Scaling Back Volume, Coverage of the Women’s March, Poynter’s Leadership Academy, Adobe’s Retailing Rollouts, Women in Media, InDesign CC Tip: OpenType Enhancements
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news, stories of interest, and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing posts about how some publishers are reevaluating the push to scale, how news outlets and magazines are covering the Women’s March on Saturday, Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media, Adobe Marketing Cloud’s new features to help brick-and-mortar retailers boost their digitalization efforts, and more.
Some publishers are rethinking the race to scale, according to Digiday, realizing that more content doesn’t necessarily translate into more value—for the publisher or the audience. “The industry’s kind of in a retreat,” says Josh Topolsky, founder of The Outline. “People are numb to the volume right now.” Likewise, The New York Times is finding that of the hundreds of articles it generates every day, many “lack significant impact or audience,” the report says. While Topolsky notes that the vast majority of established digital media outlets are still volume-driven, newer publications like his never got on the hamster wheel: “I think there’s another business emerging.” That means not only more of a focus on quality over quantity, but squeezing the most out of existing content.- As WWD reported, Vogue, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vice, Glamour, GQ, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, and a host of other magazines and news outlets will be covering Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington, which is expected to draw more than 200,000 marchers and spectators following Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday. It’s a big story, it says, but one that is bringing to light even more questions about journalistic point of view as publications struggle to put forth a neutral voice in a highly charged political environment. In fact, “the march itself raises the question of whether journalists who are not covering it should attend as private citizens,” the report says. It notes the Times, the Post, and BuzzFeed are prohibiting reporters who are not on assignment from attending, in accordance with the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics. In contrast, fashion-oriented magazines don’t see any issues with reporters participating in the march given many openly supported Hillary Clinton over Trump.
- Poynter announced the 28 women it selected from some 300 applicants to participate in its 2017 Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media, a tuition-free, weeklong training program sponsored by The McClatchy Foundation along with Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist and Craigconnects. Slated for March 19-24, the event will bring together journalists and media professionals from around the globe to hone their leadership and business skills. Industry, academic, tech, and other business leaders will conduct sessions on everything from developing effective management styles and business savvy to navigating newsroom and digital culture, according to Poynter’s post.
- At the National Retail Federation show in New York, Adobe announced a number of new initiatives aimed at streamlining “the digitalization of brick-and-mortar retailing,” Marketing Land reported. Among those, Adobe rolled out a beta of Fluid Experiences in Retail inside Adobe Experience Manager in the Marketing Cloud, a retailer-optimized, multichannel content management solution. According to Adobe’s blog, Fluid Experiences will let retailers “create and manage omnichannel experiences across any touchpoint, including in-store associate apps, social channels, physical signage, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and smart-screens.”
On the Technology for Publishing Blog
- This month’s Women in Media installment highlights a new chapter in NPR radio veteran Diane Rehm’s career, support for women documentary filmmakers, Melissa Harris-Perry’s mentorship initiative, an interview with Marie Claire EIC Anne Fulenwider, Campbell Brown’s move to Facebook, and more.
- InDesign CC 2017 Tip: InDesign OpenType properties can now be applied to characters, words, or a story in seconds. Monica Murphy’s new tip details this time-saving enhancement.
- In case you missed it, we detailed all the new features, enhancements, and bug fixes in Adobe Experience Manager Mobile v2017.1 and posted an infographic pick on a 10-step approach to creating content that’s 10 times better than the competition.
Photo: Digiday
Visit our blog for highlights of interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world every Friday, and sign up for TFP’s This Week in Publishing newsletter. Think we missed something great? Let us know! Leave a comment below or drop us a note.
Posted by: Monica Sambataro
