I have written on journalism and media trends eariler few years ago. So it is time for update. What is the state of journalism and news publishing in 2017? NiemanLab’s predictions for 2017 are a good place to start thinking about what lies ahead for journalism. There, Matt Waite puts us in our place straight away by telling us that the people running the media are the problem.
There has been changes on tech publishing. In January 2017 International Data Group, the owner of PCWorld magazine and market researcher IDC, on Thursday said it was being acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group and IDG Capital, the investment management firm run by IDG China executive Hugo Shong. In 2016 Arrow bought EE Times, EDN, TechOnline and lots more from UBM.
Here are some article links and information bits on journalist and media in 2017:
Soothsayers’ guides to journalism in 2017 article take a look at journalism predictions and the value of this year’s predictions.
What Journalism Needs To Do Post-Election article tells that faced with the growing recognition that the electorate was uniformed or, at minimum, deeply in the thrall of fake news, far too many journalists are responding not with calls for change but by digging in deeper to exactly the kinds of practices that got us here in the first place.
Fake News Is About to Get Even Scarier than You Ever Dreamed article says that what we saw in the 2016 election is nothing compared to what we need to prepare for in 2020 as incipient technologies appear likely to soon obliterate the line between real and fake.
Headlines matter article tells that in 2017, headlines will matter more than ever and journalists will need to wrest control of headline writing from social-optimization teams. People get their news from headlines now in a way they never did in the past.
Why new journalism grads are optimistic about 2017 article tells that since today’s college journalism students have been in school, the forecasts for their futures has been filled with words like “layoffs,” “cutbacks,” “buyouts” and “freelance.” Still many people are optimistic about the future because the main motivation for being a journalist is often “to make a difference.”
Updating social media account can be a serious job. Zuckerberg has 12+ Facebook employees helping him with posts and comments on his Facebook page and professional photographers to snap personal moments.
Wikipedia Is Being Ripped Apart By a Witch Hunt For Secretly Paid Editors article tells that with undisclosed paid editing on the rise, Wikipedians and the Wikimedia Foundation are working together to stop the practice without discouraging user participation. Paid editing is permissible under Wikimedia Foundation’s terms of use as long as they disclose these conflicts of interest on their user pages, but not all paid editors make these disclosures.
Big Internet giants are working on how to make content better for mobile devices. Instant Articles is a new way for any publisher to create fast, interactive articles on Facebook. Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a project that it aims to accelerate content on mobile devices. Both of those systems have their advantages and problems.
Clearing Out the App Stores: Government Censorship Made Easier article tells that there’s a new form of digital censorship sweeping the globe, and it could be the start of something devastating. The centralization of the internet via app stores has made government censorship easier. If the app isn’t in a country’s app store, it effectively doesn’t exist. For more than a decade, we users of digital devices have actively championed an online infrastructure that now looks uniquely vulnerable to the sanctions of despots and others who seek to control information.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Katrina Manson / Financial Times:
Group of Arab states tells Qatar to close state-owned Al Jazeera and all affiliated channels as part of a list of demands to be met in 10 days — Read next … Kuwait has passed on a list that gives Qatar 10 days to comply with a series of demands from the Arab states that cut ties with it more than two weeks ago.
Qatar given 10 days to comply with demands from Arab states
https://www.ft.com/content/604b4299-0023-3ddc-9e6d-0e1d96304251
Kuwait has passed on a list that gives Qatar 10 days to comply with a series of demands from the Arab states that cut ties with it more than two weeks ago.
The 13-point list, obtained by the Financial Times, demands Qatar close down state-owned al-Jazeera news channel, reduce relations with Iran and immediately shut down a Turkish military base and halt military cooperation with the Nato member offered in the wake of the crisis.
“Shut down al-Jazeera channels and affiliated channels,” said point six of the document written in Arabic, whose title translates as “Joint requirements for Qatar”.
Qatar has repeatedly said it is prepared to negotiate concessions if provided with a list of complaints
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Michael Calderone / HuffPost:
Journalists condemn White House ban on video at press briefing as WHCA President Jeff Mason says the group is working on the issue — “They don’t want the American public to see this live,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said as video coverage is again barred. — Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee …
Journalists Condemn Trump Press Restrictions, But Don’t Expect Them To Boycott Briefings
“They don’t want the American public to see this live,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said as video coverage is again barred.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/journalists-trump-press-restrictions_us_594be36ee4b0312cfb627381
Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders approached the lectern Thursday to take questions from White House reporters ― and then she was suddenly gone.
At least for TV viewers.
CNN producers cut back quickly to anchor Wolf Blitzer, who said the White House had barred video coverage of the daily press conference, which continued off-screen. Audio recordings were allowed but could only be broadcast after it ended.
“It’s strange to me, especially as a former White House correspondent, why on an important day like this, they don’t want the American public to see this live,” Blitzer said on air. Over on Fox News, host Martha MacCallum said that “news conferences have to happen live and they have to be documented with audio and in every possible way.”
Donald Trump’s White House doesn’t legally have to hold any briefings and, given the president’s unmatched hostility toward the news media, it seems unlikely they’ll be swayed by journalists’ concerns about transparency or commitment to democratic ideals.
For decades, Republican and Democratic White Houses have customarily held on-camera briefings in the afternoon, except when the president is traveling or due to special circumstances. Past administrations have also held off-camera gaggles in the press secretary’s office. But those less formal, morning meetings weren’t considered a substitute for on-camera briefings in the afternoon.
“Why should reporters show up then?” asked MSNBC host Joy Reid
The White House’s restrictions have also prompted Twitter users to urge reporters to take a public stand by walking out of the briefing room until things change.
There have been small-scale boycotts. Some news organizations skipped a February briefing in Spicer’s office after others were kept out.
Even during the Obama years, reporters balked at the notion of staging a briefing room protest over the administration’s harsh treatment of journalists in leak investigations. “It would be unprofessional,”
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Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:
White House-press relations turn toxic as communications team tries to hire more staff and President Trump berates media in public, schmoozes in private — Five months into Donald Trump’s presidency, White House-media relations are hanging by a thread. — The White House is facing daily criticism …
White House-media relations at breaking point as Spicer searches for replacement
http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/22/media/white-house-press-relations/
Five months into Donald Trump’s presidency, White House-media relations are hanging by a thread.
The White House is facing daily criticism from the news media over its decision to reduce the frequency of press briefings and hold some of those briefings off camera, depriving the public of a chance to see White House officials answering questions. Meanwhile, the White House has grown extremely critical of the media for what administration officials describe as biased and sensationalized reporting by grandstanding journalists.
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The ancient history of fake news
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170615-the-ancient-history-of-fake-news
“Myth-making is a powerful business,” says the Welsh travel writer Horatio Clare. “You can make one of yourself that then doesn’t accord with who you are, especially when you’re young.”
In this video, filmed at Hay, he talks about why we need myths, how fake news is a new form of myth-making, and the power of storytelling.
