Daily Bafflements

• The American Press Institute has recently released two reports on innovation in media and news organizations. PBS MediaShift takes a look at the measures being taken to get sometimes “fearful” newsroom staff on board for the all-important quest toward innovation. In our current issue, George Scialabba and Chris Lehmann both explore The New Republic‘s painful transformation into a “vertically integrated digital media company.”

• British startup Parknic, launching today, will cater to the needs of customers who want to picnic, but don’t want to bring their own food. While we’re not sure what part of this still constitutes a picnic, Parknic cofounder James Smith insists it fulfills a need for all those who “hate the hassle” of preparing their own picnic lunch, which “they’ve got to lug on the train and it gets soggy by the time they get to the park.”

• Writing in TechCrunch, Monia Leas and Julie Oberweis argue that in the wake of the Ellen Pao lawsuit, there is a critical need for more women not only in STEM jobs, but in the venture capital boardrooms that fund them, no easy feat in an industry in which women are subject to medieval forms of harassment and “one male VC [interviewed] said the best way to break into the VC industry is to wait for a partner to die.”