YULI AHMADA

Rabu, 07 November 2018

All Chapo, no Trap House: Vice News’ bilingual podcast offers extra content for Spanish-speaking listeners: The latest from Nieman Lab

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

All Chapo, no Trap House: Vice News’ bilingual podcast offers extra content for Spanish-speaking listeners

Plus: Alexa for U.S. election information, daily news podcasts that aren’t U.S.-centric, and the state of Recode’s podcasts. By Nicholas Quah.

Newsonomics: Newspapers are shells of their former selves. So who’s going to build what comes next in local?

There seems to be some momentum among those with deep pockets to address the local news crisis. But if that money appears, where should it be directed? By Ken Doctor.

The New York Times wants to preface your Election Night panic with some Election Day zen

Democracy: a single grain of sand slipping through an hourglass. By Joshua Benton.

What We’re Reading

The Wrap / Matt Lopez

TicToc, Bloomberg’s Twitter news network, is creating 50 Twitter Moments (one for each state) related to the midterms →

“Its Twitter Moments — which enables TicToc to stitch together multiple tweets into slideshow-like stories — will include real-time updates on election outcomes, a ‘what you need to know about the candidates’ segment, and verified tweets from the candidates themselves as well as from other politicians, Bloomberg reporters and thought leaders in the space. At the end of the night, TicToc will create one Master Moment that contains every state-level Moment so viewers can get the entire overview of the night.”

The Ringer / Alyssa Bereznak

Is the era of voice texting upon us? →

“The most controversial mode of 2018 communication is…a short voice message meant to replace a text. If you are currently having a strong, visceral reaction to the concept, you are not alone.”

New York Times / Kevin Roose

6 types of misinformation to beware of on Election Day. (And what to do if you spot them.) →

“Voters across Indiana who filed absentee ballots last month have been receiving text messages purporting to be from President Trump — and claiming their votes have not been registered. The texts included a link to a Republican National Committee website that asks users to enter their names, addresses and phone numbers and then provides information about their polling locations.”

The Guardian

The Guardian launches Guardian Voice Lab, with funding from Google →

It “will explore ways to deliver quality journalism through engaging and unique audio experiences on a smart speaker device. The project is scheduled to run for six months with funding from Google.”

The Verge / Ashley Carman

Oath will soon be rebranded as Verizon Media Group →

“Oath's media assets, including HuffPost, TechCrunch, Engadget, and Tumblr, are all continuing onward under the new, less bizarre parent company name.”

Digiday / Max Willens

How newsletter publishers re-engage lapsed subscribers →

“Lapsed subscribers pose a different kind of risk for publishers with paid newsletters. Substack, a newsletter service that powers paid newsletters including Bill Bishop's Sinocism and Matt Taibbi's The Foundation, will begin messaging subscribers two weeks before their year-long subscriptions are set to expire.”

Facebook / Nathaniel Gleicher

Facebook blocks 115 accounts ahead of U.S. midterms →

“Our very early-stage investigation has so far identified around 30 Facebook accounts and 85 Instagram accounts that may be engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior. We immediately blocked these accounts and are now investigating them in more detail. Almost all the Facebook Pages associated with these accounts appear to be in the French or Russian languages, while the Instagram accounts seem to have mostly been in English — some were focused on celebrities, others political debate.”

Twitter / Taffy Brodesser-Akner

“Vote now on the hackiest transition sentence to lead into a nut graf” →

“‘Call it the XYZ’ is the sweatpants of nut graf transitions.”

Selasa, 06 November 2018

2018 has been a record-breaking year for journalism Kickstarters (though only about 1 in 5 actually get funded): The latest from Nieman Lab

Monday, November 5, 2018

2018 has been a record-breaking year for journalism Kickstarters (though only about 1 in 5 actually get funded)

Kickstarter is also walking away from its attempt at Patreon-like recurring support: “You and I both know it's going to take more than a drip of money to help journalism.” By Christine Schmidt.

