‘Don’t bullshit a bullshitter’ moment from Breaking Bad

From the ‘bullshit curation’ to the decline of newspapers (feat. John Oliver)

Our personal weekly selection about journalism and innovation. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

edited by Marco Nurra

• The art of good headline writing and image selection in order to get someone to click and go to a website is usually called “clickbaiting,” but Aaron Loeb thinks we should call it “bullshit curation.” He’s got a point:

You Won’t Believe What Hillary Ordered the DNC to do to Bernie’s Brother!

• Six characters, five countries, 40,000 words, zero ads: it’s the latest New York Times Magazine’s story, “Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart.” According to Poynter, the five-part saga is unusual in its scope.
• Turkey: the witchhunt launched in the wake of the 15 July coup attempt continues to take a heavy toll on journalists. In the draconian state of emergency imposed after the abortive coup, the authorities have closed more than 100 media outlets critical of the government, placed 42 journalists in provisional detention and banned many others from travelling abroad.

• Facebook removes potential police brutality evidence too readily, activists say. While it’s no secret that law enforcement is increasingly relying on social media to conduct investigations, shutting down accounts presents a different set of questions. Some have called for Facebook to appoint a public editor to review users’ concerns about civil rights issues, and many are demanding greater transparency about how, when, and why Facebook decides to comply with law enforcement’s requests.
• In the ad-blocking war, publishers gain an important ally in Facebook. On Tuesday, Facebook promised to be world’s only publisher selling 100% viewability, 100% identifiable users, no ad-blockers. Unfortunately, Adblock Plus has already defeated Facebook’s new ad-blocking restrictions. But, it’s not that simple... Andrew Bosworth, the VP of product and business for Facebook, pointed out that the Adblock Plus software was now not just blocking ads but also removing posts from friends and family of users as well. Let’s see what happens next.

• Anonymity could bring with it bad behavior, but also much good as well. This app founder says anonymous comments allow people to be more honest: “I definitely think it’s possible to create a place where people can have thoughtful discussions anonymously.”
• Speaking of comments, John Oliver’s last observations on the collapse of print journalism hurt the Newspaper Association of America’s feelings. Here’s some great advice from Margaret Sullivan:

“When someone hilariously and poignantly celebrates the industry that you are paid to defend and protect, you ought to laugh at the funny parts and then simply say ‘thank you.’ Or maybe nothing at all.”

• Charlie Beckett is not on the same page: “I think that the high moral view of journalist/comedian John Oliver about journalism is part of the problem. […] The trouble with that approach is that trying to get people to fund good journalism out of guilt or civic duty turns journalism into a charity. Good luck with that. It won’t work.” Here’s the complete post:

John Oliver is wrong about saving journalism

• “For news, this is the perfect storm —according to Frederic Filloux — It combines the triumph of superficiality over depth and substance, the acceleration of the news cycle, the decline of media that used to provide necessary checks and balance and, for good measure, the spectacular economic imbalance between new and old media players.”

News is afflicted by its own climate change: It’s called social

• First Look Media is going to stop funding Reported.ly on August 31. The project tried to use social media platforms as a home for real-time news reporting. Mathew Ingram interviewed Andy Carvin: the Reported.ly founder — who had built a team of reporters and editors based in Europe, North America, and Asia — said he hoped Reported.ly might be able to find alternative funding from some other source, but for now it is shutting down. We hope the same.

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