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Tuesday, September 10, 2019
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New hires hint how Spotify is thinking about sports and news podcastsPlus: New leadership at NPR, Apple App Store drama, and Limetown is coming to the small screen. By Nicholas Quah. |
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I create “convincing” manipulated images and videos — but quality may not matter muchBad videos can be persuasive, too. By Christye Sisson. |
What We’re Reading
The Daily Beast / Gideon Resnick
ThinkProgress will be archived, not an un-unionized think tank scholar site, after union complaints →
“Ex-staffers noted that under the new system, the union workers who had populated thinkprogress.org with content would be replaced with non union workers; and that part of their actual union contract established editorial independence.”
International Women's Media Foundation
This resource on digital safety for women journalists is going global →
“As concerns about the impact of online harassment of journalists grow, Luminate's [$350,000] grant will help the IWMF develop an eco-system of support providing resources and programming at an international level.”
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Drs. Anne Schulz, David Levy, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
The challenges public service media face may be much bigger than we think →
“While their ability to serve audiences across the political spectrum and across different attitudes is a valuable asset, the continued decline of television and radio as sources of news underlines the urgency of a thorough reinvention of public service news delivery fit for a digital media.”
MIT Technology Review / Angela Chen
The misinformation frontlines have moved from Facebook and Twitter to WhatsApp and Instagram →
(Remember, those are both owned by Facebook.)
Axios / Sara Fischer
Snapchat is building up a news channel dedicated to the 2020 debates →
“All of the top-tier candidates as of last week have now launched Snapchat accounts this cycle, and some are leveraging the platform to do things they would’ve normally relied on Facebook for, like sell stuff or raise money…. Snapchat wants to be the place where young people get all of their political news, and candidates are here for it.”
Cnet / Joan E. Solsman
YouTube said it would stop comments on videos with young kids. Well… →
“Six months later, CNET’s single search found more than 100 videos posted in the last month by more than 100 different channels. They all featured young children — babies, toddlers and kids clearly no older than elementary school students. All had comments enabled.”
Star Tribune Media Company
Google and the Minneapolis Star Tribune partner up to study (and design for) youth news consumption →
“Under the auspices of the Google News Initiative, Google will support an 18-month program to modernize and expand Star Tribune's News in Education program, which provides curriculum and access to Star Tribune products for more than 300 Minnesota middle and high schools. As a key part of the initiative, Star Tribune will create a fellowship for an education audience specialist who will conduct primary field research, determine benchmarks, and spearhead the program.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Nicholas Diakopoulos
Apple News is excluding local newsrooms from its coveted traffic bump →
“Is it really good for the public when only 20 sources account for more than 80% of articles?”
KUT / Erin Geisler
Texas public radio stations and NPR establish a collaborative statewide newsroom →
“This innovative collaboration begins with six live, statewide newscasts each weekday that draw content from public radio stations large and small across the state. So far, a dozen Texas NPR Member stations are carrying these newscasts, with others likely to join.”
Quartz / Kevin J. Delaney
Quartz launches an investigative team, starting with online political influence →
“The team includes machine-learning journalist Jeremy B. Merrill and two additional roles, for which we're accepting internal and external applicants. John Keefe, who has led the Quartz AI Studio, will lead the team as investigations editor.”
Medium / Paul Smalera
Medium has created another new publication, adding business-focused Marker to its portfolio →
“We're here for people who are looking to make their mark.”
Vox Media
Vox Media’s revamp of The Coral Project launches with new publisher partners →
“The newly updated platform is used by more than 60 brands in 13 countries including recent and forthcoming partners The Financial Times, Mother Jones, and the Los Angeles Times.” And now it’s just Coral.