BREAKING NEWS: How NewsBreak Stole My Articles
A gloves off review of NewsBreak.
I never dreamt that after joining NewsBreak on Thanksgiving 2021. I’d be joining ranks with an ever-growing list of pissed-off Medium writers.
Medium writers, like myself. Those who followed NewsBreak’s partner earnings program in good faith ended up screwed. When I registered the goal was 10 articles and 100 Newsbreak app followers.
Since July 2021 Newsbreak kept shifting the rules of its partner earnings program. It was a 3-month salary, sign an NDA, and get 200 app followers.
NewsBreak categorizes me as a “Community Voice.” To read. Click My Articles.
Because I felt trying to scrape my local news for overlooked news content was a waste of time. I published Evergreen content.
Many publish Evergreen. One example: What will Georgia look like if all ice on Earth melts? Here’s your answer.
My beef is a simple warning to Medium writers and those considering it to be wary of the following.
1. Getting the 100 NewsBreak app followers didn’t come easy.
The process took two months. One big problem is the platform is only ranked 115th place in news media. The NewsBreak app itself is not popular. It’s buggy and people don’t like it. Google the app and read the reviews.
2. You will battle their AI.
I spent too much time fighting to write an acceptable headline. I searched for a good headline using engines and Google. We all know how important a good headline is. NewsBreak’s AI kept declining my headlines. Until the only accepted one was so irrelevant to the topic it was useless.
3. They will flag your article for attribution.
The problem is you can include too many or not enough source links and you’ll never know. There’s no help. No one will tell you what attribution the article needs and which ones are too many. They’ll keep sending you “read our policy” guidelines.
4. The red flag.
I used an Unsplash photo of a woman laying on her back without a shirt on. It was red-flagged inappropriate. You’re allowed 3 red flags and then your account is canceled.
5. The sting.
After I met NewsBreak’s program earnings qualifications. I got an email that said my account was under review for another 30 days? I thought wait a minute. Under review? Over the previous 3 months, Newsbreak had already published my 17 articles and monetized them.
6. Sorry, Charlie.
After the 30-day review. NewsBreak cited I didn’t qualify for monetization due to policy reasons. They kept my earnings and said try again in 90 days.
One good question
Not knowing I will ever be compensated. Why would any writer keep publishing articles to their platform? What’s to prevent NewsBreak from saying the same thing again in another 90 days?
What’s with the 90 days? Is that jail time?
NewsBreak will cancel your account for a photo like this.
My NewsBreak Stats
*Note-views are the same as reads.
How much money did NewsBreak earn on my writing? I will never know.
Will Newsbreak improve?
Today, we are excited to announce that NewsBreak has engaged Norman Pearlstine as a consultant to advise on a range of topics, including editorial standards, contributor recruitment, and publisher partnerships. Norm is a media industry legend who most recently served as Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times. He previously was Editor in Chief of Time Inc.; Chief Content Officer of Bloomberg L.P.; Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group’s Technology & Media team; Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal; and an Executive Editor of Forbes. “I look forward to working with NewsBreak’s talented staff as it continues to build audiences for its compelling content,” Norm said. — LinkedIn
Who knows?
All I can do is distribute this article in the hope it saves a writer a lot of pain.
More writing by the Author
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