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You might have heard: The US Senate Commerce Committee has launched an inquiry into Facebook’s news curation after former news curators said they regularly suppressed conservative news from the site’s trending news section
But did you know: Facebook says its investigation found no systematic bias in the trending news section, but it can’t rule out unintentional bias (Facebook Newsroom)
Responding to Sen. John Thune’s letter on its trending news section, Facebook says its own investigation found no systematic bias in the curation of the section. But the investigation couldn’t fully rule out unintentional bias or isolated instances of bias. Now, Facebook plans to put a number of changes in place to prevent possible bias in the future. Those changes include updating terminology in its guidelines for trending news curators, eliminating a list of websites it used to verify or determine importance of a story, and refresher training for curators on content decisions.
+ “As much as we may care about Facebook’s alleged manipulation of news feeds, we should be concerned about this federal intrusion into an independent organization’s editorial process even more. Congress doesn’t have to explain itself, but three possible explanations might justify its demands: Facebook doesn’t qualify for First Amendment protection; the inquiry doesn’t involve First Amendment–protected activity; or Facebook’s editorial process is an appropriate subject for Congress to probe. None of these remotely hold water.” (Slate)
+ Noted: The Washington Post’s latest ad product Fuse aims to speed up load times for Web advertisements (Wall Street Journal); BuzzFeed is building a team in NYC to work on news video, the “center of a Venn diagram” between BuzzFeed News and BuzzFeed Motion Pictures (Nieman Lab); Billy Penn’s parent company Spirited Media is starting to hire for its latest outpost in Pittsburgh (Billy Penn)
7 ideas for how publishers can deal with ad blockers (PageFair)
At an event in late April, publishers, platforms and other industry groups gathered at an event in NYC hosted by PageFair and Digital Content Next to talk about ad blocking. The participants, which included ESPN, Google and The Guardian, are now sharing their recommendations for how publishers can better deal with ad blockers. Among their ideas: Users need the ability to reject and complain about bad advertising, publishers and advertisers need to agree on a maximum page load time, and publishers need to move away from advertising as their means of collecting info about readers.
+ Why you can’t just rely on people you know for sourcing stories: “We also have a tendency to stick with people who went to the same schools as we did, or work in the same cities, or have similar lifestyles or political views. And that’s fine if you’re having a dinner party, but way too self-limiting for pretty much anything else, especially professional work” (LWJ Noted)
A Swedish podcasting platform is offering podcasters the option to charge listeners in exchange for no ads (Wall Street Journal)
Swedish podcasting platform Acast launched a new product on Monday that offers podcasters a new way to generate revenue. Called Acast+, the platform now offers podcasters the option to sell their product directly to listeners without advertising. Podcasters can set their own price, and revenue is then split with Acast. Listeners will have the option to buy a monthly “show pass,” ranging in price from $2.99 to $6.99 per month, or they can purchase podcasts individually.
By designing its products to be accessible for those with disabilities, Google’s products become better for all its users (Fast Company)
“Accessibility is a basic human right,” says Google’s senior manager of accessibility engineering Eve Andersson. “It benefits everyone.” Though Andersson’s team focuses on how to make Google’s products just as usable for those with disabilities as those without, that focus creates a better product for all users. For example, autocomplete and voice controls are features we all use now, but originally started as features designed to help people with disabilities use computers, Andersson says.
The Washington Post’s union says women make on average 86 percent of what men make (The Cut)
After it was asked by members to look into pay disparities at the Washington Post, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild says that women earn on average 86 percent of what men at the Post earn. Broken down by job, male reporters earn $7,000 more, male columnists earn $23,000 more, and male producers earn $4,000 more than their female counterparts. The disparities also go beyond gender, the union says: It found assistant editors who identify as people of color earn 15 percent less than their white counterparts.
+ But Washington Post deputy managing editor Tracy Grant disputes the union’s methodology for analyzing pay: “I think it’s unwise to look at the simple average or even the median because it doesn’t take into account such factors as experience … Furthermore the broad median figures don’t account for the nature of the positions. Without examining experience and role, it’s hard to draw any conclusions from these numbers” (Washington Post)
Tribune’s new investor wants to save print with ‘machine vision’ technology (Bloomberg)
Tribune Publishing’s new second-largest investor Nant Capital has a plan to save print: With “machine vision” technology developed by CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong, he says the experience of reading a print newspaper will be brought to life. For example, if a reader focused their smartphone camera on a picture of Kevin Durant, they could see Durant dunking a basketball; if the reader focused on a picture of Donald Trump, they could hear Trump talking.
+ Experiments at bringing print to life through augmented reality have been around since at least 2011, when a Dublin newspaper used it to make content and ads interactive (TheNextWeb), and has since been tried in many other places without much effect (J-Source)
+ Though Tribune rejected Gannett’s latest offer, Rick Edmonds says the two companies could still be negotiating (Poynter)
The post Need to Know: May 24, 2016 appeared first on American Press Institute.
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