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Monday, March 12, 2018
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This site explains local issues to people who feel guilty they don’t know them well“If we can cultivate this community of conscientious, civically engaged people, we know they're also looking for ways to take action.” By Shan Wang. |
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The ❤️ of the matter: Here are too many words about Farhad Manjoo’s Twitter habits (and some cool charts)The appeal of Twitter for reporters is well known, but it’s worth spelling out: The benefits we get from it, real as they are, come at the cost of constant partial attention, all day and all night. By Joshua Benton. |
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Reuters’ new automation tool wants to help reporters spot the hidden stories in their data (but won’t take their jobs)With Lynx Insights, Reuters wants to marry the data-crunching skills of machines with the editorial judgment of human reporters. By Ricardo Bilton. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Zeynep Tufekci
YouTube, the great radicalizer →
“Videos about vegetarianism led to videos about veganism. Videos about jogging led to videos about running ultramarathons. It seems as if you are never ‘hard core’ enough for YouTube's recommendation algorithm. It promotes, recommends and disseminates videos in a manner that appears to constantly up the stakes. Given its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.”
Poynter / Salem Soloman
When wire services make mistakes, misinformation spreads quickly →
When newswires make mistakes, the errors “multiply across dozens or even hundreds of websites, seep into other reporting that's built on wire stories and leave audiences with false impressions.”
Medium / Bertrand Pecquerie
After 10 years, could independent publisher Mediapart be a model for the whole news industry? →
The site, exclusively funded by its 140,000 subscribers, pulls in around $17 million a year.
TechCrunch / Ingrid Lunden
Apple acquires digital newsstand Texture as it doubles down on content ‘from trusted sources’ →
“One area where we could see the product end up is Apple News, where Apple already provides access to a variety of third-party content. More generally, the company has been focusing on a larger premium content play across other mediums, putting a lot of investment into music, video and podcasts. Texture fills out the scope of that vision with reading material.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
Meredith’s ‘Midwestern practicality’ fueled its growth, and helped it acquire Time Inc. →
“You have to realize that the vast majority of all media companies' consumers have a life beyond the Hudson River," said Meredith executive chairman Steve Lacy. "The consumer we sell our product to has a very different life than what goes on on Manhattan Island."
Digiday / Max Willens
Why subscription sports sites have scored early wins →
“As publishers cast about for reader revenue in a tough digital ad market, many are finding that local sports coverage, which attracts especially passionate, engaged readers, is a good game to be in. For that reason, sports has emerged as a critical test case for the proposition the future of digital news lies in reader revenue rather than advertising.”
Medium / MediaMonks
How journalists are using Spotify to circumvent press censorship →
‘The Uncensored Playlist’ has already helped ten stories bypass countries’ censorship laws.
Variety / Todd Spangler
Snapchat and Condé Nast Entertainment are working on a millennial-focused true crime series →
“The six-episode crime series, "True Crime/Uncovered," was produced exclusively for Snapchat by Condé Nast Entertainment. The show explores six different mysterious and horrific crimes, with Snap betting the chilling real-life tales will be a hit across its youth-skewing user base.”
Digiday / Lucia Moses
After Facebook news-feed changes, publishers look hopefully to Pinterest →
“Claiming more than 200 million active monthly users, 8-year-old Pinterest falls somewhere between Flipboard and Twitter in the size of its user base. Its utility for people — often women — looking for home decor, fashion and menu ideas and the like makes it well suited to lifestyle publishers looking to get their content in front of new audiences (and advertisers looking to reach those audience, which is how Pinterest makes its money).”