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CNN brings courtroom sketch artist to White House press briefing
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/339217-cnn-brings-courtroom-sketch-artist-to-white-house-press-briefing
CNN sent their Supreme Court sketch artist to Friday’s White House press briefing after the White House announced it would be banning cameras from the briefing.
The White House has come under criticism this week for holding off-camera press briefings.
“The White House press secretary is getting to a point where he’s just kind of useless,” Acosta said after the Monday briefing. “If they’re getting to this point where he’s not going to answer questions or go on camera or have audio, why are we even having these briefings or gaggles in the first place?”
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Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Facebook removed 30+ pages run from Macedonia over past two months citing TOS violations; publishers had assumed they were safe after paying for ads
Macedonian Publishers Are Panicking After Facebook Killed Their US Political Pages
https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/macedonian-publishers-are-panicking-after-facebook-killed?utm_term=.jye6qRJprE#.pqGnoeLNQO
Over 30 Facebook pages being run from Macedonia have been removed by Facebook in the past two months.
The town of Veles, Macedonia, achieved international fame last fall after a BuzzFeed News story reported on a large cluster of pro-Trump websites that often published fake news and that were being run by teenagers and young men. Soon camera crews from major media outlets such as Britain’s Channel 4, ABC’s Nightline, as well as reporters from Wired magazine and NBC News arrived to write about the “fake-news teens.”
But now panic has set in for some of the young publishers of Veles. Over the past two months, more than 30 Facebook pages they use to drive traffic to their websites have been removed due to what the social network said were multiple terms-of-service violations. Most of the killed pages were focused on US politics
Another publisher estimated he spent roughly $100,000 on Facebook ads over the years to attract new fans for his four pages, which cumulatively had over 1.5 million likes. He and others assumed that being allowed to pay for Facebook ads for their pages meant they were operating in the clear.
The removal of roughly three dozen pages owned by Macedonian publishers is a result of Facebook’s push to rid its platform of spammers, fake news publishers, and others who violate its terms of service. But it’s also a reminder that no one really “owns” a Facebook page, in spite of how much money they might spend growing it.
The automated message from Facebook received by some Macedonians after their pages were removed informed them, “Your Page has been unpublished for causing people to like or engage with it unintentionally in a misleading way.”
Blair said it took months of consistently reporting the pages and websites for Facebook and web-hosting companies to take action.
The Macedonian publishers who spoke to BuzzFeed News said they don’t know who Blair is and had not heard of his site.
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Yvette Tan / Mashable:
The Chinese government orders Weibo, iFeng, and ACFUN to cease all video and audio streaming services, says they don’t meet national audiovisual regulations
China just banned livestreaming because it’s too hard to censor
http://mashable.com/2017/06/23/china-bans-livestreaming/#0Mz3pfheKqqq
Chinese authorities have sent shockwaves through the social media sphere, with a blanket ban on livestreaming across three major online platforms.
On Thursday, the government ordered Weibo, iFeng and ACFUN to stop all its video and audio streaming services, according to an FT report.
Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, and one of its largest social networks, acknowledged that it received the directive from the government
Some of the country’s most famous online celebrities rely on live-streaming sessions to earn virtual gifts, which can be cashed in. The live streaming industry was worth some $9 billion in 2016, according to online tracker Statista.
SEE ALSO: China ironically decides to clamp down on online news outlets on World Press Freedom Day
China tightens its grip over which journalists can report news online
http://mashable.com/2017/05/03/china-media-regulations/#2tsfq3PBK5qL
China has tightened its grip on online news outlets, while the rest of the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day.
According to the country’s new rules, released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), online media platforms can only be managed by editorial staff who have been approved by the Communist government.
Their workers also have to additionally undergo training and reporting credentials from the central government, according to Reuters
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Jessica Davies / Digiday:
Facebook video ad viewability rates range from 20% to 30%, far below the industry average, according to nine agency execs who started using third-party auditors
Facebook video ad viewability rates are as low as 20 percent, agencies say
https://digiday.com/marketing/facebook-video-ad-viewability-rates-low-20-percent-agencies-say/
Facebook’s metrics woes may be far from over.
After fessing up to a string of measurement errors over the past six months, the social media company has bowed to pressure from ad buyers and started letting third-party auditors check its numbers.
Some agencies started using the new auditing capabilities a few months ago and have been stunned to see viewability rates on Facebook video campaigns as low as 20 percent, going up to 30 percent, according to interviews with nine agency execs. That’s way below the average viewability rate for video ads on sites, which is approximately 50 percent, according to Integral Ad Science.
expressed concerns about the figures, with some saying they would need to revisit their budgets for branding campaigns.
Some agency execs suspect the figure is even lower than 20 percent, and that verification companies like Moat and Integral Ad Science aren’t getting access to the platform fast enough to guarantee their numbers are correct.
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Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:
Google News unveils desktop redesign that highlights fact checking sites, streamlines design, and offers more personalization
Google News launches a streamlined redesign that gives more prominence to fact checking
http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/06/google-news-launches-a-streamlined-redesign-that-gives-more-prominence-to-fact-checking/
“To give them that multitude of facts, voices, and perspectives, you want the UI to disappear and not be a sense of overload or cognitive load on them but just be transparent.”
Google on Tuesday launched a redesigned desktop version of Google News that introduces a more streamlined design, highlights fact checking, and offers users additional personalization.
Google News’ desktop site is now broken into three main sections: Headlines, which features the day’s top news stories; Local, which allows users to follow news from certain locations; and For You, which contains specific topics a user has said they’re interested in. The redesign also introduces a card-based interface that is less cluttered than the previous iteration of Google News. The new layout is meant to highlight publisher titles, article labels, and offers more prominence to video.
Google News is also introducing a fact-check widget on the right side of its homepage that more prominently displays stories from fact-checking sites such as PolitiFact and Snopes.
For now, the Fact Check addition is only available in the United States, but Google says it plans to roll it out more widely soon.
Last year, Google News introduced a fact-checking label for stories, and in April it began to showcase fact-checking sites in search and news results.
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Julia Angwin / ProPublica:
Internal documents show how Facebook polices speech, at times unfairly punishing and censoring black users or those in disputed territories like Palestine
Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children
https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-hate-speech-censorship-internal-documents-algorithms
A trove of internal documents sheds light on the algorithms that Facebook’s censors use to differentiate between hate speech and legitimate political expression.
In the wake of a terrorist attack in London earlier this month, a U.S. congressman wrote a Facebook post in which he called for the slaughter of “radicalized” Muslims.
Higgins’ plea for violent revenge went untouched by Facebook workers who scour the social network deleting offensive speech.
But a May posting on Facebook by Boston poet and Black Lives Matter activist Didi Delgado drew a different response.
A trove of internal documents reviewed by ProPublica sheds new light on the secret guidelines that Facebook’s censors use to distinguish between hate speech and legitimate political expression. The documents reveal the rationale behind seemingly inconsistent decisions.
