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Friday, September 13, 2019
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Can a science escape room livestreamed on Twitch help bring viewers to public media?“What made us want to watch this for an hour and a half? Their ability to talk through the puzzles made me not only understand the puzzles but find out the answer and get invested.” By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
Define American
Study: Major newspapers uncritically echo Trump administration anti-immigrant language →
“Since 2014, major U.S. newspapers have used dehumanizing labels to refer to immigrants at a steadily increasing rate, according to a new study by Define American and the MIT Center for Civic Media. This disturbing trend coincides with a vast increase in coverage of immigration-related issues. The study, ‘The Language of Immigration Reporting: Normalizing vs. Watchdogging in a Nativist Age,’ also found an increase in quotes from extremist anti-immigrant groups in trusted news outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and USA Today.”
Business Insider / Lucia Moses
Insiders say Quartz is on track to lose money again this year as it faces a subscription shortfall →
“Internally, the goal was to get 20,000 members by the end of 2019; multiple sources said as of this summer, it was less than halfway there.”
The Guardian / Steph Harmon
From Rita Ora to Lena Dunham: how a podcast about celebrity became a “recipe for joy” →
“On the biweekly show, the hosts Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger decode — with eager and delightful sass — the myriad dramas of wannabe celebrities (referred to as ‘Who?s’) and the tabloids who love them. And, on Tuesday episodes, listeners call the helpline — sometimes drunk, often stoned, occasionally hysterical — demanding an explanation of who some Instagram person is, for instance, or why their fake wedding is getting press.”
The Drum / Ian Burrell
Why the UK’s Ozone Project is asking broadcasters to join newspapers in its duopoly fightback →
“The four founding partners of The Ozone Project are Reach, News UK, Guardian Media Group and Telegraph Media Group. Together they already have a UK audience of 44.1 million (greater than that of Facebook and Google). By adding partners such as specialist magazine publishers, regional newsgroups and broadcasters, Ozone will aim to increase its depth of audience reach and insights.”
TechCrunch / Natasha Lomas
The Finnish Public Broadcasting Company, YLE, releases a game that uses troll tactics to teach critical thinking →
“The game itself takes the form of a messaging app style conversation on a virtual smartphone in which you are tasked by the troll factory boss to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment. You do this by making choices about which messages to post online and the methods used to amplify distribution.”
BBC News / Flora Carmichael and Juliana Gragnani
How YouTube makes money from fake cancer cure videos →
“Searching YouTube across 10 languages, the BBC found more than 80 videos containing health misinformation — mainly bogus cancer cures. Ten of the videos found had more than a million views. Many were accompanied by adverts.”