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Monday, April 9, 2018
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That Politico article on “news deserts” doesn’t really show what it claims to showIts heart is in the right place, and the decline of local news really is a big threat to democratic governance. But the dataset it uses is far, far too sloppy. By Joshua Benton. |
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Facebook and Twitter are opening up a bit to academic researchers, so platforms “can make better decisions”A limited group of academics will be given access to some Facebook data. By Shan Wang. |
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Newsonomics: The Denver Post’s protest should launch a new era of “calling B.S.”This is a golden age of American protest. It’s time to stand up and fight the vulture owners hollowing out local news. By Ken Doctor. |
What We’re Reading
CBS News
Some reactions from Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida after a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ahead of Wednesday’s congressional hearings →
Q: “Would you like to see executives from Google and Twitter and other tech companies come testify?” A: “Absolutely. Because it’s not just Facebook. [Mark Zuckerberg] happens to be the point of the spear. All these other app sites that get your personal data — that’s another way of us losing our privacy.”
Recode / Kurt Wagner
Mark Zuckeberg’s full testimony that he’ll present to Congress this week →
“The beginning of his testimony actually mirrored — at times word for word — the message he shared with reporters on a conference call last week. It seems like that 45-minute call served as useful practice for what Zuckerberg will face this week from Congress.”
The Guardian / Nadeem Badshah
Facebook is alerting the 87 million users affected by Cambridge Analytica data breach today →
“The firm said affected users would receive a detailed message on their news feeds. The majority of those whose information was shared with the data analytics firm – about 70 million – are in the U.S. More than 1 million people in each of the UK, Philippines and Indonesia may also have had their personal information harvested as well as 310,000 Australian Facebook users.”
The Daily Beast
Univision forces out Gizmodo CEO Raju Narisetti as the company weighs deep cuts →
“One person familiar with the situation disputed to The Daily Beast that Narisetti was pushed out, saying the CEO sensed the forthcoming changes in the company, and approached Univision in January about leaving. Narisetti's departure is the latest in a series of top level changes that signal Univision is likely to become deeply involved in GMG operations.”
Digiday / Lucia Moses
For the first time, The Washington Post is introducing subscriber-only content →
“In the coming weeks, the Post will introduce a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter around the midterm elections. It's also preparing an audio series called ‘American Stories’ that will revisit recent Post stories. These will be emailed to subscribers as well as available on the site behind the paywall.”
The Atlantic / Robinson Meyer
Mark Zuckerberg’s not saying what changed his mind or drove him to adopt Facebook’s new approach →
“‘You know, you can't just give people a voice,’ he told me. ‘You need to also make sure that that voice is not used for foreign interference in elections or disseminating fake news.'”