Over the past decade, the company has developed hundreds of rules, drawing elaborate distinctions between what should and shouldn’t be allowed, in an effort to make the site a safe place for its nearly 2 billion users. The issue of how Facebook monitors this content has become increasingly prominent in recent months, with the rise of “fake news” — fabricated stories that circulated on Facebook
Facebook’s rules constitute a legal world of their own. They stand in sharp contrast to the United States’ First Amendment protections of free speech, which courts have interpreted to allow exactly the sort of speech and writing censored by the company’s hate speech algorithm. But they also differ — for example, in permitting postings that deny the Holocaust — from more restrictive European standards.
The company has long had programs to remove obviously offensive material like child pornography from its stream of images and commentary. Recent articles in the Guardian and Süddeutsche Zeitung have detailed the difficult choices that Facebook faces regarding whether to delete posts containing graphic violence, child abuse, revenge porn and self-mutilation.
The challenge of policing political expression is even more complex.
Facebook is not required by U.S. law to censor content. A 1996 federal law gave most tech companies, including Facebook, legal immunity for the content users post on their services.
The law, section 230 of the Telecommunications Act
The law freed up online publishers to host online forums without having to legally vet each piece of content before posting it, the way that a news outlet would evaluate an article before publishing it. But early tech companies soon realized that they still needed to supervise their chat rooms to prevent bullying and abuse that could drive away users.
America Online convinced thousands of volunteers to police its chat rooms in exchange for free access to its service.
Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006 made deciding what content was appropriate even more urgent. “Because it was visual, it was universal,” Wong said.
Since then, selectively banning content by geography — called “geo-blocking” — has become a more common request from governments. “I don’t love traveling this road of geo-blocking,” Wong said, but “it’s ended up being a decision that allows companies like Google to operate in a lot of different places.”
For social networks like Facebook, however, geo-blocking is difficult because of the way posts are shared with friends across national boundaries.
As a result, Facebook has long tried to avoid using geography-specific rules when possible, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. However, it does geo-block in some instances
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AP News:
ABC says it has reached a settlement with the South Dakota meat producer who filed the $1B pink slime lawsuit in 2012
ABC: Settlement reached in ‘pink slime’ defamation lawsuit
https://apnews.com/fd4b266039154733b0144b75e2de88ba
ABC News has reached a settlement with a South Dakota meat producer that filed a $1.9 billion lawsuit against the network over its reports on the company’s lean, finely textured beef product that critics dubbed “pink slime,” the TV network said Wednesday.
Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products Inc. sued the television network in 2012, saying ABC’s coverage misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe and led to the closure of three plants and layoffs of roughly 700 workers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Reuters Digital News Report records a 7% decline YoY in public trust of UK press since Brexit vote, finds sites like The Canary and Breitbart gaining traction
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/reuters-digital-news-report-reveals-sharp-decline-in-those-trusting-uk-news-media-since-brexit-vote/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
An analysis of 100M headlines published between March and May of 2017 reveals some of the most effective phrases for engagement, topped by “will make you”
Trying to write a killer headline for social? Here are some of the most (and least) effective phrases
http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/06/trying-to-write-a-killer-headline-for-social-here-are-some-of-the-most-and-least-effective-phrases/
The analysis reveals nothing particularly surprising, for instance, about the headline phrases that generated the most likes, shares, and comments: “Will make you” was by far the most successful phrase, and emotion-based appeals like “melt your heart” and “make you cry” also do well.
Publishers beware though: Facebook says its algorithm is cracking down again on clickbait in its News Feed.
Phrases that performed poorly on Facebook? “Control of your,” “work for you,” or “on a budget”— which apparently works well on Pinterest. Phrases that performed well on Facebook don’t work as well in Twitter headlines, where phrases that emphasize immediacy and analysis do best — “what we know,” “things to know,” “this is what.”
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Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Axel Springer and Murdoch’s News Corp applaud EU Commission’s fine of $2.7B against Google for abusing search engine dominance — The European Commission penalized Google for violating antitrust rules. — Major media companies have a well-documented love-hate relationship with tech giants like Google and Facebook.
News Corp, Axel Springer Applaud $2.7 Billion Fine Levied Against Google
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/news-corp-axel-springer-applaud-27-billion-fine-levied-google-1017054
The European Commission penalized the tech giant for violating antitrust rules.
Major media companies have a well-documented love-hate relationship with tech giants like Google and Facebook. While publishers rely on both companies for distribution, and share digital advertising revenue with both, there are some in the media industry who believe the companies are enjoying a one-sided relationship. Some of these companies have whispered quietly about taking collective action against Google and Facebook, but nothing has materialized yet in the U.S.
Considering the antipathy felt toward Google and Facebook, it didn’t come as a total surprise that some companies that operate in Europe celebrated the announcement Tuesday that the European Commission has fined Google $2.7 billion for unfairly prioritizing in search results the company’s own comparison shopping service.
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Paul Chadwick / The Guardian:
The Guardian rolls back much of its WhatsApp backdoor story, which was decried by 70+ experts, but will leave it online with a note highlighting deficiencies
Flawed reporting about WhatsApp
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/commentisfree/2017/jun/28/flawed-reporting-about-whatsapp
Cumulative effect of missteps led the Guardian to overstate the potential impact on the security of users’ messaging
The Guardian was wrong to report in January that the popular messaging service WhatsApp had a security flaw so serious that it was a huge threat to freedom of speech.
But it was right to bring to wide public notice an aspect of WhatsApp that had the potential to make some messages vulnerable to being read by an unintended recipient.
The Guardian did not test with an appropriate range of experts a claim that had implications for the more than one billion people who use the Facebook-owned WhatsApp.
In a detailed review I found that misinterpretations, mistakes and misunderstandings happened at several stages of the reporting and editing process. Cumulatively they produced an article that overstated its case.
The original article – now amended and associated with the conclusions of this review – led to follow-up coverage, some of which sustained the wrong impression given at the outset. The most serious inaccuracy was a claim that WhatsApp had a “backdoor”, an intentional, secret way for third parties to read supposedly private messages.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/13/whatsapp-design-feature-encrypted-messages
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Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Sources: Twitter is weighing a way to let users flag tweets with misleading, false, or harmful info, moving slowly due to concerns users could game the system — Twitter is exploring adding a feature that would let users flag tweets that contain misleading, false or harmful information …
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/06/29/twitter-is-looking-for-ways-to-let-users-flag-fake-news/
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Nicholas Thompson / Wired:
How Instagram used DeepText, an AI-based system built at Facebook that mimics the way language works in our brains, to block offensive comments — EVERY WO
Instagram Unleashes an AI System to Blast Away Nasty Comments
https://www.wired.com/story/instagram-launches-ai-system-to-blast-nasty-comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eugene Wei / Remains of the Day:
Internet has ushered in an age of “distributed truth”, widely spreading little known knowledge that used to be confined offline, such as Caldbeck’s behavior
The age of distributed truth
http://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2017/6/28/the-truth-is-distributed
Apparently, for years, Nora Ephron, who was once married to Carl Bernstein, would openly tell people that Deep Throat was FBI Associate Director Mark Felt. It wasn’t that Bernstein told her; she deduced it from clues and shared it with many people around her. It seems no one believed her, so when Felt finally came clean in 2005 it was treated as a big reveal.