Unlike in 2016, there was no spike in misinformation this election cycle

The “Iffy Quotient” has been downright steady leading up to tomorrow’s midterm elections, and Facebook deserves some credit for it. By Paul Resnick.

The New York Times asked for examples of election disinformation — and got 4,000 responses

What We’re Reading

CNN Business / Donie O'Sullivan

Facebook pulls the Trump campaign’s racist anti-immigration ad →

“‘This ad violates Facebook’s advertising policy against sensational content so we are rejecting it. While the video is allowed to be posted on Facebook, it cannot receive paid distribution,’ Facebook said in a statement Monday afternoon…. According to data from Facebook’s ad archive, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. spent at least $20,000 and possibly as much as $80,000 on the ad buy.”

Splinter

How Splinter is revamping its comments section →

“The days of allowing dumbasses to roam free in the comments are over. This does not mean we are just booting people who disagree with us; some of our best comments have been from readers who took an opposing stance and then followed through with a thoughtful argument. The problem is that the potential for good counter-arguments and hilarious jokes are being mucked up and lost in the wake of shameless star-chasers, folks who want simply to be Mad and Online and paid in what were formerly known as +1’s. There are currently thousands of them. So we're purging everybody.”

The Hollywood Reporter / Marisa Guthrie

After CNN chose not to run Trump’s racist migrant ad, NBC aired it — and now changed its mind →

“Fox News, which had been running the spot, also announced that it would pull it. ‘Upon further review, FOX News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network,’ ad sales president Marianne Gambelli said Monday in a statement. “

Press Gazette / Freddy Mayhew

The Guardian has received donations from more than 1 million people but is “not a charity” →

“In 2017/18 Guardian Media Group reported profit before tax of £53.2m, up from a loss of £25.1m the year before.”

The Verge / Jon Porter

Chrome will soon ad-block an entire website if it shows abusive ads →

“With Chrome 71, Google is stepping up its fight against the internet's abusive ads problem by blocking every ad on a site that persistently shows them.”

Digiday / Sahil Patel

“Shows for nobody”: Facebook Watch moves away from early short-form video formats →

“Two sources said that Facebook executives recently described Facebook video on a spectrum, with the aforementioned high-profile ‘hot start’ shows that Facebook is willing to fund on one end and on the other, short videos that still thrive in the news feed but which Facebook is no longer funding. In the middle of the spectrum? Those early spotlight shows — a majority of which were made by digital publishers — that found no real audience on Facebook.”

Bloomberg / Spencer Soper

Amazon will stop emailing popular Washington Post stories to customers →

“The email, which Amazon said Thursday will be discontinued on Nov. 5, features most-read stories on the Post website and frequently highlights news and commentary about the Trump administration. Thursday's blast features a story by columnist Max Boot entitled ‘Vote against all Republicans. Every single one.'”

TechCrunch / Sarah Perez

Apple News will launch a real-time election results hub on November 6, partnering with the AP →

“At 8 PM ET on November 6, the company will swap out the existing Midterm Elections section in the Apple News app and replace it with a new Election Night section instead. This section will also replace Apple News' Digest tab at the bottom-center of the app, in order to lead users directly to the special section where they'll be able to track the live results, updates on key races, latest developments and more.”

Washington Post / Erik Wemple

How are the fact-checkers doing in Trump’s “avalanche” of claims? →

“There are 11 rallies planned between [October 30] and the Nov. 6 midterm elections, according to Trump's campaign website. For fact-checkers, that's a chilling and leisure-stealing prospect. As Dale notes, the rallies are Trump's ‘most dishonest venue.'”

Sabtu, 03 November 2018

If you let commenters go after your reporters, it hurts your credibility with other readers: The latest from Nieman Lab

Friday, November 2, 2018

If you let commenters go after your reporters, it hurts your credibility with other readers

The bright side (?): Women don’t seem to face a higher credibility penalty from a mean comment than men do. By Joshua Benton.

