A sliver of a silver lining

Media statistic of the week 

According to a study of the UK online advertising market by PwC, publishers receive just half the money spent on their digital ads by premium brands, as Alex Barker reports at the Financial Times. And Mike Shields thinks, “What’s crazy about this great FT story isn't that so much digital ad money goes to middlemen, it’s that a significant amount of spending is ‘untraceable.’”

Rob Pegoraro’s take: “With 15% of its spend apparently untraceable and only half reaching publishers, online advertising is even more of a wretched hive of scum and villainy than I’d imagined. Enraging read by the FT’s @alexebarker.”

This week in media history

On May 16, 1929, the first-ever Academy Awards were held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Best Picture award went to “Wings,” a silent film set during World War I, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen.

This week in the media industry 

Congratulations and Zoom celebrations

Continuing with the awards theme, last week, the Peabody Awards announced 60 nominees “that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and digital media during 2019.” PBS and HBO lead in nominations for the prestigious awards (11 and seven, respectively). 

Kim Masters shared the list on Twitter, with a request and a recommendation: “Here are your Peabody nominees. (Don’t @ me if your favorite isn’t on the list or your unfavorite is.) One of the biggest discoveries for me was #POV: The Distant Barking of Dogs. A Truffaut film except a doc. Don’t know how they did it. Recommended.”

Also last week, the winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes were announced in what Poynter’s Ren LaForme described as “atypical fashion.” His colleague Daniel Funke gives us a glimpse at how winning newsrooms celebrated (mostly via video calls), highlighting, among others, Laura Nelson’s tweet about the celebrations at the Los Angeles Times: “We usually gather in the newsroom for cake and champagne on Pulitzer Day. Today, the @latimes is celebrating a big year — two Pulitzer Prizes, three finalists — on Zoom! A little different, but no less moving.”

Communities respond

It’s not just about the big flashy awards, though. As Jim Kuhnhenn reveals in a piece for the National Press Club Journalism Institute, news organizations across the country are also being rewarded in another way as their communities respond to the essential role they’re playing during the pandemic.

“From Fresno to Houston to Raleigh, newsroom leaders described innovative and interactive ways of informing their communities,” he writes. “In return, they have experienced increased reader and audience participation and seen communities acknowledge that the journalism they are producing needs financial support.”

On Twitter, Kuhnhenn adds, “Amid the grim journalism news, a sliver of a silver lining. Communities respond to essential news. But is it fleeting?”

Just what the doctor ordered

In more good news, Facebook announced that more than 200 local news organizations will receive nearly $16 million in grants through the Facebook Journalism Project’s relief fund for local news. Jim Friedlich calls it “Just what the doctor ordered: $16m to 200 local news enterprises. Nearly 4 in 5 family- or independently owned. Half are published by or for communities of color.” Friedlich is Executive Director and CEO of The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, one of the industry organizations partnering with Facebook on the project.

“I know Facebook has its share of well-earned critics, but they’re also actually putting real money toward lessening serious problems that have come as a byproduct of their success. Is Amazon issuing grants to bookstores? Uber to taxi medallion owners? Etc,” Ross Maghielse points out. 

Meanwhile, the Local Media Foundation announced that it eclipsed $1 million in total donations to the COVID-19 Local News Fund on May 7, achieving its initial goal in just 40 days. The foundation is partnering with more than 230 local news outlets across 39 states on the emergency response program to activate grassroots giving.

While the current crisis continues to threaten local media, it’s also fueling bold proposals to fund its future. The LMA’s Covid-19 Local News Fund fundraising tool is one of those proposals that Catherine Buni highlights in her piece for Nieman Reports on 4 Ways to Fund — and Save — Local Journalism. 

Jed Williams praises this “Excellent piece from @ckbuni in @NiemanReports, featuring @LocalMediaAssoc's COVID-19 Local News Fund, as well as several emerging/leading examples of philanthropic & reader support for local journalism.” For her part, Bruni says she’s “Honored to have talked with the many incredible journalists, publishers, and journalism advocates, scholars, and supporters here, for this @NiemanReports story. Grateful for their vital work, and to editors @JanLGardner & @jamesgeary #JournalismIsEssential.”

