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Thursday, September 19, 2019
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Here’s Chalkbeat’s vision for local education news by 2025The network’s pitch to local funders: “By the time the school reforms reached their zenith, there was not a single local education reporter dedicated to covering them.” By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
Global Editors Network / Ana Lomtadze
Richard Gingras on Google’s plan to spotlight “original reporting” →
“A while back I asked one of journalism's great editors how we might identify original reporting. He responded with the tiniest smirk, 'It's the stuff we spend a ton of money on!' Of course that's neither a detectable signal nor a guarantee of quality. In fact, being able to describe what original reporting is is tricky. It means different things to different editors and newsrooms at different times. People say you know it when you see it, but how do you translate that to an algorithm?”
Washington Post / Tony Romm and Drew Harwell
Facebook, Google, and Twitter face fresh heat from Congress on harmful online content →
“Congressional lawmakers are drafting a bill to create a ‘national commission’ at the Department of Homeland Security to study the ways that social media can be weaponized — and the effectiveness of tech giants' efforts to protect users from harmful content online.”
Knight Center / Carolina de Assis
How Chicas Poderosas promotes collaborative journalism highlighting underrepresented social issues in Latin America →
“A collaborative journalism marathon that involved about 100 people in Argentina – almost all of them women – and resulted in 13 reports published in 12 media outlets is about to be repeated in Colombia and Mexico to bring to light social issues related to human rights and social justice.”
Philadelphia Inquirer / Christian Hetrick
Knight and Lenfest send money to local newsrooms for tech and product development →
The $5.25M grant is the first from the $20M Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation fund and will support new tech and product hires at the Inquirer, a new project at Temple University under Aron Pilhofer to guide outlets on adopting the technology, and Resolve Philadelphia, the group behind the Broke in Philly collaboration.
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
Google is giving a UK media company millions of pounds to develop three local news sites →
Yes, this is identical to the funding/task Google gave McClatchy here in the U.S. That project is now launching a site in Youngstown, Ohio.
Journalism.co.uk / Marcela Kunova
BBC tested negative news filters that blur out words to help readers with certain anxieties →
“So the duo came up with a simple-sounding idea — if specific words, such as 'knife crime' or 'murder' trigger anxiety in readers, they can use a filter that would blur out sensitive content on the BBC homepage. A trigger warning would then inform the reader that the article contains keywords they marked out as sensitive.”
Engaged Journalism Lab / Anthony Advincula
Why ethnic media in New York and New Jersey still embrace print in the digital age →
“In fact, over the last decade, some digital-first ethnic media publishers inNew York and New Jersey have found that some community members they serve don't consider a news organization legitimate unless it has a print edition.”
OpenNews / Ryan Pitts
Hey local journalists, want a peer to help brainstorm your next data project (for free)? →
“Peer coaches will be experienced data journalists who can look over data with you, help confirm your hunches, and identify things you might have overlooked. You bring the data and an idea, and they'll set up a conversation to work through the questions you have. Participation is free and designed for data journalists on small teams, from local or regional newsrooms, and from underrepresented backgrounds in journalism.”
Poynter / Mel Grau
Meet the next digital women leaders in Poynter’s cohort →
29 women will participate in leadership training in October, including journalists from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Code for Africa, Refinery29, and more.