Wednesday 1st May: National World reporters 'freed up' to focus on original stories

Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Esther.

The Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Summits are the only events in the UK dedicated to levelling-up podcasts and newsletters from publishers. Learn from leading media brands and successful start-ups on what it takes to produce podcasts, grow newsletters, and work both into a wider strategy. Join us in London on June 12th for a full day of practical learning, workshops and case studies, followed by the Publisher Podcast Awards in the evening.

National World’s portal for press release submissions isn’t new. It was released in late 2022 with the aim of ‘streamlining’ the process of journalists dealing with contributed material.

In what seems like an entirely sensible move, the publisher is now effectively banning its reporters from writing up press releases, instead saying that content from PR firms and other external orgs can be posted to National World via the portal. They want to put an end to journalists spending time rewriting press releases, and instead free up reporters to focus on original stories.

“This should enable all reporters and specialists to focus on what you do best – going out and getting original, unique stories and video from the communities you serve that you believe readers will be most interested in,” an email from deputy editor-in-chief Gary Shipton read. If it’s implemented in the way it’s been promised, I can’t see any downsides to this move. So on that note, happy hump day!

Good survey design is a skill not to be underestimated. But if you want to survey your newsletter readers, here are some useful tips to create surveys which give you reliable information [hint: ask simple questions, with answers you can actually use]. It also explains how to reflect that information back in a useful way.

Eva Mackevic announced that “unfortunately, the company just couldn’t withstand the financial pressures of today’s unforgiving magazine publishing landscape and has ceased to trade.” I had no idea Readers Digest UK was licensed out by its US parent so this is a great overview from Charlotte Tobitt about some of the context.

There are too many uses of the word ‘sticky’ here (honey parallels are no excuse) but this is nonetheless a fascinating look at the rise of email platform beehiiv - who power our own newsletter. What’s remarkable here is their rapid expansion from 7,500 active newsletters a year ago to 20,000 today. I think it highlights the demand for editorially-focused newsletter platforms and tools; marketing email platforms have been a saturated market for a while but it shocked me when we had to move from Revue how few alternatives there were.

👋 Hi there, dear reader. If this story interests you, you’ll probably also love our Publisher Newsletter Summit, coming up on June 12th. A full day of newsletter learnings and networking with fellow professionals? Tell me more.

More from Media Voices