Seeking “innovative,” “stable,” and “interested”: How The Markup and CalMatters matched up

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Thursday, April 25, 2024 [Seeking “innovative,” “stable,” and “interested”: How The Markup and CalMatters matched up]( Nonprofit news has seen an uptick in mergers, acquisitions, and other consolidations. CalMatters CEO Neil Chase still says “I don’t think we’ve seen enough yet.” By Sarah Scire. [“Objectivity” in journalism is a tricky concept. What could replace it?]( “For a long time, ‘objectivity’ packaged together many important ideas about truth and trust. American journalism has disowned that brand without offering a replacement.” By Jonathan Stray. What We’re Reading Substack / Richard J. Tofel [Early thoughts on the New York news subsidy →]( “Among the surprising number of critical issues that will only be decided once the regulations are issued (and perhaps survive court challenges) are the following: whether digital news organizations will be included within what the law refers to as ‘newspapers’; whether the subsidy is limited to news employees, or extends to business staff; whether eligible employees must be engaged in local news as opposed to, for instance, national or international news; and whether opinion journalism is included along with news reporting. The law itself makes no distinction between for-profits and non-profits.” The Hollywood Reporter / Alex Weprin [Inside The New York Times’ next big bet on audio, “The Interview” →]( “In a crowded marketplace for interview shows, The Interview is hoping to stand out not just in the quality of its bookings, or in the brand identity of the Times, but with an interesting twist on the format as well. Every subject will be interviewed twice: Once for an initial conversation, likely in studio, and a second interview days later, over a phone call or a Zoom.” The Times of India [WhatsApp tells Delhi’s High Court that the platform will exit India if it’s forced to break encryption →]( “WhatsApp has more than 400 million users in India, making it the largest market for the platform…The messaging platform argued that the rules undermines encryption of content as well as the privacy of the users. It also violates fundamental rights of the users guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India.” Media Nation / Dan Kennedy [Cuts at WBUR underscore the black swan event that now threatens public radio →]( “Critics like Uri Berliner would have us believe that public radio is suffering because of liberal bias, but that’s based on the dubious premise that there is some large bloc of conservative listeners who’ve stopped listening, or that underwriters suddenly were offended by what they heard. There is no evidence for either proposition. Rather, this is a business problem, and it’s not at all clear what the solution is going to be.” The New York Times / Cecilia Kang [The FCC votes to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules →]( “In a three-to-two vote along party lines, the five-member commission appointed by President Biden revived the rules that declare broadband a utility-like service regulated like phones and water. The rules also give the F.C.C. the ability to demand broadband providers report and respond to outages.” Adweek / Kathryn Lundstrom [Best Buy and CNET debut a new retail-publisher partnership →]( “He predicted that retailers — aiming to mimic the “flywheel” created by Amazon’s mutually beneficial media, ads and commerce businesses — would begin pairing up with relevant publishers to accelerate the growth of their retail media businesses … Think grocery chains pairing up with recipe publishers, pharmacies with health publishers or beauty retailers and fashion sites.” Politico / Eli Stokols [The petty feud between the New York Times and the Biden White House →]( “Although the president’s communications teams bristle at coverage from dozens of outlets, the frustration, and obsession, with the Times is unique, reflecting the resentment of a president with a working-class sense of himself and his team toward a news organization catering to an elite audience — and a deep desire for its affirmation of their work. On the other side, the newspaper carries its own singular obsession with the president, aggrieved over his refusal to give the paper a sit-down interview that Publisher AG Sulzberger and other top editors believe to be its birthright.” Puck / Dylan Byers [Jim VandeHei on the new breed of media companies →]( “What I like about all of them is that they’re staying smaller, longer. They’re much more focused on revenue. All of them are very focused on a very specific audience and produce high-quality content and figure out more ways to make money off of it … I think anything that is kind of niche works.” The Information / Erin Woo, Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa [ByteDance is exploring scenarios for selling TikTok without its algorithm →]( “One scenario under discussion involves ByteDance selling more than 50% of TikTok U.S. but retaining a minority stake. ByteDance could retain 20%, the limit that the law puts on Chinese ownership…The sale options being discussed wouldn’t include the algorithm that powers TikTok, but it would include the TikTok brand. China would probably block the sale of the algorithm anyway. In 2020, when ByteDance last considered selling TikTok, China changed its export control rules to include technology such as the algorithm.” The New York Times / Sam Roberts [Alfonso Chardy, who helped expose the Iran-Contra scandal at The Miami Herald, dies at age 72 →]( “Mr. Chardy joined other teams of reporters at The Herald in winning Pulitzer Prizes for public service in 1993, awarded for the paper’s coverage of Hurricane Andrew; for investigative reporting in 1999, for revealing voter fraud in a mayoral election, which was subsequently overturned; and for breaking news in 2001, for articles about Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy who was seized in a raid by immigration agents and returned to Cuba after a court challenge to his U.S. qualifications for asylum.” Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt [The Lever, an investigative outlet exposing corporate corruption, grows its editorial team →]( “We thought we had to offer all these additional kind of bonus content to keep our paid subscribers invested but what we’ve found for the most part is that these people are not paying subscribers because they want to get something additional. They actually really believe in what we’re doing.” The Washington Post / Will Sommer [Gateway Pundit to file for bankruptcy amid election conspiracy lawsuits →]( “Gateway Pundit is not alone among far-right media outlets to file for bankruptcy as they face legal judgments. The conspiracy-theorist outlet Infowars and its founder, Alex Jones, both filed for bankruptcy in 2022 as they faced huge legal judgments for promoting conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](