Wednesday 13th October: Journalists' Nobel Peace Prize is a call to action

October 13, 2021

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We focus almost exclusively on news of media business models, but every now and then there's a bigger story that we need to share.

Last week, Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa and Russian editor Dmitry Muratov were honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize. The last working journalist to receive the award was German editor Carl von Ossietzky who became a Nobel laureate while he was in a Nazi concentration camp in 1936.

This article in Foreign Policy focuses on Ressa's persecution in the Philippines, but very much makes the broader point that naming her and Muratov Nobel laureates at this point in history:

Should light a fire under global efforts to counter disinformation, fight extremism, and reinforce democracy by protecting critical independent journalism and the journalists who produce it.

Harvard Business Review is securing its legacy as a go-to resource for business media, targeting global young professionals with its Ascend vertical. Designed for postgraduates who are just starting out in their careers, content is free, but introduces younger readers to the brand in the hope that they will one day take on a full HBR subscription.

Remember Mic? Well under new ownership, the online publication aimed at younger readers has unveiled a revamped version of itself. No longer a 'millennial political news website’ it's now all about culture, identity and lifestyle and hopefully way less dependent on Facebook for traffic.

Finally, here's a brief summary I wrote about the rehabilitation of advertising back into the revenue mix. To sum up the summary, here's a quote from Jack Marshal, "Subscription revenue is great, but leaving ad/sponsorship money on the table just doesn’t make sense for a media business in 2021." Amen 🙏🏻

This week's podcast:

On this week’s episode we hear from The New Republic’s Literary Editor Laura Marsh. She tells us about what makes working in an audio format especially rewarding, discovering famous literary contributors, and why non-news content is such a good touchpoint for audiences.

We’ve opened entries for the third year of the Publisher Podcast Awards. They are designed to celebrate the podcasting success of publishers and media organisations, whether they’ve been in the podcasting space a while or have just launched their first one. Entry is free, so have a look at our categories and see if you’ve got anything that could be award-winning!