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Wednesday, July 10, 2019
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How CALmatters is growing out of its startup stage“We’re Switzerland…We’re not anybody’s competitor. We’re in a good place to do good and raise money statewide and use that money for improving journalism.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Hong Kong protests, but also the Met Gala: The New York Times Chinese edition looks for new audiences“Censorship is a way of life in China right now. Everybody knows that whatever they say and share is controlled by the government. But our traffic has been rising, especially this summer, with all of the big news out of the trade war and the Hong Kong protests, as well as some of the sensitive anniversaries of this year.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Intelligencer / Adam K. Raymond and Matt Stieb
That time Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein tried to buy New York magazine →
“In 2003, Primedia Inc. was looking to sell New York Magazine, and Mort Zuckerman and then-media columnist Michael Wolff rounded up some investors to purchase the property. The group included TV personality and businessman Donny Deutsch, billionaire Nelson Peltz, Jeffrey Epstein, and Harvey Weinstein…The group's bid of $44 million was the second-lowest out of four, and investment banker Bruce Wasserstein scooped up the title.”
Journalist's Resource / Denise-Marie Ordway
Seven tips for covering the 2020 US census (including what problems to watch out for) →
“Stop trying to estimate how much federal funding a state loses for each individual person missed by the census. It's extremely complicated, and there's not a way to tell the whole story with one number.”
Digiday / Max Willens
“The rookie campaigns of many newspapers' digital sports subscriptions are over” →
“The bet is these products, while priced lower than a full digital subscription, will draw in sports fans who primarily rely on the publication for sports coverage versus, say, city hall reporting. Newspaper publishers ranging from Hearst to McClatchy to The Dallas Morning News all piled into the space, and upstart news publications such as the Daily Memphian, which launched in the fall of 2018, did too.”
Pew Research Center / Elizabeth Grieco
U.S. newsroom employment has dropped a quarter since 2008, with the greatest decline at newspapers →
Pew also released factsheets this week on audio and podcasting and Hispanic and African American media.
Poynter / Kristen Hare
The National Geographic Society is working with local newsrooms in another climate change collaboration →
Newsrooms involved in "From the Source: Stories of the Delaware River," which officially launches this fall, include The Inquirer, public TV station WLVT, Delaware Public Media and Delaware Currents. Newsrooms taking part in the Ohio Watershed Reporting Collaborative include PublicSource, Allegheny Front, 100 Days in Appalachia, Louisville Public Media, The Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism, Belt Magazine and Environmental Health News.
The New Yorker / Neima Jahromi
The fight for the future of YouTube →
“We thought, if you just quarantine the borderline stuff, it doesn't spill over to the decent people. And, even if it did, it seemed like there were enough people who would just immediately recognize it was wrong, and it would be O.K.'”
The New York Times / Kate Conger
Twitter is scaling back its attempt to define and limit “dehumanizing speech” →
“‘While we have started with religion, our intention has always been and continues to be an expansion to all protected categories,’ Jerrel Peterson, Twitter's head of safety policy, said in an interview. ‘We just want to be methodical.'”
Poynter / Daniela Flamini
How a fact-checking outlet in the Democratic Republic of the Congo works where misinformation “can really literally kill people” →
“‘The experiences of many Congolese starts and ends on Facebook. They've never been on Google; other sites are very expensive to go on.’ As a result, fake news emerges frequently on the two platforms, and it doesn't stop there.”
The Atlantic / Andrew Ferguson
Why news outlets shamelessly publish “mansion porn” →
“No, the ads are meant for the rest of us. Whether they seem an act of taunting sadism on the part of the editors or merely an amusing diversion is, again, up to the reader. For those not naturally inclined to envy I am delighted to report that each week Mansion offers many opportunities for envy's inverse, schadenfreude.”
Poynter / Cristina Tardáguila
In Mexico, the president has started his own fact-checking outfit (with the same name as independent fact-checking outfits) →
“In 2018, over 60 fact-checking platforms and media outlets in the country formed a coalition to fight disinformation throughout that year's presidential campaign. The nationally popular initiative, called Verificado, has since been awarded many times for its excellent work.”