What’s disinformation doing “right” — and what can newsrooms learn from it?

“Recognition of altruism as a motive for publishing (i.e. shedding a light on unknown/hidden information).” By Laura Hazard Owen.

Donations to your newsroom can now be doubled through the end of 2018, as NewsMatch 3.0 kicks off

What We’re Reading

Digiday / Lucinda Southern

Readers drive 40 percent of Schibsted’s revenue, 15 years since launching its first paywall →

“‘You don't get money from conversion, it's from retention,’ said Kjersti Thorneus, director of product management at Schibsted Media Group, speaking at the Association of Online Publishers event in London this week. ‘You're starting off each month at minus 9 percent. That's still a lot of leakage. We have to make sure the paid experience is perceived as much better than the free one.'”

Pew Research Center / Elizabeth Grieco

Newsroom employees are more likely to be white and male than U.S. workers overall →

“Younger newsroom employees show greater racial, ethnic and gender diversity than their older colleagues, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data… The racial, ethnic and gender differences by age are notable because the bulk of newsroom employees are in the younger age groups. About seven-in-ten newsroom employees are younger than 50: 28% are ages 18 to 29 and 42% are ages 30 to 49. Only about three-in-ten newsroom employees are 50 and older.”

Bloomberg / Nabila Ahmed, Kiel Porter, and Gerry Smith

Tribune Publishing gets bids from McClatchy, Donerail, and AIM Media →

“Donerail, backed by Starboard Value veteran William Wyatt, could sell some of Tribune Publishing's newspaper assets to individual buyers, Nieman Lab media analyst Ken Doctor said in August. AIM Media, based in McAllen, Texas, owns daily and weekly newspapers throughout the Lone Star state, including the The Monitor and The Coastal Current, according to its website. The company is run by Jeremy Halbreich, a former chairman and chief executive of Sun-Times Media in Chicago.”

Digiday / Lucia Moses

Audience development shifts its focus from Facebook traffic to generating revenue →

“For a long time, people were looking at growth. Those things are still important, but a lot of them at this point are kind of mechanized. So now that we have a large top of funnel, it's figuring out the middle and end of funnel.”

CNBC / Michelle Castillo

ESPN+ will cost Disney several hundred million dollars this year, but the company sees it as a strategic bet →

“ESPN+ surprised analysts by surpassing 1 million paid subscribers in just five months. But with the goal of streaming 10,000 live events in its first year, it could be a costly proposition for Disney.”

BuzzFeed News / Craig Silverman

Just 4 of 36 companies have identified money that will be refunded to advertisers after the ad fraud scheme →

“A massive ad fraud scheme that Google acknowledged stole close to $10 million from its ad networks and partners has been shut down after BuzzFeed News revealed its existence last week. But as of today, more than 30 companies that unwittingly helped the fraudsters earn money won't comment on how many fraudulent ads they sold, or said the amount is small or nonexistent.”

NBC News / Claire Atkinson

Lachlan Murdoch says he has no plans to change Fox News →

“I’ve run newspapers since I was 21, 22 years old, and as a standard practice … I don’t tell journalists what to say or what to write. That’s not my role.”

Facebook / Joey Rhyu

Facebook expands the breaking news label to Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and the UK →

“Over the last several months we ran a test that allowed more than 100 news publishers from North America, Latin America, Europe, India and Australia to identify and label stories as ‘breaking news’ on Facebook. We found that people engaged more actively with stories marked as breaking news, showing us that this product helps people find news that’s important to them.”

WAN-IFRA / Andrew Heslop

“A new level of audacity for impunity and journalist murders” →

“To the disgruntlement of a growing number of professional politicians, populist blowhards and indignant establishment figures, the noisy, dogged and determined press continues to poke its nose into unwelcome places. But the costs of doing so are rising; the women and men on the front lines of public interest journalism have never been so vulnerable, and states never so reluctant to stand by them.”

