We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more. Here’s some of what we’ve seen lately.
November 22, 2024
“No more book launching-episodes.” —
Bloomberg / Ashley Carman
/ Nov 22“An example of parasite SEO content is a news blog that publishes online shopping coupon codes in a hidden part of its website or an educational site publishing unrelated affiliate marketing content. In March, Google announced it would crack down on this kind of ‘site reputation abuse,’ and now it’s making it clear that it doesn’t matter if the publisher created the content themselves or outsourced it — it’s a search policy violation regardless.” —
“I’m gonna be out there, fighting.” —
LAist / Julia Barajas
/ Nov 22November 21, 2024
“There are a few personalities who have the ability to create news cycles rather than react to news cycles.” —
Business Insider / Peter Kafka
/ Nov 21“If we started The Pillar for anything, it was to report the stories that we could see mattered, and which no one else could or would touch….Since we started reporting on
the Príncipi case, our paying subscribers are down — we’ve lost revenue, noticeably. Reporting the things we know matter, giving them the attention they deserve and refusing to let them go or to be
fobbed off with answers designed to distract might indeed be bad business.”
—The Pillar / Ed Condon
/ Nov 21“Today, Google’s share of the key services in an advertiser’s ad tech stack, all the way through to publishers, ranges from 40-90%. And remember that 15% media commission that lasted for 100 years? The comparison is imperfect, but the DOJ reported that Google now keeps 30% — and sometimes far more—of each advertising dollar flowing from advertisers to website publishers through Google’s ad tech tools. Publishers have needed to build higher paywalls and charge consumers more for subscriptions, increasing barriers to information.” —
Tech Policy Press / Lisa Macpherson
/ Nov 21“ProRata.ai, a US artificial intelligence start-up aiming to bring greater fairness in how media groups are paid for content, has agreed licensing deals with publishers including Daily Mail-owner DMG Media, the Guardian and Sky News. As part of the deal, DMG Media will acquire a stake in ProRata in a funding round that people familiar with the situation said would value the group, which was founded in January, at about $130 million.” —
The Financial Times / Daniel Thomas
/ Nov 21“The bill, known as the PRESS Act, would codify protections against federal investigators seizing reporters’ records. It is now less likely the legislation will clear the Senate before the current session ends.” —
New York Times / Charlie Savage
/ Nov 21The Garden Island newspaper on the Hawaiian island of Kauai experimented with AI-generated presenters to engage and boost its readership. After two months, the bots have been shelved.
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WIRED / Guthrie Scrimgeour
/ Nov 21“The Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market, and it left the door open to requiring the company to spin out Android, too. The initial proposed final judgement refines the DOJ’s earlier high-level outline of remedies after Judge Amit Mehta found Google maintained an illegal monopoly in search and search text advertising.” —
The Verge / Lauren Feiner
/ Nov 21
