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Tuesday, May 5, 2020
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Can optimizing for Hollywood be a sustainable funding model for investigative podcasts?Plus: The first Pulitzer Prize for audio, Ira Glass drops shade, and the rise of the five-minute podcast. By Nicholas Quah. |
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Are journalists on autopilot when they’re determining which sources (or what information) to trust?Plus: evidence for a genetic inclination toward news, journalists’ role in normalizing the term “fake news,” and how Trump strategically used Twitter to generate coverage. By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis. |
What We’re Reading
Twitter
Twitter wants to help save you from yourself →
“When things get heated, you may say things you don’t mean. To let you rethink a reply, we're running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it's published if it uses language that could be harmful.”
Twitter / Joe Sonka
“I won a Pulitzer Prize today, and I'm on my second week of unpaid furlough starting next Monday.” →
Newspapering, circa 2020.
Brookings Institution / Marietje Schaake
Trade secrets shouldn’t shield tech companies’ algorithms from oversight →
“In order to assess whether principles such as fair competition, non-discrimination, free speech, and access to information are being upheld, the proper authorities need to be allowed to look under the algorithmic hood.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Ivan Oransky
Are reporters covering COVID-19 science at dangerous speeds? →
“I imagine that the dread a newly transferred coronavirus reporter feels when faced with a PDF filled with statistics is the same as I would feel if — as a career-long doctor turned medical journalist — I was suddenly assigned to cover the statehouse. I mean, what the hell is cloture?”
A Media Operator / Jacob Cohen Donnelly
How can you keep attendees’ focus in a virtual event? →
“With an in-person event, I am making a conscious decision to fly somewhere, put my work on hold and give my energy to the event. I watch sessions and network with people…With a virtual event, I am getting out of bed, going to my desk, putting the event on one of my monitors and doing work on the other. Maybe I need that second monitor for some other work and, before you know it, I'm no longer paying attention.”
BuzzFeed
The new editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News is Mark Schoofs →
Replacing Ben Smith, who left for the media column at the Times. “While serving as BuzzFeed News' Editor-in-Chief, Mark will continue serving on the faculty at USC Annenberg, allowing BuzzFeed and the school to build a unique collaboration.”
The Irish Times / Conor Gallagher
In Ireland, the journalists’ union is calling for a 6% tax on tech giants to support news →
Also: “The Government should provide free vouchers for online or print subscriptions to 18- and 19-year-olds and to those over 70, while households with subscriptions should receive tax credits, said the NUJ.”
Associated Press
Egypt has made journalism into a crime, Amnesty International says →
“Amnesty documented 37 cases of journalists being detained in the government's escalating [coronavirus-inspired] crackdown on press freedoms. Many had been charged with ‘spreading false news’ or ‘misusing social media’ under a broad 2015 counterterrorism law, which has expanded the definition of terror to include all kinds of dissent.”
Poynter / Daniel Funke
Pulitzer celebrations: not quite the same over Zoom →
Keep that champagne away from your keyboard.
Poynter / Ren LaForme
Here are the winners and finalists of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes →
The non-newspaper outlets honored: Kaiser Health News, Reveal, ProPublica, Reuters, The New Yorker, The Verge, New York, The Undefeated, The Nib, the AP, This American Life, Ear Hustle, and NPR.
News Corp
Almar Latour is the CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal →
“Over nearly a quarter century at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, Almar has ascended from roles as a news assistant and staff reporter, becoming a bureau chief and managing editor, and more recently serving as an editor-in-chief, executive editor and publisher.”
Los Angeles Times / Ted Sarandos
How film and TV production can safely resume in a COVID-19 world →
“Every two or three hours a production assistant announces a break so people on set can wash their hands, and alcohol is used to wipe down doorknobs, loading areas and the craft table. At the end of every day, props are cleaned and wardrobes steam-cleaned.”
The Daily Beast / Lachlan Cartwright, Lloyd Grove, and Maxwell Tani
Telemundo chief tapped to lead NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC →
Cesar Conde will replace Andy Lack, who spent $69 million to lure Megyn Kelly to NBC and had come under criticism for his role in the mishandling of the Weinstein investigation. (The one for which Ronan Farrow ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize when he brought it to The New Yorker.)