Nieman Foundation at Harvard
HOME
          
LATEST STORY
Congress fights to keep AM radio in cars
ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
The New York Times redesigns its app to highlight a universe beyond just news
It’s the first major redesign since the app launched in 2008.
By Neel Dhanesha
This news aggregator–slash–dating app helps news nerds meet
“The idea is matching on the things that you enjoy.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
How Newslaundry worked with its users to make its journalism more accessible
“If you’re doing it, do it properly. Don’t just add a few widgets, or overlay products and embeds, and call yourself accessible.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Apple News adds a new original game to boost News+ subscriptions
The news aggregator app has focused on puzzles and games that are “more welcoming to newcomers.”
By Sarah Scire
The news will not find you on TikTok
Plus: The “labor” of avoiding news, a study of disagreements between journalists and their bosses about objectivity, and the effects of Trump’s criticisms of Fox News.
By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis
The New York Times finds a match with the word game Connections
“Come for the news, stay for the games.”
By Sarah Scire
The Athletic’s live audio rooms bring sports talk radio into this century
The Athletic’s first live room took place in September 2021. By January 2022, they’d done 100. Today, they’re closing in on 1,000.
By Sarah Scire
Amazon calls it quits on newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print
One Redditor: “I actually enjoy reading my local newspaper when it’s on the Kindle as opposed to the paper’s poorly designed website and frequently broken app.”
By Laura Hazard Owen
Adnan Syed is released — and so is a new episode of the first season of Serial
“To call something the most popular podcast might seem a little like identifying the tallest leprechaun,” David Carr wrote in 2014.
By Laura Hazard Owen
How corporate takeovers are fundamentally changing podcasting
“One of the recent shifts in podcasting has been the introduction of paywalls and exclusive content. It has since become a standard feature of the medium.”
By John Sullivan
WhatsApp seems ready to restrict how easily messages spread in a bid to reduce misinformation
A new beta version would add significant friction to forwarding messages more than once — the latest in a line of structural changes meant to reduce how often misinformation goes viral.
By Joshua Benton
Why Telegram — despite being rife with Russian disinformation — became the go-to app for Ukrainians
Many Russians, in light of the Kremlin’s crackdown of independent media, are also turning to the messaging app for information.
By Mamoun Alazab
Mobile Majority: How phones are changing news
The New York Times redesigns its app to highlight a universe beyond just news
It’s the first major redesign since the app launched in 2008.
By Neel Dhanesha
This news aggregator–slash–dating app helps news nerds meet
“The idea is matching on the things that you enjoy.”
How Newslaundry worked with its users to make its journalism more accessible
“If you’re doing it, do it properly. Don’t just add a few widgets, or overlay products and embeds, and call yourself accessible.”
What We’re Reading
What's New in Publishing / Monojoy Bhattacharjee
YouTube makes up 37% of all mobile Internet data usage
Beating out Facebook (10.9%), Snapchat (8.3%), Instagram (5.7%), all web browsing (4.6%), WhatsApp (3.7%), Netflix (2.4%), and the Apple (2.1%) and Google (1.9%) app stores.
Wired / Lauren Goode
Have phones become boring? Well, they’re about to get weird
“Our glass slabs will be punctuated by pop-out cameras, foldable displays, hole-punched notches, and invisible fingerprint sensors. These features will be marketed as innovations. Some will be innovative. Some will just be weird, in the way that tech inevitably feels forced when design decisions are borne out of a need to make mature products appear exciting and new.”
Reuters Institute for the Study of JOurnalism / Emma-Leena Ovaskainen
Nine types of visual storytelling on mobile
For one, “longform scrollytelling.”
Reynolds Journalism Institute / Madeleine Bair
El Tímpano will pilot a text message distribution and engagement strategy to serve Latino immigrants
“As we talked to community organizers about what approaches they find most effective in reaching Latino immigrants, two strategies came up again and again: in-person engagement and mobile messaging.”
The Information / Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa
Google is developing a news aggregation app for use in China that will comply with the country’s strict censorship laws
“Google is also preparing a mobile app for internet search in China that will comply with local censorship laws, an effort first reported Wednesday by The Intercept. The company is developing the apps in Mountain View where its headquarters are, and mainland China, where it has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Journalism.co.uk / Marcela Kunova
Another app that tries to encourage sharing stories from outside users’ filter bubbles
“News With Friends uses an algorithm which ranks stories based on editorial choices media research company Kaleida observes from leading publishers; through their tools which put stories in context and enable people to compare and contrast views; and via the social features that fuel informed and intimate conversations.”
Digiday / Mark Weiss
Digiday Research: Mobile commerce shows promise for publishers
“73 percent of publisher executives surveyed by Digiday say at least at least 25 percent of their commerce revenues now come from mobile devices.”
Digiday / Kerry Flynn
🤑 How HQ trivia is trying to turn a viral sensation into a media business
HQ’s sole revenue strategy, for now, is akin to a sponsorship where brands pay for game takeovers. For example, NBC paid for a takeover of The Voice. On May 14, HQ players had a chance to win $50,000 and a trip for two to the show’s finale. The Voice game on HQ, which aired at 11:30 p.m. ET, reached 1.4 million players. NBC’s ratings for 18- to 34-year-olds, as well as viewers aged 12 to 17, was the best for a Monday episode since the first live show of the season, evp of digital for NBC Entertainment Rob Hayes said.
Digiday / Sahil Patel
Half of Telemundo’s live digital viewers for the World Cup are watching on mobile devices
“The NBCUniversal broadcaster, which has Spanish-language rights to air every World Cup game in the U.S., said between 48 and 51 percent of its live digital viewers consistently watch the games on their smartphones. The other half flips between connected TV and desktop streaming, said Peter Blacker, evp of digital media and emerging business for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.”
Digiday / Max Willens
Podcasting keeps inching toward measurement standard, but is reluctant to deal with the short-term pain
“Transitioning to the IAB’s standard has caused a ‘double-digit percentage’ drop in downloads for many of its shows, Wondery said. That hit is slowing the transition that both producers and ad buyers say is necessary to attract more ad dollars. ‘It is the right thing to do,’ Wondery CEO Hernan Lopez said. ‘We certainly hope agencies will notice we’re taking the first step.'”
Nieman Lab is a project to try to help figure out where the news is headed in the Internet age. Sign up for The Digest, our daily email with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.