Explosive truths that hide in plain sight are especially unusual in this age of the internet, especially with outlets like Deadspin so eager to share every rumor. How is it that incriminating stories can be floating out there for years and not spread like viral memes when headline writers everywhere are weaponizing even the most mundane of news?
For years, many people in Hollywood knew that Bill Cosby was a sexual criminal, yet it wasn’t until 2014 when Hannibal Buress called Bill Cosby a rapist during a stand-up set that suddenly everything began to turn. I’ve written before that how a message is encoded really matters.
Buress took a dark story and turned it into viral video form, and no matter how many hung juries will let Cosby off the hook, his career is effectively over, his reputation forever tarnished beyond repair.
Until a week ago, I had never heard of Justin Caldbeck or Binary Capital. In the wake of the revelation that Caldbeck had been sexually harassing women
With Caldbeck having resigned, maybe to never work in this town again, and Binary Capital likely headed for extinction, its brand now toxic, it’s worth examining what feels like a distinctly modern ritual, the tipping point when highly localized common knowledge goes wide. It has happened over and over in this internet age, and it’s going to happen again.
In Rational Ritual, the concise, readable, and seminal text on the subject of common knowledge, it is described this way:
…knowledge of the message is not enough; what is also required is knowledge of others’ knowledge, knowledge of others’ knowledge of others’ knowledge, and so on — that is, “common knowledge.”
Rational Ritual focuses on the role of public ceremony and ritual in creating common knowledge among the public; “rituals and ceremonies are not just “texts” but also publishing processes.”
What we’ve seen recently in Silicon Valley is the power of the written word to serve as its own form of ritual to create common knowledge in the community.
There had been plenty of rumors and stories about the toxic Uber culture before
But as soon as Fowler hit publish on her blog post, as as soon as the story went viral among the tech press, then the mainstream press, spreading around Twitter with the what seemed to approach the speed of light, the entire tech community had a new source of common knowledge with which to grapple. Uber was a company that, from the top on down, forgave sexual harassment and discrimination.
Fowler wasn’t just brave, she was also incredibly wise. With every right to take an indignant tone, she instead maintains a measured, reportorial tone from the start, beginning with the very demure title. Can you imagine what any modern headline writer would’ve titled her post?
It’s not just that Uber’s HR department let Fowler down; in every company I’ve ever been at, HR reports into the CEO, and their job is to protect the company.
Those in power are not stupid. They know the power of common knowledge in solving the coordination problem among those who’d oppose them. The first thing oppressive regimes facing rebels at the gates will do is cut off public communication channels like television, radio, and social media. If the opposition cannot communicate with each other, they do not know how many others will stand with them if they march on those in power, weakening their resolve.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
Germany passes law allowing fines of up to $57M for social media companies if they do not delete illegal, racist, or slanderous content within 24 hours — BERLIN — Social media companies operating in Germany face fines of as much as $57 million if they do not delete illegal …
Delete Hate Speech or Pay Up, Germany Tells Social Media Companies
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/business/germany-facebook-google-twitter.html
BERLIN — Social media companies operating in Germany face fines of as much as $57 million if they do not delete illegal, racist or slanderous comments and posts within 24 hours, under a law passed on Friday.
The law reinforces Germany’s position as one of the most aggressive countries in the Western world at forcing companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter to crack down on hate speech and other extremist messaging on their digital platforms.
But the new rules have also raised questions about freedom of expression. Digital and human rights groups, as well as the companies themselves, had opposed the law on the grounds that it placed limits on individuals’ right to free expression. Critics also said the legislation shifted the burden of responsibility to the providers from the courts, leading to last-minute changes in its wording.
Technology companies and free speech advocates argue that there is a fine line between policy makers’ views on hate speech and what is considered legitimate freedom of expression, and social networks say they do not want to be forced to censor those who use their services.
Still, German authorities pressed ahead with the legislation. Germany witnessed an increase in racist comments and anti-immigrant rhetoric after the arrival of more than a million migrants
The law will take effect in October, less than a month after nationwide elections, and will apply to social media sites with more than two million users in Germany.
It will require companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google, which owns YouTube, to remove any content that is illegal in Germany — such as Nazi symbols or Holocaust denial — within 24 hours of it being brought to their attention.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
ThinkProgress, which draws between 8-10M unique visitors a month, is leaving Medium, migrating back to WordPress — ThinkProgress will soon become the latest publisher to leave Medium. — The progressive news organization, which is housed by the left-leaning Center for American Progress …
With big plans to staff up, ThinkProgress is leaving Medium behind
http://www.poynter.org/2017/with-big-plans-to-staff-up-thinkprogress-is-leaving-medium-behind-update/465424/
ThinkProgress will soon become the latest publisher to leave Medium.
The progressive news organization, which is housed by the left-leaning Center for American Progress, will no longer publish on Medium beginning Aug. 1, founder Judd Legum said. They’ll be moving to WordPress, which the site used before it migrated to Medium last year.
In doing so, ThinkProgress joins an exodus away from Medium that began early this year after the company announced that it was laying off 50 staffers in a pivot away from advertising-supported publishing.
At issue for most publishers was the decision made by Medium to discontinue its “promoted stories” native advertising program. That program was a lynchpin for agreements between Medium and publishers that guaranteed them revenue based on the amount of readership they were able to draw. Without promoted stories — and an ad sales staff on Medium’s side — there was no basis to keep the money flowing.
But the lack advertising wasn’t the reason ThinkProgress decided to leave, Legum said. It was the prospect of remaining on a platform that wouldn’t continue to be developed with publishing organizations in mind.
“I’m certainly not eager to have a bunch of ads on the site — and we’re not going to,” Legum said. “I’d love to have none. And if it were possible, I’d be interested in figuring out a model where we don’t have to have any. But if it’s connected to a platform that’s not going to be developed with publishers in mind, it doesn’t really make sense to think through that as a platform. That sealed it for me.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook says it will identify and demote links from users who post more than 50 times a day in News Feed
Facebook found a new way to identify spam and false news articles in your News Feed
People who post 50-plus times per day are likely sharing spam or false news, Facebook says.
https://www.recode.net/2017/6/30/15896544/facebook-fake-news-feed-algorithm-update-spam
Facebook has a new way of identifying false news and spam in users’ feeds, and it’s changing its News Feed algorithm again to try and remove that content from view.
