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Wednesday, September 5, 2018
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What approaches are in play for fighting misinformation? Let us count the waysSometimes what you need is a good taxonomy. By Nancy Watzman, Katie Donnelly, and Jessica Clark. |
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What works (and doesn’t) for advertising your news organization’s subscriptions“People aren't persuaded by logos or messages conveying what's at stake, and they want to sign up for free newsletters more than they want to pay for a subscription.” By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
News Deeply / Lara Setrakian
News Deeply “sunsets” three of its sites →
“For now, our financial support for the platforms has come to a close. But we will be ready to relaunch them or shape them into a new form when circumstances allow. We continue to engage with supporting partners who care to invest in quality journalism for our troubled times.”
Quartz / Rosie Spinks
The BBC is getting into ASMR →
“The British public broadcaster's Radio 3 programming this autumn will invite listeners to relax to the sounds of Irish cows being herded up a mountain and leaves crunching on walks through the country.”
The Logic / Sean Craig
Apple News is preparing for launch in Canada →
“Apple Inc.'s mobile news aggregation app is also recruiting editorial staff who will curate what Canadian stories are featured in the app, which has been a major driver of traffic for U.S. digital publishers.”
The Ringer / Alyssa Bereznak
How the magazine industry's identity crisis is playing out on its front page →
“A magazine cover is all at once a cultural statement, a conversation starter, a negotiating asset, a digital selling point, a mood…. Magazine covers are now beginning to better reflect society—not only with their changing cover subjects, but with stories that strive to better understand identity and representation in the world of pop culture and beyond. ‘The aspiration has shifted to being not so much about material things but to a kind of cultural aspiration,’ said Vanity Fair deputy editor Claire Howorth.”
The New York Times / Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel
Facebook and Twitter’s message for lawmakers: We're trying →
“On Wednesday, when Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, and Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief executive, will appear in Washington to testify on those issues, they plan to answer lawmakers' questions using two main tactics: a conciliatory and apologetic approach, as well as a rundown of the growing number of efforts that the companies have taken to deal with manipulation and disinformation problems.”
The Atlantic / NAT GYENES and AN XIAO MINA
Meet “misinfodemics” — the spread of a particular health outcome or disease facilitated by viral misinformation →
“When 75 percent of Pinterest posts related to vaccines are discussing the false link between measles vaccines and autism, what does it mean for future herd immunity? And what about when state-sponsored disinformation campaigns exploit the vulnerabilities our systems have already created? Just last week, scientists at George Washington University found that a number of Russian bot and troll accounts on Twitter posted about vaccines 22 times more often than the average user.”
Digiday / Jessica Davies
How the Guardian overhauled its content studio →
“Last year, the Labs team published 1,199 text articles, 65 videos, 12 interactives and 55 image galleries on behalf of clients including Natwest, Spotify, Google and Airbnb. On average, an individual spends 2.3 minutes with Guardian Labs content per campaign, according to the publisher. In some campaigns, this has risen to six minutes.”
Pew Research Center / Aaron Smith
Many Facebook users don’t understand how the site’s news feed works →
“When asked whether they understand why certain posts but not others are included in their news feed, around half of U.S. adults who use Facebook (53%) say they do not – with 20% saying they do not understand the feed at all well. Older users are especially likely to say they do not understand the workings of the news feed: Just 38% of Facebook users ages 50 and older say they have a good understanding of why certain posts are included in it, compared with 59% of users ages 18 to 29.” Also: Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook.
Variety / Nick Vivarelli
The EU is about to require Netflix and Amazon to fill quotas for local content →
“Quotas obligating Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services operating in the European Union to dedicate at least 30% of their on-demand catalogs to local content are set to become enshrined in law soon. Roberto Viola, head of the European Commission department that regulates communications networks, content and technology, said the new rules, which will also demand visibility and prominence of European product on streamers, are on track to be approved in December.”