Newser
 | |
Type of site | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2007 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Founder(s) | Michael Wolff |
| President | Kate Seamons |
| CEO | Patrick Spain |
| Industry | News Publishing |
| Employees | 15 |
| URL | www |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
Newser is an American news site. It was founded in 2007 by journalist/media pundit Michael Wolff and businessman Patrick Spain, the former CEO of HighBeam Research and Hoover’s.[2]
Newser’s president and editor-in-chief is Kate Seamons, formerly of the Chicago Sun-Times, who joined the site in 2007 as managing editor.[3] She was promoted when founding editor-in-chief Caroline Miller left the organization at the end of August 2010 and became president in December 2012.
History
Newser launched in October 2007 at a party at New York’s Waverly Inn and was lauded as "Drudge-like" and "innovative."[4]
Newser’s tagline, “Read Less, Know More” embodies the idea behind the site’s creation. The website utilizes human-powered aggregation; its staff of editors and writers curate approximately 45 stories each day and present them in a two paragraph, multiple source format.[5]
In February 2009, The New York Times threatened legal action against Newser for trademark infringement and posting a photograph without permission.[6] Newser removed the photograph in question, calling its publication an editor’s mistake.
In June 2009, Newser received $2.5 million in first-round funding, mainly from a collection of individual investors.[7]
In April 2010, The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman accused Newser of not providing sufficient links or credit to original sources.[8]
Michael Wolff was named editorial director of AdweekMedia on October 4, 2010, a position he held for a year.[9] Patrick Spain stepped down as CEO on October 18, 2010[10] but returned to the role in March 2012 following Newser CEO Elisabeth DeMarse’s move to TheStreet.
In 2011, Newser was in talks to purchase and merge with Salon.com, but the deal ultimately fell through.[11]
Features
User interaction is handled by several third-party widgets including ShareThis, AddThis, and the Disqus commenting widget.[12]
"Newser by Users" was a feature from 2010 to 2012, which allowed users to write and upload stories directly to the Newser website without editorial review.[13]
"Off The Grid" was an occasional Newser blog by founder Michael Wolff that was written between 2008 and 2010.[12]
Site statistics
Newser traffic has been described as low quality referrals from traffic exchanges.[14]
Quantcast traffic statistics for Newser, October 2016:[15]
- 1.5M unique visitors (US)
- .4M unique visitors (Rest of World)
Compete Site Analytics traffic statistics for Newser, September 2016:[16]
- 1,674,298 unique visitors (US)
References
- ^ "Newser.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
- ^ Wolff, Michael (5 January 2012). "Why I love Fox News". Retrieved 22 March 2015.
I came to be in possession of this curious information: while all of my fellow liberals believed Ailes to be a brute and a bully, I knew him to be whip-smart, witty, flirtatious, companionable and, as it happens, generous, too … Once, he offered to hire me as a Fox business-news commentator, if that's what I wanted, but counselled that, if I worked for Fox News, I was never likely to be hired by the liberal outlets to which I was more naturally suited.
- ^ "Kate Seamons | Newser". www.newser.com. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ "Newser.com Launch Party: "Somebody's going to reinvent the way people get news!"". 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ Nicole, Kristen. "Newser Is A Human-Powered News Aggregator". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ "NYT threatens news aggregator over use of logo; Newser's reply: "I'll put a skull and crossbones in its place"". Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ "Wolff's Newser.com gets $2.5M in first-round funding". 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ "Michael Wolff To Sharon Waxman: "Man Up And Sue Us, Any Time"". www.mediaite.com. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ Peters, Jeremy W.; Elliott, Stuart (2011-10-17). "Michael Wolff Leaves Post at Adweek". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ "Newser Appoints Elisabeth Demarse as CEO". Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ Peters, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeremy W. "Salon.com Merger Talks Collapse". Retrieved 2016-07-21.
- ^ a b What's new on Newser? - October 30, 2008
- ^ Michael Wolff Launches 'Newser By Users' Grid: 'Rupert Murdoch's Worst Nightmare' - March 17, 2010
- ^ Why did Newser’s traffic fall off a cliff? - August 21, 2009
- ^ "Quantcast profile for Newser". Quantcast.com. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
- ^ "Site Profile for Newser.com". Site Analytics. Retrieved October 17, 2016.