The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we’ll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he’s decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business. On this week's episode of Big Noises we hear from Mpho Raborife. Mpho is Managing Editor at news24, a South African-based news outlet with a primarily Millennial staff and audience. Mpho tells us about how she caught the journalism bug while doing work experience, why news organisations that don't listen to their younger staff members aren't effectively serving their audiences, and why young people in newsrooms need to know they have a future in the business to remain invested and engaged. Peter also asked her about her ongoing research project for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and how she hopes younger people will be more nurtured by newsrooms in the future. She echoes what Lucy Keung has said about the need to listen to the younger members of staff - and how those who don't are leaving societal and commercial opportunities on the table. Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.

On this week’s episode of Big Noises from Media Voices we hear from Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director at Digital Content Next (DCN), the trade organisation for premium publishers. Michelle started out as a journalist. The rise of digital media saw her embrace the changes and after working for a range of publications, from alt weeklies to B2B titles, she joined what was then the AOP to help premium publishers on their digital transition. She now manages online content and events for the group. More than a decade in, Michelle still has hope for the media, but is frustrated by many of the publishing practices she sees. “Now we’re in a world where two thirds of our job is to rise above the noise. ‘Listen to me. Look at me’ right? Are we providing a value exchange? When people give us that gift of their attention, do we provide them with value… was it worth their time?"

Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we’ll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he’s decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business. On this week's episode of Big Noises from Media Voices we hear from media analyst Shirish Kulkarni. He takes us through news innovation and inclusion projects, from journalism AI to community journalism, focusing really on how these can be used together to serve people who currently don’t see any value in journalism. He explains why news avoidance is a rational response to the current news ecosystem, and how news outlets that say 'we need people to trust us tomorrow' need to have a good long look at themselves. Kulkarni argues that DE&I cannot be fixed quickly, that there is a failure of management to address the issues substantively, and that media organisations' resistance to change is ultimately holding them back. Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.  

Media Voices co-host Peter Houston has been in Portugal again. He headed back to the beautiful coastal town of Cascais for the 2023 FIPP World Media Congress. He caught up with speakers and attendees at the event to find out how they are facing up to the full range of challenges the media industry is facing - from AI and difficult economic conditions to Ukrainian media operators fighting to keep working in the middle of a war. In the episode we hear from FIPP Chair Yulia Boyle; Andrii Vdovychenko, CEO of Burda Ukraine; Anastasiya Ravva of Ukraine's Espresso TV; media consultant Juan Senor; Agustino Fontevecchia, digital director at Editorial Perfil in Argentina; Catalina Morales of independent literary magazine Polyglot; Colin Morrison, publisher of the Flashes & Flames newsletter; and John Schlaefli of event organisers and sponsors of this special episode, Di5rupt.   Thanks to FIPP World Media congress organisers Di5rupt for sponsoring this episode. As well as powering the FIPP World Media Congress, Di5rupt is the organiser and host of Media Makers Meet (Mx3 Berlin), an event dedicated to specialist media. The next Mx3 Berlin will be in February 2024, with tentative dates of 7 and 8 February, to be confirmed soon. Di5rupt recently acquired the media industry website What's New in Publishing (WNIP) to wrap around its events, and also produces specialist, in-depth reports, including 'Strategies for Media for Navigating an Economic Downturn' and 'AI and the Media'. For more information visit di5ru.pt.

Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we’ll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he’s decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business. On this week's episode of Big Noises from Media Voices we hear from Jacob Donnelly, founder of A Media Operator and publisher at Morning Brew. His path from crypto reporter to owner and operator of a media newsletter has afforded him a wide-ranging view of the media industry, and in this episode he brings that insight to bear on the lure of scale for publishers, the role of VCs, and challenging bad media models. In the brief news roundup Chris and Peter discuss the interview, contrast Jacob's points around VCs with those of previous guests, and discover their recording platform has a suite of effects built in. Sound effects ensue. Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.

Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we’ll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he’s decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business. In this latest episode of our Big Noises series, we hear from SEO Capo Barry Adams. Barry is a tech guy that moved into SEO more than 20 years ago, seeing it as the perfect hybrid of technology and marketing. He was at the Belfast Telegraph when it was known for punching way above its weight in search, taking advantage of Google's algorithms quirks. Since then he has worked for some of the world’s biggest media organisations, fixing their SEO and explaining that, these days, there are no quick fixes or silver bullets when it comes to search performance. We spoke about the mystery that is Reach’s consistently good search rankings despite its horrendous UX, the difference between journalism and SEO content and how getting it wrong can damage trust, and of course his thoughts on Google, AI and the future of publishers in the search ecosystem.   Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.

Next up on our Big Noises season is Amy Kean, bestselling author, LinkedIn top voice, former head of innovation for Publicis and now CEO and Creative Director of Good Shout, a company that helps people communicate better. Amy is also a self-confessed weirdo and my big question for her was, could media do with more weirdos to stem the tide of painfully undifferentiated products that Neil spoke about last week? We also spoke about fear, ego, jargon and how to spot a good weirdo rather than someone that’s going to be an HR problem.   Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.

