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Thursday, November 8, 2018
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This Spanish data-driven news site thinks its work goes past publishing stories — to lobbying the government and writing laws“You feel all this knowledge would be useful for something, for trying to change something.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Why are some women “news avoiders”? New research suggests one reason has to do with emotional labor“News avoidance appeared to be a strategic choice to conserve both emotional energy and time, in order to better fulfill demanding responsibilities, especially caretaking.”” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
BuzzFeed News / Charlie Warzel
An Infowars editor has provided us with a dizzying example of video manipulation that’s created a “choose your own reality” crisis →
“This video analysis by BuzzFeed News demonstrates what the GIF conversion process does to video. While it’s not technically ‘sped up’ by intent, it effectively is in practice. The video-to-GIF conversion removes frames from the source material by reducing the frame rate. The GIF-making tool GIF Brewery, for example, typically reduces source video to 10 frames per second. Raw, televised video typically has a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second.”
Winnipeg Free Press / Ken Goldstein
How fake news came to Winnipeg 100 years ago →
Headline: “ARMISTICE IS SIGNED?” (No, it hadn’t been.)
The New York Times / Kevin Roose
Facebook had a good Election Day – but it can’t stop now →
“Some days, while calling the company for comment on a new viral hoax I had found, I felt like a college R.A. telling the dean of students about shocking misbehavior inside a dorm he'd never visited. (‘The freshmen are drinking what?’)”
Washington Post / Amy B Wang and Paul Farhi
White House suspends press pass of CNN’s Jim Acosta after his testy exchange with Trump →
“I never thought that in this country I wouldn't be able to cover the president of the United States just for asking a question.”
Committee to Protect Journalists
CPJ calls on Tanzania authorities to release staff Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo →
Update: They’ve been released, but their passports have not been returned. “Officers who identified themselves as working with the Tanzanian immigration authority detained Quintal and Mumo in their hotel room in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this evening, according to Quintal. The officials searched the pair’s belongings and would not return their passports when asked. Quintal and Mumo were then escorted from the hotel and have been taken to an unknown location. They were in the country on a reporting mission for CPJ.”
Wall Street Journal / Keach Hagey, Benjamin Mullin, and Alexandra Bruell
Vice Media plans to shrink its workforce by as much as 15 percent through a hiring freeze →
“Revenue at the Brooklyn-based company is expected to be roughly flat this year, the people said, coming in between $600 and $650 million, on par with 2017. That number is more than $100 million below the projection Vice offered private-equity firm TPG in the summer of 2017. TPG's investment gave Vice a $5.7 billion valuation, the highest of any new-media company.”
South China Morning Post / Li Tao
Can China’s new AI news anchors give Anderson Cooper a run for his money? →
“The new AI anchors, launched by Xinhua and Beijing-based search engine operator Sogou during the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, can deliver the news with ‘the same effect’ as human anchors because the machine learning programme is able to synthesise realistic-looking speech, lip movements and facial expressions, according to a Xinhua news report on Wednesday.”
AdExchanger / Sarah Sluis
Inside the Facebook-sponsored boot camp to boost local publishers’ subscriptions →
"Facebook sees goodwill as a pretty important area to be investing in right now," Minneapolis Star Tribune's senior digital marketing manager Louis Deering said. "And this is an area where that budget can drive broad-reaching social impact."