Can the BuzzFeed Formula Work For Real News?

BuzzFeed, the meme-centric social news site known for its reserves of offbeat content and silly cat photos, is stockpiling journalists—serious ones. Last week, it announced the hire of award-winning Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings, adding to an impressive roster of reporters that include Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan, RollingStone.com’s Doree Shafrir, New York magazine’s Amy Odell and, most notably, Politico powerhouse Ben Smith. The recent spate of big hires has even sparked its own Tumblr. It’s all part of an original content effort that CEO and co-founder Jonah Peretti said is intended to make BuzzFeed the leading social publisher. “We’ve been hiring a new breed of reporter who combines traditional journalistic values with fluency for the social web,” he said. “People can share and discover content on [social networks] and email. The big opportunity now is making content worth sharing.” Surely, every reporter believes their content is worth sharing. But as this new class of journalist attempts to remake BuzzFeed into a purveyor of consequential stories —not just catchy ones—what’s to say that its scoops on politics and culture won’t get lost amid the flood of posts labeled “lol,” “cute” and “omg”? In a world where people already get news from Facebook News Feeds and Twitter streams, that’s not a big issue, said Peretti. “Consumers are used to seeing personal updates, mixed with cute cat pictures, mixed with election coverage,” he said. “Everything is combined... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2012-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. shuts down The Daily

News Corp. said on Monday that it is shutting down The Daily, its ambitious but expensive attempt to create an iPad newspaper, on Dec. 15. The decision follows a 22-month effort that delivered both some significant achievements—developing the iPad as a publishing platform, for example, and... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corporation shutters The Daily tablet newspaper as of December 15th

News Corporation's The Daily was to have been a vanguard of the future, based on the past -- a tablet-focused newspaper that could get us back to paying subscriptions for our regular news fix. Not enough of us were as enthralled with the retro-future concept, however. While CEO Rupert Murdoch... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Competition or Cooperation? News Publishers Turn to Their Neighbors

Participants at the African Media Leaders Forum in Dakar, Senegal, today heard how twinning partnerships between African newspapers, and newspapers elsewhere, are leading the way to developing successful business strategies and strengthening financia ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Making the Penguin Random House Merger Work

The trick to making the Random House/Penguin Group merger work will be to create a publisher that can take advantage of the resources and economies of scale a company with revenue of $4 billion brings and combine that with an editorial approach that emphasizes close cooperation with authors,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #editorial approach


News Corp. Unit Interested in Penguin Group

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has expressed interest in buying book publisher Penguin Group, potentially undermining merger discussions between Penguin and Random House, people familiar with the situation said. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin group #rupert murdoch #expressed interest #random house #people familiar


Australia to Play Big Role in News Corp.'s Publishing SpinOff

In splitting News Corp. into two companies, Rupert Murdoch is creating something he hasn't had in years: an Australian media company. By some measures, the publishing company to emerge from the division of News Corp. sometime next year will have ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing spinoff #rupert murdoch


Chinese authorities ask booksellers to ban Japanese works

The government is also pressuring Chinese publishers to stop translating and publishing Japanese content as tension increases between the two countries. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chinese authorities


The Experiment Finds the Right Formula

Since the publisher’s launch in early 2009, the Experiment’s biggest success has surprised even its staff: Forks over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health has become a smash hit, selling 127,000 copies since its publication in summer 2011 (it’s also the #47 bestselling book of the year so far... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Igloo and The Works team up for charity title

Igloo Books and The Works are teaming up to produce a children’s book to raise money for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Do Mass Market Originals Still Work?

Despite shrinking sales, declining shelf space, and the rise in popularity of relatively inexpensive ebook editions, mass market paperback is still a category that can be used to break out an author—especially in tandem with other publishing formats. A number of publishers contacted by PW said... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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FastStats: Publishing Industry Statistics, News and Trends

Smartphone Junkies Would you admit not being able to live without your smartphone? Over two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey by the Online Publisher's Association did just that. The survey, conducted online with 2,540... Continue reading at Publishing Executive

[ Publishing Executive | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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German Cabinet Backs Law That Could Allow News Publishers to Sue Google

The German cabinet gave its backing Wednesday to a draft law extending copyright protection to snippets of news articles republished by search engines, although... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp parts ways with chief digital officer Jonathan Miller

News Corporation is parting company with chief digital officer Jonathan Miller at the end of September, ahead of the separation of its publishing and entertainment business. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Increased Competition for Marketing Spend is Bad News for Print Media

The newspaper business’s reliance on the industrial machine of printing and distributing is often understated. It’s a delicate ecosystem that can have a real effect on publisher margins – as the fluctuation in newsprint ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Local News Sites Form New Trade Association

Next month, at the annual Block by Block conference for local news sites, around 100 independent publishers will celebrate the launch of a new nonprofit trade group that will offer support for the growing hyperlocal news industry.   Local Indepe ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News plans to shed 10% of photographers

News Limited is planning to get rid of 10 per cent of its photographers across the publisher's newspapers. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald

[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2012-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Launches Anti-Corruption Review

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has launched a review of anti-corruption controls in several of its publishing arms, including News International in London. Murdoch told News Corp staff in a memo on Wednesday that the company recently launched ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette UK: DRM 'working very well'

Hachette UK has insisted its model of selling ebooks with Digital Rights Management included [... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp Registers $1.6 Billion Fourth-Quarter Loss

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has swung to a loss partly due to the weakness of its publishing business, which includes newspapers like the Times and the Sun. The fourth quarter net loss was $1.6bn (£1bn) compared with a net income of $6 ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp restructures digital magazine

News Corp's digital tablet magazine The Daily is letting go of 50 employees, around 29 per cent of its total, as it streamlines production to focus on its most popular features. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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