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Friday, April 27, 2018
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The five ways we read online (and what publishers can do to encourage the “good” ones)New metrics specifically for news articles. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
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Explainers are tedious. Fact-checks can feel partisan. Is there a third way?Plus: Problems with the First Amendment, fact-checking the fact-checkers, and how partisan newspapers’ circulations change depending on who’s in power. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Vox / German Lopez
The Joy Reid controversy, from homophobic blog posts to a hacking claim, explained →
“To understand how we got to this point…let's start with the original blog posts.”
Digiday / Tim Peterson
Apple News ramps up its video push while publishers wait on revenue →
“Apple is keeping 50 percent of the revenue from those ads and divvying up the remaining 50 percent among the publishers whose videos appear in the feed when an ad runs, according to three publishers. Based on a document published to Apple's developer site and dated ‘April 2018,’ the interstitial video ads are currently ‘only available as Apple inventory.'”
CNNMoney / Brian Stelter
‘Mass firing’ at conservative site RedState →
“Multiple sources told CNNMoney that they believed conservative critics of President Trump were the writers targeted for removal. ‘Insufficiently partisan’ was the phrase one writer used in a RedState group chat.”
Poynter / Alexios Mantzarlis
Here are at least 11 different things we're actually concerned about when lamenting the state of the online information ecosystem →
“The viral reach of misinformation. Increasingly sophisticated fabricated accounts and content. Low levels of digital literacy among social media users. Hate speech and trolling. The incentive structures of the major platforms as they relate to producing content. State-sponsored propaganda. Polarized online communities. Cambridge Analytica-style data skulduggery. The (lack of) financial incentives for quality information online. The monopolistic condition of search and social network platforms. Distrust in media organizations and the content they deliver.”
That's / Bridget O'Donnell
Tencent has launched its cloud-based document tool — and it’s exactly the same as Google Docs →
“Tencent Docs is the company’s new free online document platform that allows for multi-person collaboration. There’s also an app version for both iOS and Android, as well as a WeChat Mini Program, offering users the ability to easily edit, create or share documents from anywhere on the go. So, just like Google Docs. The enterprise service project had been put on the backburner while the Chinese tech giant worked on WeChat.”
Journalism.co.uk / Caroline Scott
The BBC goes for solutions journalism in its latest global series on the individuals and communities tackling divisions in our society →
“The project has been rolling out over the whole of this week, featuring a myriad of stories across BBC News outlets, on TV, radio, and digital, from why a Yorkshire Dales farmer is working with asylum seekers to how a Kenyan prison is using mindfulness to create a different relationship between prisoners and prison officers.”
BuzzFeed / Henry J. Gomez and Tarini Parti
Trump TV is live — and more on message than the president →
“Episodes range from a few minutes for Updates of what the president did over the past week, to 10 minutes or longer for Insights from supporters. Regulars, who join via a remote feed, include Trump spokespersons such as Katrina Pierson (who already is working for the reelection campaign), Kayleigh McEnany (who has a similar role with the Republican National Committee), and Trump loyalists Diamond and Silk.”
The Drum / Ian Burrell
The BBC is trying to crack down on its impersonators spreading misinformation on chat apps →
“The BBC last week felt obliged to issue a formal warning after a clip purporting to show the BBC reporting on the outbreak of nuclear war between Russian and NATO forces in the Baltic went viral on WhatsApp and other chat platforms as a piece of breaking news. Identifying the hidden hands behind these fake BBC news reports on chat apps is extremely difficult. The BBC does have the unique advantage of its BBC Monitoring division, which tracks, filters and translates news media coverage across 150 countries.”