New HuffPost EIC, Pioneer Woman Magazine, Facebook Collections, Fake News, Women in Media, AEM Mobile Tip: Using the AEM Mobile Packager App, Adobe Experience Manager Mobile v2016.14 Release

Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news, stories of interest, and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing posts about the new editor in chief of The Huffington Post, a Hearst-Scripps deal to produce The Pioneer Woman magazine, a new Facebook feature that will curate publishers’ content, fake news updates, and more.

  • lydia-polgreen-photoThe Huffington Post has named a new editor in chief: Lydia Polgreen, editorial director of The New York Times Global. Polgreen will replace Arianna Huffington, who in August stepped down from her post at the digital news site she founded in 2005 to work on her recently launched health and wellness startup Thrive Global (see our Women in Media post). Polgreen, a 15-year Times veteran who spent 10 of those years as a correspondent based in Africa and Asia, called her appointment a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Described in a 2015 Politico profile as a Times “rising star,” she was roundly congratulated on Twitter by not only current and soon-to-be colleagues but Arianna herself, as highlighted in a Poynter post.
  • Ree Drummond—a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman—is growing her popular brand even further with a Hearst-Scripps Networks Interactive deal to produce a print magazine that will initially be distributed exclusively through Walmart, where she also sells a line of home wares. Best known for her blog offering folksy cooking and entertaining tips gleaned from life on an Oklahoma ranch, Drummond said the move is “old school” but a “natural next step,” noting her audience wants to “hold something in their hand and kick back and read it.” Other Hearst magazine partnerships, including Food Network Magazine, HGTV Magazine, and Dr. Oz The Good Life magazine, have all been “very profitable,” Michael Clinton, president of marketing and publishing director at Hearst Magazines, said in a Wall Street Journal article. “Our partners have huge fan bases, and those fans want more. Ree also has an enormous following.”
  • Elsewhere, a PublishersDaily blog on MediaPost detailed a new Facebook feature that will let users browse curated content from publishers, much like a feature Snapchat has been updating on its platform. Called Collections, it will let publishers highlight content from users’ news feeds, with stories appearing based on user preferences and the source, the post said. The effort aims to entice publishers to create more original content for the channel so Facebook can better compete with similar offerings on other platforms. Also, Collections provides a way for users to ensure their news feed content is from legitimate sources as fake news continues to proliferate on social, it said.
  • On that topic, Forbes reported that Facebook, facing increasing pressure to address the problem, is turning to users to help it identify fake stories with a survey feature that asks them whether they think specific headlines are false or misleading. And Google is replacing its “In the news” section from the top of desktop search with a carousel of “Top stories” like that on mobile, Business Insider said. The idea is to eliminate the word news to better differentiate Google News content and its main search product. Meanwhile, two polls detailed on Nieman Lab’s site found that the issue is pervasive. Among other revealing findings, one found a high percentage of respondents viewed fake news headlines as accurate—with the breakdown being 84% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats—while the other highlighted confusion over satire versus verifiably false news stories.

On the Technology for Publishing Blog

  • AEM Mobile Tip: Readers are using different devices to read the content of apps, meaning it’s more important than ever to create responsive HTML layouts. Learn how the AEM Mobile Packager utility helps get your HTML content into your app!
  • Our new installment of Women in Media covers Arianna Huffington’s official launch of Thrive Global, a mentorship that matches women media execs with advocates of women and youth sports programs, Reese Witherspoon’s new digital media company, and more.
  • AEM Mobile Update: Check out all the new features, enhancements, and bug fixes in the Adobe Experience Manager Mobile v2016.14 Release.
  • And in case you missed it, our latest Infographic Pick of the Week compares two of today’s hottest platforms: Instagram and Snapchat. Find out which rates best with Gen Z and millennial audiences.

Image: The Huffington Post


Visit our blog for highlights of interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world every Friday, and sign up for TFP’s This Week in Publishing newsletter. Think we missed something great? Let us know! Leave a comment below or drop us a note.

Posted by: Monica Sambataro

Monica Sambataro is a contributing editor and copyeditor for Technology for Publishing. Her publishing background includes work for leading technology- and business-related magazines and websites.