Romance to build reader loyalty, media outlets revamping their websites, and the return of the lowercase letter

ISSUE No. 64

Romance to build reader loyalty, media outlets revamping their websites, and the return of the lowercase letter

Hello,

In this issue, we’re lifting the veil on our website redesign! Our goal: to make reading our content more enjoyable and efficient for you, while putting into practice the technological independence we champion. For those who are curious, we’ll go into detail about the tools we used for this project: CMS, hosting, etc.

Here’s some other news we’ve been wanting to share with you for a while: the Sphera Media Lab program! At our event on December 3 in Brussels, we’ll be talking with many key figures from the European independent press (and you?). You’ll find the details at the end of this issue!

Also on the agenda: Meta’s new terms of service that would allow news sites to be scraped, romance at Teen Vogue, a tribute to paper, media coverage of the high school student movement, and the return of tiny fonts.

Enjoy the read!

OWEN HUCHON, JOURNALIST AT MÉDIANES

1. PLATFORMS (Nieman Lab) — Meta’s new terms of service would allow for the scraping of websites associated with business accounts, including those of many media outlets. While the text initially mentioned using this content to “train” its products, the company removed that word the day after Nieman Lab’s first investigation. But the saga continues: under pressure from media outlets and regulators, the effective date has been pushed back from October 30 to November 20.
   
   2. SUBSCRIPTIONS (Mediapart) — Following its investigation into Jordan Bardella’s anti-Semitic posts, the news outlet details the impact of the story and its effects on subscriptions. The result: the publication gained 17,000 net subscribers in ten days—the largest spike in its history. The publication takes this opportunity to highlight the value of a broad subscriber base, particularly when certain investigations, conversely, cause it to lose readers.
   
   3. FICTION (Teen Vogue) — Teen Vogue is venturing into romance fiction in partnership with Wattpad Books. The first story, *Under the Northern Stars* by Tay Marley, has been published since October 19, with one chapter released daily on the publication’s website. It’s not such a far-fetched idea: romance is a genre particularly popular among some young people (and profitable), and the serialized story provides a good reason to subscribe to the publication’s newsletter to be notified of each new installment.
   
   4. DESIGN (Media Design Lab) — Design isn’t just about making things look pretty. A prime example is *La Croix*: its production director, Aurore Bergmann, explains how the daily newspaper revamped its formats while building a shared identity across print and digital platforms. Among the interesting approaches explored by the team: making the article—often the first point of contact for readers—the true showcase of the media outlet. More than just a space for reading, it highlights the platform’s features and invites readers to discover other content.
   
   P.S. This was a talk held in Nantes as part of Design for Media 2026, where our design director, Christelle Perrin, also spoke about how design can strengthen media!
   
   5. BEHIND THE SCENES (Médianes) — Speaking of redesigns: here’s how we went about revamping our own website. It brings together our various activities (media, studio, network) in a more readable way and offers new features: access to newsletter archives, the ability to save articles, and a “What We’re Reading” section to share our media monitoring. The redesign also reflects the principles that guide us, such as technological independence, which informed certain design choices.
   
   6. PRINT (Le Monde) — In Japan, major daily newspapers have lost between 51% and 73% of their print circulation since 2000. But print isn’t done yet: self-publishing (fanzines, artisanal magazines, etc.) appeals to young people, and its market—estimated at 800 million euros—has doubled over the past forty years. In a country that remains attached to print, these formats offer a warmth that digital content cannot provide.
   
   7. PRINT (Le Monde diplomatique) — A sign that print is in vogue, Le Monde diplomatique recently reposted its “praise” for the format. While it promotes concentration—particularly when reading long-form articles—it also serves as an escape from the digital giants, whose business models are detrimental to the media. This is an issue that affects the publication directly: Le Monde diplomatique has 85,000 print subscribers and 25,000 app subscribers, but it, too, is losing ground at newsstands.
   
   8. JOURNALISM (Vert) — Since the start of the high school student movement, media coverage has drawn widespread criticism. The most recent example: a France 2 report, the day after the October 17 protests, which made part of the editorial staff uncomfortable because it focused so heavily on the vandalism rather than the protesters’ demands. This unease is shared by journalists at other media outlets.
   
   9. COMMUNITY (Journalism UK) — What if, faced with an information overload, the media helped their audience process it together? In Wales, research conducted with residents proposes a method: creating spaces for consuming information. First, through poetry workshops and a rave to build trust, followed by public events designed by residents and rooted in a local tradition: the sesiynau caban, where miners used to learn and debate together.
   
   10. Web (Wired) — Writing in all lowercase was something cool kids did in high school. Today, the practice is making a comeback, but why? On Tumblr in the 2010s, as well as on forums, all lowercase was the norm in alternative spaces, far removed from the “proper” conventions of the mainstream web. Today, it’s used to come across as less intense, to give a text a more human touch, or even to prove that you’re not an AI.

ANNOUNCEMENT — How can we safeguard and strengthen our independence? Let’s come together and support one another in the face of rising anti-democratic forces at the Sphera Media Lab, our Sphera network’s annual event, on December 3 in Brussels. Check out the program.

See you in two weeks!

The next edition of "10 Links" will be sent to you on November 9. We'll be back this Thursday with the latest edition of our Strategy newsletter. Not yet subscribed to all our newsletters? Update your preferences so you don't miss them.

Until then, take care of yourselves and your social media.

This newsletter was prepared by Owen Huchon with the team at Médianes.

Médianes

We are a media outlet, a studio, and a network dedicated to independent journalism.