Tuesday, October 3, 2023 |
| “We want to cloak ourselves in all things Atlanta. And frankly, in recent years, we haven’t necessarily done that.” By Sophie Culpepper. |
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| “The personality-driven model of news is not going away.” By Hanaa' Tameez. |
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| Downloads for The Wall Street Journal’s podcasts were up 14% over the past year. Downloads for its flagship podcast, The Journal, increased 20% over the same time period. By Sarah Scire. |
What We’re ReadingAxios / Sara Fischer
Social media traffic to top news sites craters →“Traffic referrals to the top global news sites from Meta’s Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, has collapsed over the past year, according to data from Similarweb.”Covering Climate Now
Kyle Pope is leaving the Columbia Journalism Review to lead Covering Climate Now →“Pope, who has served as editor and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review since 2016, will step into his new role at CCNow as Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives on October 16, 2023. Pope helped launch CCNow four years ago with co-founder Mark Hertsgaard.”Platformer / Casey Newton
Why fact-checking fails to stop deepfakes →“Were a phony clip of President Biden’s voice to go viral next year, it seems likely that it would generate wide media coverage, blunting its ability to fool listeners. But some fakes might prove convincing anyway, particularly if they lend (false) evidence to voters’ pre-existing biases.”TechCrunch / Christoph Schmon and Paige Collings
The EU is about to adopt a law that could cause internet users to face arbitrary content moderation and discrimination →“Millions of EU users rely on online platforms to remove content that violates community standards. But Article 17 of this proposed law deviates from the important principle that online platforms shouldn’t be forced to host any content and instead provides special privileged treatment to certain media outlets…Ultimately, this approach leaves it to online platforms to decide the status of a wide range of media actors.”The Verge / Wes Davis
X Social Media is suing X, a social media company →“An ad agency called X Social Media alleges that the company formerly known as Twitter has caused marketplace confusion and lost revenue.”TechCrunch / Kyle Wiggers
TikTok begins testing $4.99 ad-free subscription tier →“TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch it’s testing this product but only in a single, English-speaking market outside the U.S. It disputed the Android Authority report that said it was coming to the U.S. as small-scale tests don’t indicate a product launch is inevitable.”The Wall Street Journal / Sam Schechner
Meta is floating the idea of charging $14/month for ad-free Instagram or Facebook →“The proposal is a gambit by Meta to navigate European Union rules that threaten to restrict its ability to show users personalized ads without first seeking user consent—jeopardizing its main source of revenue.”The Financial Times / John Reed and Jyotsna Singh
Indian police raid NewsClick, a news site alleged to be Chinese propaganda outlet →“Several journalists and contributors to the site said police seized their phones and laptops during the operation early on Tuesday, which came amid escalating
India-China tensions following a stand-off on the countries’ shared Himalayan border.”Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
Major news publishers block the bots as ChatGPT starts taking live news →“The UK’s Independent Publishers Alliance is urging its members to block crawling access for OpenAI and Google as soon as possible while an AI strategist told Press Gazette it is a ‘tricky time’ for publishers – especially if they are expected to opt out of each generative AI company separately.”Axios / Sara Fischer
Campbell Brown, who led Facebook’s foray into news, exits Meta →“Last year, Brown was promoted to oversee a new global media partnerships team at the company, broadening her role to oversee the company’s relationships with leagues, film studios, streamers and more as
Meta began to exit the news business.“Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Raksha Kumar
As Pakistan approaches a crucial election, its media watchdog bans critical voices from TV →“Pakistan’s media regulator emerged after the deregulation and privatization of television in the early 2000s. While it was hoped that this regulator would safeguard public interest and improve ethics, sadly it has turned into an instrument of censorship and control.”Rest of World / Caiwei Chen
Why thousands of young Chinese people use a pink dinosaur as their alias on social media →“Yuan is just one of tens of thousands of Chinese social media users who have adopted momo the pink dinosaur as their online alias, as a way to speak more freely, evade harassment, and protect their privacy.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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