Thursday 28th May: Now is not the time to write events off

Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

This is a more elegant commentary on the discussion we were having on this week's news round-up about publishers firing events staff, in particular The Atlantic who saw its events business evaporate overnight (which Trump has opinions on, by the way). Rob argues that the cuts are understandable, but publishers shouldn't write off their events businesses completely. Instead, it needs to "evolve as a combination of virtual events and smaller, more regional gatherings" while preparing for the time when humans will be desperate to pack into a conference hall again. I for one can't wait for hugs, awkward handshakes and tepid white wine again.

Okay yes the huge US publishers with millions of subscribers are doing fine, but I've picked this story for the quote:

“If you did not fix your house while the sun was shining it’s almost too late now. Even before Covid there was profound disruption impacting the industry. All that we thought would happen in five to 10 years is happening in five to 10 months.”

Premium tech publisher The Information is launching a free summer school "open to anyone interested in building a career in news" to make up for the numerous remote or rescheduled internships across the industry. A fantastic idea with a sterling line-up of 'classes'.

The winner of the Brand Publisher category in the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards was the Bestseller podcast from Reedsy. We asked Casimir Stone, host and producer, to share some of his insights into what has made the Bestseller podcast from Reedsy so successful.

#ThrowbackThursday:

Last year at Magfest, we chatted to gal-dem's Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff about growing into a 'proper' business, their print magazine, and how publishers can prepare themselves to properly support diversity. gal-dem have gone from strength to strength since, even recently launching their own membership scheme.

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