The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

This week Megan Lucero, director of the Bureau Local at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, provides us with a look at the present and future of local journalism. From the trials of finding resources to the project mentality behind some powerful stories, Lucero provides a hopeful and achievable look at how regional media is changing. In the news roundup, we discuss the fallout and hot takes from the Australia/Google/Facebook news and try to come with a workable solution to an intractable problem. Esther's back!

This week Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, tells us where newspapers are going wrong in their subscription marketing. We also discuss why there’s no easy solution to the need for internal change in newsrooms, why Nordic countries outperform when it comes to the membership mentality, and why we should look to Coca-Cola for advice. In the news roundup we take a tour through all the subscription-focused news of the past week, ask whether we should join Clubhouse, and examine the rise of bookazines. Chris and Peter sing kids' TV themes.

This week Zach Seward, CEO of Quartz, explains why he bought the business lifestyle brand from Uzabase. He tells us how it all started and how it’s going, about memberships and advertising, and the Quartz mission to make business better. In the news roundup Peter and Chris discuss the opportunities for The New European after its purchase by a consortium of the best and brightest in the media business world. We also discuss Google's latest advertising battles, the launch of URL Media, and the sad closure of The Overtake.

This week Dr Samir Husni, founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media, tells us why magazines are the ultimate new media. He explains the wild ride that was magazine publishing in 2020, his print evangelism, the benefits that digital brings and his favourite magazine. Oh, and why he's called 'Mr. Magazine'. In the news roundup, Chris and Peter discuss Twitter getting into the subscription business, why Facebook is allowing people to monetise misinformation, and if Nextdoor is the future of local news. Welcome to the world, Emily!

This week we hear from Yahoo Lifestyle's Editor in Chief for Southeast Asia Reta Lee. We talked about her career in media and her work at Yahoo Lifestyle, including spinning up new content pillars and identifying new trends. She also discusses the opportunity for eCommerce in Asia, collaborating with teams in the US and UK, and what opportunities she's got her eye on over the next few years. In the news roundup we ask what motivates the constant argy bargy between tech platforms, countries and publishers. We examine why Forbes wants to launch a contributor network for newsletters, and ask if Rolling Stone's pay-to-play model is the death of culture. Good luck Esther!

Last year, the team at Pugpig decided to take a step back from their day-to-day development work and get a sense of what was going on in the wider digital publishing market. Analysing data from their publishing clients and interviewing 40 senior executives, they created the company’s first annual State of the Digital Publishing Market report. As the platform provider for over 300 media brands - from The Economist to The Independent - Pugpig is in a unique position to answer key questions about the digital publishing market. In this special Conversations episode of Media Voices, Peter Houston is joined by Pugpig founder and CEO Jonny Kaldor to discuss what’s been happening in the world of digital publishing, and what to expect from 2021.

This week Ian McAuliffe, founder and CEO of Think Publishing, talks about the evolving landscape of contract publishing. He tells us about the ideal employee or a contract publisher, the ideal client and how the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption amongst traditionally conservative clients, but still not killed off print. In the news roundup, we discuss Axios launching its own communications platform that will enable businesses to update their employees in Axios’ bullet-point style, scary stats for newsletter-based publishers, and the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of misinformation on Twitter.

This week Sara Fischer, Media Reporter at Axios, tells us about her process for crafting a thoughtful, informative newsletter, whether Axios’ ‘smart brevity’ model can work for local news, and what lessons she’s taken from covering media companies that she applies to her own work. In the news roundup the team discuss the fallout for publishers from Trump's ban from social media, and the trends that led to this point. We also talk UK local news priorities, why Meredith’s Travel + Leisure has been acquired by a timeshare resort company, and the appointment of the new BBC chair. Peter auditions for the next Terminator movie.

As well as its flagship paper, The Economist also publishes future-gazing issues looking at what to expect the next year and even further into the future. This week Tom Standage, its Deputy Editor and Head of Digital Strategy tells us about the reason why it believes doing so is central its mission, what needs to happen to prevent journalists revisiting familiar mistakes in the near future, and why blaming the Duopoly for revenue doldrums is unhelpful. In the news roundup the team discusses the closure of The Correspondent, The Atlantic's new chief executive, and why UK digital news audiences have grown 30% over the year. Chris' brain gives up halfway through the news roundup. Happy holidays, everybody!

This special episode includes the audio of our launch presentation for the Media Moments 2020 report. Esther, Peter and Chris examine one key stat of each section within the report, from diversity through platforms to trust. In the second half of the episode the team is joined by a panel of Jemima Villanueva, Executive Director, EMEA at The Atlantic, Aly Nurmohamed, General Manager of Permutive and Andrea Barbalich, Editor in Chief of The Week Junior US. Download the full report at https://bit.ly/mediamoments 2020