiana Daily Student)
- ICYMI: At the Washington Post, “what began as a simple experiment to improve the site’s author pages has evolved into the beginnings of a completely new content management platform,” explains Benjamin Mullin. (Poynter)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare: The Kansas City Star celebrates the Royals’ trip to the World Series (courtesy the Newseum).
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin: Ryan Kellett is now audience and engagement editor at The Washington Post. Previously, he was national digital editor there. (The Washington Post) | Dean Haddock is a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. He is director of web and information technology for StoryCorps. Melody Joy Kramer is a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. She is an editor and digital strategist at NPR. Donna Pierce is now a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. She is a contributing editor at Upscale Magazine. Jack Riley is now a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. He is head of audience development for The Huffington Post UK. Freek Staps is now a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. He heads up business news start-up NRC Q. Amy Webb is now a visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. She is the founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group. (Nieman Lab) | Job of the day: BuzzFeed UK is looking for a political reporter. Get your résumés in! (BuzzFeed) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org
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