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Friday, June 26, 2020
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To crack India's diverse and massive local news markets, Lokal started asking users what they actually wantedAs it turns out, it's not just news. By Meghna Rao. |
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The little things — pop-ups, notifications, warnings — work to fight fake news, new evidence showsPlus: A look at COVID-19 misinformation in Black online communities, and how conservative media may have made the pandemic worse. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Curbed LA / Jenna Chandler
Curbed L.A. is closing →
“Starting Monday, June 29, our stories will appear on Curbed.com, our flagship site,” editor Jenna Chandler said. “That's in preparation for an exciting move over to New York Magazine this fall, where Curbed will relaunch as the newest vertical alongside brands like Vulture, the Cut, and the Strategist. At New York, we'll have a bigger platform to tell the nation what's happening in its best city, and even with an East Coast home, I personally promise never to write a story that wins New York Times bingo.”
The Washington Post / Cat Zakrzewski
Senators present the bipartisan PACT Act to make social media moderation more transparent and require posts be removed within a day of courts deeming them illegal →
“The legislation, known as the PACT Act, is one of the more nuanced proposals on Capitol Hill in the contentious debate over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that protects social networks from litigation over the content that people share on their services. President Trump has recently called for the provision to be revoked outright, and he recently signed an executive order that would direct federal regulators to reexamine its scope.”
Al Jazeera / Hasham Cheema
War, lies and hashtags: How Pakistan’s most notorious digital commander leads his cyber-army to the front line of a propaganda war →
“When India-Pakistan tensions flare, Farhan Virk mounts an online attack. His wife, who also leads a giant cyber-army, hatches a plan to infiltrate mainstream news across India. But how long can this infamous couple survive on the thrill of online propaganda warfare?”
Poynter / Aiyana Ishmael
In 20 years I’m going to run your newsroom. Here’s how to help me get there. →
“Once you get to know Black and brown people in your newsroom, you start to see the possibilities in them, just like you do your White counterparts. You will start to look to them as real, natural contenders for jobs as producers, editors, publishers and CEOs. But White journalists need to commit to taking those steps now. Look around. What have you done besides post on Twitter to support your Black colleagues, especially us younger ones?”
Deadline / Jill Goldsmith
Vice Media expands its global news footprint with Vice World News →
“Vice World News journalists reporting from EMEA, APAC, Latin America and North America will provide global coverage across the organization's core beats including extremism, climate, drugs, privacy, politics, and inequality. The expansion includes television and digital content with the first offerings from Vice World News now available on Vice.com's English-language sites.”
Miami Herald / Ben Wieder
Miami mayor to bankruptcy judge: South Florida benefits if Miami Herald is locally owned →
“Suarez's appeal echoed efforts by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who pledged earlier this month to convene a virtual conference to help raise local funds to support the Sacramento Bee, another of McClatchy's 30 newsrooms. Suarez called on the mayors and leaders in other McClatchy markets to similarly urge that Wiles consider the public interest of each community in making a decision.”
Vox / Rebecca Heilweil
Facebook has banned this conspiracy site twice. But its content can still sneak back on. →
“As one of the internet's oldest and most prolific sources of health misinformation and conspiracy theories, Natural News is a hub for climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers. While it poses as a news outlet, Natural News is actually a network of sites filled with bylined articles and flanked by ads for survivalist gear and dodgy health cures.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer / Queen Muse
Being the only Black woman journalist in the room is a privilege and a prison →
“Too often, publications that do hire Black journalists only hire a few, who get propped up to signal representation when, in reality, we account for a tiny fraction of the organization. Being among those chosen few is a privilege and a prison. I feel at once honored to have a platform, and guilty I was chosen while so many others were not. I feel annoyed when issues about my community arise and I am not asked to help cover them, yet tokenized if I am singled out for that coverage. This is only true because there aren't enough Black journalists in the room. If there were, I wouldn't have to fret over every assignment.”
Twipe / Mary-Katharine Phillips
How puzzles play an essential role in reader engagement →
“In their ‘Project Habit,’ [The Wall Street Journal] mapped out all actions readers can take with the digital products against their impact on retention. They found that using puzzles increased retention significantly, but less than 1% of the audience had played a puzzle in the past. They revamped their onboarding process to encourage new subscribers to play a puzzle in their first week. They've also built out their puzzle offering, adding jigsaw puzzles featuring illustrations from articles.”
Poynter / Amanda Zamora
Overcoming systemic racism begins in our own newsrooms →
“When you call in favors, the people who tend to benefit most are people who look like you. It's the same reason so many sources in our stories are white men: because it's often convenient to access those voices. Every time we tap an existing relationship to get something done (perhaps cheaper, perhaps faster), we're foreclosing on opportunities for talented Black and brown colleagues to step into those roles and for us to diversify our networks. Collective white privilege is a likely factor in someone's ability to do you a favor or cut you a deal in the first place.”
Washington Post
The Washington Post expands its graphics and design teams with 14 new positions →
Among the positions being added: “An editor and three designers/developers for a visual development team that will enable the graphics and design departments to improve how The Post creates custom articles, execute the visual storytelling that strengthens our most ambitious stories and experiment with new visual formats. “
Medium / Jennifer Brandel
Jennifer Brandel steps out of the CEO role at Hearken as the company merges with Switchboard →
Chelsea Haring becomes CEO.
Nieman Storyboard
The route to a Pulitzer in opinion writing: rigorous reporting →
“In Detroit and Toledo, it wasn't that I just would look at stories and write editorials on them. I would actually break the news first. I was always aggressive about that.”
Popular / Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria
Despite a small staff and no original reporting, Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire receives more distribution than any major publisher on Facebook →
The reach of The Daily Wire’s articles was equal to the New York Times and more than the Washington Post. The secret may be a network of Facebook pages that post the exact same content from The Daily Wire at the exact same time ten or more times per day.