Jumat, 02 November 2018

The New York Times is on pace to earn more than $600 million in digital this year, halfway to its ambitious goal: The latest from Nieman Lab

Thursday, November 1, 2018

The New York Times is on pace to earn more than $600 million in digital this year, halfway to its ambitious goal

The paywall, now more than seven years old, still has room to grow. By Joshua Benton.

Newsonomics: “Digital defeats print” is the headline as Gannett steps away from printed election results

In cities across America, you won’t be able to find even the most cursory election results in your Wednesday morning newspaper next week. Is this speeding up newspapers’ transition to digital — or just burning a bridge they still need to cross? By Ken Doctor.

Recode, the original good tech news site, is folding into Vox.com (but relaunching next year)

What We’re Reading

The Marshall Project

Bill Keller to retire from The Marshall Project →

“He will remain in his current position until a replacement has been appointed and then transition onto the board of directors.”

The New York Times / Jonah Engel Bromwich

Alas, the blockchain won’t save journalism after all →

“It was as if an Olympic weight lifter said that, at a minimum, he'd be able to clean and jerk 400 pounds, and then did not manage to move the bar more than an inch off the ground.”

Reddit AMA with Axios founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen →

“Strongly disagree with the concept of access journalism, which implies that you’re being used, and is of no service to your audience. Because our journalists are subject matter experts who are well-wired in their worlds, we are in constant contact with the people who make the news, and are able to go to the top to check stories and illuminate the great events of our time.”

Digiday / Max Willens

How BuzzFeed is using its commerce business to sell advertising →

“Last month, BuzzFeed launched a 100-item line of Goodful products that it is selling exclusively at Macy's. Over the past year, it developed products for Scott's, Maybelline and Bloomscape, using BuzzFeed.com and its social reach to promote them. BuzzFeed's markets team also has begun upselling affiliate commerce partners like Quip and Care/Of on display and branded content advertising.”

VentureBeat / Khari Johnson

Alexa can now talk about the midterm elections, drawing from the Associated Press and Ballotpedia →

“Say ‘Alexa, what's my election update,’ and Alexa, basing answers on your location, will tell you about gubernatorial, congressional, or Senate candidates. Alexa is also now able to answer questions like ‘Alexa, when are the polls open?'”

Facebook / Joey Rhyu

Facebook is expanding its Breaking News feature to more people and more countries →

“In the test period, we’ve seen that breaking news posts about politics, crime, disaster, and business perform best.”

Latino Rebels / Pilar Marrero

LA Times publishes completely different political endorsements in English and Spanish →

“The English version of the LA Times suggests you re-elect U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein because she comes from a more ‘civil and productive era of governance’ and has accomplished a great deal like that. The editorial casts doubt on the effectiveness of her challenger, state senator Kevin de León who seems ‘unwilling to compromise.’ LA Times en Español, however, has a different take. According to its editorial, de León is the best choice because he seems pragmatic and effective enough and knows the immigrant community best. And, after all, ‘Dianne Feinstein has been in the Senate since 1992’ and that's ‘too long. A generational change is needed.'”

Kamis, 01 November 2018

This new project wants to do for news trust what FiveThirtyEight does for polls: Aggregate a bunch of signals into something meaningful: The latest fr

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This new project wants to do for news trust what FiveThirtyEight does for polls: Aggregate a bunch of signals into something meaningful

“The goal is to make those signals more useful and to help platforms…make better, more informed decisions about ranking and ad purchases — which we hope will help drive both promotion and financial support to quality news and away from disinformation, misinformation, and junk.” By Joshua Benton.

New York Times and chill: With a new video series, the paper pushes for binge-watching

“We’re a subscription business, so we’ve been looking a lot at binge-watching and creating a body of work that, when people find one, they will spend time with multiple episodes.” By Laura Hazard Owen.

How the BBC built one of the world's largest collaborative journalism efforts focused entirely on local news

News publishers of all sizes are partnering to “save democracy” at the local level; more than 35,000 stories have been published. By Tara George.

