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You might have heard: Facebook’s trending news section is controlled by a group of contractors who curate the news, who have a list of “preferred media outlets” they’re encouraged to choose from
But did you know: Former Facebook news curators say they regularly suppressed conservative news from the site’s trending news section (Gizmodo)
Several former Facebook news curators for the site’s trending news section say they regularly suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers, Gizmodo reports. Those news curators, quoted anonymously, also say they were instructed to include some stories as trending, even if they weren’t necessarily popular enough to be included. Gizmodo’s Michael Nunez writes: “In other words, Facebook’s news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation.”
+ Facebook’s response: Facebook says that it does not “permit the suppression of political perspectives” and has never banned an outlet from appearing in trending news (The Verge) and Tom Stocky, who oversees the trending news section, says no evidence was found that curators were manipulating trending stories and Facebook does “not insert stories artificially into trending topics, and [does] not instruct our reviewers to do so” (Facebook)
+ Mathew Ingram on whether Facebook has a commitment to journalistic principles: Facebook wants to avoid seeing itself as a media outlet, but it has bigger influence than any single news source, and it’s going to have to think about these issues eventually (Fortune); J.D. Rucker argues that the Internet as a whole censors conservative viewpoints, though in more subtle ways than Facebook’s news curators may have (Soshable)
+ Noted: The next city Spirited Media will bring the Billy Penn model to is Pittsburgh: The site, which doesn’t have a name yet, will launch by the end of the summer (CNN Money); The Washington Post is publishing weekly news briefings on the presidential election in Apple News (Washington Post); Google News adds a “local source” tag to highlight local coverage of major stories (Google News Blog)
API UPDATE
How to assess the vibrancy of a community’s news ecosystem
During this time of large and uneven change in how much and what type of news is produced in each community, scholars are exploring a new method of measuring activity in a local news “ecosystem” to see whether the available information meets a community’s needs, helping identify gaps in coverage and underserved communities. As part of our regular Research Review series, Natalie Jomini Stroud breaks down the method and explains how newsrooms can complete their own assessment.
Some publishers are partnering to sell ads based on time, tackling the bigger problem of ad viewability (Digiday)
To take on the issue of ad viewability, some publishers are partnering to sell ads based on time, rather than click-through rates: Advertisers are only charged if the ad catches the reader’s attention. However, measuring attention comes with its own challenges. These 20 publishers, which include the Financial Times and Dow Jones, regularly participate in calls to talk about what they’re finding in the area and learn from each other.
With more jobs cut, Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age could eliminate weekday print editions (Guardian)
After 30 jobs were cut at Australia’s Fairfax Media, some say that the daily newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age could be headed to a weekend-only printing schedule. In a speech last week, Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood said that with the exception of the Australian Financial Review, 65 percent of the company’s ad revenue was generated through its weekend editions: “It should surprise no one … that the seven-day-a-week publishing model will eventually give way to weekend-only or more targeted printing for most publishers. We are already seeing this happening offshore.”
+ Journalists in the U.K. are more likely to push ethical boundaries than journalists in the U.S.: According to a new report from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, 53 percent of British journalists surveyed said it was justified to pay for confidential information in the public interest, while just 5 percent of American journalists said the same (Journalism.co.uk)
Some Reddit moderators consider blocking links from publishers that ban ad blockers (Digiday)
Moderators of Reddit’s technology subreddit are considering banning links from publishers, including Wired and Forbes, that prevent users with ad blockers enabled from accessing their sites. In particular, Forbes was singled out by a moderator for serving readers malware when ad blockers are disabled. That moderator also said the ban could be expanded to websites with paywalls, such as The Wall Street Journal. The ban is currently up for a vote in the technology subreddit, with 89 percent of respondents voting in favor of the ban.
Internet video view metrics are mostly meaningless because of the ways the numbers are inflated (Gawker)
The way we’re measuring video views right now is essentially useless, Gawker’s Kevin Draper writes. If you were to measure BuzzFeed’s exploding watermelon live stream like Nielsen measures TV viewing with its “average minute audience” metric, its viewership would be closer to zero, Draper says. Facebook’s metrics also inflate audience numbers: It counts a user as a viewer once they’ve watched for three seconds, and videos autoplay when you scroll by in your news feed. Draper writes: “If digital media companies want to command anywhere near the same lucrative ad rates as TV networks, they’ll have to prove their videos consistently get the same audience as television networks.”
Facebook Live doesn’t have to be live: Some publishers are using pre-recorded video (Wall Street Journal)
Despite its name, Facebook Live doesn’t necessarily have to be live. Facebook is allowing media organizations to use pre-recorded video for live streams, similar to how TV networks have worked for decades. Some publishers are exploring whether airing pre-recorded content through Facebook Live will give the videos greater exposure than simply uploading as non-live video, Jack Marshall and Steven Perlberg report.
+ In the U.K., fashion magazine Grazia U.K. is using Facebook Live to shape an issue of the magazine: Over a week in June, readers can take part in editorial decisions, vote on the final cover photo, ask questions in interviews and even pitch feature ideas (Digiday)
The post Need to Know: May 10, 2016 appeared first on American Press Institute.
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