Univision’s plans for the former Gawker sites: A shared business backend, less duplication, and a push into TV: The latest from Nieman Lab

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, February 6, 2017 [Univision’s plans for the former Gawker sites: A shared business backend, less duplication, and a push into TV]( “Think of all these sites as the digital, non-linear television arm of Univision.” By Shan Wang. [The history of American conspiracy theories holds some lessons for fake news debunkers, says Jesse Walker]( “For a lot of people, the real assumption that they bring to the news, even beyond their partisan affiliations, is an expectation of a smooth narrative…That’s the real bias that readers have to combat, and it’s something that people in the media have to think about.” By Ricardo Bilton. [As a presidential election looms in France, Google and Facebook team up with news outlets to factcheck]( What We’re Reading Marketing Land / Danny Sullivan [Hot: URLs in Super Bowl ads. Not: Hashtags in Super Bowl ads. →]( “Hashtags were in 30 percent of Super Bowl 51 ads, down significantly from 45 percent last year. More ads used URLs than hashtags for the first time since Marketing Land has measured them, 41 percent in all.” Search Engine Land / Danny Sullivan [Google makes it easier to see and share publishers’ real URLs from AMP pages →]( “Now, the URL field of a browser will continue to show a Google URL. However, the AMP header area will display a link or chain icon, what it calls the “anchor” button. Clicking on this will make the publisher’s direct URL appear, so that it can be easily copy-and-pasted” Wall Street Journal / Christopher Mims [Is Snapchat the new TV? →]( “It’s hard for people who aren’t teens with a million Snapchat friends to grasp, but once your network is sufficiently big, viewing stories can feel like the ‘lean-back’ experience of watching television, as opposed to the ‘lean-forward’ experience of engaging on social media.” Business Insider / Nathan McAlone [Media startup Odyssey has slashed over a third of its employees, less than a year after raising $25 million →]( The startup, which functions a bit like a college paper on steroids, has laid off 55 people, focused mostly on the editorial side. CEO Evan Burns claimed the layoffs were intended to clear a path for the company to completely re-make its technology platform, which it hadn’t been able to scale properly. The New York Times / Liz Spayd [A hard look at New York Times editing in the digital era →]( “Right now, there are more editors in the newsroom than reporters, photographers and other journalists in the field. Said one unnamed journalist quoted in the Times 2020 Report: ‘Every story feels like a fire hydrant — it gets passed from dog to dog, and no one can let it go by without changing a few words.’ The question is no longer whether the editing ranks will be squeezed. It is: How will it happen, when will it happen and how many positions will be lost?” Medium / GEN team [A Q&A with Aron Pilhofer on opportunities for startups within news organizations →]( “[A]t the Guardian, about a year ago, we launched a completely new strategy, a business, content and company strategy built around reader revenue, loyalty and membership. We were very open with the fact that among our inspirations was a startup in the Netherlands called De Correspondent.” Poynter / Benjamin Mullin [Michael Luo named editor of The New Yorker’s website →]( Luo joined the magazine from The New York Times just a few months prior, and will replace Nicholas Thompson, who left to run Wired after leading a years-long renaissance of the website. Columbia Journalism Review / Jean Friedman-Rudovsky [Beyond the parachute: Newsrooms rethink their centralized model →]( “I’m actually saying I prefer that you not move to Manhattan and come into this building every day. I’d rather have you living somewhere else,” New York Times National editor Marc Lacey said. Bloomberg / Gerry Smith [Vox Media names Trei Brundrett COO as its focus turns to video, native ads →]( “Brundrett, 39, who has worked at Vox since 2006, led the designers and engineers who built the company’s online publishing platform, called Chorus. He will report to Chief Executive Officer Jim Bankoff, the company said in a statement. Brundrett will be succeeded by Joe Alicata, who led development of the company’s advertising technology, products and data.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( / [Encyclo]( [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](