Semafor and Newsweek execs reveal US election night coverage strategies
And The Athletic reports its first quarterly profit under NYT ownership
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Tuesday 5 November 2024.
As the US votes today we've spoken to two American news websites which are poles apart in terms of their plans to cover the big day.
Newsweek has jumped on to the Google Discover traffic train in a big way, publishing hundreds of stories per day aimed at harvesting clicks as readers browse through the algorithm-driven news feed on their phones.
Head of audience Josh Awtry spoke to us about how it has deployed a Fairness Meter to keep its journalism honest during an election in which media bias has been a constant complaint. And he said the brand has pre-writes ready to go on a range of stories to help it get first to the Google News and Search traffic.
At the other end of the spectrum, Semafor offers deeper reporting and analysis. Founder Ben Smith told me they will be focusing their coverage tonight on 20 Bellwether votes at county level to get a view on where the election is going.
Former New York Times media editor Smith also had some interesting insights on the way journalists have covered Trump this time around: “He does present a challenge with his core style which is to say something outrageous so that he gets scolded by the media, so that he can turn to his followers and supporters and say ‘see, they hate me too’…"
I've been watching a lot of US TV news in recent weeks and there appears to have been far more coverage of polls than there has been of the issues which divide the candidates.
If, as with Brexit and the last two US elections, these polls turn out to be wildly inaccurate yet again, hopefully those time-wasting political data nerds with their interactive displays will be given a backseat in future elections in favour of actual reporting. Telling your viewers repeatedly for three months that it is "too close to call" is nice work if you can get it but there must be a more enlightening way to fill airtime.
Today we also report on the latest New York Times results, which reveal group subscriptions up to more than 11m and The Athletic turning a profit for the first time. The New York Times Company made an adjusted operating profit of $104.2m in the last quarter on revenue of $640.2m.
On Press Gazette
US election: Grassroots political reporting back in fashion says Semafor’s Ben Smith
“I do feel like there’s a sizeable number of readers who are really exhausted by the sense that the media, and social media in particular, have become expert in manipulating your emotions and that when you click, when you can’t turn off the cable channel, it’s essentially because they’re manipulating you and telling you what you want to hear, or scaring you.”
New York Times-owned The Athletic reports quarterly profit for first time
NYT Co bought the loss-making sports news brand, which launched in 2016, for $550m in January 2022 and it has taken two-and-a-half years since then to get it into quarterly profit of $2.6m.
US election: Speed and fairness are key tactics for fast-growing Newsweek
Newsweek SVP of audience development Josh Awtry told Press Gazette the newsbrand’s plan is to “jump right to the key questions on people’s minds”, beyond the individual race results, and to be quicker than the competition.
News in brief
Tech workers at The New York Times including software developers and data analysts have gone on strike over contract negotiations. Bosses said with the election timing they are "attempting to jeopardise our journalistic mission at this critical time". (The New York Times)
404 Media, a tech publication launched last year by four ex-Vice journalists, is partnering with Wired to publish two of its articles per month on the Conde Nast title's site. It's a bid to reach new people and grow its subscriber base. (404 Media)
Police in Brazil have formally charged the alleged mastermind of the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in June 2022. The suspect is reportedly an alleged illegal fishing and poaching boss. (The Guardian)
Times Radio's Aasmah Mir, who has hosted the breakfast programme with Stig Abell since the station's 2020 launch, is leaving at the end of January. (Mir on X)
BBC chair Samir Shah is to call for a permanent charter, replacing the current one that is renewed every ten years and which Shah says creates a "sense of almost perpetual government review". He also said putting even some BBC content behind a paywall is "not compatible with public service". (Financial Times)
This week on Press Gazette:
Top 50 UK news websites in September: Leading publishers see sharp traffic drop
Metropolis employee passport and bank details compromised in cyberattack
Guardian CEO warns staff Observer faces ‘difficult decisions’ if Tortoise deal fails
Ofcom fines GB News £100,000 after ‘serious and repeated’ impartiality breaches
How publishers use AI to boost productivity: From audio editions to exploiting archives
Listen to our latest podcast
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford and reporter Bron Maher provide an insider take on three of the hottest issues in news media: how did the Washington Post handle its election endorsement so badly? Why are Guardian and Observer journalists set to go on strike? And what can publishers do about the onslaught of generative AI bots harvesting their content without permission?