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Google Chrome Privacy/Subscription Publishing

Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 8:30 PM

In the news: How upcoming changes to Chrome's privacy software are resonating with subscription publishers.

Later next month, reports Max Willens of Digiday.com, "a software update to Chrome will make websites unable to detect whether visitors are browsing the web in 'incognito mode.'" The news comes as a blow to publishers who, says Willens, "had figured out how to detect which users were browsing in incognito mode, and had started blocking access to their content until they registered with the site or purchased a subscription.

A lot of these publishers aren't happy about the expected software update and have raised their concerns with Google. The two entities have hit somewhat of an ideological impasse: "Publishers saw a loophole they'd worked hard to close beginning to reopen; Google saw work being done to correct a bug in the name of protecting user privacy," writes Willens.

There may not be much publishers can do to counter this change, but how much does it matter, anyway? Willens raises an interesting question about the value of the potential lost audience. "While industry wisdom holds that people who use incognito mode tend not to become subscribers," he writes, "there is anecdotal evidence that blocking access among those users works."

Read more here.

Also Notable

Writing about Disabilities

How should reporters approach stories about disabilities? In a recent JournalistsResource.org piece, Chloe Reichel discusses some of the traps reporters fall into when writing disability-related content. She discusses the two story categories that, according to Kristin Gilger (director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism), crop up the most. "The first category is what Gilger calls 'inspiration porn....' The second category consists of crime stories."

Reichel shares Journalist Resource's four tips for journalists cover mental and physical disabilities. Among them: letting the subjects speak for and characterize themselves and include people with disabilities in more than just disability stories. Read more here.

Cutting Print Costs to Boost Profits

Print magazine publishers walk a fine line between trimming print budgets and ensuring their long-term survival. Beth Braverman of Foliomag.com discusses the issue in a June 27 Foliomag.com article. Erin O'Mara of The Nation sums up the problem in Braverman's piece: that austerity measures don't work in the long term. So the trend, Braverman writes, is "toward fewer, higher quality issues ... as publishers continue implementing frequency reductions in print magazines." These cuts in production costs, paired with increased automation where possible, can make a big difference in a magazine's profitability. Read more here.

REI Shutters Catalog, Launches Print Magazine

Outdoors retail giant REI is stopping production of its mail catalog. In its place will be a quarterly print magazine published in partnership with Hearst. According to Adrianne Pasquarelli of AdAge.com, Uncommon Path will focus on outdoor recreation stories. The publishing partnership is similar to the one Hearst has forged with Airbnb, says Pasquarelli. She reports that the magazine will sell in REI stores and at bookstores and newsstands nationwide at a cover price of $4.95. Read more here.

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