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Patch’s newsletter platform facilitating local news: The Media Roundup

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Patch’s newsletter platform facilitates local news

We’ve talked a fair bit about solo journalists launching their own newsletter businesses. Now Patch, the hyperlocal digital news company, has built a new software platform that lets local news reporters publish their own newsletters and websites.

According to Axios, as well as a few local newsrooms, “Patch Labs” software is currently being used by individual journalists covering small communities. The software lets reporters sell ads and subscriptions directly and keep most of the revenue, with Patch keeping just 3% to 10%.

Reporters and newsrooms can use the platform for free, but Patch approves them and requires them to agree to a journalistic code of ethics. With local news under intense cost pressure, this type of shared publishing tech might just be the lifeline underserved communities desperately need to get back to reliable local reporting.

Hearst cut magazine offers due to lockdown subscription surge

Hearst had to stop offering discounted magazine subscriptions early in the pandemic as new subscriber numbers jumped dramatically. Press Gazette is reporting that the company went from a modest 5% subs growth to being 233% up, forcing the business to ditch the ’three issues for £1 style trials’ that it normally uses as a loss leader in reader acquisition.

Facebook to pay UK media to license news stories

Another day another social network doing a deal with mainstream media outlets to head off an impending government crackdown on its business model. This time it’s Facebook offering British publishers cash to put their content in the platform’s soon to launch news tab. The Guardian is reporting most UK newspapers have signed up (as you would).

This content originally appeared in The Media Roundup, a daily newsletter from Media Voices. Subscribe here: