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Thursday, February 2, 2017
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Reddit’s /r/worldnews community used a series of nudges to push users to fact-check suspicious news“We found a method that can invite a much wider readership into the work of dealing with this problem, and at scale.” By Ricardo Bilton. |
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If small newspapers are going to survive, they’ll have to be more than passive observers to the newsAdopting the role of a good neighbor does not mean abandoning critical perspective. It's an opportunity to ensure that local newspapers are at the heart of the conversations taking place in their communities. By Damian Radcliffe and Christopher Ali. |
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Marketplace doesn’t “believe in the view from nowhere,” but still fired a reporter over a blog postNewsrooms are struggling to apply traditional ideas about objectivity to the current moment, and some journalists are being caught in the middle. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Washington Post
The Washington Post partners with Amtrak as exclusive news provider →
“Starting today, customers will have unlimited digital access to The Post's national news coverage, political analysis, in-depth enterprise reporting, and more while on board.”
The Verge / Amar Toor
Breitbart still hasn’t launched in France, and an activist has bought its URLs →
A 22-year-old student bought the domain name breitbart.fr following the US election, along with two other related domains: breitbartnews.fr and breitbartnewsnetwork.fr.
The AP / David Bauder
False news and an absurd reality present challenges for satirists →
“The New Yorker magazine recently took steps to distinguish Andy Borowitz’s humor columns from politically motivated false stories circulating online. His editor said the New Yorker was getting email asking if there was a difference between the two. So they changed the tagline from ‘the news, reshuffled’ to ‘not the news’ on the magazine’s website.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
New York Times print advertising fell 16 percent in 2016, driving a 9 percent drop in total advertising →
“Digital advertising revenue rose 6 percent last year, to $209 million. The Times added 514,000 net digital-only subscriptions for its news products during the year, bringing its total to 1.6 million. Buoyed by readers' intense interest in the presidential election, The Times added 276,000 net digital-only subscriptions to its news products in the last three months of the year. Including print and crossword product subscriptions, The Times now has more than three million total paid subscribers.”
Medium / Justin Arenstein
22 African digital “watchdog” projects win seed grants →
“The projects, which include both digital journalism and civic technology ideas, were selected from 736 applications from across 49 African countries.”
Vulture / Nicholas Quah
The Serial creators’ next podcast series sounds like a juicy, bingeable delight →
The crew behind Serial have formed a new production company called Serial Productions. The new company's first upcoming project will be S-Town, a nonfiction limited series set in a small, rural Alabama town that will be hosted by veteran This American Life producer Brian Reed. The podcast is scheduled to drop sometime in March (no specific date has been provided), with all episodes dropping simultaneously.
Pressgazette / Dominic Ponsford
The BBC will divert £8m each year to fund 150 “local democracy reporters” →
The money will be taken from the BBC’s £3.7 billion license fee and used to fund 150 ‘local democracy reporters,’ who will be employed by ‘qualifying news organizations.’ The reporters will be distributed around the UK, with three in Northern Ireland (for instance), 11 in the West Country and 12 in London and the South East.
Washington Post / Mark Berman
#PressOn campaign wants you to support facts by paying for journalism →
“People involved in the effort say it began with a sprawling private message thread on Twitter that included a number of journalists as well as people working in sports, entertainment and other fields.”
The Business of Fashion
Hearst’s president of digital Troy Young on how to win the new media wars →
“There is an efficiency imperative in media today. We're expected to produce so much, so quickly for so many environments where it's hard to monetise media. Efficiency for me is a starting point,” Young said.
Nytco
The New York Times will soon launch on Snapchat Discover with a weekly Friday edition →
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure our journalism reaches the widest possible audience and that we continue the rapid growth we've seen in our base of loyal subscribers — growth that comes in large part from reaching new audiences on other platforms,” said Kinsey Wilson, executive vice president, product and technology.
the Guardian / Alex Hern
Reddit bans far-right groups altright and alternativeright →
“The subreddits were specifically banned for breaking Reddit's content policy, according to a message posted by the site admins, ‘specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information’.”
Digiday / Sahil Patel
When it comes to video, more publishers are betting on mobile web versus apps →
“In the last 10 months of 2016, the share of mobile video viewing occurring inside apps declined to 5 percent from 8 percent, according to a sample of 500,000 websites within JW Player's network.”
Digiday / Jessica Davies
Road to 1 million: The Guardian has gone from 15,000 to 200,000 paying ‘members’ in the past year →
“If the Guardian does reach its 1 million paying subscriber target by 2019, that would put it well within reach of its ambition of doubling the revenue generated from readers from £30 million to £68 million within three years, which it outlined last year.”
Digiday / Digiday
36 percent of publishers are wading into VR and AR, according to survey →
But is there an audience for it?
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
‘Fact-checking is not for one team’: How France’s Liberation is tackling false information →
“Libération doesn't just want to stamp out outright rumors and fake stories — it wants to go after the very people in power who are spreading misinformation.”
Reuters / Steve Adler
Reuters is planning to cover the Trump administration similarly to how it covers authoritarian countries →
“To state the obvious, Reuters is a global news organization that reports independently and fairly in more than 100 countries, including many in which the media is unwelcome and frequently under attack. I am perpetually proud of our work in places such as Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Thailand, China, Zimbabwe, and Russia, nations in which we sometimes encounter some combination of censorship, legal prosecution, visa denials, and even physical threats to our journalists.”