Good morning. The weekend awaits. Here are 10 media stories.
- “Dark social” = Facebook
For years, publishers couldn’t identify the source of a hunk of their traffic. Chartbeat this week “flipped a switch on its real-time dashboard to place that traffic in its proper bucket”; “We saw mobile Facebook traffic increase by about 40% on sites with big Facebook presences,” its chief data scientist, Josh Schwartz, said. (Marketing Land) | “The only question is how much Facebook traffic you’re not counting,” Alexis Madrigal writes. (Fusion) | “Dark social comprises only a small percent of overall desktop traffic, but commands a fairly significant chunk of mobile traffic.” (Chartbeat) | “That kind of dependence on a single site raises all kinds of issues.” (Gigaom)
- J-school student arrested in NYC Garner protests
City University of New York grad student Desiree Mathurin reported on a protest at the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday night and got popped with 82 others. She “said she was taking pictures of an officer arresting someone when she was told to move.” (Student Press Law Center) | She says she has a court date Jan. 1. (@Dez_SM) | It’s the media’s fault, Pt. 23,742: A “lot of media is not educating everyone as to what the law is, and what the duties of a police officer are,” Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins tells Tamron Hall. (WP)
- The New Republic changes editors, and garments are rent
Franklin Foer and Leon Wieseltier left the publication yesterday. Gabriel Snyder will be the new boss. Owner Chris Hughes and CEO Guy Vidra envision a “vertically integrated digital media company,” and the publication’s center of gravity will shift to New York. (Politico) (Poynter) (Gawker) (HuffPost) (NYT) | “Several members of The New Republic’s staff are now planning to show up at the magazine’s offices on Friday and resign.” (Politico) | Foer “was placed in the humiliating position of having to phone Hughes to get confirmation after Gawker.com posted an item at 2:35 p.m. reporting the rumor that Bloomberg Media editor Gabriel Snyder, himself a onetime Gawker editor, had been hired as Foer’s replacement.” (The Daily Beast) | Jonathan Chait: “Frank Foer isn’t leaving TNR because he wasn’t a good enough editor. He’s leaving because Chris Hughes is not a good enough owner.” (New York) | Andrew Sullivan: “I’m heart-broken today about what can only be called the corporate manslaughter of my alma mater.” (The Daily Dish) | Erik Wemple: “According to three sources, the Hughes regime realized in mid-2013 that it couldn’t sustain a great print magazine and a great web project at the same time.” (WP) | Marin Cogan: “This likely means the end of The New Republic as we’ve known it for the last 100 years.” (New York) | Ezra Klein: “It’s a bit early, I think, to write The New Republic’s eulogy.” (Vox) | “What will Chris Hughes do next? Perhaps the publication might even become interesting. Scream!” (Gawker)
- ‘Newsroom of the Future’ hits The Journal News
11 people lost their jobs in restructuring at the Gannett-owned paper, which covers Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties in New York. (Capital)
- RIP Bryan Burwell
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist died Thursday. He was 59. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) | Bernie Miklasz: “Burwell didn’t care about your status, or where you ranked on the ladder of journalism. If you shared a press box with Burwell, you were his equal.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) | Bud Selig: “Bryan’s passion and professionalism were evident throughout his long and distinguished sports media career.” (ESPN) | “It’s going to be too quiet out there without Bryan’s voice.” (Michael Wilbon‘s Facebook) |
- Why Say Media is bailing on content
It’s selling its publications and pitching its free CMS, Tempest, as a “It Just Works” solution to publishers, Ryan Lawler reports. The more that adopt it, the more money Say will make by selling remnant ad space. CEO Matt Sanchez “says there are more than 12,000 digital magazines out there in the world today. If it captures just a small portion of those, it could have a big business ahead of it.” (TechCrunch)
- Torii Hunter calls reporter a ‘prick’
(St. Paul, Minnesota) Pioneer Press reporter Mike Berardino asked Hunter at a press conference about his views on gay marriage. “Hey Mike is kind of a prick huh?” Hunter said, and used the term four more times to describe Berardino. (Deadspin) | “Hunter, 39, became agitated at the line of questioning.” (Pioneer Press) | “So thankful to have such supportive bosses and colleagues at the @PioneerPress. Blessed again to work with true professionals.” (@MikeBerardino)
- BBC will broadcast ‘Serial’
The hit podcast will go terrestrial in the U.K. starting Sunday. (The Guardian)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
“Grand Fury” in Boston. (Courtesy the Newseum.)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Gabriel Snyder will be editor at The New Republic. He’s digital advisor at Bloomberg L.P. (Poynter) | James Shanahan will be dean at Indiana University’s Media School. He’s currently an associate dean at Boston University. (Poynter) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
Corrections? Tips? Please email me: abeaujon@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.
