Civil Weekly Newsletter: 11/9 Edition

Civil Newsrooms had the midterms covered — and then some.

Civil Newsrooms had the U.S. midterm elections covered from all angles this week, from how local communities from upstate New York to Colorado impacted — and were impacted by — tight races and record turnout, to what the results mean for macro issues like immigration and healthcare policy.

Plus an illuminating confessional from a Chinese engineer, a plea for more IRL communications, signs of hope for local news emanating from India — and thoughts on the fallout from the Jim Acosta saga.

Midterm mania…

• No Newsroom was more focused on the run-up to the midterms than Sludge. The full breadth of its midterm coverage is worth a look. From last-minute influxes of cash aiming to alter tight races, to the impact of a winning candidate openly embracing white supremacist ideals, its team did some incredible work in recent weeks.
• Three of four cannabis voter measures passed. And dozens of congressional, gubernatorial and local results have implications for the future of cannabis in the U.S. Cannabis Wire’s comprehensive analysis of what this all means is a must-read for anyone following this issue.
• Antonio Delgado became the first African American to represent upstate New York in Congress. The River shared an in-depth look at this historic milestone, and what it means for an evolving region.
• Coloradans elected Jared Polis, who becomes the first openly gay governor to hold office in the U.S. The Colorado Sun examined the unorthodox strategies he successfully employed on his path to victory, from text message-based communications to a laser focus on unaffiliated voters from day one.
• In a fateful election, there was a lot of worry about voter suppression. The GroundTruth Project sent a team of 60 reporters to cover polling stations around the country. Here’s what they found.
• Andrew Cuomo cruised to re-election this week, but there’s legitimate hope that his much-maligned governorship will be kept in check this cycle. FAQ NYC broke things down with the help of Gotham Gazette — and also spoke to New York voters in the often overlooked areas of South Brooklyn and Stated Island.
• Immigration was a key issue in elections around the U.S. this week. There was far from a consensus result on the complex and controversial issue nationwide — but, according to Documented, New York voters sent an overwhelming message to candidates promoting anti-immigration platforms.

… Everything else

• The worst thing Hmm Daily read yesterday was the overwrought analysis around Jim Acosta losing his White House credentials. It was an unprecedented, alarming — and newsworthy — event. But did it warrant the media giving comparatively little attention to the governor of Florida calling out law enforcement to try to interfere with the vote count in his state’s elections, Arizona trying to introduce chicanery in its count of mail-in ballots or the emerging consensus that the appointment of the acting attorney general was illegal?
• Human (not digital!) contact with our neighbors is critical to mending divided communities. This sentiment matters now more than ever — and it’s the focal point for ZigZag’s latest episode.
• In the 1990s, a group of rural women set out to provide an antidote to illiteracy and injustice in rural India. Recently, their initiative has soared to national attention as it gained recognition for its insights into the kind of news often ignored by India’s press. Splice’s profile of Khabar Lahariya is a fascinating look at India’s evolving media landscape.
• Popula is a window to worlds we don’t often see. “True Life of a Chinese Engineer,” an illuminating look at the day-to-day realities of an anonymous employee for an American automotive manufacturer in China, does just that — and is worth a read in full.

Want more? Follow @CivilStories on Twitter for a daily feed from Civil Newsrooms.

Where to find us in November.

Upcoming events where Civil will be present include:

• European Broadcasting Union — the News Assembly [November 11, Edinburgh]
• VDZ Tech Summit [November 20, Hamburg]

For the latest Civil updates, follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

The Random Musing Section

Even by 2018 standards, this week’s news cycle was dizzying.

Beyond the midterms and the latest drama in D.C., there was also the horrific shooting rampage in Thousand Oaks, CA — the latest in a seemingly endless and numbing string of such senseless tragedies.

At this point, it’s hard to believe that Congress will ever muster itself to pass any meaningful legislation to effectively address gun violence. They’ve proven themselves terminally unable to affect change when it comes to gun violence — a depressing reality.

Let’s turn our focus to an even more influential power broker: the platforms that disseminate the majority of information we consume. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are by far the world’s three most popular media serving platforms — and they’re not doing nearly enough to moderate the influence of extremist viewpoints.

This recent NYT feature sums it up neatly: platforms hold far more control over what we see, and how we see it, than they’d ever care to admit. Because they seek not only to capture, but keep, your attention, all three (especially Facebook and YouTube) are often accused of serving increasingly extreme viewpoints, even if what you’re initially searching is fairly innocuous.

I decided to put this to the test this week.

On election day, I searched YouTube for information about one of the most closely followed campaigns: the Texas Senate race. I clicked the first result that appeared, and then waited to see what would appear on autoplay after my video completed.

First, I typed in “Ted Cruz Beto O’Rourke.” The first result was an objective CBS News segment on the two. The next piece, which came on automatically when the first ended, was a similarly straightforward segment from Fox News. Next, a more partisan-fueled Fox News editorial segment that cast doubt on O’Rourke’s fitness for office. Then, a fiery Tucker Carlson address to the Independent Institute. Then, it got really interesting: I was served six increasingly antagonistic features with Jordan Peterson. If you’re unfamiliar, he’s a controversial figure who’s best known for his skeptical views on climate change, and his anti-feminist views.

I went in looking to learn more about a closely watched Senate race. I ended up getting drilled with 90+ minutes of content about #NotAllMen, and climate change as a hoax.

This type of destructive approach has severe, real world consequences. It’s time for the platforms to assume responsibility — and for all of us to demand more accountability.

— Matt Coolidge