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- Thursday 13th April: NPR quits Twitter after false label debacle
Thursday 13th April: NPR quits Twitter after false label debacle
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There's lots in here about Musk's bizarre latest interview with the BBC, in which he finally acknowledges he never really wanted to buy Twitter. In that, we're agreed. But the most interesting development from a media business perspective is that NPR has quit the platform after being falsely labeled as 'state-affiliated media'. The big question: will it be the canary in the coal mine for other publishers?
"In an email to staff explaining the decision, [NPR CEO] John Lansing wrote, 'It would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here to continue to share it on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards.'"
Twitter's never delivered all that much traffic for publishers, though over the course of the past few years it has been both newswire and network. The question that NPR faced was whether its continued existence on the platform served its core purpose of informing the public. It evidently decided that, in the face of one of the worst midlife crises of all time from Twitter's boss, it wasn't worth it.
Money, dear boy. The tone of this article is a little weird — as though the author has only just discovered the existence of video podcasts — but there are some good insights as to how publishers are thinking about them. Long story short, the engagement is greater and YouTube prioritises videos of hosts interacting over simple waveforms. But ultimately, as with everything, it eventually comes back to money.
Quite a long read here, but worth it if you're interested in the history of media. The closure of the News of the World feels like a long time ago, but as the continued payouts from The Sun demonstrate the phone hacking scandal still looms large in the mind of the public. Now, that legacy of immoral behaviour is impacting Murdoch's Fox in its legal case against Dominion. It's the grift that keeps on giving.
This is a great story, and I'll let Craddock speak for herself: "After three years of overhauling our website and rebuilding our team with Recurrent, our deeply loved brand is poised for growth. Today, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve partnered with an investor to purchase SAVEUR from its most recent parent company. Effective immediately, I, along with our core editorial team, will begin transitioning our operations to thrive as a nimble and independent publication."
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