After launching onto the scene with quick, vital bursts of information in zippy stories and newsletters on politics, business, media and tech, Axios is trying something new this summer: Going deep.
For six Saturdays since Memorial Day, Mike Allen has devoted his morning newsletter to a single topic, such as China, robots, trade or demographics.
Each subject yields startling information — e.g., America will lose population unless it is counterbalanced by migration, and lose workforce productivity without some combination of younger migrants and robots.
Nearly all clock in at 2,000-plus words, albeit in the site’s distinctive category-by-category “thumbnail” summaries and graphics. Axios editor in chief Nick Johnston hopes that it conveys the information of a 15,000-word story — but faster.
It’s an experiment, Johnston told me. Putting together staff-wide expertise on a topic that hasn’t just emerged from a presidential tweet — and tackling a big issue’s complexity — best prepares curious but fast-moving readers. Doing a big topic as a weekend newsletter and article gives readers some time to absorb an issue’s broader context. It also moves, for the season, into a space occupied by products such as Quartz’s single-topic Obsessions vertical and newsletter.
“Our thought was, ‘Let’s take a step back from the things that happen every 20 seconds,’” Johnston says. “I would imagine that each of the first six (single-topic deep dives) could be relevant 50 years from now.”
Reaction has been strong among Mike Allen’s six-figure daily newsletter audience, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Don Cheadle among those heralding the climate-change roundup.
Will this summer experiment go into fall? Johnston won’t say.
Now that the Axios team knows the template and the drill, could they put one together in a jiffy on spot items, say a U.S.-Iran summit?
“Interesting,” Johnston says. “I’m taking that idea.”
Quick hits
FALL OF LOCAL NEWS = TRUMP?: It’s not that clear-cut, says the Washington Monthly’s Paul Glastris. Trump did win big among “low information voters,” in places where local news was weak, Glastris says, but it’s correlation, not causation. “Local news outlets tend to be highly trusted,” he writes. “When they disappear, partisan national media like Fox News and social networks like Facebook fill the void. Without trusted local news to provide a check, voters are more likely to accept the lies and propaganda coming out of these other sources.”
FROM PODCAST TO NETFLIX: The Los Angeles Times podcast "Dirty John" is being made into a Bravo drama series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana. Deadline Hollywood reported Tuesday that Netflix would be handling international distribution of the project, produced by Universal Cable Productions, Los Angeles Times Studios and Atlas Entertainment. Later this week we’ll be talking about licensing stories with Christa Scharfenberg, the CEO of The Center for Investigative Reporting.
THE ETHICS OF FOOD, PHOTOGRAPHS AND VILLAGES: A series of photos taken in India has created huge debate, with one side saying the Sicily-based photographer exploited poverty to shock. Why would Alessio Mamo force impoverished villagers to stand before bountiful platefuls of exotic food (which turned out to be fake)? Why would the highly regarded World Press Photo publicize them? Maria Thomas reports on the controversy for Quartz.
WHAT GETS ALEX JONES THROWN OFF FACEBOOK?: Apparently it's not calling special prosecutor Robert Mueller a child rapist or the pantomimed assassination of the former FBI director. A Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that Jones' comments do not violate the company's community standards because they are not a credible statement of intent to commit violence.
PROMOTED: S. Mitra Kalita, to CNN Digital’s senior vice president of programming, national news and opinion. Kalita is a digital veteran of the Los Angeles Times, Quartz and The Washington Post. Here are her thoughts for Poynter from March on digital changes, including the rebirth of the homepage.
HIRED: Susan Fowler Rigetti, who blew the whistle on Uber's sexist culture in a blog post last year, has been hired by The New York Times as its technology opinion editor.
What we’re reading
THE MESSAGE: In the most fascinating film of the summer, “Sorry To Bother You,” director Boots Riley has one key point amid the memes: “Information is not power; power is power.” By The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal.
TODAY’S WRITING TIP (via veteran L.A. Times editor Steve Padilla): “Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.” — Raymond Chandler
YOUR WRITING TIPS: Let us know what tips you’ve gotten or given that have proved valuable in your career. Email me at dbeard@poynter.org and I’ll publish a few favorites — and we’ll all get better.
On Poynter.org
- A guide to anti-misinformation actions worldwide. By Daniel Funke.
- Training: How to cover the future of work? Here’s a seminar that could help.
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Have a great Wednesday.