What We’re Reading

Wired / Issie Lapowsky

Bots drove 23 percent of the Twitter activity from the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting →

“‘These big crises happen, and there's a flurry of social media activity, but it’s really hard to go back and see what's being spread and get numbers around bot activity,’ says Ash Bhat, a Robhat Labs cofounder. So the team built an internal tool. Now they’re launching it publicly, in hopes of helping newsrooms measure the true volume of conversation during breaking news events, apart from the bot-driven din.”

The Hollywood Reporter / Natalie Jarvey

Vice’s adult in the room, Nancy Dubuc, has a plan to fix a media pioneer (and keep its youth cred) →

“The first outside CEO in Vice’s 24-year history, the 49-year-old former television programmer was hand-selected by Smith to help transform his company from a skyrocketing startup into an enterprise that can live up to its eye-popping $5.7 billion valuation. Smith had lured investors like Disney ($400 million), Fox ($70 million) and private equity firm TPG ($450 million) by touting his Svengali-like ability to deliver millennial eyeballs and ‘become the biggest fucking media company in the world.'”

Report for America

Report for America will place 10 local reporters in California newsrooms next year →

“Report for America has previously placed a regional corps in Appalachia, where corps members have driven a substantial increase in reporting on under-covered parts of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. This second region-specific initiative marks the beginning of a major effort to create similar geographically-focused, locally-funded reporting corps. The goal is to both address areas that have large ‘news deserts’ and draw in new, local philanthropic support for community journalism.”

Business Insider / Shona Ghosh

Facebook approved fake political ads “paid for” by Cambridge Analytica →

“Business Insider set up a page posing as an NGO, called ‘Insider Research Group,’ and ran two ads with the disclosure of ‘paid for by Cambridge Analytica’…We accompanied them with inflammatory captions and links to Leave.EU’s and Cambridge Analytica websites.”

Recode / Kurt Wagner

The “Stories” product that Facebook copied from Snapchat is now Facebook’s future →

“‘This happened very quickly. This whole trend has been — is much newer than the trend with News Feed and feeds overall,’ Zuckerberg said of the user adoption. On the monetization front, Zuckerberg was blunt. ‘We're earlier in developing our ads products for Stories,’ he said. ‘We don't make as much money from them as we do from feed ads.'”

The Hollywood Reporter / Paul Bond

56 percent of Americans say cable TV has become unaffordable →

“In 2015, there were 205.4 million subscribers to traditional TV, according to eMarketer, but that will drop to 169.7 million by 2022. If TV executives intend on wooing some of those defectors back, they have their work cut out for them, as the THR/Morning Consult poll indicates that 72 percent of those who have cut the cord have little or no interest in resubscribing.”

Washington Post / Editorial Board

Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered four weeks ago. We're still waiting for answers →

“Yet the Saudis are deflecting questions by pretending to investigate what happened; the kingdom's chief prosecutor traveled to Istanbul on Monday to meet his Turkish counterpart. Worse, rather than demand a genuinely independent investigation, the Trump administration is playing along. It has withheld its own conclusions about the murder while pretending to believe that the Saudis can conduct a credible probe — even though a chief suspect is the kingdom's own autocratic ruler.”

The Gazette / Wayne Heilman

Digital First Media is laying off 107 people at its Colorado Springs service center →

Nearly all of the jobs are in finance, and the work will be shifted to a New York-based business outsourcing company.

PressGazette

British and Canadian parliaments still want Mark Zuckerberg to testify about disinformation →

“The joint hearing, said to be the first of its kind, is due to take place on 27 November and will be led by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Zuckerberg has until 7 November to reply to the call….Other parliaments are also being invited to send representatives to the hearing.”

The Daily Dot / Andrew Wyrich

Twitter suspends right-wing activist Laura Loomer until after the midterms →

“In a screenshot shared with Loomer's post, the social media site said her account was suspended for violating its rules. It did not specify which rules she broke.”