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Don’t blame media startups for low budgets, blame an industry refusing to invest in young diverse voices — gal-dem.com

Towards the end of last week there was a minor media furore around Aurelia magazine, a Manchester-based publication that aims to give a voice to diverse young audiences. The cause? The £40 payment offered to writers for an article, which was considered to be exploitative and far under par. We're proponents of fair pay for writers at Media Voices (god knows we've written for less than we should have in the past), but in this case we feel that there's some nuance that's being left out of the discussion.

Writing for gal-dem, Moya Lothian McLean argues that we're misattributing the blame, saying that a lack of paid traineeships and staff roles is giving rise to a crisis in journalism from the bottom up. Speaking of publications like Aurelia and gal-dem itself, she argues:

"These platforms are born of a desire to plug a gap in the UK’s media landscape, such as the massive underrepresentation of voices of colour. It’s how the likes of gal-dem, Black Ballad, Aurelia and plenty of other burgeoning publications were born. These publications may be volunteer-led or have rates lower than the likes of the The Telegraph and The Times." Ultimately, the blame lies with the incumbents that keep those voices out of mainstream journalism, not the people trying to plug the gaps.

How a Polish nonprofit newsroom developed a loyal audience by going "newsletter first" — gijn.org

This one's especially interesting. From Federica Cherubini comes this examination of how a Polish nonprofit has managed to achieve what many of its peers are still struggling with. In 2018 they decided to postpone their membership launch, instead pivoting to a newsletter-first editorial strategy to grow their loyal audience and build a strong foundation for membership.

Wareable.com’s James Stables on surviving a catastrophic loss of search traffic — voices.media

This week James Stables, Founder and Co-CEO of tech recommendation sites Wareable.com and The Ambient, discusses the meteoric rise of the business, unknown SEO problems, and the precarious nature of affiliate revenues.

Bloomberg Media is testing paid tiers for virtual events (£) — digiday.com

Hybrid events are the future - it's something that the pandemic has made absolutely explicit. At the same time, not all digital events are equal, so Bloomberg is experimenting with different tiers, exactly as you might have done for live events in the time before the pandemic.

The Washington Post amps up its app strategy to drive more subscribers — www.adweek.com

If you ever needed an explanation of why investing in apps is so important to the Washington Post, look no further. For AdWeek, Mark Stenberg explains how The Post has seen significant growth in its number of app downloads over the past year - an 86% increase, according to a company statement.

This week's podcast:

Wareable.com’s James Stables on surviving a catastrophic loss of search traffic — voices.media

This week James Stables, Founder and Co-CEO of tech recommendation sites Wareable.com and The Ambient, discusses the meteoric rise of the business, unknown SEO problems, and the precarious nature of affiliate revenues.

Why the Publisher Podcast Awards are Pay What You Will this year — voices.media

It's been a whole year since our first Publisher Podcast Awards ceremony, when we could legally gather in large groups in basements in London. The awards look a bit different this year - catch up with our plans and why we're testing a new revenue model.