The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

The start-ups saving local news in the U.S.

The narrative that local news is dead is widely accepted in the media industry. The rise of digital advertising has cut off local news organisation's main source of revenue, leading to decades of cuts and managed decline at once-lucrative publications who have struggled to adapt.

But over the last few years, there have been glimmers of hope. Although there are still vast news deserts with no coverage, start-ups are springing up to fill gaps in some areas. Publications like Axios get a lot of publicity for their pledges to save local news via their bullet-pointed newsletters. However, there are many smaller publishers which get far less attention, but which are well on the way to making the business side of local news work for them.

In this special podumentary episode of Media Voices, Esther Thorpe talks to four of the participants of the most recent Google News Initiative Startups Lab: Borderless, Santa Cruz Local, the San Jose Spotlight, and The Mendocino Voice. They discuss what drove them to start their publication, what business models they're choosing to use, and some of the challenges they've faced launching a media business.

For more on the start-ups, the transcript and more, see our website voices.media

The Big Issue UK Editor Paul McNamee on making every aspect of the magazine necessary

This week UK Editor of The Big Issue Paul McNamee tells us about the Big Issue’s Breakthrough scheme, paying disadvantaged young people to get into journalism. He also talks about why the magazine needed a redesign to make everything important and necessary, working with designer Matt Willey, their relationship with subscribers, digital-first news and balancing campaigning with making a properly entertaining magazine.

Ahead of the interview the team discuss their outrageous predictions for 2022 in media, from the necessity for strike teams to shut down live audio, through the Pivot to the Metaverse, to the rise and rise of micropayments for news (finally). Merry Christmas, all, and a happy New Year!

Special: Highlights from Media Moments 2021

This special episode of Media Voices includes the audio of our launch presentation for the Media Moments 2021 report. Chris, Peter and Esther each outline which media moment of the year they found interesting, before being joined by an expert panel of media analysts to dissect the year.

The team are then joined by The Rebooting's Brian Morrissey, Press Gazette's Charlotte Tobitt, The Reuters Institute's Professor Lucy Kueng, and Sovrn's Dominic Perkins. The panel talks about some of the key media trends that have affected publishers this year, and what they're all keeping an eye on in 2022.

Visit voices.media to learn more about our sponsors, partners and to download the report itself for free.

Executive Editor of Noema magazine Kathleen Miles on publishing in an intellectual niche

Noema is a magazine looking at some of the biggest issues of the 21st century - AI, the climate crisis, the future of democracy and capitalism. Its Executive Editor Kathleen Miles tells us about the challenges of publishing in what seems like a very high-brow niche, commissioning and editing writers like Yuval Harari and Francis Fukuyama - and how interests outside of publishing feed back into her work.

In the news roundup Peter and Chris discuss whether taking fossil fuel ad money makes publications complicit in greenwashing, the BBC's audience figures ahead of its centenary, and whether US media companies should be enviously looking at UK publications. 

FT Strategies MD Tara Lajumoke on building a robust playbook for subscription businesses

This week we hear from Tara Lajumoke, Managing Director of FT Strategies, the Financial Times' consulting firm. We discussed how FT Strategies fits into the FT's wider goals, what her role involves as MD, and how they're building a robust playbook for other subscription businesses. We also talk about how publishers' subscription strategies are holding up after the pandemic.

In the news round up, Peter and Esther discuss Spotify's paid podcast tools, Axios' early expansion of its local newsletters into 11 new locations, and why we still care about magazine covers. 

The Independent US Senior Vice President Blair Tapper on shaping the publication overseas

This week, we hear from Blair Tapper, Senior Vice President at The Independent US. She talks about what her priorities have been since the brand's US launch, what an Independent reader looks like across the pond, and why their new commercial offerings are more mission-based. She also explains why block lists create huge missed opportunities for advertisers as well as publishers.

 

In the news roundup the team discuss whether altruism is the key driver of subscriptions (and which publishers can make the most of it), ask if micro news in audio is a losing bet for everyone, and chat about why women in publishing have been so poorly served during the pandemic.

The Great Privacy Reset: Insider Inc, Future plc and Permutive discuss the challenges and opportunities for publishers

In this special Conversations episode of Media Voices, sponsored by Permutive, we explore the ‘Great Privacy Reset’.

