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Thursday, February 1, 2018
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Is Facebook celebrating time better spent, or time spent elsewhere?“People have a great deal of time and emotional energy invested in their online communities. Asking them to throw these connections out and move to another network is a nonstarter.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Learning from the New Yorker, Wired’s new paywall aims to build a more “stable financial future”“People who have studied the information age at this point recognize that there were a bunch of problems and side effects to the fact that people weren't asked to pay for content in the early years of the internet.” By Ricardo Bilton. |
What We’re Reading
Washington Post / Paul Farhi
A film critic was suspended for allegedly buying fake Twitter followers. Justified or overreaction? →
"Purchasing social-media followers is sad, but I don't think it's a clear ethical violation.”
The Verge / Ashley Carman
Instagram's new 'type mode' lets you add text-only pages to your stories →
“Here’s yet one more feature making its way from Facebook to Instagram.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Lyz Lenz
The “prince of darkness”'s replacement revives hope for the L.A. Times →
Jim Kirk’s “reputation is that he's an adult among children who still understands real journalism, good writing, and all that entails and knows how to guide a world-class organization."
Lenfest Institute / Joseph Lichterman
How the Christian Science Monitor rethought its workflows with its readers in mind →
“With only five stories per day, it can't cover everything. Instead, the Monitor tries to offer a one-of-a-kind perspective on the world that readers can't get anywhere else. ‘If we don't deliver on that, then we're not delivering what we need to attract and keep the kind of membership (we need),’ managing editor Amelia Newcomb said.”
The New York Times / Farhad Manjoo
How advertising, which funds just about everything online, is also the villain driving terrible stuff on the Internet →
“if you want to fix much of what ails the internet right now, the ad business would be the perfect perp to handcuff and restrain — and perhaps even reform.”
MediaShift / Bianca Fortis
How a collaborative project supports reporting in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria →
"Bottom line is, if you take away a community member's access to information, to communication, you eliminate the ability to connect, mobilize and provide proper response in the wake of a disaster."
Global Editors' Network / Marianne Bouchart
International data journalists’ resolutions for the 11 remaining months of 2018 →
“I can't see Excel and other spreadsheet software being obsolete any time soon — it's an integral part of day-to-day work for journalists across every newsroom I know.”
Freedom of the Press Foundation / Parker Higgins
Archiving the alternative press threatened by wealthy buyers →
“Our collection, focusing on news outlets we deem to be especially vulnerable to ‘billionaire problem,’ aims to preserve sites in their entirety before their archives can be taken down or manipulated.”
IJNet / Anna Rohleder
Tear down this paywall: Germany's taz newspaper launches a reader revolution from Berlin →
“The taz reader co-op was founded in 1992 as a consumer cooperative, meaning that it is essentially a business owned by its customers. Members buy "shares" in the co-op but do not earn financial dividends from their investment. Instead, membership entitles them to a metaphorical seat at the table of taz's business.”