David lafontaine's
Sips from the firehose
A site that attempts to render the internet down into one easy-to consume mental beverage.
Predictions for 2015: Ad v. Subscription Journalism Fight Gets Deadly
As the "New" wears off of "New Media," investors start to expect results Years ago, I did the first big case study for the NAA, back when newspaper revenues were in free fall, and publishers were desperately flailing around for a revenue stream - any revenue stream -...
Catfished by the Feds? DEA Uses Unknowing Woman’s ID on Facebook to Nap Criminals
Is it no longer identity theft when law enforcement does it?OK, on one level, this is kinda clever, and analogous to those scams where cops send out invites to a special event to lure in crooks. Usually, it's under the guise of having won free tickets, or a relative...
The Equivalent of Google Analytics in 1928: Newspaper Readers Are Liars
Readers have always wanted candy. Even back in the “Golden Age” of newspapers, Gallup found that 1928 readers mostly … read the funnies.
Yes, Investigative Journalism CAN Pay. And Pay Well.
Mediapart in France is profitable because it gives readers what they are willing to pay for. Imagine that. Quick hit here for my students, who are increasingly upset about their job prospects after graduation. I shared an article from Neiman about the upheaval in the...
Why newspapers are losing subscribers: “failure of the last mile”
Web-native companies strive to eliminate "transactional friction." Newspapers? Not so much. I've been a subscriber to the LA Times for as long as I've lived in Los Angeles, and I've watched as the big beast evolved from a gray morass of 100-inch stories to the...
Ukrainian Journos Use Digital Tools to Fight Disinformation
The battle is against Putin’s propaganda machine – basically, Russian TV and their associated army of hackers and online purity trolls – and they are having to fight on multiple fronts against the every-shifting narrative of manufactured outrage, faked provocations and deceptive spin that is coming out of the Kremlin.