digital news

Some people flock to streaming platforms for juicy dramas. Others queue up quirky comedies. But there’s also an audience willing to binge-watch local journalism. Just ask NBC Bay Area (KNTV). Last week, the NBC O&O dropped its second season of Derailed, an in-depth digital series investigating problems at BART, the Bay Area’s beleaguered public transit system. The whole project lives on NBCBayArea.com, YouTube and Apple TV, ready to stream in six digestible episodes ranging from about 4 to 15 minutes long.

ViacomCBS Inc. is close to selling CNET Media Group to Red Ventures LLC, according to people familiar with the matter, as the entertainment giant sheds parts of its business to focus on video streaming. Red Ventures, a media and technology company, is expected to pay about $500 million to acquire the network of websites, which includes CNET, GameSpot and ZDNet, the people said.

Austin Kellerman, Nexstar’s director of digital content: “When talking to newsrooms and journalists about social media, I often urge them to try to find their voice in major stories. Think about the angles no one is talking about and create that content for your timeline. That’s exactly what happened to me during the coronavirus crisis — only I kind of stumbled on it. The result ended up being roughly 8,000 new followers in March and April. How did it happen? Let’s break it down.”

Panelists from NBC, CBS, Graham and Fox will tackle the challenges of launching new content and adapting streaming programming in a year upended by COVID-19 and explosive protests at TVNewsCheck’s virtual event on Sept. 22. Register here.

The former Tegna executive will serve as the organization’s chief innovation officer starting Sept. 8.

Margaret Sullivan: “Some corrections are almost pointless, such as the one that prompted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to light into NBC on Wednesday morning. Her complaint identifies one of the problems with corrections by news organizations: They rarely — and maybe never — can undo the damage caused by the original error.”

Panelists from Fox Soul, Newsy and CBC will share how they find new viewers in a crowded streaming ecosystem abounding with choices. Register here.

Looking ahead to November, Facebook says it is “actively speaking with election officials about the potential of misinformation around election results as an emerging threat.” It’s the social network’s latest step to to combat election-related misinformation on its platform as the Nov. 3 election nears — one in which many voters may be submitting ballots by mail for the first time.

The EVP and GM of CBS News Digital will be the Sept. 25 closing keynote interview at TVNewsCheck’s virtual conference, focusing on streaming’s monetization prospects and the changing dynamics for AVOD services in a crowded marketplace. Register here.

Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy says the group’s decision to target African-American viewers on OTT with Fox Soul was part of a broader strategy to break from the pack in streaming news. News Now, its multiplatform streamer, takes a different tack using live coverage stitched together and “deejayed” from its Phoenix station with other O&Os soon to contribute.

The new Fox News International platform will provide Fox News Channel and Fox Business programming to 20 countries by early 2021.

Over the last 15 years, Ken Doctor has made his living as a critic of the news industry. A onetime media executive who started out as a publisher and editor of an alt weekly, Doctor regularly warns against hedge-fund ownership of news outlets in a column he writes for Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. Media companies hire him as a consultant, and he is often quoted in articles on the dismal state of local news coverage in America. Now, at age 70, Doctor is leaving his life as an armchair expert and starting a local news company.

Executives from NBCUniversal, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair and CBC will share their latest approaches to monetizing their streaming channels as pandemic audiences grow but TV’s advertising fortunes have been more challenged. Register here.

Charter’s Spectrum Networks has launched the Spectrum News App, offering video- and text-based stories and live linear video feeds from its more than 30 TV news networks. The mobile-first service, free for all of Charter Spectrum’s 28 million residential internet, TV and mobile customers, is intended as a value-add to help maintain and grow Spectrum’s broadband and video customer base.

In releasing a draft of a mandatory code of conduct, the government aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the global digital giants pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies.

A distinctive formula for local news finds a new platform. The Spectrum News App is designed as a “value add” that enhances the value of the company’s broadband service: it’s the first content product to be created for all 28 million Spectrum residential customers, whether they subscribe to its video offerings or not.

The conventional school of thought teaches that the best way to engage younger viewers is to produce short, snappy, “snackable” content, but the people at LX News must have skipped class that day. The ongoing experiment in programming for millennials and Gen Z from the NBCUniversal Owned Stations took a big leap forward last month with the launch of its first live news programs.

The 24-hour news cycle only moved away from the coronavirus once it was clear that people would not stop fighting for racial justice.

David Zurawik: “While Mr. Trump and enablers in the Republican Party and the media are clearly at the core of the problem, we are at a point where others in our information ecosystem also need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they have done and are doing enough to give their fellow citizens the information needed to help us stem and survive this pandemic.”