Subscription models, traditional techniques and open-source initiatives: Here is your weekly journalism news update

Every Friday, Journalism.co.uk brings you a round-up of our week’s top stories, giving you all the information you need to know, wherever you are.

Here is the latest journalism news from this week:

How Refinery29 are moving 'off the grid', driving innovation through an audience-first approach

Photo by Rawpixel.com, Pexels

Page views, time on site, comments, likes and shares are just a few of the key metrics that every publisher needs to ensure their work is reaching and engaging the desired people.

But although data and analytics are integral to business, Tamar Riley, director of marketing and audience development at Refinery29, explained that audience insights can also play a huge role for growing readers and optimising content. 

'The greatest data project you’ve never heard of': inside the Yemen Data Project

Stories on the conflict in Yemen rarely make it to the mainstream media. Unlike the wars in Syria and Iraq, none of the parties fighting in Yemen release official information on bombings, which makes it difficult for journalists to source facts.

The little coverage there is can be often plagued by misinformation, but the independent initiative Yemen Data Project aims to tackle that, by collecting and disseminating data on Saudi coalition airstrikes, helping news outlets widen their reporting.

The Economist's print edition launches a dedicated data journalism page for better visual storytelling

Image by The Economist

The Economist has introduced a new data journalism page into its print edition to better engage with readers through visual storytelling. 

'Graphic detail', which is named after the online home of The Economist's data journalism, will feature one story per weekly edition by the team of reporters at the publisher.

In a recent public survey from earlier this year, 73 per cent of respondents said they wanted a regular spotlight piece on one piece of in-depth data journalism.

With local investigative journalism increasingly under threat, do we need new business models for news?

“I don’t have the answer to the future of news,” said Megan Lucero, director of the Bureau Local, speaking at News Impact Summit Cardiff on 15 October 2018.

She said that the Bureau is a collaborative newsroom that launched in the UK just 18 months ago, with the aim to help journalists "seek truth and to tell it with honesty and for the benefit of our communities."

Lucero, who previously worked at The Times, explains that the media industry is in a 'desperate' need of change, starting with new models for news. 

‘There was nothing high-tech about it’: The Washington Post’s viral counter-sting video shows that ‘old fashioned journalism’ still has its place today

A viral counter-sting story reminds us that ‘old fashioned journalism’ and its stripped-back-to-basic techniques still have value in today’s digital market, says Stephanie McCrummen, journalist, Washington Post, speaking at the Conspiracy Logan Symposium (19 October).

Back in November, the Washington Post published an article exposing a failed attempt to fool the publication. A woman called Jaime Phillips had lied to reporters, providing false allegations that she had been impregnated by US Senate Roger Moore, before being driven by him to an abortion clinic.

Why The Independent’s latest subscription model is not your average paywall

In this week’s podcast Christian Broughton, editor, The Independent, discusses why Independent Minds rewards brand loyalty with exclusive ‘treats’ — and why he thinks readers will pay for it.

He discusses why a tiered subscription service based on brand loyalty and exclusive perks is the way forward, and what lessons from past subscription models have been factored into this one.

Book your place for newsrewired now. The tickets (£190+VAT) give you access to the full-day conference on Wednesday 7 November 2018 and include lunch and refreshments, as well as after-event networking drinks and a delegate ‘goodie’ bag. 

Why not treat yourself to an extra day's training before the conference? Journalism.co.uk will be hosting a full day of training the day before the conference, running two hands-on workshops at The Bridge in London.

Bag your newsrewired+ ticket here.

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