The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

This week, Big Issue founder John Bird talks to us about his new magazine venture Chapter Catcher, its mission to spark a reading revolution, and how it was inspired by Brexit. He also explains why we should support bookshops and libraries, and why there is an urgent need for deeper and broader reading. In the news round up, Peter and Esther are joined by ideastream Managing Producer and media analyst Kevin Anderson. The trio discuss The Atlantic's relaunched paywall, whether we should be surprised by Reuters' new report into young people and the news, and the hype around a 'Brexit bump' for UK media companies. Kev's noodle gets baked by Facebook's growing world domination.

Over the last few years, the advertising and publishing industries have been on a crusade to reinvent ad tech, spurred by everything from breaks in the value chain, changing publisher priorities, the availability of new tech solutions, international legislation and more. There's a sense that ad tech is transitioning to a more mature form; one that's more equitable to all parties involved. At the same time, high-profile instances of data misuse mean that user privacy is riding high on the industry's agendas. In this special Conversations episode of Media Voices, Chris is joined by co-founder and CEO of Permutive Joe Root, and Dennis Publishing's Head of Programmatic and Audience Data Alex Kirby. They discuss the realities of user privacy in 2019, whether publishers can turn trends to their advantage, and the tech solutions that add value to the entire ecosystem, and not just the vendors. This episode of Media Voices is sponsored by Permutive, the data management platform built for publishers. Permutive enables publishers to increase their data driven advertising revenue and make revenue diversification a reality, whilst keeping user privacy at the heart of its technology. Some of Permutive’s customers include BuzzFeed, Business Insider, The Economist, Condé Nast International, Immediate Media and Burda Forward.

This week, PPA Scotland business manager Laura Dunlop shares her excitement for this year's Magfest conference and the launch of the first Edinburgh International Magazine Festival. She also explains, enthusiastically, why magazines absolutely still matter and might even help us change the world. In the news round-up, Peter and Esther are joined by guest host Alison Warner, a jobbing B2B and brand journalist, and magazine lecturer at the University of Roehampton. We look at why there have been queues round the block in New York to get hold of a print magazine, whether other platforms could adopt Pinterest's tactics for combating health misinformation, and Monocle's new shop in Hong Kong airport. Alison and Peter both have doubts about the BBC's plans to launch an Alexa rival that could understand regional accents.

In the first episode back after the summer break, the Media Voices team dive into some of the stories you may have missed while you were sunning yourself somewhere nice, or holding the fort for colleagues who were doing the same. Join us as we recap the GateHouse/Gannett merger (as well as the proper pronunciation of 'Gannett'), go round in circles with Facebook's plans for a News tab, sort of celebrate some new print launches, and debate what 'Knewz' actually means. This episode also features some questionable paywall innuendo.

This week, Jess Brammar, Executive Editor at HuffPost UK talks to us about a number of their recent launches, from the HuffPost School of Journalism in partnership with Birmingham City University, to two new sections on the site which replace the famous blogs section. She also discusses what it's like moving from broadcast to digital journalism, how the news landscape has evolved, and how she keeps her team motivated during the non-stop Brexit news cycle. In the news roundup the team has a lengthy discussion on when it is and isn't acceptable to profile a fascist and the best way to do so, whether UK Netflix rival BritBox will succeed, and The New European's transition to a Guardian-like revenue model.

On this week's episode of Media Voices, the Guardian's Chief Revenue Officer Hamish Nicklin takes us through the newspaper's journey to profit through membership and contributions, the reestablishment of 'premium' advertising, and its plans through to 2022. In the news roundup Chris and Peter take a look at TikTok, an audio collaboration between Reach plc and JPI Media, and discuss whether there are limits on who can call themselves a journalist. Peter's rendition of Happy Birthday gets perilously close to a Marilyn Monroe impression.

This week, Lydia Mossahebi, Head of Editorial for the Beano Digital Network, talks to us about how they bring the essence of the comic to life online. We discuss the role of data and the 'Beano Brain' in making editorial decisions, how they keep up with what the next 'big thing' is for kids, and how video is becoming a huge part of the work they do. Farting zebras may come up in conversation. In the news roundup the team debates the ethics of Facebook cracking down on medical misinformation in the newsfeed, Apple News+ going on a 'listening tour' after a disastrous first few months, and good news for The Economist's newsletter team. The team invites Big Bird onto a panel about online misinformation for some reason.

On this week's episode of Media Voices, the founder and editor of The Overtake Robyn Vinter candidly takes us through the challenges and compromises involved in running a local news outlet. She discusses the importance of being independent, the strictures and sacrifices that comes from being a small news outlet, and why there needs to be variety and diversity of journalistic voices. In the news roundup, the team succumbs to the heat and discusses bad news around social media, whether journalists should be incentivised to chase clicks, and whether a Cosmopolitan x Tinder branded podcast is a model to be emulated. Peter and Chris perform their first single live on the podcast.

On this week's episode of Media Voices, we hear from Dr Bibiana Campos Seijo, VP of the Chemical and Engineering News Media Group at the American Chemical Society. We spoke about finding a broader audience for chemistry content, about covering subjects like the environment and diversity in a professional publication, and how to say "those men stole my shoes" in Spanish. In the news roundup the team exorcise a depressing week of news about the failure of journalists to cover some huge political issues by talking about whether Chrome 76 is a Trojan horse for Subscribe With Google, The Atlantic introducing a daily idea for smart speakers, and take a trip down memory lane as Twitch acquires Bebo.

This week, Den of Geek's UK Editor Rosie Fletcher talks to us about the mainstreaming of geek culture, finding an angle for entertainment stories everyone is covering, and how to maintain a friendly online community. She also explains how they used a 'time travel expert' to get a fresh angle on the latest Marvel movie. In the news round up, Peter and Esther debate whether 'time travel expert' is even a job title, what the publisher deal is with new aggregator app 'Mogul News', and the findings of Reuters' Digital News Report 2019. They both try to work out what the Brexitcast podcast could look like as a TV show, and Peter learns more about Snapchat filters.