This week’s Joy of Six; the six points from news around the world that caught our interest as we muse on the evolution of news in the digital era. Follow the links, down the rabbit hole, to find out more.
Feel free to share your reading in our Flipboard magazine How Silicon Valley Is Transforming News Business.
1. As if newspapers didn’t have enough problems [09 april 2021]
You might think print news had quite enough to worry about without recycling legislation landing a one-two on its chin. News from New York however means that printed newspapers, already one of the most recycled products out there, could be about to be hit again thanks to…erm… recycling laws.
2. What you missed: Takeaways from the House hearing on technology and the free press [05 april 2021]
Local journalism is in a fight for its survival. Since 2004, the United States has lost approximately 2,100 newspapers − which accounts for a quarter of the nation’s total. And more than 200 of the country’s 3,142 counties no longer have a local paper, according to the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Not necessarily news to some of us, but what really surprises us is reading it on a Microsoft page all about “Microsoft’s commitment to strengthening journalism.”
3. Grupo Globo goes Google [07 April 2021]
Brazilian news giant Grupo Globo has announced a seven-year strategic partnership with Google as part of Globo’s ongoing digital transformation, its restructuring, and its journey toward becoming a mediatech company. Google will provide cloud computing, the data management, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). So far a discrete veil is being drawn over the sordid matter of how much money changed hands.
4. Compact and bijoux – the shape of papers to come? [08 april 2021]
The New European is unashamedly niche, launching into a post Brexit Britain with a pro-European political message just in time to ride out the storm of a pandemic. Yet it seems to be doing that. Is this how you do it?
5. Would sir prefer this morning’s The Times? Or TikTok? [12 april 2021]
Explainer videos are the (latest) thing that’s replacing news it seems.
6. Taipei Newspaper Association wants people to pay for news [12 april 2021]
Almost every news story about Taiwan seems to feature it locked in a Jack and the Giant struggle. Turns out the giant it now needs to slay is Facebook and it is keen to adopt the Australian approach.