Facebook claims that users who post a lot — meaning 50-plus times per day — are very often sharing posts that the company considers to be spam or false news. So now Facebook is going to identify the links that these super-posters share, and cut down on their distribution on the network.
That means the links shared by users who incessantly post won’t get the kind of reach they used to, even if they’re shared by a reputable Page.
Facebook isn’t actually looking at the content from these links, Mosseri added. The correlation between these types of users and spammy/false content is strong enough that Facebook doesn’t have to.
“Those links [are] way disproportionately problematic. They’re very often either click-bait or sensationalism or false news,” Mosseri said. “It’s one of the strongest signals we’ve ever found for identifying a broad range of problematic content.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matthew Garrahan / Financial Times:
Sources: The Wall Street Journal is ending its print edition in Europe, sharpening its focus on digital, with its online subscriptions growing 48% YoY in Europe
http://www.ft.com/content/8a36c100-5ce7-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump and his allies believe he’s gained a tactical advantage in his war with the media, thanks to CNN resignations and Sarah Palin’s NYT libel suit
Trump seizes the advantage in war with media
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/28/trump-cnn-war-media-240069
White House staffers were ‘elated’ when they heard that three CNN journalists had resigned over a botched story.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Guardian:
CNN says Trump is encouraging violence against reporters by tweeting an altered 2007 Wrestlemania video of Trump body-slamming a man with a CNN logo as a head
Trump accused of encouraging attacks on journalists with CNN body-slam tweet
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/02/trump-body-slam-cnn-tweet-violence-reporters-wrestlemania
CNN says Trump ‘below the dignity of his office’, CPJ director says tweet ‘undermines US media’ and Sasse says president ‘trying to weaponise distrust’
Donald Trump was on Sunday accused of encouraging his supporters to attack journalists, after he tweeted a video of himself at a pro-wrestling event throwing to the floor a man with a CNN logo for a head.
Trump’s tweet contained doctored video from his appearance on Wrestlemania XXIII in 2007, in which he “body-slammed” – and subsequently shaved bald – Vince McMahon, the WWE promoter and husband of Trump’s Small Business Administration chief, Linda McMahon. Trump is a member of the WWE hall of fame.
In an atmosphere of swirling distrust between journalists and the politicians they cover, “body-slamming” became a loaded term in May when a Republican congressional candidate in Montana slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs to the floor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘It’s a tense environment’: Media braced for further hostility fueled by Trump
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/29/trump-media-hostility-cnn-new-york-times
Recent concessions by CNN and the New York Times have emboldened opponents of the press – and they’re taking their lead from the president
‘Fake news’: Trump tweets glee as three CNN journalists resign over Russia story
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/27/three-cnn-journalists-resign-over-retracted-trump-russia-story
Trump derides network’s ‘phony’ stories after three quit over piece on supposed investigation into meeting between associate and Russian investor
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jackie Wattles / CNNMoney:
Twitter says Trump’s CNN wrestling tweet doesn’t violate its rules, even though it appeared to incite his supporters, with some posting even more violent images — Trump tweets insults at MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski — Twitter told CNN on Sunday that the company reviewed the tweet …
Twitter says Trump’s tweet doesn’t violate its rules
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/02/technology/trump-twitter-cnn-wwe/
Twitter says President Trump’s latest anti-media tweet doesn’t violate its rules.
Twitter told CNN on Sunday that the company reviewed the tweet, which features a WWE video that has been edited to show Trump beating up a man with a CNN logo on his face.
Twitter said it considered three factors: the political context of the conversation surrounding the tweet, the various ways it could be interpreted and the lack of details in the tweet itself.
According to its rules, Twitter may suspend an account for a number of reasons, including if the user makes violent threats; attacks people based on race, religion, gender and more; or engages “in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.”
Trump’s tweet has spread like wildfire across the internet.
In the letter to Twitter’s chief media scientist Deb Roy, Hawley argued that Trump has become “the archetype of a cyber bully.” He also said Trump should be kicked off the site.
Trump has defended his social media tactics. Last week he brushed off criticism that he isn’t acting “presidential.”
“My use of social media is not Presidential – it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!” he wrote Saturday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Reddit user who wrote about stabbing Muslims is claiming credit for Trump’s CNN video
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/07/02/a-reddit-user-who-wrote-about-stabbing-muslims-is-claiming-credit-for-trumps-cnn-video/?utm_term=.963a0d2ac89f
The user whose screen name is a vulgar corruption of “Han Solo” spent about a year on Reddit before attaining stardom, courtesy of a share from President Trump.
Some posts were unpopular.
Thus Han‑‑‑‑‑‑‑Solo’s offering on Wednesday: A GIF of Trump pummeling Vince McMahon at a long-ago WrestleMania, with a CNN logo superimposed over McMahon’s face.
“Trump takes down fake news,” it was titled.
It did fine. A few thousand votes. Nothing special by r/The_Donald’s standard.
Until 9:21 a.m. Sunday, that is, when Trump tweeted a tweaked version of the clip, and made history on r/The_Donald.
Han‑‑‑‑‑‑‑Solo: “Holy s—!! I wake up and have my morning coffee and who retweets my s—post but the MAGA EMPORER himself!!! I am honored!!”
“TWEETED by the PRESIDENT,” one of many admirers wrote. “Now it’s confirmed that Trump sees our memes.”
“We all wish for such validation.”
“You are now a legend!!”
Wondered SnugMeatSocks: “Did you ever think one of your memes would go into the Library of Congress?”
But it almost doesn’t matter where the meme really came from. On r/The_Donald, where dubious claims have long mixed with reality, Trump’s endorsement of a homegrown GIF is now accepted as canon and lore.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ivana Kottasová / CNNMoney:
Al Jazeera journalists resist demand from UAE, Saudi Arabia, others that Qatar shutter TV network, as UN and some journalism orgs call for demand to be dropped — Al Jazeera: “We demand press freedom” — Al Jazeera is fighting back against demands that the government of Qatar should close down the media network.
Al Jazeera journalists: Don’t treat us like ‘criminals’
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/03/media/al-jazeera-demand-press-freedom/
Al Jazeera is fighting back against demands that the government of Qatar should close down the media network.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have called for Qatar to shut Al Jazeera. It’s one of 13 things they say Qatar must do before they’ll restore diplomatic and economic ties.
The Doha-based network released a video Monday showing its corespondents and anchors pleading for media freedom, as a new deadline for Qatar to meet the demands looms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Max Willens / Digiday:
The state of paying for news: 79% of US readers say they are unlikely to pay for online news in future, 16% paid for online news in last year
Cheatsheet: The state of paying for news
https://digiday.com/media/cheatsheet-state-paying-news/
As news consumption has moved online and distribution has spread across digital platforms, publishers have focused on making direct connections with their readers to develop deeper bonds with them and ultimately get them to pay.
But here’s the challenge: After years of publishers putting news and information online for free in the pursuit of audience scale, most people have gotten used to the idea that they don’t have to pay for content.
