I submitted another story to Newsbreak, about the Pine Tree Zone, coming up for renewal at the end of this year. The mainstream media is not talking about the Pine Tree Zone yet. My story covers how the Pine Tree Zone legislation was “managed” the last time it was up for renewal in 2018.
Last time, in 2018, during the time leading up to the vote on the Pine Tree Zone legislation, the mainstream media featured testimonies from those who benefit from the Pine Tree Zone tax exemptions, paid for by the rest of the economy, but very little input from the paying sector of the economy.
In the first few hours after the Pine Tree Zone story was published, there were no impressions and so I decided to not even check the status. One has to have 10 articles published (and 200 followers) before one can be on paid status, so at least the article would count as a published article.
However this morning I unintentionally clicked on the stats to find that the Pine Tree Zone story had 43 impressions and 11 views, while the story about the proposed state electricity grid had jumped to 21 impressions and 21 views. Now the Pine Tree Zone story has 163 impressions and 17 views and the state electric utility story has 24 impressions and 24 views.
Impressions represent exposure and views are views, so it seems curious that I have more exposure for the second story but a one-to-one relationship of impressions to views in the first story, which also has more views, and always seems to increase in a one to one relationship. Are people more interested in the State electric utility proposal than the Pine Tree Zone, and is that reflective of the fact that the former is covered in mainstream media and the Pine Tree Zone renewal is not? That explanation does not account for the higher number of impressions for the second story. I still do not know how impressions are generated. Both stories have CV (content value) ratings of eight (out of ten).
None of that is impressive compared to Tim Dennings stats, but from my perspective, Tim Denning doesn’t understand why local news is important. Tim Denning republishes his Medium articles on Newsbreak. I do not understand what makes his Medium articles local news, which is what is supposed to be the distinguishing identity of Newsbreak. I am an idealist and envision Newsbreak as having the potential to become a transformative function in local news but that idea that gets buried under the story about making money.
Newsbreak started out by offering monthly stipends to content providers and so in content media circles, Newsbreak became a story about making money. The financial incentive attracted content providers to the platform. Reports tell of writers simply adding a location to a story to make it a local story and republishing it on Newsbreak.
On December 14, 2020, on Medium, Tim Denning published The Brutal Truth About News Break for Writers subtitled “What nobody is saying about the platform. This is a must-read for any writer looking to make money on News Break.”
Denning writes about making money as do many other content providers, usually ending up by advising the reader to write what is meaningful, and often including confessions such as “I have spent lots of time analyzing the platform from the perspective of a writer with six years experience, who has made six figures. I don’t say that to impress you. I tell you that so we can cut the crap and get to the point. “ Obviously the point in that statement is the money.
Denning goes on to say that “
News Break is a news app, not a blogging platform.
They are trying to be more than that but their branding is incredibly confusing for an already exhausted reader just trying to find helpful content to assist them with their everyday lives
If Newsbreak is a news app, and furthermore a local news app, I would not define their targeted audience as “exhausted readers just trying to find helpful content to assist them with their everyday lives.
As for Newsbreak not being a blogging app, I tested that myself by submitting a story, that is a significant news story but it is introduced with a personal narrative, that I associate with a blogging style of writing. I was testing the waters to see how far away from the mainstream media that dominates my local Newsbreak homepage, I can go on Newsbreak. It was, in my estimate, a 50-50 chance of being accepted or rejected, and my article was accepted. Now I feel emboldened about the piece I am composing specifically with Newsbreak in mind.
Before, my impression of Newsbreak was formed by what I saw in my local stream, but according to Tim Denning, in his Jan 5 blog post “On News Break you need to have an edge to your content. Safe doesn’t work as well as interesting”. That is a point of view, that draws many outsiders in small towns to New Your City. Imagine the New York point of view integrated into local media.
Then Denning says :
News Break is a VC funded company from the U.S. Their goal is to make money any way they can. They don’t seem to have a secondary goal to speak up about important topics or shine a light on injustices they can help change. A goal beyond money is key as a writer. It gives a platform purpose.
Without purpose, money takes over, and writers become whipping objects.
I haven’t been on Newsbreak long enough to know how much money plays into the content shown on the platform, but from the way that Newsbreak is promoted, local news is its purpose, whether first or secondary, that is always the question. Perhaps Newsbreak’s mistake was providing a stipend and attractive terms to make money in order to attract writers, who were originally recruited from existing platforms. Then it was the writers who made it all about the money and complained about the emphasis on local news. The inspiration behind a global-local news source didn’t get airplay.
Denning continues to discuss the money in a section titled “Pay close attention to the incentives”, as it is inconceivable to Denning that an incentive might be in the form of the opportunity to be influential in local news, and thus on the direction that one’s local community is taking, to effect change at the decentralized roots of society.
Later Denning asks Is the future clear for the platform? and says that “NewsBreak doesn’t have a clear future. They’re just trying stuff on to see what sticks”, which seems to be what all platforms are doing. Medium tried hiring mainstream professionals to manage publications on Medium, amid the mix of publications started by Medium subscribers, but it did not work out as a financial investment. Recently Medium changed its menu lineup so that one sees the individual writers and not the publications on one’s home page. The direction seems to be away from the old established ways and toward individuality.
Any publication is dependent on the content that writers submit to the platform. If a platform decides to feature local news and writers don’t want to write local news but want the money that can be earned on a platform, they try to fool the system, and then the platform becomes confusing. Like many others, Denning disses the quality of the Newsbreak reader’s comments. I cannot speak to that either but it’s news. The news is a political force that interacts with the masses, the full range of humanity, and people do get heated about it.
Denning ends by dismissing Newsbreak as just a business interest, maybe it is, but Denning treats Newsbreak as just a money-making platform. He doesn’t get into the idea and the value of local news, and its political sociological import.
On Jan 5, 2021, Dennings published You Can Blow Up on News Break by Repurposing Your ‘Weird’ Content, including screenshots of his stats for repurposed weird articles. His stats are amazing but he misses the transformative opportunity in publishing genuine local news, breaking the stereotypes to create a new-style 21st-century media. The media matters. That’s a meaningful and purposeful incentive.