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Friday, August 2, 2019
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Where’s the anger on Facebook these days? A lot of it is on far-left sitesPlus, which Facebook pages get the largest percentage of “angry” reactions. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Deadspin / Laura Wagner
This is how things work now at G/O Media (formerly Gizmodo Media Group) →
“In conversations with Deadspin, more than 20 employees from across the business, tech, and editorial departments of G/O Media expressed frustration with Spanfeller's approach to hiring and his new executives' lack of knowledge about the company combined with their seeming unwillingness or inability to get up to speed.”
Reuters / David Shepardson
FCC votes to tighten rules on cable franchise fees paid to local authorities →
“The FCC also voted Thursday to bar municipalities from regulating or imposing fees on most non-cable services, including broadband Internet service.” Here’s more about why that matters.
The New York Times / Marc Tracy
How long will hedge funds last with local papers? →
“Alexia Quadrani, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, hinted at a flaw in the strategy of the industry's new entrants: ‘It's a cash cow, right? But at the end of the day, it is in decline. You ask yourself, What's your endgame?'”
TechCrunch / Eric Eldon
This startup is writing guides about how to be a startup — and just got $4.6M in funding from The New York Times and tech investors →
“The goal is to democratize access to how the best are doing business today (and take on traditional publishing). ‘We didn't just do this for Silicon Valley and New York," and other startup-heavy cities, co-founder and chief executive Andy Sparks tells me, "we did this for people in cities like Columbus and Atlanta where startup communities are growing, but knowledge is harder to come by.'” One guide has a 14 hour read time.
Wall Street Journal / Maureen Linke and Eliza Collins
Here’s who the bots thought the winners and losers were during this week’s debates →
The bot-like activity on Tuesday and Wednesday nights was consistent with online discussions around Sen. Kamala Harris's ethnicity during the first Democratic debate, indicating both Ms. Harris, who is black, and racial issues as key targets for bot-like accounts during the 2020 election campaign.
The New York Times / Dwight Garner
Women are rewriting the rules of reporting in the Arab world →
“Hankir invited 19 Arab and Middle Eastern sahafiyat — female journalists — to detail their experiences reporting from some of the most repressive countries in the world. The result is a volume that rewrites the hoary rules of the foreign correspondent playbook, deactivating the old clichés. Each of these women has a story to tell. Each has seen plenty.”
CNN / Eliza Mackintosh
Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy →
“It's not just a government problem, the whole society has been targeted. We are doing our part, but it's everyone's task to protect the Finnish democracy…The first line of defense is the kindergarten teacher.”
Yahoo / Jana Winter
FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat →
“The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau's Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes ‘conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,’ as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so. It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven't been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs.”
BuzzFeed News / Pranav Dixit
WhatsApp is now letting users know when a message has been forwarded too many times →
“When a user receives a message that has been forwarded between users more than five times, such as chain messages, it is now labelled with a double arrow icon. Previously, the messaging app showed a single arrow to indicate a message was forwarded.”
The New York Times / Jessica Bennett
Will the millennials save Playboy? →
“This is a newer, woke-er, more inclusive Playboy — if you believe what company executives tell you, and if you are inclined to give an aging brand yet another chance at reinvention.”