Good morning.
- Surge is function of coverage, not popularity
In a new movie we’d produce, “The Sound of Ego,” we’d need some Iowa and New Hampshire nuns singing, “How do you solve a problem like Donald?” Until then, there’s the savvy duo of political scientists — John Sides of George Washington University and Lynn Vavreck of UCLA — who have crunched early coverage data and conclude the media is to blame. “The answer is simple: Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him since he announced his candidacy on June 16.” They pay short shrift to the notion that he’s tapped a bonafide vein of disenchantment and instead offer a quantitative analysis, while also suggesting that the “full scrutiny of the press” may well upend the surge. (Poynter) Let’s now see who follows the Des Moines Register in calling for Trump to get back to New York full-time. The call for him to quit at this point seems righteously flimsy. Let the process play out a smidgen longer, guys. (Des Moines Register)
- Gawker self-implosion (cont.)
Perhaps live by the snark, die by the snark. Gawker boss Nick Denton apparently had a tough time convincing the troops Monday that it wasn’t a mistake to yank an article on a little-known media executive who was seeking the pleasures of a gay porn star in Chicago (a member of a presumably small Midwest species). He talked about perhaps promulgating a statement of editorial principles. Well, maybe it could lay out protection of church rights, access to swift justice and limits on feudal payments to the Crown. Oops, that was the Magna Carta. Well, specifics of a Magna Gawker could be clarifying, nonetheless. (The Washington Post)
- Haute syndication
Tribune Publishing and Penske Media’s W.W.D (formerly Women’s Wear Daily) cut a deal in which fashion coverage will surface on LATimes.com and be provided to some Tribune print subscribers, including at the Chicago Tribune. “The deal also includes two issues of Footwear News.” (Capital New York) Don’t pooh-pooh Footwear News. It’s the only way I would know that Mariah Carey’s shoe closet is big enough to hold a Gawker staff meeting. (Footwear News)
- The future of news: monogrammed popcorn bags
It’s a nearly three-year-old online local news site that gets about 85,000 unique visitors a month and may generate $500,000 in revenue this year but is losing money. That pretty typical for online news sites according to a recent survey. (Poynter) But Richland Source in Mansfield, Ohio, is trying to make virtue out of necessity, being quaintly entrepreneurial (popcorn bags for high school concession stands), holding events and designing apparel, like neat t-shirts. It’s also trying to cover the news and educating a younger generation that doesn’t have much sense of what life was like there before the region descended into the economic dumper. It’s a tale of “new” media without the largess of fat-cat venture capital support or cutting-edge algorithms. Good luck. (NiemanLab)
- Courting readers is fine, but so is keeping them secret
Can you sell out readers while trying to sell them your wares? “What news organizations don’t worry enough about is keeping the identity of their readers secret. In an era when electronic spycraft is rampant, people who go to a website looking for news can unwittingly endanger themselves just by clicking on a story or video. Governments that know who is accessing specific information can intrude in a variety of ways—by blocking or censoring the story or by targeting individuals who access prohibited information for harassment or even legal action.” A movement’s afoot to encrypt websites, with the Washington Post the first major media outlet to encrypt most of its site. (Columbia Journalism Review)
- How to make a press conference interesting
British prankster-comedian Lee Nelson surfaced at a Sepp Blatter-FIFA presser in Zurich and made it rain fake money all over Blatter, the disgraced soccer chief who’s taking his sweet time leaving office. Nelson said he was representing North Korea and wanted to host the World Cup. Let’s hope this is inspiration for the sedate White House press corps. Next time CBS News’ Major Garrett wants to ask the president if he’s “content” about Americans being in Iranian jails, as he did last week, maybe he could further infuriate Obama by doing it in an orange prison jump suit. (Telegraph)
- A lousy wedge shot
Sarah Palin offered this nuanced conspiracy theory: “the Left and lazy media lapdogs,” she wrote (using uppercase for “the Left”), “are driving a wedge between two American heroes,” namely Sen. John McCain and Donald Trump. So Trump’s badmouthing of McCain is a function of lazy media lapdogs and their “politics of personal destruction.” Thank goodness she’s not pointing a finger at workaholic media lapdogs, only the lazy ones. (Adweek)
- Live video dying
Yes, Arianna Huffington is going bigger with live video. (Hollywood Reporter) But a strategic shift at the Wall Street Journal, which means doing less live video, reflects how “most live online news video efforts have struggled to find an audience.” Yes, there are still lots of resources to be expended for slick video on demand, and video views are rising. But it seems the notions of beating the TV guys at their game with the live stuff is in decided decline. (NiemanLab)
- Freudian (op-ed) slip
Three weeks ago BBC morning host Bill Turnbull wrote a column on “My Greatest Mistake.” He recounted some long ago technical mishap when he was working for a local radio station. (The Guardian) But, the star of “BBC Breakfast” said, “I fear my biggest mistake is the one I have yet to make, that will end my career,” perhaps “an inappropriate blurting.” Well, on Tuesday morning he appeared to use the “c” word rather than “client” in discussing a public health story. Fancy that with your porridge in Liverpool! The BBC quickly put out a statement, saying, “Bill unintentionally stumbled over his words and we apologise if any offence was caused.” (The Guardian)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
Granma in Cuba led Tuesday with the raising of the Cuban flag at the Cuban Embassy in Washington D.C.
(Courtesy the Kisoko)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Angelo Spagnolo is now a men’s lifestyle writer for BuzzFeed Life. He has written for GQ, Four Pins and Urban Outfitters. (Email) | Amelia Hennighausen is now photo editor at The Wall Street Journal. Previously, she was a photo editor at Bloomberg. (@ProfPhotoAmelia) | Elizabeth Paton is now a European correspondent for The New York Times styles staff. Previously, she was a reporter for the Financial Times. (Poynter) | Job of the day: ProPublica is looking for an assistant social editor. Get your résumés in! (ProPublica) |
Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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