The tension between advertising and privacy has hit a boiling point in recent years. Invasive tracking across the web and increasingly aggressive ways of building data profiles of consumers has been seen as standard in the industry, with companies racing to get more data than ever about people. But at the same time as awareness has grown about these methods, consumers are pushing back. We’ve recently seen initiatives both from regulators demanding better control and fairer use of data, and the platforms themselves putting measures in place to restrict and prevent certain types of tracking.

This episode, we hear from Jana Meron, Senior VP of Programmatic and Data Strategy at Insider Inc, Nicholas Flood, Future plc’s Global Ad Product and Revenue Operations Director, and Joe Root, Founder of Permutive. They talk about where these issues arose from, some of the challenges they face implementing the changes, and how we can all work towards a sustainable advertising ecosystem for the future.

Permutive are rebuilding data in programmatic advertising to protect privacy. As the only Audience Platform built on patented and privacy-preserving on-device technology, they enable premium advertisers and publishers to plan, build and activate cohorts — all while keeping everyone’s data safe. You can learn more about their work, case studies and resources at permutive.com.

Global Director of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network James Fahn on why everyone should be a climate change journalist

This week’s interview is with James Fahn, Global Director of Internews’ Environmental Programs and its Earth Journalism Network. Internews trains journalists around the world in support of a free press - James spoke with us as he sets out with a group of journalists from the global south to cover COP26 from their own perspectives.

In the news roundup the team discuss the return to the magazine fold for one of independent newsletters' first big stars - and whether that spells the end for the newsletter dream. In the NIBs we ask if Adobe can help fight disinformation through better image information, success for Bloomberg Media, and make endless football analogies.

CMQ Media Founder & Analyst David Adeleke on the media scene in Nigeria and beyond

This week we hear from David Adeleke, Founder of CMQ Media and creator of the Communiqué newsletter analysing the intersection of the media, content ecosystem, and the digital economy in Africa. He outlines the complexities of using African media as a catch-all term, how podcasts are growing across the continent, and why an acquisition last year by Stripe has provided a lightbulb moment for technology investors.

In the news roundup, the team discuss yet more revelations about Facebook (now Meta), a stock market comeback for a number of publishers, and more publisher NFTs going for crazy amounts of money. Peter tells us about his crypto stocks.

The Players‘ Tribune executive editor Sean Conboy on tackling mental health in sports reporting‘

This week we hear from Sean Conboy, Executive Editor at The Players' Tribune; a sports-focused site that publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. He talks about the process they use to get content from elite athletes, and why the site doesn't shy away from difficult stories and human rights issues, like the ones around the Qatar World Cup.

In the news roundup Chris and Peter take a look at a grab bag of media stories from the Financial Times reporting a loss, through the reinvention of Rolling Stone, to the hypocritical hiring practices of the BBC's director general. Video podcasting killed the podcasting stars.

Immediate Media Chief Revenue Officer Duncan Tickell on strengthening brands post-pandemic

For our 200th episode, we hear from Duncan Tickell, Chief Revenue Officer at Immediate Media. He talks about why he rejoined Immediate and what his focus is now with diversification, how their podcasts are becoming a seven figure revenue business, and what he’s doing to help the publisher maintain the gains it made during the pandemic. He also explains why sourdough webinars have been such a hit, and why it’s so important to be in markets where consumers are passionate.

In the news roundup the team goes all-in on the Alden Global Capital expose, compares it with the news that Axel Springer is investing heavily in Politico, and then compare that in turn with the Axios local newsletter membership launch. Chris spoils the end of a movie from 1974.

The New Republic‘s Literary Editor Laura Marsh on storytelling through print and podcasts

On this week's episode we hear from The New Republic's Literary Editor Laura Marsh. She tells us about what makes working in an audio format especially rewarding, best practice for evolving your audio product, and why non-news content is such a good touchpoint for audiences.

In the news roundup the team discuss why Facebook's outage isn't necessarily the best news for publishers, the needless and futile rollercoaster of Ozy Media, and why The Daily Mail thought it could use a lawyer's tweets as a column. We somehow forgot that next week is our 200th episode.

The Information Reporter Kaya Yurieff on covering the sprawling creator economy

This week we hear from Kaya Yurieff, The Information's Creator Economy Reporter. We talked about how she covers an industry that is so new and sprawling, some of the challenges of being a creator, and how it fits with The Information's other coverage. She also explains why businesses should take creators seriously, and why she expects to see more Creator Economy reporters at other outlets in the future.