Navigating the COVID-19 beat

“Are you a reporter who has suddenly found yourself on the #COVIDー19 beat? Here’s my advice for covering science moving at dangerous speeds, in @CJR.” Ivan Oransky links to his op-ed in the Columbia Journalism Review on covering science at dangerous speeds. 

“For journalists covering the pandemic, and those of us trying to make sense of the science, this @ivanoransky op-ed is super important reading,” Sarah Weinman says. Adam L. Penenberg agrees: “Excellent piece in @CJR by my estimable @nyu_journalism colleague @ivanoransky on dos and don’t of covering science that may be changing at breakneck speed.”

Striking a blow

Rachel Lerman of The Washington Post reports that Sinclair Broadcast Group will pay a record-setting $48 million fine to close three investigations, including one involving the broadcaster’s failed takeover of Tribune Media. 

Meanwhile, “Today is a good day for journalism,” Gareth Corfield said, in response to The Register’s libel win in a defamation battle with a computer sales chief executive who accused it of publishing “fake news.” As Dominic Ponsford reports for the PressGazette, according to court documents, Aria Taheri, chief executive of Manchester-based computer hardware retailer ATL, defamed Register UK editor Paul Kunert and reporter Corfield with a series of highly defamatory Twitter messages, articles and a paid-for Google ad.

“In a case of man bites dog @TheRegister has sued a businessman who defamed it and has won, striking a blow for journalists everywhere - well done @GazTheJourno and @Kunerticus,” tweets Ponsford. As Lindsay Clark says, “The term ‘fake news’ is so easily bandied about, but good journalism is hard work.”

In much less good news for journalism, journalism in Egypt has effectively become a crime over the past four years, Amnesty International says. The rights group, which has documented 37 cases of journalists being detained in the Egyptian government’s escalating crackdown on press freedoms, says the government is using the pandemic to tighten control of the media and quash dissent. The Guardian has that story via the Associated Press.

The next platform?

“Is there a way to bring Wall Street Journal reporting into the digital calendars that our readers use to navigate their work and personal lives?” That question, posed to The Wall Street Journal’s internal newsroom Idea Portal, led to the creation of a new tool: WSJ Calendars. Cory Schouten explains How the Wall Street Journal’s New Calendars Help Readers Plan for the News. 

Maybe the first of many to come? Jigsha Desai says, “Knowing how much I use my calendar, I'd not be surprised if calendar event-driven news becomes the next platform for news publishers.”

Hey, AP Style nerds. Read this.

Ren LaForme links to Kristen Hare’s story at Poynter about the venerable Stylebook’s latest updates, with a headline that will take the edge off: This year's AP Stylebook updates are nothing to get worked up about. Thank goodness. We certainly have enough to deal with right now, thank you very much.

But proving that you can’t please everyone, Candace Montague still has a few gripes: “So ‘homeless’ is okay but ‘mistress’ isn't. And I still can’t use double space between sentences in a paragraph. This is just so Monday!” (For the record, we covered double spaces last week, and Microsoft Word has officially ended that debate.)

A few more

• In a letter to readers, Snopes shares that it received a PPP loan and explains why it accepted it.
• Ben Mullin of The Wall Street Journal reports that news-curation company TheSkimm is cutting 20% of its staff.
• Axel Springer is merging eMarketer and Business Insider Intelligence to form a consolidated research division known as Insider Intelligence. Joe Mandese has the details at MediaPost.
• Last week, News Corp announced the appointment of Almar Latour as the new Chief Executive Officer of Dow Jones and Publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
• Facebook has unveiled its independent appeals board. Find out more about them on the Oversight Board’s website.

From the Muck Rack Team

Muck Rack had the opportunity to sit in on “Travel’s Path Forward,” an online summit hosted by Skift about the state of the travel and tourism industry amid the coronavirus pandemic. Head over to the Muck Rack Blog for key takeaways from the event, including tips from travel PR pros on dealing with the effects of COVID-19.

Question of the week

What are your thoughts on the usefulness of WSJ Calendars, which integrate with your Google, Apple or Outlook calendar “to deliver a few hand-curated, critical news events per week”? If you’ve already tried it out, what’s your experience been with it?