The numbers:
• 54 percent: Globally, more than half of readers say they see no point in paying for news online because they can get the information for free already, according to research released last week by the Reuters Institute.
• 16 percent: The percentage of U.S. consumers who paid for online news last year. For comparison, 33 percent of American adults pay for a digital video service such as Netflix, and 22 percent pay for digital audio content, also per Reuters.
• 79 percent: The share of U.S. readers who say they are unlikely to pay for news in the future. That percentage is higher in most European markets, especially Germany (90 percent) and Finland (89 percent), again per Reuters.
• $18 billion: That’s how much print ad revenue U.S. newspapers made in 2016, a 63 percent drop from the $49 billion they earned 10 years prior, according to the News Media Alliance.
• 89 percent: The percentage of digital ad revenue that Google and Facebook claimed together in 2016, according to third-party calculations conducted using Interactive Advertising Bureau data, leaving just 11 percent for the rest of the digital ecosystem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jack Shafer / Politico:
CNN bungled their Scaramucci story, but if journalists are too fearful of making mistakes, the press risks becoming too timid to be effective
Should Journalists Have the Right to Be Wrong?
CNN screwed up. So have we all.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/29/journalists-right-to-be-wrong-cnn-215320
Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on—to borrow half a quotation from Janet Malcolm—came close to passing out this week when CNN retracted its story about Wall Streeter Anthony Scaramucci and the three network staffers connected to the story resigned. Candid reporters and editors on six continents can direct you to stories they’ve published that turned out to be as false or as flawed at CNN’s Scaramucci story. That could have been me, everybody thought this week of the CNN kerfuffle. Thank God it wasn’t me.
CNN’s mistake, as the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple and Paul Farhi explained in separate pieces, appears to be a product, in part, of a breakdown in the network’s usual editing process.
In hindsight, it’s easy to say CNN shouldn’t have gone with such a flimsy, improperly vetted story. Unfortunately, journalism isn’t a hindsight business. Journalism happens in real time, against a deadline clock, and in a competitive atmosphere. Only ombudsmen, press critics and libel attorneys get to second-guess what they do.
I intend no defense of malicious reporters
who have deliberately filed fiction as fact to their editors.
But I must defend honest journalists who have screwed up (as I’ve screwed up). “If you say you haven’t screwed up, you’re lying.”
As the Supreme Court noted in the landmark libel case Times v. Sullivan, the First Amendment is of little use unless we provide “breathing space” for controversial reports that end up containing unintentional mistakes—like the CNN story—as long as they’re made without malice.
Journalists deserve reprimands, time-outs and maybe even a few hours in the pillory for honest work gone wrong. But it’s a mistake for readers to overstigmatize all errors and sideline the responsible reporters
If we don’t make accommodations for errors, we’ll be left with a press too timid to get the story. “It is nearly impossible today to imagine a newspaper being able to overcome the errors made in the course of the Post’s Watergate reporting and still be able to push the story to its ultimate conclusion,” Silverman wrote.
“Every story, no matter how battened down, has potential hidden land mines—a trusted source who maybe misremembered or mischaracterized, an unseen layer of context that you didn’t have access to, an assumption that the most rigorous editing process failed to challenge. There are a million ways for good-faith reporters to make good-faith errors, which is why good news outlets have a culture of correction and why defamation law … bars judgments against publications that make mistakes about public figures unless a finding of malice or negligence is made,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Famous Cases of Journalistic Fraud: A Reading List
https://longreads.com/2014/01/22/famous-cases-of-journalistic-fraud-a-reading-list/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Max Willens / Digiday:
Publishers including CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Scripps, and Time Inc. announce video-centric skills for Amazon’s Echo Show
Amazon’s new video device, Echo Show, is getting publisher attention
https://digiday.com/media/amazon-echo-show-publishers/
The Amazon Echo Show, the $230 audio and video device launched in early May, is years away from being a niche product. But large digital publishers are already crowding onto its small screen. On Wednesday, a group of them, including CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Scripps and Time Inc., all announced video-centric skills for it.
The adoption rate of voice-enabled assistants and devices like the Echo Dot and Google Home surpassed early expectations, but the Show will have to climb a steep hill to succeed. One early estimate, courtesy of Business Insider Intelligence, suggests 9 million Shows could be sold in the next 12 months in the U.S., although that survey also found 72 percent of respondents either “probably wouldn’t” buy it or “don’t see the point” of the device at all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
CNN finds identity of Reddit user behind Trump-CNN wrestling video but won’t name him; user posts apology to CNN, media, and Reddit — (CNN)The Reddit user who initially claimed credit for President Donald Trump’s tweet that showed Trump tackling CNN issued an apology Tuesday for the video …
How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/04/politics/kfile-reddit-user-trump-tweet/
he Reddit user who initially claimed credit for President Donald Trump’s tweet that showed Trump tackling CNN issued an apology Tuesday for the video and other offensive content he posted — one day after CNN identified the man behind the account and attempted to make contact with him.
Reddit user “HanA**holeSolo” first shared the GIF last Wednesday of Trump pummeling a wrestler with CNN’s logo imposed on his face. CNN could find no earlier instance of the GIF. The GIF was later edited into a video with sound and tweeted by the President on Sunday.
On Reddit, “HanA**holeSolo” took credit for inspiring the tweet. Soon after, “HanA**holeSolo’s” other posts on Reddit, some of which included racist and anti-Semitic imagery, quickly circulated on social media.
Now the user is apologizing, writing in a lengthy post on Reddit that he does not advocate violence against the press and expressing remorse there and in an interview with CNN for other posts he made that were racist and anti-Semitic.
The user further apologized for calls for violence against the press in his statement on Reddit.
“The meme was created purely as satire, it was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation,” he wrote.
The apology has since been taken down by the moderators of /The_Donald subreddit.
CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again.
Trump has not issued an apology for the tweet, which he sent Sunday morning. Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said on ABC’s This Week that “no one would perceive” the tweet as a threat.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement this week that the tweet “undermines the work of the media in the U.S. and makes it more dangerous.” CNN said in a statement that the tweet “encourages violence against reporters.”
“To people who troll on the Internet for fun, consider your words and actions conveyed in your message and who it might upset or anger,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Investigators explore if Russia colluded with pro-Trump sites during US election
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/05/donald-trump-russia-investigation-fake-news-hillary-clinton
Questions raised as to whether Trump supports coordinated with Moscow to spread bogus stories aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
New regulations in China require at least two “auditors” to vet all audiovisual content posted online to ensure it adheres to “core socialist values”
China’s bloggers, filmmakers feel chill of internet crackdown
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-content-idUSKBN19O21X
China’s latest maneuvre in a sweeping crackdown on internet content has sent a chill through a diverse community of filmmakers, bloggers, media and educators who fear their sites could be shut down as Beijing tightens control.
Over the last month, Chinese regulators have closed celebrity gossip websites, restricted what video people can post and suspended online streaming, all on grounds of inappropriate content.
