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Tuesday, December 11, 2018
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Bubble fears, old-guard acquisitions, and Audible: This was 2018 in podcastsPlus: What we’ll cover in 2019, and the most interesting companies to watch. By Nicholas Quah. |
What We’re Reading
CNBC / Jillian D'Onfro
Google CEO Sundar Pichai finally showed up to a congressional hearing — here’s how it went →
“Pichai would not, however, go so far as to commit not to launch ‘a tool for surveillance and censorship in China,’ as he was asked to do by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI). ‘We always think it’s in our duty to explore possibilities to give users access to information,’ Pichai said.”
Twitter / Emma Carew Grovum
Google is shutting down Fusion Tables, saddening data journalists →
Fusion Tables, a free data visualization tool, will be retired December 3, 2019.
Bloomberg / Josh Eidelson
Slate’s newly unionized writers and editors give OK to strike →
“Slate's editorial employees authorized the potential strike by a vote of 52 to 1…and are now weighing when they may walk off the job.”
BBC News Labs / Zoe Murphy
Beyond 800 words: What user testing taught a journalist about writing news for young people →
“Reduce the 24/7 churn. Slow down. Take time to write clear, considered articles. Think about your narrative.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Tony Biasotti
How journalists are preparing for California’s next wildfire →
“Until recently, the Chronicle would throw everyone they had at a big wildfire, and then forget about fires until the next one started. Now, the paper covers the subject year-round, with breaking-news coverage, investigative reporting about fire preparation and response, and in-depth pieces.”
Washington Post / Craig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Tony Romm, and Andrew Ba Tran
Two years after #Pizzagate showed the dangers of hateful conspiracies, they’re still rampant on YouTube →
“YouTube is particularly valuable to users of Gab.ai and 4chan, social media sites that are popular among hate groups but have scant video capacity of their own. Users on these sites link to YouTube more than to any other website, thousands of times a day, according to the recent work of Data and Society and the Network Contagion Research Institute, both of which track the spread of hate speech.”
Digiday / Max Willens
The Washington Post’s newsletter brand, 202, is outgrowing the inbox →
“Since it launched as a single newsletter called PowerPost three years ago, the 202 has grown into a healthy sub-brand for the Post. A team of 14 people work on the newsletters full time, up from seven last year…The Post declined to share details about how many subscribers the 202 newsletters have, saying only that the total number of subscribers it has across all its newsletters is up more than 20 percent this year.”
Columbia
These are the winners of Columbia’s 2019 duPont Awards →
“Twelve of this year's duPont Batons will be awarded to reporting teams led by women. The 2019 winners also highlight the growth in newsroom partnerships that pool resources and skills to deliver impactful news stories.”
Vox / David Roberts
Advice for aspiring explainer journalists →
“Journalism is inevitably shifting. These days, it is less about producing new information than it is about gathering information already on the record, evaluating it, and explaining and contextualizing it for an audience, perhaps with some analysis and argumentation for good measure.”
Time
Time’s People of the Year: Jamal Khashoggi, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Maria Ressa, and the journalists of The Capital Gazette →
“This year we are recognizing four journalists and one news organization who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment: Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md.”
Institute for Nonprofit News
The best reporting from nonprofit news organizations in 2018 →
Investigations, immigration, influence and more: Here’s what top nonprofit newsies have been up to this year.