The voice is mightier than the pen: podcast power

During 10 weeks of quarantine, I have been getting a lot more of my information and entertainment from podcasts. My interests in news, the arts, and business lead me to programs like Hidden Brain, How I Built This, The Indicator, Fresh Air, Planet Money, SER Historia, Radio Ambulante, El Hilo, Freakonomics Radio, Against the Rules, […]

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Advertisers avoid media that cover the corona virus

Reputable news sites reporting on the corona virus are being blacklisted by advertisers worried about “brand safety“. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that publishers are losing ad revenue because some advertisers are avoiding any sites that report on the corona virus. This blacklisting occurs even with public-service news or innocuous lifestyle pieces such […]

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Why you might hate the news media, and some journalists

Note to readers: I wrote this blog post in November 2018, but it seems relevant today. Lots of people distrust the news media and lots of people distrust the government. And I am not just talking about the U.S. but Spain, the U.K., Italy, etc., etc., etc. This blog post started out as an explanation […]

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Letters to a publisher II: Treat your readers with respect

How should a media executive manage the business during a time of disruptive technological change? Alfonso Nieto attempted to answer that question in his book “Letters to a newspaper publisher,” written in 1987 when newsrooms in Spain were moving from typewriters to computers. His comments have acute relevance today. In this letter to a fictitious […]

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Alfonso Nieto

Letters to a newspaper publisher: it’s not just the bottom line

How should a media executive manage the business during a time of disruptive technological change? Alfonso Nieto attempted to answer that question in his book “Letters to a newspaper publisher,” written in 1987 when newsrooms in Spain were moving from typewriters to computers. Nieto was one of the pioneers in the discipline of media economics, […]

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How to be more credible, from an investigative reporter

Tina Kaiser. Photo by Gisela Gürtler News organizations have been losing credibility for years, and the reasons are many. Too often, we journalists have been arrogant and said, in effect, Trust us, we know what we’re doing. But today, journalism is under attack, and we have to explain why people should trust us. Versión en […]

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