Monday 12th October: Google pauses plans for ‘News Showcase’ in Australia

October 12, 2020

Happy Monday! Welcome to your week. Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Peter.

So you remember a couple of newsletters ago I was complaining about Google-induced whiplash? Well if you're in Australia BUCKLE UP!

Just last week GOOG announced their billion dollar content fund. Yes it may well have been a down payment on goodwill that would get between the search giant and the regulators, but it's cash for publishers. So better than nothing - except it looks like nothing is exactly what Australian publishers are in line for.

The money announced last week is tied to Google's News Showcase, positioned as a way for publishers to add value, branding and curation that search doesn't. But Google appears to have kaiboshed plans to launch the News Showcase down under because it doesn't like Australia's News Media Bargaining code, complaining about “unfair payment conditions and unclear definitions and obligations”.

And this just a couple of days after everyone's favourite tech giant said it's working on a deal to pay French publishers what amounts to a snippet tax.

Confused? Me too.

The lead item in this week's news round up was all about trust in and how to build it. This piece in Nieman Lab is where the rubber hits the road; 6 in 10 Americans say Trump is spreading misinformation and are worried, with just over three weeks to go until the US presidential election, that it will impact the results. Us too.

WNIP has interviewed Dennis Publishing CEO James Tye about what the business learned from lockdown and hot it is preparing for possible future restrictions. His three key takeaways are have a plan and stick to it, investments in agile working have paid off and be bold, even the worst disruption creates opportunity.

Esther is taking a look at how three-year old Axios is using its newsletters to drive the business and how this relative newcomer has continued to launch new products in the toughest of media years and remained on track to be profitable in 2020.

This week's pod:

This week, we hear from Casey Newton, founder of Platformer. He talks to us about what made him decide to take the plunge, how his first week with his new newsletter has gone, and what a Platformer podcast model would look like.

👋 A big wave to all our new subscribers. If you’re enjoying the Roundup, pass it on to industry friends. If you don’t how come you made it all the way down here?

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