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Tuesday, September 25, 2018
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Newsonomics: The Washington Post’s ambitions for Arc have grown — to a Bezosian scaleIt is increasingly the tech stack of choice for major news publishers. But now Arc wants to be the backbone of your digital advertising and subscriptions, too. By Ken Doctor. |
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Nope, there isn’t a podcast bubblePlus: Serial’s audience grows, Gannett builds a local audio franchise, and what a Pandora–SiriusXM marriage could mean for podcasting. By Nicholas Quah. |
What We’re Reading
The Information / Sarah Kuranda
Adam Mosseri is likely the next head of Instagram →
"Mr. Mosseri previously oversaw the news feed at Facebook, where he tackled some of the company's biggest challenges, including the spread of disinformation on the social network and repairing its fraught relationship with news publishers."
Pew Research Center / Jeffrey Gottfried, Galen Stocking, and Elizabeth Grieco
Partisans remain sharply divided about the news media →
82% of Democrats say “media criticism of political leaders keeps them from doing things they shouldn’t,” vs. 38% of Republicans.
Recode / Kurt Wagner
Instagram’s co-founders are leaving amid frustrations with parent company Facebook →
“…amid frustration and agitation with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's increased meddling and control over Instagram…The departures are a major blow to Facebook. Instagram, which has grown rapidly and is popular with the younger generation of users who are less interested in Facebook, has been a consistent beacon of good news for a company that has had more than a year of bad news.”
The Guardian / Jim Waterson
U.K. newspapers are demanding a tax on Facebook and Google to pay for news →
“It also called on the government to introduce a tax credit system, similar to that used to encourage investment in the British film industry, which would allow newspapers to claim a cash rebate for investment in areas such as investigative journalism.”
BuzzFeed News / Ryan Broderick
Reddit’s /r/The_Donald appears to have been targeted by Russian propaganda for years →
“/r/The_Donald currently has over 600,000 subscribers and still acts as the pro-Trump world's central hub for memes, talking points, and conspiracy theories…brutalist.press appears to have been created in St. Petersburg in 2016. And usareally.com is owned by a member of a civil society institution called the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.”
Twitter / Cara Buckley
Over 100 New York Review of Books contributors are protesting its editor’s dismissal →
“We find it very troubling that the public reaction to a single article, ‘Reflections from a Hashtag’ — repellent though some of us may have found this article — should have been the occasion for Ian Buruma’s forced resignation.”
TechCrunch / Josh Constine
Snapchat and many of its publishers are pushing its users to register to vote →
“Today, all 18+ US users will see a TurboVote link to register in the profile portion of their Snapchat app…Meanwhile, publishers including Washington Post, NowThis, Mic, Vice, Refinery29, Mitu, Cheddar, and Good Luck America will put swipe-up-to-register options in their relevant election coverage.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Mathew Ingram
How BBC Africa verified a gruesome video →
“After weeks of denying that the video showed members of the Cameroonian army, the government changed its tune in August and announced that seven members of the military had been arrested and were under investigation for the killings.”
PressGazette / Dorothy Musariri
Local and national newspapers in Ireland call on the Irish Government to slash the levy on newspapers →
“Currently consumers pay a reduced 9 per cent VAT rate for newspapers in Ireland, but the campaign is pressing the government to use part of its 2019 budget to reduce the rate down to 5 per cent. It has also asked for Ireland's draconian defamation laws to be reformed ‘to ensure that the stories that need to be told, are told’, according to a spokesperson.”
Live Mint / Komal Gupta
WhatsApp appoints a grievance officer, who will be based in the US, to curb fake news in India →
“According to the social media giant's website, a user can contact the grievance officer on email, signed with an electronic signature, or send queries through postal services. ‘If you're contacting us about a specific account, please include your phone number in full international format, including the country code.'”
Quartz / Aisha Hassan
Spotify and Ancestry can use your real DNA to tell your “musical DNA” →
“In Spotify and Ancestry's custom playlist generator, you can input the different ethnicities and regions that make up your heritage based on your AncestryDNA test results. The generator will then select a range of tracks that reflect the cultures your ancestors came from.”
Jezebel / Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
#MeToo allegations are still coming out, but how do we handle the gray areas? →
“As we near the one-year mark of the public accusations against Harvey Weinstein—that he serially assaulted women; that he used his power to avoid any consequences for doing so—and the subsequent spread of the nationwide #MeToo movement, we are also facing its backlash.”
The Verge / Dieter Bohn
Google search is adding a news feed to its homepage on mobile →
“Google is rebranding its news feed — that list of items that appears below the default search bar in the Google mobile app and when you swipe left from the home screen on Android — as ‘Discover.’ It will now be on the Google homepage on all mobile browsers, which is a huge shift for the company as it works to better organize information and help users understand context.”
Recode / Kurt Wagner
Google is following Instagram and Snapchat with a big push into Stories →
“‘We're doubling down on Stories in search," said Cathy Edwards, Google's head of engineering for image search, at a press event in San Francisco on Monday. She added that Google will be ‘announcing more’ about Stories in the next few months.”