Media Insider: White House Press Corps Booted from Kim Jong Un’s Hotel, Medium Lowers Paywall For Twitter Users, Seattle Weekly Stops The Presses
Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s round-up of media stories from the week.
USA TODAY | DAVID JACKSON
White House press corps booted from Kim Jong Un’s hotel
After weeks of setting up equipment and establishing camera positions for the Trump-Kim Summit, Kim’s security personnel forced reporters from the White House press filing center to be removed from the hotel where the North Korean leader is staying. A few hours before the facility was supposed to open for Kim to arrive, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry tweeted that “the American Media Center will be relocated from Melia hotel to International Media Center.” According to the article, Peter Alexander, a reporter for NBC news, stated that not only were him and other journalists told to leave the lobby just before Kim arrived, but were “told not to use the elevator because that would require them to step on the red carpet that had been rolled out for Kim.”
Related: Everything you should know about the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam
TECHCRUNCH | TAYLOR HATMAKER
Medium lowers its paywall for Twitter users
Medium has announced that it will tear down its paywall for readers who visit the site through Twitter. Medium CEO and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams believes this decision won’t affect Medium members, who rely on paid readerships, and that compensation will not be affected. The goal is to convert more paid readers by bringing more people into Medium through Twitter. Currently, a Medium membership costs either $5 a month or $50 a year and that money goes into a pool that is divided among the writers.
ICYMI: Medium launches a new tech and science publication called OneZero. Check it out here.
THE SEATTLE TIMES | PAUL ROBERTS
Seattle Weekly stops the presses, ending four decades of print and joining the web-only ranks
After this week, the streets of Seattle no longer will see the print edition of Seattle Weekly. The Weekly’s owner, Sound Publishing, confirmed the 42-year-old newsweekly would shift to a web-only format starting March 1 and that the three remaining editorial staff members will not remain with the company. According to the article, the decision was made in an “effort to keep the weekly alive in a publishing environment that has been completely upended by digital competitors.”
Living in a digital world: If journalism is going to survive, readers will have to pay for it
BUZZFEED NEWS | MARK DI STEFANO
A Former Vogue Editor’s Instagram-Based News Startup Is Being Backed By The Guardian
Emily Sheffield, the former British Vogue deputy editor, has created an Instagram-based news startup that is being financially backed by the Guardian’s venture capital fund. The startup, called #ThisMuchIKnow, has been posting from its Instagram handle for several months now and includes Instagram stories with a daily briefing of pictures, videos, and polls. Sheffield stated in an email to UK reporters and editors obtained by BuzzFeed News that the Guardian’s £42 million venture capital fund was an investor through the “Founders Factory” — a startup incubator by British entrepreneur Brent Hoberman based in the London suburb of Kensington.
Check out the Instagram handle here: #ThisMuchIKnow
DIGIDAY | SAHIL PATEL
Facebook won’t renew two-thirds of existing Facebook Watch news shows
Functioning more like a TV network, Facebook is open to canceling shows on Facebook Watch that aren’t getting viewership. According to publishing sources, Facebook is telling news publishers that it plans to renew only about a third of the existing news shows on Watch. Moving forward, Facebook is going to be more selective and careful about what it funds since Facebook is still paying for the shows. “Facebook is doing more “co-production” deals, where it doesn’t provide the full cost of production but gives the publisher greater control over how it chooses to make money from the show,” Digiday reports.
The future of Facebook Watch: Video Briefing: Beware, Facebook Watch publishers, the subsidies will not last
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Joanna Giannell is a Senior Customer Content Specialist with PR Newswire. She is also an animal lover and music enthusiast. Tune into her insights as a social curator at @PRNpets.
