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- Thursday 16th March: BuzzFeed encourages reporters to write more stories
Thursday 16th March: BuzzFeed encourages reporters to write more stories
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Colour me confused. BuzzFeed has cut its newsroom by about 40% over the past year and moved away from long-form investigations. But in a recent meeting BuzzFeed News Editor in Chief Karolina Waclawiak told staff that they needed to increase the news division’s output as part of an effort to help the newsroom meet a goal of becoming profitable this year.
The site still claims to do long-form journalism, citing a 6,000-word piece published last week about human trafficking suspect Andrew Tate. But those seem to be seen 'as the basis for documentary projects' and are maybe not likely to be the hardest-hitting investigations. The real focus is stories that resonate with the audience and that is almost certainly celebrities and internet culture if we're talking pure traffic volume.
Cutting and growing? Surely those two strategies don't sit well together? Try cutting your way to profitability if you want. It rarely works but fine. Or grow your output, worth a shot if you publish the right stuff. But doing both at the same time? Sounds like a recipe for resignations.
Have you had enough BBC chat? Me too, but this story underlines why all the previous conversation matters. The Guardian is reporting that BBC editors asked their journalists to avoid using the word “lockdown” in reporting at the start of the pandemic and to be more critical of Labour after pressure from Downing Street. If that proves to be true, it's bullshit and nails on claims that the current UK government simply doesn't understand the concept of an independent public broadcaster.
It's easy to see things like podcast graphics as an afterthought, but strong imagery makes a difference. From conveying the right 'vibe' for your audience personas to the nuts and bolts of image file sizes, this is a great, practical, advice piece from PodPod on how to make sure your audio gets the eyeballs it needs.
I haven't read Muckrack's 'State of Journalism 2023' report yet, it only came out this afternoon, but who doesn't love an industry survey? Questioning 2,200+ journalists, it's focused on the trends and challenges for the industry this year. The PR highlights are interesting, with one in five journalists saying they receive upwards of 50 pitches per week. Compare that with the five stories a week that half of respondents said the write 😒
More from Media Voices
On this week’s 250th episode we hear from Max Tani, media reporter at news start-up Semafor. He tells us how he came to Semafor; the Venn diagram between media, politics, Hollywood and pretty much everything else in life; about Semafor’s attempts to balance out news and opinion; and whether covering the White House was anything like The West Wing.
