Tuesday 2nd June: The Guardian rolls out global tests of a (soft...for now) registration wall

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

The Guardian has ramped up tests of its registration wall to its global audience, with growing numbers of readers having reported spotting it over the past few weeks. It's not (yet) a hard registration wall, and Chief Product Officer Caspar Llewellyn Smith has emphasised that “This is not a paywall, nor a step to one.”

Of particular interest is the transparency on the wording of the registration box, which explains that "Registration lets us understand you better. This means that we can build better products and start to personalise the adverts you see so we can charge more from advertisers in future.” Time will tell how well that messaging goes down with audiences.

Publishers are working out the wider role digital events play in their businesses going forward as advertisers become more comfortable with the format. With digital events, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but how subscription strategies intersect will become more clear and focused.

The court of appeal upheld the decision yesterday, finding the companies did have sufficient control over comments to be considered publishers. This has wide-ranging ramifications for media companies in Australia, who can now be held responsible for content posted by users on their Facebook pages.

While violence against press-credentialed reporters covering the protests may still be dwarfed by violence against the American citizens who are protesting, incidents are piling up. So far, there have been at least 90 police attacks against U.S. journalists covering the protests.

Podcast:

This week Will Gore, Head of Partnerships and Projects at the National Council for the Training of Journalists, tells us about the NCTJ’s role in the Facebook-backed Community News Project. He also speaks about journalism education, trust, the future of local news and shorthand.