Independent factual journalism is crucial for democracy in Turkey — as in the rest of the world

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

edited by Marco Nurra

• Difficulties mount for journalists in Turkey after failed coup. “What we’ve have seen in the past few weeks is just a continuation of the past years,” says Mahir Zeynalov, an Azerbaijani journalist deported from Turkey two years ago and accused of “inciting hatred” of the government. He was a reporter for Today’s Zaman, a newspaper associated with the opposition Gulan movement, and taken over by the government in March. After last month’s coup, Zeynalov converted his Twitter feed into a widely-followed rolling list of arrested Turkish reporters.

• It’s time to fact-check all the news. Around the world, fact-checking is booming. More than 100 outlets now check the statements of politicians, which is up more than 50% in the past year. Fact-checkers are posting their work faster than ever, often minutes after a politician makes a claim. But despite this encouraging progress, too many news organizations are still repeating politicians’ claims without noting when they’re false.
• As we said, more and more journalists are fact-checking the declarations of politicians, and this is a powerful tool. But other language tools can be brought to bear, perspectives such as grammar, semantics, narrative, slang and rhetoric. This election year, journalists must be watchdogs — and word dogs.
• British fact-checking website Full Fact has published its road map for automated fact-checking. The document is ambitious, arguing that fully automated fact-checking is an imminently attainable goal.
• Stories that reveal something new about the way power works take time (way more time than can be justified economically) and stability. They require reporters and editors who know their jobs are safe, even if money is tight or powerful people are offended. They are driven by a desire for journalism to have impact, not just turn a profit. This is what’s missing from journalism right now.
• Two weeks into the Olympic Games, journalists have been pilloried for repeated sexist and demeaning coverage of female athletes; these are ten of the most sexist moments. What’s behind sexist reporting at the Olympics? Lack of newsroom diversity and experience.
• A leading web analytics company says in a new report that traffic from Facebook to some of the top news publishers declined at double-digit rates in the second quarter of this year. SimilarWeb found that Facebook visits to some media companies are down by as much as 50% compared with the first quarter.
• NPR’s online comments, a feature of the website since 2008, will be disabled. The decision should not be taken to mean that NPR does not value audience engagement, said Scott Montgomery, managing editor for digital news. “We’ve been working on audience engagement, user connections, in a variety of ways, for many, many years, certainly going back to even before the internet. It is a part of public media. It’s important to us.”

• A few weeks ago some major French newspapers decided to stop publishing the photos and names of terrorists. They were making a big statement by refusing to participate in what they called a “strategy of hate.” Research says they’re right.
• Data journalism has ‘disrupted the traditional logic of journalism’. Some news organisations are still struggling to find the right use and place for data journalism but it is beginning to bring positive change to newsrooms.

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