On Friday, an industry association circulated new regulations that at least two “auditors” will, with immediate effect, be required to check all audiovisual content posted online – from films to “micro” movies, documentaries, sports, educational material and animation – to ensure they adhere to “core socialist values”.
People flocked online at the weekend to criticize the move, with most saying it was a step backwards that would hamper creativity. Some noted it could be near impossible to enforce.
While censorship of creative content in China is nothing new, the internet has generally been a more permissive arena because of the gray areas around regulation.
The atmosphere has become more tense since Xi called for stricter regulation last year.
In June, China’s cyberspace authorities ordered internet firms like Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) and Tencent Holding Ltd (0700.HK) to close 60 popular celebrity gossip social media accounts, including “China’s Number One Paparazzi” Zhuo Wei, an account that had more than 7 million followers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Garett Sloane / Ad Age:
Sources: Apple will allow top publishers to use their own tech, like Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers, to deliver ads within the Apple News app — Apple is working on a money fix for publishers that send their articles and content to its News app but so far have gotten very little in return …
Apple News May Let Publishers Sell Ads Their Own Way
http://adage.com/article/digital/apple-explores-ways-publishers-sell-ads-news-app/309644/
Apple is working on a money fix for publishers that send their articles and content to its News app but so far have gotten very little in return, according to people familiar with the plans.
Apple News will let top media partners use their own technology to fill the ad space in their content, becoming more of an extension of the publishers’ own websites than the walled-off island it is now, the people said.
At the moment, Apple maintains tight control over ad delivery in its popular news app, and publishers say they are not generating much revenue there.
Publishers can set up ad campaigns to run in their Apple News articles, with all types of ad formats including standard banner ads and videos. “It just takes a lot of additional effort,” said one top publishing executive, speaking on condition of anonymity.
To fix that and keep media partners happy, Apple plans to allow publishers to use the ad tech they already employ on their sites, such as Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers, to deliver ads into Apple News.
That would potentially let media partners make as much money from views in Apple News as they do on their own sites, without as much additional effort as the current approach.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
As print revenue fades, the Houston Chronicle teaches its newsroom to care about analytics, attempts to build niche audiences it can turn into subscribers — HOUSTON — “Wwwwwelcome to the BBQ State of Mind podcast,” J.C. Reid said into a mic in the corner of the video studio at the Houston Chronicle.
The Houston Chronicle has a BBQ podcast, a site for smarties and big plans for turning readers into subscribers
http://www.poynter.org/2017/the-houston-chronicle-has-a-bbq-podcast-a-site-for-smarties-and-big-plans-for-turning-readers-into-subscribers/464347/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
The BBC published its annual plan on Tues, revealing that it’s working with Facebook to reduce the impact of fake news, prioritising live video in its app, more
BBC prioritising live video in News app to take on Facebook and Youtube as it looks to win over younger audience
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/bbc-prioritising-live-video-in-news-app-to-take-on-facebook-and-youtube-as-it-looks-to-win-over-younger-audience/
The BBC is prioritising live video content on its mobile News app to challenge market leaders Facebook and Youtube as it looks to appeal to a younger audience, the corporation has revealed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alternative facts alert: Proposed legislation bans “fake news”
“Even satirical websites, such as The Onion, could come under fire.”
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/alternative-facts-alert-proposed-legislation-bans-fake-news/
Here at Ars, we’re always on the lookout for wacky, tech-focused legislation. And we’ve found one bill that is certain to make our Top 10 list.
The new proposal bars the online publication of a “false or deceptive statement designed to influence the vote.” Bye-bye online news. On the flip side, this legislation would probably outlaw lawmakers’ and candidates’ online speech, too.
The measure does have a laudable goal, however. It’s designed to combat the so-called “fake news” that filled the 2016 election season.
“At a time when political leaders are promoting ‘alternative facts’ and branding unflattering reporting as ‘fake news,’ we don’t think it’s a good idea to give the government more power to punish speech,” the EFF said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
D.B. Hebbard / Talking New Media:
The Moscow Times newspaper and The New Times magazine announce they will shutter their print editions; most of Moscow Times staff will lose their jobs — Both publications — one in Russian, one in English — hope to carry on as digital-only news outlets, but The Moscow Times will be losing much of its editorial staff in the move
The Moscow Times reports on closing of The New Times’s print edition… then announces closing of its own print edition
http://www.talkingnewmedia.com/2017/07/05/the-moscow-times-reports-on-closing-of-the-new-timess-print-edition-then-announces-closing-of-its-own-print-edition/
Both publications — one in Russian, one in English — hope to carry on as digital-only news outlets, but The Moscow Times will be losing much of its editorial staff in the move
Both publications are independent of the Kremlin, with The New Times published in Russian, The Moscow Times in English.
Both publications hope to exist in digital form, though much of the staff of has been let go.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Sargent / Spin:
Former staff on why MTV News longform journalism experiment failed: no critical reporting, article deletion on artist request, lack of direction by management
MTV News: The Good, the Bad, and the Contradictions of an Ill-Fated Experiment
http://www.spin.com/featured/the-mtv-news-experiment/
In October 2015, MTV announced an overhaul to its website, which it hoped would help reposition the network for the future. Now, with a celebrated new staff departed or laid off, an experiment in the power of longform journalism is dead. According to sources, this is the story of why.
When MTV News was rebooted at the beginning of 2016, it was heralded as nothing short of an uprising. “What we are about to do here is about the most revolutionary and forward-thinking thing that we can try to do for music journalism,” new editorial director of music Jessica Hopper told the Huffington Post that February.
In order to lure those writers, sources say Hopper and Fierman pitched prospective hires on editorial freedom, resources, a relaxed work schedule, and a large readership.
But the MTV News revolution has now been quashed. Hopper announced earlier this month that she would be leaving the company to take a job at Spotify.
Though MTV News continued publishing articles after both left—and ambitious articles at that—MTV announced yesterday that the Fierman and Hopper era of the site was ending.
The dissolution of this micro-era of MTV News in just over a year and a half leaves us with several questions: Can a behemoth media company like MTV succeed in reinventing itself from within simply by creating a “prestige journalism” arm?
Further, what kind of journalism does a company like Viacom—which is largely reliant on friendly artist relationships for its financial success—support and allow?
For a period of time, at least, Viacom did allow MTV News the resources to produce ambitious multimedia journalism.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Amid campaign against CNN, staffers worry as anchors and top executives face threats and harassing messages; Andrew Kaczynski’s family received about 50 calls — It’s a sign of the anxious, fractious times that CNN’s Chris Cuomo, who’d just finished anchoring his New Day program Thursday morning …
Fear and Loathing
High Anxiety at CNN Amid Attacks From Trump and His Trolls
http://www.thedailybeast.com/high-anxiety-at-cnn-amid-attacks-from-trump-and-his-trolls
CNN staff fear for their safety as President Trump’s supporters threaten them and their families. In Poland, Trump continued to ratchet up his rhetoric against the network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
A week after forcing three resignations from its investigative team, CNN forgets standards when granting source anonymity in Trump-CNN video story
Hey, CNN, what happened to those all-important standards?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/07/06/hey-cnn-what-happened-to-those-all-important-standards/?utm_term=.886c7ea1de50
Last week, CNN announced that three top-level news officials had resigned after a mini-scandal over a story that it had published about an alleged investigation of an ally of President Trump.
