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Monday, November 5, 2018
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2018 has been a record-breaking year for journalism Kickstarters (though only about 1 in 5 actually get funded)Kickstarter is also walking away from its attempt at Patreon-like recurring support: “You and I both know it's going to take more than a drip of money to help journalism.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Unlike in 2016, there was no spike in misinformation this election cycleThe “Iffy Quotient” has been downright steady leading up to tomorrow’s midterm elections, and Facebook deserves some credit for it. By Paul Resnick. |
What We’re Reading
CNN Business / Donie O'Sullivan
Facebook pulls the Trump campaign’s racist anti-immigration ad →
“‘This ad violates Facebook’s advertising policy against sensational content so we are rejecting it. While the video is allowed to be posted on Facebook, it cannot receive paid distribution,’ Facebook said in a statement Monday afternoon…. According to data from Facebook’s ad archive, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. spent at least $20,000 and possibly as much as $80,000 on the ad buy.”
Splinter
How Splinter is revamping its comments section →
“The days of allowing dumbasses to roam free in the comments are over. This does not mean we are just booting people who disagree with us; some of our best comments have been from readers who took an opposing stance and then followed through with a thoughtful argument. The problem is that the potential for good counter-arguments and hilarious jokes are being mucked up and lost in the wake of shameless star-chasers, folks who want simply to be Mad and Online and paid in what were formerly known as +1’s. There are currently thousands of them. So we're purging everybody.”
The Hollywood Reporter / Marisa Guthrie
After CNN chose not to run Trump’s racist migrant ad, NBC aired it — and now changed its mind →
“Fox News, which had been running the spot, also announced that it would pull it. ‘Upon further review, FOX News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network,’ ad sales president Marianne Gambelli said Monday in a statement. “
Press Gazette / Freddy Mayhew
The Guardian has received donations from more than 1 million people but is “not a charity” →
“In 2017/18 Guardian Media Group reported profit before tax of £53.2m, up from a loss of £25.1m the year before.”
The Verge / Jon Porter
Chrome will soon ad-block an entire website if it shows abusive ads →
“With Chrome 71, Google is stepping up its fight against the internet's abusive ads problem by blocking every ad on a site that persistently shows them.”
Digiday / Sahil Patel
“Shows for nobody”: Facebook Watch moves away from early short-form video formats →
“Two sources said that Facebook executives recently described Facebook video on a spectrum, with the aforementioned high-profile ‘hot start’ shows that Facebook is willing to fund on one end and on the other, short videos that still thrive in the news feed but which Facebook is no longer funding. In the middle of the spectrum? Those early spotlight shows — a majority of which were made by digital publishers — that found no real audience on Facebook.”
Bloomberg / Spencer Soper
Amazon will stop emailing popular Washington Post stories to customers →
“The email, which Amazon said Thursday will be discontinued on Nov. 5, features most-read stories on the Post website and frequently highlights news and commentary about the Trump administration. Thursday's blast features a story by columnist Max Boot entitled ‘Vote against all Republicans. Every single one.'”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
Apple News will launch a real-time election results hub on November 6, partnering with the AP →
“At 8 PM ET on November 6, the company will swap out the existing Midterm Elections section in the Apple News app and replace it with a new Election Night section instead. This section will also replace Apple News' Digest tab at the bottom-center of the app, in order to lead users directly to the special section where they'll be able to track the live results, updates on key races, latest developments and more.”
Washington Post / Erik Wemple
How are the fact-checkers doing in Trump’s “avalanche” of claims? →
“There are 11 rallies planned between [October 30] and the Nov. 6 midterm elections, according to Trump's campaign website. For fact-checkers, that's a chilling and leisure-stealing prospect. As Dale notes, the rallies are Trump's ‘most dishonest venue.'”