The Splice Slugs: Google punishes fake news sites, Zuck’s news problem and listening to the audience
Here’s your human-curated, algo-free, artisan weekly roundup of trends, tools and threats in the media industry. 100% fake-news free since 2015! — Alan Soon
Google started punishing fake news sites. It won’t run ads in sites that run “misrepresentative content”. Google already prevents its AdSense program from being used by sites that deliver porn, hate speech and violence, so this is an extension of that ad policy.
Gizmodo, citing unnamed sources at Facebook, said the company actually has the tools to curb fake news. However, these were never used because Facebook was too concerned about “upsetting conservatives”. Some employees say there’s an “internal culture of fear” following the Trending Topics scandal.
…Mark Zuckerberg has been under a lot of pressure to explain the company’s position on the matter. “Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99% of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics,” he wrote in a FB post. In other words, he’s saying things aren’t all that bad. Check out the comments.
…Not everyone liked his response. This is why Facebook matters: “The combination of a media literacy nadir combined with an unstoppable firehose of untrue media gave Donald Trump the ability to say virtually anything during a presidential election, without consequence. There’s no reason to believe this won’t continue to happen in every election hereafter, to say nothing of the rest of the world, where Facebook is desperate to plant roots.”
…Some FB employees didn’t like Zuck’s statement and have gone rogue. They’ve started an internal task force to question the role the company played in promoting fake news. “It’s not a crazy idea. What’s crazy is for him (Zuckerberg) to come out and dismiss it like that, when he knows, and those of us at the company know, that fake news ran wild on our platform during the entire campaign season.”
…But be careful what you wish for. I don’t believe Facebook should be in a position to decide what’s true — especially if it refuses to take on the social responsibilities (and liabilities) of a media company. But there’s room for tweaks to the algo so it downplays certain types of content. For one, it already labels parody news sites as satire.
…Btw, Facebook is also in trouble over ad metrics. One metric that measures views may have been inflated by as much as 55%. Facebook is however assuring advertisers that none of this affects the actual performance of what was paid for — ie. if you gave them money to deliver a set number of impressions, they say you still got them in the end. Silver lining: “We are doubling down on our efforts at third-party verification.”
…Speaking of third parties, this came out late last week: Facebook acquired CrowdTangle, a social analytics tool that’s used by major newsrooms to identify fast moving stories. The acquisition price wasn’t disclosed. Kudos to Brandon and his team!
CNN asked its viewers to call in and record their views of the Trump win on voice mail. More than 8,000 messages were left. “I’m a transgender woman, and I’m fucking terrified.” Listen to them here.
Asra Nomani is a former WSJ reporter. She’s Muslim and an immigrant. And she voted for Trump. Here’s her story, as part of Washington Post’s coverage of views from the “other side”.
…And here’s another view from a Trump voter — and he’s worth listening to, even if you don’t agree. “You, the pollsters and the incredibly biased ‘mainstream’ media, wouldn’t listen to me. You have been too busy promoting your own poisonous agenda. You did everything you could to brand conservatives as homophobic, xenophobic, greedy racists.”
Here’s a good piece on the importance of listening. It was written earlier this year by Liz Spayd, the Public Editor at the New York Times. She laments the overall disinterest at media companies — including the NYT — when it comes to listening to the audience. “The small number of consumer-facing staffers is indicative of the bigger problem: a newsroom too distant from the people it serves. What The Times and most other newsrooms mostly do now is not so much listen to readers as watch and analyze them, like fish in a bowl.”
Twitter rolled out new features to help combat abuse and hate speech. You can now mute offensive content or flag hateful tweets directed at someone else. Now let’s see if this will help silence racist politicians on Twitter.
Donald Trump ripped into the New York Times on Twitter for their coverage of him. “Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena’”. That said, Trump is promising to be “restrained” on Twitter when he becomes president.
…And some publishers are using the Trump win to solicit donations and subscriptions. It’s working.
According to a Reuters Institute poll, social media is the main source of news for people in Singapore and Malaysia — and these numbers are far higher than the UK and U.S.
Freedom House put out some staggering data about censorship.Globally, 27% of internet users live in countries where people have been arrested for publishing, sharing, or merely “liking” content on Facebook.
A rare win for press freedom in Thailand. A Thai court threw out defamation charges against state broadcaster Thai PBS for alleging environmental damage by a gold mine.
There’s plenty of garbage in those “From around the web” content recommendation modules that appear at the bottom of article pages. But here’s the problem: It incentivizes publishers to maximize clicks, no matter what the quality is.
Adobe’s acquisition of TubeMogul represents a tipping point in the ad tech industry. With less VC money going round, consolidationis picking up speed.
Snap (formerly known as Snapchat) quietly filed for an IPO. A listing could come in March 2017. The company is targeting a valuation of between $20 billion and $25 billion.
Yusuf Omar’s job is to help drive mobile innovation at Hindustan Times. He works on prototyping new ways to drive engagement and storytelling. In our Leading Millennials series, he talks about the working with new tools and engaging younger audiences. “Don’t write off any social media platform as being too childish, frivolous or not designed for news. Try them all and look for the potential behind the gimmicks.”
WhatApp launched video calling in India. It’s since rolled out to other markets. A little more like FaceTime everyday. And now we can finally get off Skype.
As it turns out, you can fly a plane though thought signals. You just need a shower cap, of sorts.
Quote of the week
“Inclusiveness isn’t about you. It’s about making space for others to be themselves.” — John Maeda at Automattic.
Deals
Do you find it challenging scheduling meetings with people? I do. You should check out what Mimetic is doing to make this easier. You tell an AI bot (she’s called Evie, btw) to coordinate the meeting. And it happens. Check it out here. And apply the promo code ALAN25 at checkout to get 25% off.
From our readers
“There are just too many stories we can read about the future of media and journalism and still only 24 hours in a day… Alan’s carefully-curated list of the best stories and ability to extract the key highlights for each selection in a short and simple paragraph are a blessing to his loyal readers.” — Francois Guerin
I started The Splice Newsroom consultancy to help solve a difficult problem: getting newsrooms to adapt and evolve in the ongoing shift to digital with the right strategy, operations and training. I help transform traditional newsrooms and support the development of editorial startups. What can I do for you?
Questions or feedback? Want to sponsor this newsletter?
Email me at alansoon@thesplicenewsroom.com.
