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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
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Pushing to kill regulations (and weaken fair use), the newspaper lobby is asking Trump for changeThe president-elect may not always get along with reporters, but a shared desire for fewer regulations could be common ground for his administration and the newspaper industry over the next few years. By Ricardo Bilton. |
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Stat launches a $299/year subscription with original content, events, and a private Slack group“It was a high bar to just get out there and get people out there to know us and read us.” By Ricardo Bilton. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Nicholas Fandos
Nonprofit journalism groups are gearing up with a flood of donations →
At the Center for Public Integrity in Washington and its international investigative arm, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, individual donations are up about 70 percent compared to the same period last year. ProPublica’s postelection haul stands at $750,000 (2015 total raised from small-dollar donors: $500,000). The list goes on.
Vox Product Blog / Courtney Leonard
Racked explains how it aligned research and design with its new editorial strategy →
We outlined that new editorial strategy here.
Wired / David Pierce
Stop trying to kill smartphones →
“Smartphones are, and will remain, the hub of a new wheel, the sun around which the universe orbits, the … well, pick your metaphor. The point is, everyone is asking the wrong question. The right question is, Now that everyone on the planet has a smartphone in their pocket, what crazy new stuff can we do?”
Business Insider / Nathan McAlone
Google is killing a section of desktop search that was a target of “fake news” criticism →
It’s “replacing it with a carousel of ‘Top stories,’ similar to what exists on mobile.”
The Verge / Casey Newton
Facebook is patenting a tool that could help automate removal of fake news →
It “adds a layer of machine learning to make reporting bad posts more efficient, and to help the system learn common markers of objectionable content over time.”
Digiday / Brian Morrissey
Facebook has a “civic responsibility” to act on fake news, says NBC News exec →
“They need to pay more attention to what makes Facebook what it is, and publishing is one of those things.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Pete Vernon
Subscription surges and record audiences follow Trump’s election →
In the days after the election, The Wall Street Journal reported a 300 percent spike in new subscriptions. The Tronc chain saw an average gain in digital subscribers of 29 percent across its newspapers.
Medium / Ernst-Jan Pfauth
Let’s give reader comments another chance — for real, this time →
“And yet audience engagement — just like love, by the way — is so worth the investment. Especially now that Americans' and Europeans' trust in media and journalists has sunk to a new low. Talking to each other can help build relationships and therefore trust.”
Reuters / Philip Pullella
Pope warns media over “sin” of spreading fake news →
“Francis told the Belgian Catholic weekly ‘Tertio’ that spreading disinformation was ‘probably the greatest damage that the media can do’ and using communications for this rather than to educate the public amounted to a sin. Using precise psychological terms, he said scandal-mongering media risked falling prey to coprophilia, or arousal from excrement, and consumers of these media risked coprophagia, or eating excrement.”
Medium / An Xiao Mina
How Meedan’s Check was used during Electionland’s Election Day coverage →
“Authentication required, on average, 3–4 notes.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
Publishers are using Medium to entice readers and try new types of content →
“It attracts people interested in arguing about ideas. That makes it right for us.”
Shorenstein Center
Shorenstein: Press failed the voters in the 2016 election →
“The real bias of the press is not that it's liberal. Its bias is a decided preference for the negative.”
TechCrunch / Lora Kolodny
Hacker News calls for “political detox,” critics cry censorship →
“Political conflicts cause harm here. The values of Hacker News are intellectual curiosity and thoughtful conversation. Those things are lost when political emotions seize control.”