Study Hall Digest 7/17/2017

Hi

How are local newspapers doing? I haven’t read anything about their overall viability in a while, but it seems like they keep dealing with layoffs, buyouts and bankruptcy. But there was a very small ray of hope this week when the Chicago Sun-Times was bought by an investment firm headed by a rich guy and some unions for $1 (!) plus the promise of investment. It fended off a bid from Tronc, the terrible media conglomerate that owns the Chicago Tribune. Anything that means fewer properties in the hands of Tronc is probably a good thing. TBH I’m not sure how Tronc is still alive, or what it does, or how their content funnel optimization is going.

Grindr launched an online magazine a few months ago, and keeps hiring well-known LGBT journalists. Reminds me of Dollar Shave Club/Mel Magazine, but I’m still not clear how one business benefits the other. Like, is Mel making DSC money? How does a magazine make Grindr better?

If you’re wondering why the media is doing so bad, blame Facebook and Google, which gobble up the vast majority of ad revenue online. Break them up! They’re publishing monopolies!

Congrats to DNAinfo/Gothamist for kicking New York Magazine’s ass in softball.

Final Thoughts

Are there good podcasts: I’m probably overstating it, but like 99 percent of podcasts seem to be trash? Even a lot of the ones on the top of the charts? I’ve been looking for informative, well-produced podcasts and they all are overly long, under- or over-produced, and just kinda boring!! Or they’re kind of slow, plodding, “wow isn’t this part of human nature interesting??” RadioLab and This American Life knockoffs. Where’s the good podcasts at?????