So quick was the retraction, in fact, that CNN never detailed exactly what was wrong with the story. “We pulled it down not because we disproved it,” a CNN source told the Erik Wemple Blog. The real problem, said the source, related to internal CNN protocol for editing a sensitive story.
CNN is taking the opposite approach with this week’s mini-scandal, sticking with clumsy and creepy language in a story about a Reddit user who appears to have created an anti-CNN video tweeted by Trump over the holiday weekend.
CNN granted “Han” anonymity in its treatment of the whole shebang. Whereas CNN usually grants such a privilege to sources “because of the sensitivity of the matter” or “because of the sensitive nature of the visit” or “because this person works with the White House,”
Rarely have three sentences provided so much fodder for media criticism.
Though the anonymity-granting explanation is exotic and risible, it reflects a reality running across the mainstream media: We all too readily cave on the principle that people should be named in our news reporting.
From that angle, CNN was complying with modern journo-standards.
But then it wrote that it had reserved the “right” to publish the Reddit fellow’s identity should his behavior “change.” “Blackmail,” screamed Twitter, and the blogosphere.
“CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.” Does that line square with CNN’s editorial guidelines?
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNN’s Ratings Collapse As Primetime Shows Draw Less Viewers Than Re-Runs Of “Yogi Bear”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-06/cnns-rating-collapse-prime-time-shows-draw-less-viewers-re-runs-yogi-bear
A series of fake news articles (see here, here and here), black mail of anonymous Reddit users who had the audacity to poke fun at them and a couple of undercover videos from Project Veritas revealing CNN producers admitting their own news is “mostly bullshit,” seems to be taking a toll on CNN’s ratings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/04/stone-soup/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
April Glaser / Recode:
Google’s Digital News Initiative awards $805K to Radar, a project building software to automate the writing of 30K local stories a month
Google is funding a new software project that will automate writing local news
Journalists, beware!
https://www.recode.net/2017/7/7/15937436/google-news-media-robots-automate-writing-local-news-stories
Google is awarding the Press Association, a large British news agency, $805,000 to build software to automate the writing of 30,000 local stories a month.
The money comes from a fund from Google, the Digital News Initiative, that the search giant started with a commitment to invest over $170 million to support digital innovation in newsrooms across Europe.
The Press Assocation received the funding in partnership with Urbs Media, an automation software startup specializing in combing through large open datasets. Together, the Press Assocation and Urbs Media will work on a software project dubbed Radar, which stands for Reporters And Data And Robots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Associated Press, a major U.S. news agency, started using automation software to generate stories about corporate financial quarterly earnings in 2014. The AP now posts thousands of stories every quarter with the help of its robotic reporting tools.
Source: https://www.recode.net/2017/7/7/15937436/google-news-media-robots-automate-writing-local-news-stories
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Source: The NYT is undecided on whether to participate in Facebook’s Instant Articles subscriptions, with the paper seeing no “great upside” to being involved — Facebook is moving ahead on plans to let people subscribe to publications through Instant Articles.
Facebook is getting ready to test paid subscriptions with publications
https://digiday.com/media/facebook-ready-roll-paid-subscriptions-publications/
Facebook is moving ahead on plans to let people subscribe to publications through Instant Articles. Nothing’s final, but the current thinking is that it will support publications with metered paywalls and freemium models, said a source familiar with the briefings. These options would seem to accommodate metered publications including Facebook skeptic The New York Times; and The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, which make a certain selection of articles free and put the rest behind a paywall.
Facebook seems to have made other concessions to publishers. They’ll have access to all subscriber data, according to the source, which publishers want so they can understand their audience better. A controversial proposal to let people buy bundles of publications from different companies is now off the table. Publishers also are expected to have full control over pricing.
The paywall limit as it stands now may not satisfy publishers with stricter limits such as The Washington Post, which lowered the free monthly article limit to three from five earlier this year as it tinkers with its paywall to drive new subscriptions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
A Pulitzer-winning NYT story that relied heavily on a Russian news site offers a case study in how foreign correspondents re-report articles by local media — The Times’ prize-winning story relies heavily on two articles in Meduza, a Russian news site based in Latvia.
How A Pulitzer-Winning New York Times Story Pulled From A Russian News Outlet
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stevenperlberg/how-a-pulitzer-winning-new-york-times-story-pulled-from-a?utm_term=.uvddpQrwOn#.og0vz2dEDy
The Times’ prize-winning story relies heavily on two articles in Meduza, a Russian news site based in Latvia.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times story about how Russia recruits elite hackers relied heavily on the work of a Russian news outlet, which claims the Times snubbed its reporting.
The Times story, written by Andrew Kramer, centers on computer programmer Aleksandr Vyarya, who was approached by the Russian government to work on its cyberwarfare efforts.
The Times found Vyarya because he had been featured in two stories by Meduza, a Russian news site based in Riga, Latvia.
The Times story spells out the same narrative, including a quotation from Vyarya that is exceptionally similar to one in the Meduza article.
“The only thing which really makes me angry is that he got this Pulitzer Prize,” said Ivan Kolpakov, the editor-in-chief of Meduza. “It was our exclusive reporting on Aleksandr Vyarya.”
After publication, journalists from Meduza complained that the Times story was based primarily on two Meduza articles
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/world/europe/how-russia-recruited-elite-hackers-for-its-cyberwar.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris O’Brien / VentureBeat:
USC study suggests there may be a black market of bots used to spread misinformation across Twitter during elections — As if Twitter’s reputation hasn’t been battered enough, a new study sheds light on how the social media platform can be hijacked by bots to spread political disinformation during election campaigns.
Study: Bots have turned Twitter into a powerful political disinformation platform
https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/10/study-bots-have-turned-twitter-into-a-powerful-political-disinformation-platform/
As if Twitter’s reputation hasn’t been battered enough, a new study sheds light on how the social media platform can be hijacked by bots to spread political disinformation during election campaigns.
A researcher at the University of Southern California found that almost 20 percent of Twitter bots that were engaged in spreading propaganda against Emmanuel Macron during the recent French presidential election had been used to spread misinformation in favor of Donald Trump last year during the U.S. elections.
Many of those bots stopped tweeting after Trump won last November and only began tweeting again in the weeks ahead of the French elections to promote the “Macron Leaks,” an unverified hack of his campaign’s emails.
“Account usage patterns suggest the possible existence of a black-market for reusable political disinformation bots.”