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

Eight ways smaller newsrooms can make audio pay — www.rjionline.org

An interesting one from friend of Media Voices Damian Radcliffe, who outlines a number of means by which smaller newsrooms can profit from podcasting (and other audio). There's a presumption in the industry that it takes a huge amount of time and resource to do audio well - and it's undeniable that it's an investment. But as this article demonstrates, it's well worth smaller newsrooms giving it a go.

Particularly interesting is the idea that local-focused podcasts can actually act as a way for smaller brands to get in on the advertising: "We’ve seen everyone from Chanel to Trader Joe’s, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Sephora and others moving into the podcasting and audio space. Take, for example, the financial podcast Open Account from Umpqua Bank here in the Pacific Northwest. Arguably, the stories it tells would not be out of place in many papers."

There are some other great practical tips in there from Damian, from the way smaller newsrooms can combine audio with events strategies to getting hosts to read the ads directly. Effectively while there are undoubted benefits to huge audio production suites, there are benefits to newsrooms of all shapes and sizes getting involved in podcasts.

As Kopparberg & Grolsch pull ads, which brands - knowingly or not - advertised on GB News? — www.thedrum.com

For The Drum, I co-authored a story about how brands including Vodafone, Kopparberg and Grolsch ended up advertising against GB News - without knowing about it. Whatever you think of the channel itself (it's garbage) this speaks to the idea that advertising is often opaque and murky, even when it's not digital.

Andreessen Horowitz goes into publishing its own tech site — techcrunch.com

We've seen a bunch of new publications launched from VC and financial firms lately - including the very suspect one from Coinbase. Now a16z has entered the ring with Future, a site that aims to prioritise "future-focused informational and editorial content, rather than day-to-day tech occurrences".

New York Times admits Babylon Bee is 'satire,' not 'misinformation' after legal threat — www.mediaite.com

One of Esther's very first interviews for Media Voices (then TheMediaBriefing Podcast) was about the tricky division between classifying something as 'satire' online. Well, now The New York Times has corrected a story referring to the satirical Babylon Bee website as "misinformation," calling the description "imprecise."

This week's episode:

Media Development Investment Fund Deputy CEO Mohamed Nanabhay on investing in sustainable media businesses — voices.media

This week, we hear from Mohamed Nanabhay, Deputy CEO of the Media Development Investment Fund. He talks about his work in the early days of online publishing bringing ‘new media’ to Al Jazeera, how the MDIF decides which businesses to invest in, and why he thinks the pandemic has provided an opportunity for independent media to thrive.

Buy The Media Voices Team a coffee — ko-fi.com

We're all in the process of upgrading our recording set-ups. We've come a long way from the days of holding blankets over our heads - but we can be even better. So any cash money you can throw us - monthly or as a one-off - goes straight to that cause. Cheers!