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Wednesday, February 13, 2019
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How Capital Public Radio covered a community’s high suicide rate (and developed a tool for residents to keep)“This is almost a plague in this county. Why wouldn’t we want to raise awareness and do it in a way that really had an impact?” By Christine Schmidt. |
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BuzzFeed News and the Toronto Star team up to report on misinformation around the Canadian election“It appears in our paper, it’s going to appear in BuzzFeed, and vice versa.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
PRX / Kerri Hoffman
Reflecting on the first 100 days of the PRI/PRX merger →
“We have an expansive definition of public media, which includes not just the stations and networks that built what we have now, but many other individuals and organizations working to create media in the public interest.”
Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting / Michael Grant
The Atlantic’s executive editor Matt Thompson joins Reveal as editor in chief →
“Thompson currently is executive editor of The Atlantic, where he oversees major editorial projects and new initiatives, such as the launch of the magazine's podcasting unit, membership strategy and talent development teams…. Thompson will oversee CIR's award-winning newsroom, which publishes its work through the revealnews.org website, the Reveal public radio show and podcast produced with PRX, short- and long-form television and documentary projects, and in collaboration with news organizations across the country.”
Center for Cooperative Media / Stefanie Murray
Here’s a new fund to help people collaborate with each other →
“The Fund will pay out grants of $500 or $1,000. Applicants must be a working journalist or employed by a journalism-support organization, be based in the U.S., and be requesting support for domestic travel. Note that the PLAC Fund is not intended to support travel to conferences; the intent is to support in-person peer-to-peer learning efforts.”
Lenfest Institute / Matthew Skibinski
Stephen King’s intervention with the Portland Press-Herald brought $50,000 in new revenue →
“The Press-Herald's story underscores one of the greatest benefits of the industry's shift from digital advertising to digital reader revenue: Reader revenue models align publishers' financial incentives with what readers actually want. In an advertising-only universe, it's unlikely that regional book reviews could ever be a winner digitally. It's the kind of niche content category that can drive high interest from a small number of readers, but will never drive a particularly high volume of page views or ad impressions.”
Rappler / Aika Rey
Philippine officials arrest Rappler CEO Maria Ressa for cyber libel →
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the filing in court of cyber libel charges against Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr over a story published in May 2012 – or 4 months before the law that they allegedly violated was enacted.”
Recode / Kat Borgerding
Kara Swisher interviewed Jack Dorsey live on Twitter and proved how unconversational it is →
“But if Twitter wants to be the place where the most important public conversations online are happening, Swisher and Dorsey's chat showed that it's still hard to hold a productive conversation — uninterrupted — on Twitter. Dorsey acknowledged as much at the end of the interview, tweeting: ‘This thread was hard. But we got to learn a ton to fix it. Need to make this feel a lot more cohesive and easier to follow. Was extremely challenging.'”
The New York Times / Jaclyn Peiser
“Not all fun and memes”: Amid layoffs, BuzzFeed News employees are working to unionize →
“Ben Smith, the editor in chief of BuzzFeed News, said in a statement: ‘We look forward to meeting with the organizers to discuss a way toward voluntarily recognizing their union.’ … Mr. Peretti is on the record opposing the idea. In 2015, he said, ‘I don't think a union is right for BuzzFeed.'”
Columbia Journalism Review / Amanda Darrach
How teenage journalists memorialized hundreds of gun-violence victims in a McClatchy-The Trace project →
“‘We haven't changed anything, covering this as adult reporters,’ [Beatrice] Motamedi says of gun-violence reporting. ‘These teens are the ones experiencing the phenomenon. They have a front row seat. They've got better sources.’ Katina Paron, another senior editor for the project, says the direct connection to school shootings gives young reporters "an extra layer of buy-in.'”
The Daily Beast / Gideon Resnick and Maxwell Tani
CNN’s Howard Schulz town hall trends toward the mistakes of 2016 →
“But some Democratic candidates —mainly the lesser known ones—are already feeling neglected. In the past week, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's presidential exploratory committee reached out to CNN seeking information about a town hall of their own, though an invite has not yet been extended, The Daily Beast has learned. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro's campaign has not been invited to hold one but a senior adviser for the campaign said they were encouraged by CNN's efforts to give "declared presidential candidates a chance to talk directly to voters." The two men have recently done interviews with CNN hosts on other programs.”
The Verge / Shoshana Wodinsky
YouTube’s copyright strikes have become a tool for extortion →
“This isn't the first time that Youtube's less-than-perfect copyright system has stabbed creators in the back. The platform's hands-off approach to moderation has allowed copyright trolls to thrive for years — not only to extort money, but to doxx, slander, or troll. They can also be used to suppress negative news; some companies have served comedians with copyright strikes in an attempt to stifle any videos mocking their brand.”