 |
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
 |
All Chapo, no Trap House: Vice News’ bilingual podcast offers extra content for Spanish-speaking listenersPlus: Alexa for U.S. election information, daily news podcasts that aren’t U.S.-centric, and the state of Recode’s podcasts. By Nicholas Quah. |
 |
Newsonomics: Newspapers are shells of their former selves. So who’s going to build what comes next in local?There seems to be some momentum among those with deep pockets to address the local news crisis. But if that money appears, where should it be directed? By Ken Doctor. |
 |
The New York Times wants to preface your Election Night panic with some Election Day zenDemocracy: a single grain of sand slipping through an hourglass. By Joshua Benton. |
What We’re Reading
The Wrap / Matt Lopez
TicToc, Bloomberg’s Twitter news network, is creating 50 Twitter Moments (one for each state) related to the midterms →
“Its Twitter Moments — which enables TicToc to stitch together multiple tweets into slideshow-like stories — will include real-time updates on election outcomes, a ‘what you need to know about the candidates’ segment, and verified tweets from the candidates themselves as well as from other politicians, Bloomberg reporters and thought leaders in the space. At the end of the night, TicToc will create one Master Moment that contains every state-level Moment so viewers can get the entire overview of the night.”
The Ringer / Alyssa Bereznak
Is the era of voice texting upon us? →
“The most controversial mode of 2018 communication is…a short voice message meant to replace a text. If you are currently having a strong, visceral reaction to the concept, you are not alone.”
New York Times / Kevin Roose
6 types of misinformation to beware of on Election Day. (And what to do if you spot them.) →
“Voters across Indiana who filed absentee ballots last month have been receiving text messages purporting to be from President Trump — and claiming their votes have not been registered. The texts included a link to a Republican National Committee website that asks users to enter their names, addresses and phone numbers and then provides information about their polling locations.”
The Guardian
The Guardian launches Guardian Voice Lab, with funding from Google →
It “will explore ways to deliver quality journalism through engaging and unique audio experiences on a smart speaker device. The project is scheduled to run for six months with funding from Google.”
The Verge / Ashley Carman
Oath will soon be rebranded as Verizon Media Group →
“Oath's media assets, including HuffPost, TechCrunch, Engadget, and Tumblr, are all continuing onward under the new, less bizarre parent company name.”
Digiday / Max Willens
How newsletter publishers re-engage lapsed subscribers →
“Lapsed subscribers pose a different kind of risk for publishers with paid newsletters. Substack, a newsletter service that powers paid newsletters including Bill Bishop's Sinocism and Matt Taibbi's The Foundation, will begin messaging subscribers two weeks before their year-long subscriptions are set to expire.”
Facebook / Nathaniel Gleicher
Facebook blocks 115 accounts ahead of U.S. midterms →
“Our very early-stage investigation has so far identified around 30 Facebook accounts and 85 Instagram accounts that may be engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior. We immediately blocked these accounts and are now investigating them in more detail. Almost all the Facebook Pages associated with these accounts appear to be in the French or Russian languages, while the Instagram accounts seem to have mostly been in English — some were focused on celebrities, others political debate.”
Twitter / Taffy Brodesser-Akner
“Vote now on the hackiest transition sentence to lead into a nut graf” →
“‘Call it the XYZ’ is the sweatpants of nut graf transitions.”