Welcome to the latest season of Media Voices: Big Noises! This season, sponsored by Glide Publishing Platform, we'll be talking to publishing people with something to say. Media Voices co-host Peter Houston is tired of hearing the same old industry buzzwords. The publishing platitudes are starting to wear a bit thin, and he's decided to see if he can shake the conversation up a bit by speaking to some of the biggest characters in the business. First up is Neil Thackray. Neil is a media executive with decades of experience leading media companies both large and small. As one of the co-founders of Briefing Media (home of theMediaBriefing and AgriBriefing), he gained a formidable reputation for calling out executive BS at conferences and in his columns, and being unafraid to point out some of the biggest industry issues.  Neil spoke to Peter about the myth that content is king, the failures of publishing leadership, how media companies have lost the ability to differentiate, and how investors share some of the blame. Thanks to Glide Publishing Platform who have sponsored this season of Media Voices: Big Noises. Glide exists to make publishers more successful by removing any need to get bogged down building Content Management Systems, providing an industry-leading SaaS tailored to let publishers do more and spend less. Publishers using Glide direct more resources at their audiences and products, and focus on building things that make them money. You do the content, Glide does the management. Glide have created 3 expert guides to getting much more from a new or headless CMS, created for editorial, technology, and product teams. You can get the whitepapers here.

The last few weeks has seen the Media Voices team head out and about to various industry events, from a Local News event with Google to the PPA Festival and Newsrewired, as well as running our own Publisher Podcast Forum and Awards.  We were proud to be media partners for the PPA Festival, where Peter and Esther spent the day catching up with industry friends and listening in on all sorts of sessions to do with audience-building. In this special episode from the PPA Festival, we've focused on how publishers are future-proofing audience relationships. There are rising challenges from an economic recession, advertising slowdowns, uncertainty about subscriptions growth and the yet unknown impacts of AI advances which are pressuring publishers. The only way to ensure success is to deliver real value to your audience. The businesses that succeed will be those that prioritise reader relationships. We spoke to a range of publishers at the Festival and sat in on sessions on the Audience stage to find out how they plan to future-proof those audience connections. This episode features the following experts: Sajeeda Merali, CEO, PPA Amanda Wigginton, Customer strategy, data and insight specialist Sarah Ebner, Executive Editor & Head of Newsletters, Financial Times (session extract) Mark Alker, Founder, SingletrackWorld Ed Garcia, Head of Retention, Immediate Media (session extract) Clare Wain, Marketing Director, NEOM Organics (session extract) Seema Kumari, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing and CRM at Hearst UK (session extract) Tony Hill, Marketing & Events Director, Mark Allen Group (session extract) Alix Fox, Writer, broadcaster and sex educator (session extract)  

Our special podcast documentary explores how local media organisations have got started with AI projects, the benefits they're seeing, the challenges they've faced and what advice they would give to other publishers looking to get into AI. This episode and our corresponding report have been made possible with the support of United Robots. There's one topic everyone is talking about right now: AI. Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, the potential of AI tools have become very clear to the otherwise uninitiated. Now, everyone from politicians to teachers, technologists, artists and writers are having to grapple with the explosion in use of generative AI and the very real impact it will have on our everyday lives. But away from the hype of ChatGPT, Bard and other headline-grabbing AI chatbots and generators, it’s important to remember that AI isn’t a new area for publishers. From simple tasks like social media posts to content recommendations right through to more complex tasks like distilling mass datasets in a way that reporters can make sense of, we’ve been using these tools for a number of years. For publishers of all shapes and sizes, artificial intelligence is still a largely untapped area. Some prominent brands like BuzzFeed have made industry headlines by announcing their plans to use AI to generate quizzes, while CNET won’t be the last publication to get in trouble for letting major errors slip through on articles written by robots. We’re buckling up for an absolute tsunami of AI-generated content - more than any of us will be able to consume in our lifetimes. The opportunity for publishers, then, as pointed out by Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis, is to distinguish themselves from the rest of the internet. This doesn’t mean shunning AI. Instead, we should be looking at how we can use it to free writers, reporters and journalists up to do what they do best. Looking to local media Some of the best examples of how this can work in practice can be seen in local media. Often, such organisations have fewer resources than big names like the New York Times or Bloomberg, and certainly aren’t able to indulge in speculative development and testing of these tools. Instead, there has to be a clearly defined use case, straightforward implementation, and measurable return on investment. This has been the focus of a new report from Media Voices: Practical AI for Local Media. In this report, Peter Houston explores the myths and misconceptions surrounding AI, what it looks like in practice in local media organisations, the benefits it brings, and how to get started. The report also includes five case studies from local publishers around the world - who you’ll be hearing from throughout this episode - and how they’ve been using AI tools for years to create and publish journalism that gives local media an edge. We’ve focused on local news organisations, but the processes they went through internally to explore and apply AI tools can benefit publishers of all shapes and sizes, so it's still relevant if you’re looking at what AI can do for you. In this corresponding documentary-style episode, we hear directly from the publishers themselves and other industry experts about how they approached finding use cases for AI, getting staff on board, tackling issues that came up, and the advice they would give to other publishers looking to get started themselves. Interviewees: Elin Stueland, Online Editor, Stavanger Aftenblad Joseph Hook, Editor, RADAR AI Jens Pettersson, Head of Editorial Development, NTM Luuk Willekens, Data & Innovation Manager, NRC Media Cynthia DuBose, Vice President, Audience Growth & Content Monetization, McClatchy Professor Charlie Beckett, Director, The Journalism AI Project, LSE Cecilia Campbell, Chief Marketing Officer, United Robots Thanks to United Robots who have sponsored our Practical AI for Local Media report and this episode. Their mission is to empower local news publishers by helping free up reporter time, expand coverage and grow the business by providing routine reporting produced by robots on structured data on topics like sports and real estate. They’ve helped a number of publishers cited in the report get started with automated content, and Cecilia Campbell and her team are hugely knowledgeable about the real opportunities in AI for publishers. You can find out more about them at unitedrobots.ai