Friday 25th February: Hollywood Unlocked’s (false) claim that Queen Elizabeth died

February 25, 2022

Good morning! This newsletter is brought to you by Peter. Our thoughts are with anyone who has friends or family in Ukraine 💛

An LA celebrity site posted a story on Tuesday that said the Queen had died. When I first heard about it I laughed at the idea of a 'legitimate' media outlet getting something like this so wrong. Today, I don't thinks it's funny any more.

Mostly it's not funny because the site owner still seems to be standing by the story (it's still up). When real journalists get something wrong they admit it, apologise and move on. The lack of a retraction never mind an apology suggests this is all about the clicks. I'm no monarchist, but making stuff up about the death of an elderly lady for page views is pathetic.

But also it's not funny because the news business is desperately trying to repair a dented reputation and this kind of willful misreporting just does more damage. In a week when the world is being flooded with misinformation about a real war, made-up shit from some fame jockey celebrity CEO is a travesty.

The whole Wordle thing was a useful reminder of the value of a well crafted game to publishers looking to get and keep subscribers. Esther has written all about how the NYT and three other US publishers are using games and puzzles to start two-way relationships with readers.

Press Gazette is reporting that Reach is creating 12 new jobs as part of a plan to launch local email newsletters. The regional news group will get financial and technical backing from Google's Email Innovation Lab for the project. Cities set to get daily newsletters include Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham.

Our recent guest Jakub Paruskinski has been running a fundraising campaign for the Kyiv Independent since late last year. The news outlet was set up following the closure of the Kyiv Post, to continue the mission of bringing credible news from Ukraine to the world. Now more than ever they need our help - donate if you can, or if times are tight share the link to Jakub's Gofundme page.

This week's podcast:

This week we hear from Abbianca Makoni, a 22-year old journalist who, after completing a four-year apprenticeship at the the Evening Standard, decided to go it alone with own online publication Awallprintss, which shares the voices and stories of under-reported communities around the world.

"So much nicer that the stuffing penguin-suits-round-a-table boredom-fests that normally afflict us," wrote one attendee of 2020's event. Come and join us for a definitely not-boring evening celebrating the best in publisher podcasting.