Google to Pay For News
Google will pay $1 billion for news over the next three years, the company announced in an Oct. 2 blog post. The payments will come as part of the new Google News Showcase, a product that will feature “the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences,” said the post.
News Showcase started rolling out last week to readers in Brazil and Germany, and will expand to other countries in the coming months, said the post. The post touted Google’s other moves in the industry over the last several years, including the Google News Initiative’s $300 million commitment.
Nieman Lab provided an analysis of Google’s latest move. “The money, spread over three years and the entire globe, is welcome — but this is PR, not a product,” it said.
Binghamton University Buys Printing Plant
The Binghamton University Foundation has bought a former newspaper printing plant in Johnson City, New York, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. Gannett, which owns the Press & Sun-Bulletin, moved the printing of that paper, the Ithaca Journal and the Elmira Star-Gazette to Rochester in 2018, the Binghamton paper reported. The building has been unoccupied since then.
Binghamton University has been looking for a spot for a library annex, the anticipated role for the site at 10 Gannett Drive, said the paper.
Uberall Works with Gannett, Acquires SweetIQ
Uberall has been chosen by Gannett and its digital marketing subsidiary ReachLocal to become their premier provider of presence management solutions, said a press release from Uberall. As part of the agreement, Uberall will acquire Gannett’s SweetIQ subsidiary. Providing local digital marketing services, the SweetIQ team will join Uberall and become part of a new Montreal hub, the company’s seventh location outside its Berlin headquarters. “We’re thrilled that Gannett selected our ‘Near Me’ brand experience platform as their presence management solution,” said Florian Hubner, co-founder and CEO of Uberall. “We also want to welcome SweetIQ’s staff to Uberall and look forward to providing even better service and support to our North American partners going forward.”
Vox Media Launches Concert Ad Manager
Vox Media has launched Concert Ad Manager, a self-service tool giving brands, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, the ability to build and deploy ad campaigns at scale, across premium publishers within the Concert and Concert Local marketplaces, says Vox. Concert Local is a centralized advertising marketplace bringing together a collection of local media brands, built in partnership with the Google News Initiative. Advertisers can access inventory across the Concert marketplace including publishers like NBC Universal, Penske Media and Quartz along with Vox Media’s 13 topically diverse networks, says Vox. Brands will also have access to ad inventory across the Concert Local marketplace, which includes dozens of local media brands like Advance Local, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Dallas Morning News, Star Tribune, Tampa Bay Times and Texas Monthly.
EFI Withdraws from Drupa 2021
Electronics For Imaging has canceled its planned exhibit at the drupa 2021 tradeshow taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany, next April. The EFI cancelation follows dropouts from HP, Kodak and Fujifilm.
“Our company has a long, positive history with drupa, as do I personally, having also run two companies that have been major drupa exhibitors in the past,” said Jeff Jacobson, chairman and CEO of Silicon Valley-based EFI. Jacobson said it was an “unfortunate albeit prudent decision,” citing the limited amount of knowledge now about what conditions will be for public gatherings early next year.
HP is the fair’s biggest exhibitor. HP also canceled its appearance at sister event Interpack, U.K.-based Printweek reported.
SCOTUS to Hear Petitions on Media Ownership
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Oct. 2 that it will hear petitions filed by the Federal Communications Commission and a group of industry stakeholders seeking to reinstate the FCC’s steps to modernize the country’s media ownership rules, including the repeal of a 1970s-era rule that prohibits common ownership of a newspaper and a TV or radio station in the same market. The FCC’s changes were overturned last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on procedural grounds.
The News Media Alliance was among the stakeholders mentioned above. “We commend the Supreme Court for deciding to hear these important cases,” said News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern in a statement on the organization’s website. “The media cross ownership rule is derived from a bygone era that no longer exists in today’s diverse media landscape.” The appeals court panel that preserved the cross-ownership rule is the same one that agreed with the FCC in 2003 that the ban was no longer in the public interest and in 2017 admonished the FCC for failing to act to revise it, says the News Media Alliance.
U.K.-based Independent Launches Spanish-language Website
The Independent has launched Independentespañol.com, created to serve the Hispanic audience in the U.S. and other Spanish-speaking markets, according to InPublishing. Articles will be translated by journalists in North America, using material written by The Independent’s staff around the world, and added to with the goal of matching the interests of Spanish-speaking readers, said InPublishing. Video and live blogs are anticipated at a later date, say the publishers, according to InPublishing. The Independent is the first U.K.-based news operation to start a Spanish-language website, says InPublishing.
Muller Martini Launches Prinova Saddle Stitcher
Muller Martini launched the Prinova saddle stitcher this fall. “Thanks to its innovative individual feeder, the saddle stitcher, which is capable of 9,000 cycles per hour, can be changed over incredibly quickly,” says a press release from the company. The Prinova is the ideal solution for short runs, but as an all-rounder, it is also designed for medium-sized runs as well, says the company. The Prinova includes a number of proven technological features from its “big brother,” the Primera, said the release. Muller Martini is based in Switzerland and has over 20 sales and service companies, 40 agencies and production sites in Switzerland, Germany, the U.S. and China.
More News
• The Witness (archdiocesan newspaper in Dubuque, Iowa) is approaching its final issue.
• California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that gives a one-year extension for papers to comply with California’s new gig-worker law.
• The Union Times (Union, South Carolina) published its final edition on September 30.
• Flint Group Flexographic, provider of flexographic photopolymer plates and plate processing equipment, has announced the establishment of a dedicated sales organization in South Africa.
• Surfer Magazine has put out its last edition, surfertoday.com reported.
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