In the news round-up, Chris, Esther and a freshly holiday-ed Peter discuss the closure of Ozy Media; the Theranos of publishing that none of us had heard of until this week. Facebook ends up in hot water yet again and will probably be dealing with fresh scandal as soon as this episode is released.

Founder of The Manchester Mill Joshi Herrmann on why local news must rediscover its pride

The Manchester Mill is a subscription-based newsletter for the modern age. In this interview its founder Joshi Herrmann tells us why good local journalism demands having boots on the ground, how the sins of the past are impacting the journalism of today, and how he plans to expand into new cities and new revenue streams.

In the news roundup we're joined by founder of The Business of Content Simon Owens to discuss what we've learned about newsletters from one year of Casey Newton's Substack. We take a look at everything from newsletter discovery, to price anchoring, to whether the wave of new launches has already crested. It's an unexpected Newsletters Special!

Social Spider MD David Floyd on finding a better way to fund local news

On this week's episode of Media Voices we hear from David Floyd, MD of Social Spider, a community interest company that publishes five community newspapers in London. He tells us about finding a new model for local news - one that's maybe commercially viable enough - and about why local news matters.

In the news roundup the team discusses the revelations from the Wall Street Journal's ongoing publication of The Facebook Files, the launch of News UK's talkTV, and ask if anyone still uses Clubhouse. Chris and Peter have a Fleetwood Mac singalong.

Conversations: How robot journalism is powering the modern newsroom

In this special Conversations episode we hear about the past, future and most importantly present of robot journalism. Automated journalism has been around for many years now, delivering value back to the parent newsrooms that use it effectively. AI tools allow newsrooms to tailor the output of the robots to fit their house style, to interview people for inclusion in the created article - and to allow the newsrooms’ human writers to spread their wings. 

In this episode Cecilia Campbell of United Robots helps myth-bust some of the common fallacies about what robot journalism can - and can’t - do. From the integration of video or interactive features to what it allows the newsroom to concentrate on beyond rote data work. To help illustrate what is possible we’re also joined by Ard Boer, Product Manager for Sport at NDC Mediagroep, who tells us how their sports team is making the most of robot journalism.

For more information on United Robots or its work with publishers, you can visit https://unitedrobots.ai/

Former EMPIRE Editor in Chief Terri White on why she left the best job in magazines

On this special episode of Media Voices, former Editor in Chief of EMPIRE Terri White takes us through the changes she made during her time at the magazine, from opening up the brand to a wider audience of both readers and contributors, to inspiring staff and cultivating the passionate community of new and longer-term subscribers.

She also expounds her reasons for resigning from EMPIRE - a role that she still today calls the best job in the world - and the realities of juggling family life with a top job in media.

Editor and publisher of Freelancer Sophie Cross on the joys of launching an indie mag

In this week's episode we hear from Sophie Cross, the founder and editor of Freelancer magazine. She tells Peter about her penchant for writing business plans, the freelance community that inspired the Freelancer magazine launch, and how she kept the spark going after the initial rush of the first issue. In the news roundup the team discusses the remarkable e-commerce based turnaround of Future plc, Twitter's revenue results, and ask if Facebook is launching its independent publishing platform Bulletin in a smart way. See you later in summer!

Future Chief Audience & eCom Officer Aaron Asadi on driving affiliate revenue

In this episode Future's Chief Audience and Ecommerce Officer Aaron Asadi tells us about where the ecommerce function sits within Future, how it is developing in relation to audience development, and creating content for affiliate ecommerce revenues across a huge range of brands. In the news roundup the team discusses whether climate change needs to become a part of every journalist's beat, the internal wars going on at GB News and Twitter sunsetting its Fleets feature. Put in the spotlight, Chris struggles to find the audio tweet function within 30 seconds.

Journalism.co.uk Editor Marcela Kunova on nurturing innovation in newsrooms

This week we hear from Marcela Kunova, Editor at Journalism.co.uk. She’s recently launched a newsroom innovation mentorship programme which will pair experienced industry professionals with local and regional journalists in the UK, with the aim of nurturing innovation in audience engagement, AI, editorial strategy and more. We talked about what she’s hoping to achieve with the programme, how she translated Newsrewired to a virtual event, and why it’s so important to support freelancers. In the news roundup the team discuss a report on the broken link between reach and revenue, and ask if we can ever get past the 'publishers vs. Duopoly' industry mindset. We also discuss the closure of Knewz, how privacy is driving advertisers to Android, and genuinely horrifying behaviour from a BBC non-exec director. Chris lives under a busy flightpath now, apparently.