Fresh useful insights for people advancing quality, innovative and sustainable journalism
You might have heard: Reddit’s moderators protested the dismissal of a high-ranking employee by setting hundreds of sections of the website to private (New York Times)
But did you know: Most major subreddits are back online following volunteer moderators’ protests (The Verge)
Nearly all major subreddits are back online following protests by Reddit’s volunteer moderators over the dismissal of Victoria Taylor, former AMA coordinator and director of talent. Taylor also served as a liaison between Reddit’s full-time employees and its volunteer moderators. Reddit CEO Ellen Pao says the problem is that Reddit hasn’t “helped our moderators with better support after many years of promising to do so.”
+ “The rebellion at Reddit is an extraordinary example of a community’s members telling site owners who’s actually doing the heavy lifting…” (@dgillmoor, Twitter)
+ Noted: White House Correspondents’ Association proposes to loosen presidential press control, including the press pool always following the president when leaving White House grounds and having the ability to question the president in person on a regular basis (Poynter); Salon Media’s editorial staff will unionize with the Writers Guild of America (The Wrap); Twitter launches new tools for advertisers, allowing them to target demographics (Twitter Blog); Guardian US is opening an editorial office in San Francisco, which will be led by Merope Mills (PressGazette)
When reporters get involved in the comment section, it leads to fewer uncivil comments (Medium)
According to research by the Engaging News Project at the University of Texas at Austin, uncivil comments dropped by 15 percent when reporters were participating in the conversation. Some newsrooms such as Philly.com are encouraging reporters to participate in the comment sections. Julia Haslanger offers nine tips for journalists to make the transition to the comment section, including trying to understand the commenters’ motivations and not being afraid to disagree on fact-based points.
Paris-based Bondy Blog aims to give a voice to groups underrepresented in mainstream French media (New York Times)
Bondy Blog aims to give a voice to groups underrepresented in mainstream French media by reporting on politics and social issues from within the undercovered neighborhoods. Bondy Blog describes itself as citizen journalism and was created during riots that spread through France in 2005. Widad Kefi, a writer for the blog, says: “When I started writing for the Bondy Blog, I had a desire to change the way young people from the banlieues [suburbs] were portrayed in the media. We live in these neighborhoods, so we have a different outlook and a better understanding and approach.”
Why YouTube’s recommendation algorithm began prioritizing watch time instead of views (Business Insider)
In 2012, YouTube made a change to its algorithm to prioritize watch time instead of view count, leading to a 20 percent drop in daily view count in one day. Prior to the change, the algorithm led to users clicking through several videos before finding what they were looking for. YouTube’s director of engineering for search and discovery Cristos Goodrow says: “We realized that if we made the viewer click that many times, it didn’t seem to be a good estimate of how much value they were deriving from YouTube. Instead, we realized that if they didn’t leave a video and continued watching, that seemed like a better estimate of the value they were getting.”
The companies that are making it today are ones that understand younger generations’ desire for community news (VentureBeat)
Ben Wirz says despite the shakeups in media, the companies that are succeeding are the ones that satisfy young people’s desire to know what’s happening in their communities. Wirz, director of venture investments at the Knight Foundation, says to do that, some organizations have found success using native advertising carefully and pursuing new ways to deliver information early on. Wirz says: “The best media companies are the ones that embed adaptability.”
Will Medium replace the op-ed page? It’s not there yet, but its simple pitch resonates (Washington Post)
Medium is growing quickly as a way for journalists and politicians alike to publish their messages, and Elise Viebeck writes about its potential to replace the traditional op-ed page. The format of Medium encourages conversation, but Viebeck says its lack of editorial direction “can give the impression that Medium is a dustbin for stories that would not be published elsewhere.” Matt Higginson, who works in politics, government and advocacy at Medium, says: “Maybe it sounds naive, but I hope we can get to a place where words matter a little bit more and authenticity is valued. It’s not something to try and fake but it’s something to try and be.”
The post Need to Know: July 6, 2015 appeared first on American Press Institute.
from American Press Institute http://ift.tt/1HHzIJM
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment