Filed under: Government/Legal,Green,Technology,Electric
They're used in products ranging from phones to EVs to satellites.
Continue reading Pentagon seeks funds to reduce U.S. reliance on China's rare earth metals
Pentagon seeks funds to reduce U.S. reliance on China's rare earth metals originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: First Ride,Motorcycle,Performance
Half the price of the average new car, but way more than twice as fun.
Continue reading 2019 Ducati Hypermotard 950 SP First Ride Review | Embrace your inner badass
2019 Ducati Hypermotard 950 SP First Ride Review | Embrace your inner badass originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Ford,Auctions,Truck,Performance
The original Ford muscle truck.
Continue reading eBay Find | 1994 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning with just 28,000 miles
eBay Find | 1994 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning with just 28,000 miles originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Motorsports,Auctions,Hatchback,Classics,Performance
It's expected to draw more than $200,000.
Continue reading Legendary Group B MG Metro 6R4 going to auction with only 7 miles
Legendary Group B MG Metro 6R4 going to auction with only 7 miles originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Recalls,Videos,Hyundai,Safety,Hatchback
Older models will be recalled for door fix.
Continue reading 2019 Hyundai Veloster now a Top Safety Pick after door issue resolved
2019 Hyundai Veloster now a Top Safety Pick after door issue resolved originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFact-checkers and other players in the truth-telling business have been preoccupied in the past week by an altered video of Nancy Pelosi.
The story, originally covered in The Washington Post, involves a slowed-down video designed to make Pelosi, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, appear to slur her words and struggle to speak.The implication is that she was either drunk or somehow otherwise impaired.
The manipulated video, a smear posted on a Facebook group called Politics WatchDog, was spread around the platform millions of times and even tweeted by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. He later deleted it but appeared in a successive tweet to defend his original.
The effect of such fakes is hard to quantify. Pelosi is a powerful politician who can probably shrug it off, although, as BuzzFeed News noted, these fakes will likely never go away. Officials like her are used to these kinds of fakes, which frequently get posted online worldwide. Moreover, its most receptive audience will be people who want to believe it’s real, don’t care and just spread it anyway — or don’t know any better.
The level of acrimony over the video, however, suggested this one was different. Why?
The video fed into a cauldron of issues already bubbling away at the intersection of politics, social media and misinformation: The virality of the meanest kinds of content, Facebook’s unsatisfying (to many) response, the video’s amplification in Trump world and the fact that it was so easy to make — and spread.
In other words, it’s a complex brew which is itself subject to misinformation. As such, we’re providing here some answers to basic questions about the episode.
Facebook has a partnership with fact-checkers to check stuff like this. Didn’t it work?
Actually, the system worked as it is supposed to. According to Facebook’s relationship with independent fact-checking sites, once a post is rated as false, its future distribution in News Feed is decreased, a fact is appended below it and users who try to share it are warned that it it has been debunked.
After five fact-checking sites confirmed that the video was manipulated, the post was labeled with a warning that there was “additional reporting” from fact-checkers, and links to them.
One question is whether that happened quickly enough, and whether this video manipulation was so blatant that Facebook even needed to rely on the fact-checking community, whose processes necessarily take time, to make its warning. One potential way to address that, suggested by our former colleague Alexios Mantzarlis, would be a rapid-response team at Facebook that takes action quickly when posts reach a certain engagement velocity.
“Additional reporting” seems like pretty vague language for such a blatant fake. What’s up with that? Why not just take it down?
Facebook’s answer to that came from Monika Bickert, vice president for product policy and counterterrorism, in questioning from CNN’s Anderson Cooper. She said the company’s way of dealing with misinformation is primarily through its partnership with fact-checkers.
“We think it’s important for people to make their own informed choice about what to believe,” she said.
Bickert made a distinction between this kind of content and a “riot or threat of violence” that would require immediate removal of such content. She also noted that the conversation on social media had turned to the fact that the video was manipulated — not what it says about Pelosi. Others see it differently. As The New York Times’ Charlie Warzel wrote this week, “the dominant political narrative of the past two days has focused squarely on Speaker Pelosi’s health.”
Pelosi, for her part, said Wednesday that the company was “lying to the public” by not taking down the video.
Regardless, there’s clearly a question here of whether Facebook should change the language it uses to label posts rated as false by fact-checkers. As Casey Newton wrote in his newsletter for The Verge on Tuesday, the company could have written a warning about the Pelosi fake in plain English: “This video has been distorted to change its meaning.”
Why is this even the platforms’ problem? If users post stuff that then goes viral, is that the platform’s responsibility?
There is an emerging debate now about the degree to which social media platforms should be regulated for content posted by third-party users. This is not likely to result in changes any time soon, given the divided government and wide disagreement over regulation. And, as Daniel wrote yesterday, any solutions should involve multiple stakeholders — not just media companies and Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s efforts to remove fake accounts, and its relationship with fact-checkers, are all part of actions the company has voluntarily taken to curb the spread of misinformation.
Is there a larger lesson in this whole episode for journalists and media companies? For example, should they replay the doctored video, even if it’s just for comparison purposes?
The “amplification” question is a good one, and we think this episode will be closely studied as an example of the tough questions the press faces in bringing attention to this kind of misinformation. The original Post story on the video may have broadened its reach, but at the same time, it heightened public awareness of the kinds of misinformation millions of people are exposed to.
The question is whether sunlight in cases like this is a disinfectant — or a propellant. At least on Twitter, early data points to the latter in this case.
Last week, Facebook published an update on how well it has been enforcing its community standards. In it, the tech company reported that it had removed more than 2 billion fake accounts between January and March. But BuzzFeed News wrote that there are still more active fake accounts on the platform than ever before.
Speaking of which, CNN reported on how an influence campaign used fake Facebook and Twitter accounts to push pro-Iranian talking points in the U.S. They even successfully had letters published in several major newspapers.
Wired took stock of the current state of deepfake videos and why they’re still relatively easy to spot. But recent developments in the technology that powers deepfakes could make it easier to create them — and fact-checking is the solution (or perhaps smarter cameras?)
In a comprehensive piece about how widespread internet access ischanging the African continent, CNET’s Daniel Van Boom writes that there are also problems, including misinformation. Africa Check said it increasingly spends its time debunking false health information.
The BBC interviewed a Macedonian woman who says she was hired to create semi-plagiarized copies of articles originally published in right-wing publications in the U.S. “When I got the call and Marco explained what kind of news site it is, that’s the moment I realized I was going to work for fake news,” she told the network.
Turkish fact-checking site Teyit launched a WhatsApp sticker packfor their readers to use when calling out misinformation in their messaging groups. The idea is that stickers make it a little less combative to tell someone that they’re sharing bogus content. In Spain, Maldito Bulo has been using a similar sticker pack.
Each week, we analyze five of the top-performing fact checks on Facebook to see how their reach compared to the hoaxes they debunked. Read more about this week’s numbers, and how political parties in India are spreading voter fraud hoaxes, here.
Last week, elections wrapped up in India. Misinformation has plagued the world’s largest democracy for the past year, including hoaxes about a terrorist attack, bogus voter fraud claims and even public lynch mobs.
But not all of it has been doom and gloom.
Boom Live debunked a video of a man throwing dollars down onto a street full of people, purportedly to celebrate the growth of markets as a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reelection. According to the accompanying Facebook posts, the video was shot in Canada and the man in question was Gujarati, an ethnic group from western India.
But that’s false, Boom reported — the video actually depicts a Detroit-based musician making it rain in Manhattan earlier this month.
What we liked: Election-related misinformation can seem really serious (and it is!), but there is also a lot of junk social media posts out there that play on lighter emotions. Boom debunked this one masterfully by doing a reverse image search on screenshots of the video and analyzing comments on Instagram posts to track down its origin.
Media Matters, which monitors misinformation from the American right, said this week that conservative and conspiracy sources have dominated abortion-related coverage on Facebook.
Full Fact is hiring a head of product to help oversee the British fact-checker’s growing automated fact-checking team.
Radio-Canada has launched a team focused on debunking misinformation.
After a political scientist made up a Trump quote on Twitter to make a joke, several journalists fell for it. And the president himself noticed.
A Washington Post columnist made a succinct argument for why the platforms need to do more to combat anti-vaccine misinformation: “The outbreak of misinformation online is facilitating literal outbreaks of disease.”
Deutsche Welle profiled Congo Check and the work it’s doing to combat misinformation on social media.
The Los Angeles Times has a fun Q-and-A with Daniel Dale, the Toronto Star fact-checker who’s been counting Donald Trump’s falsehoods.
The International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy had subpoenaed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg to come to Ottawa to talk about the spread of disinformation and hate on their platforms. They didn’t show,prompting tough questions for the representatives who showed up instead.
That’s it for this week. Feel free to send feedback and suggestions to factchecknet@poynter.org. And if this newsletter was forwarded to you, or you’re reading it on our web site, subscribe here.
The post Factually: Some basic facts on the Pelosi fake appeared first on American Press Institute.
Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing,Chevrolet,GMC,Truck
Sales of GM's crew cab pickups are up 20% this year.
Continue reading GM invests $24 million to build more crew cab trucks in Fort Wayne
GM invests $24 million to build more crew cab trucks in Fort Wayne originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Government/Legal,Green
... and the resulting argument over a clean-up fee.
Continue reading Fatal New Mexico Uber shooting stemmed from 'large amount of vomit' in car
Fatal New Mexico Uber shooting stemmed from 'large amount of vomit' in car originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: TV/Movies,Wagon,Performance
'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction' with Hamilton airs May 30.
Continue reading Watch David Letterman terrify Lewis Hamilton with an AMG wagon hot lap
Watch David Letterman terrify Lewis Hamilton with an AMG wagon hot lap originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Design/Style,Motorsports,Subaru,Off-Road,Performance
This might be the coolest thing you'll see today.
Continue reading Subaru Crosstrek Baja Racer is a glorious blue and gold liveried masterpiece
Subaru Crosstrek Baja Racer is a glorious blue and gold liveried masterpiece originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Ford,Coupe,Performance
Nothing else changes about the model.
Continue reading 2020 Ford Mustang Bullitt price rises about $1,200
2020 Ford Mustang Bullitt price rises about $1,200 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 12:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Reviews,Videos,Jeep,New Car Reviews,Truck,Off-Road
We take Jeep's less hardcore pickup on an 800-mile ride through Moab.
Continue reading 2020 Jeep Gladiator Overland Video Review | A road trip to the trails
2020 Jeep Gladiator Overland Video Review | A road trip to the trails originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 12:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Green,Weird Car News
Continue reading BMW-designed, hydrogen-powered craft is latest entry in 'air mobility' derby
BMW-designed, hydrogen-powered craft is latest entry in 'air mobility' derby originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Toyota,New Car Reviews,Minivan/Van,Buying Guide
Everything you need to know about pricing, specs, features, fuel economy and safety.
Continue reading 2020 Toyota Sienna Review and Buying Guide | The wait continues ...
2020 Toyota Sienna Review and Buying Guide | The wait continues ... originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Green,Plants/Manufacturing,Jaguar,Sedan,Electric,Future,Luxury
Expect an electric replacement for the flagship British saloon.
Continue reading Jaguar will end production of the XJ sedan in July
Jaguar will end production of the XJ sedan in July originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
If you're looking for a bright, capable, waterproof LED strip for your tailgate then this might be the light bar for you. It's sitting at only $19.99 for the next few hours, 31% off its normal price.
Continue reading This truck tailgate LED light bar is only $19.99 for the next 4 hours
This truck tailgate LED light bar is only $19.99 for the next 4 hours originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 10:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Design/Style,Lexus,Crossover,Hybrid,Luxury
The RX now has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Continue reading 2020 Lexus RX350 and RX450h debut with refreshed styling and updated tech
2020 Lexus RX350 and RX450h debut with refreshed styling and updated tech originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Earnings/Financials,Chrysler,Fiat,Mitsubishi,Nissan,Renault
History proves how difficult it is to realize huge savings.
Continue reading FCA-Renault merger faces tall odds delivering on cost-cutting promises
FCA-Renault merger faces tall odds delivering on cost-cutting promises originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Earnings/Financials,Government/Legal,Plants/Manufacturing,Chrysler,Fiat,Nissan,Renault
If the point is to gain efficiency ... that's not good for Fiat.
Continue reading Strains between France and Italy risk Renault-FCA merger
Strains between France and Italy risk Renault-FCA merger originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Volkswagen,Hatchback,Specialty
VW apprentices also debuted a 396-horsepower Golf Estate.
Continue reading This VW Golf GTI has a trunk hologram that controls the music
This VW Golf GTI has a trunk hologram that controls the music originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Etc.,Green,Commercial Vehicles
105-year-old company still carries 17 million passengers to 2,400 destinations.
Continue reading Greyhound bus service is for sale after British owner gives up
Greyhound bus service is for sale after British owner gives up originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Green,Plants/Manufacturing,Tesla,Crossover,Sedan,Electric,Luxury
"If we execute well, Q2 will be an all-time record for Tesla vehicle deliveries."
Continue reading Elon Musk urges Tesla employees to 'catch up' to hit delivery record
Elon Musk urges Tesla employees to 'catch up' to hit delivery record originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 08:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Green,Hyundai,Green Culture,Commercial Vehicles,Electric
It can travel 186 miles on a full charge.
Continue reading Hyundai double-decker bus is all-electric — with a 384 kWh battery pack
Hyundai double-decker bus is all-electric — with a 384 kWh battery pack originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 May 2019 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFresh useful insights for people advancing quality, innovative and sustainable journalism
OFF THE TOP
You might have heard: In pushback against unions, the media industry has always had an ally: its own reporters (Big If True)
But did you know: Vox Media has shifted its hiring toward part-timers and contract workers since its staff unionized (Nieman Lab)
Hundreds of Vox Media workers staged a one-hour walkout yesterday in an effort to urge the company to accept a union contract that includes annual raises, severance improvements and revenue sharing. In 2017, Vox Media Union joined a labor movement taking place in traditional and digital newsrooms across the country, but data from Thinknum suggests the unionization may have had unintended consequences. After the union formed, Vox shifted away from hiring full-time staff in favor of contract, part-time and freelance positions. Before unionizing, Vox’s job openings had a 51-to-1 ratio of full-time to non-full-time positions. Now the ratio is 2 to 1, with 25 openings for part-time or contract jobs.
+ Noted: NBC News Now, a free streaming service, launches Monday through Friday (NBC News); After four years of handing out money for European news projects, Google is expanding its funding to North America (Nieman Lab); The Washington Post is making its programmatic platform available to publishers web-wide (Adweek)
TRY THIS AT HOME
How Chalkbeat works with local funders to start its local bureaus (Nieman Lab)
Since launching about a decade ago, education news nonprofit Chalkbeat has grown to a staff of more than 50 workers spread across seven bureaus around the country. The network requires each bureau to receive most of its funding from the local community, according to Chalkbeat senior director of partnerships Maria Archangelo, who adds, “The thinking of that is, if the local community wants us there, that’s better for all of us.” This fundraising focus has led 110 foundations and individual philanthropists to donate $1,000 or more to Chalkbeat in the past two fiscal years, leading to $6.8 million in revenue last year. Before expanding into a new city, Chalkbeat first considers if it’s a place where there are interesting education stories to be had, if there’s an education coverage gap and if enough funds could be raised locally to make the operation sustainable.
OFFSHORE
Women photojournalists call for action to tackle ‘damaging’ under-representation in news industry (Press Gazette)
According to a survey from the World Press Photo Foundation, 80 percent of photographers polled were men and 68 percent of female respondents said they experienced discrimination at work. Now, female photojournalists are calling for increased representation of women after just 9 percent of the work at a British Press Photographers’ Association exhibition was by women. In an open letter, the Women Photographers of the UK say the BPPA’s selection for its most recent exhibition demonstrates a “shocking gender imbalance” that suggests the organization doesn’t care about under-representation of women in the field. BPPA maintains that the organization is working to improve gender imbalance and that the showcase selections were made “blind,” adding that just 12 percent of its membership is made up of women.
OFFBEAT
I’m a former elite athlete and I call BS on tech’s obsession with working long hours (Fast Company)
Long hours are built into the tech industry’s culture. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, for instance, has said that 80 to 100 hours is an ideal work week, and a job description for machine learning company DeepLearning.ai noted that the team worked 70 to 90 hours a week. Jason Shen, a former athlete and co-founder of esports and gaming tech company Midgame, argues that working long hours should be a rare occurrence because it leads to lost productivity. A study from Stanford University and Germany-based Institute for the Study of Labor found that after 50 hours a week, employees’ output drops sharply. Shen points out that in sports, the NCAA limits training hours, and great performance “requires short bursts of concentrated, intense effort, followed by rest and recovery.”
UP FOR DEBATE
War all the time? Climate reporters weigh coverage quantity against quality (Columbia Journalism Review)
According to a study from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, five major American newspapers ran more climate change stories in March of this year than almost any month since 2000. More than half of those stories ran in a single newspaper, The New York Times. New York University professor and writer Abby Rabinowitz asks how much climate change coverage would be sufficient, a question without a consensus. Some editors prioritize data-rich, interactive and longform features on the topic over an increased number of climate-related stories. On the other hand, Nathaniel Rich, author of “Losing Earth,” calls for increased coverage that folds climate change coverage into other beats as a way to better understand them.
SHAREABLE
Facebook could fix the news industry with micropayments — unless Kik does it first (Fortune)
The idea of charging readers a small fee to read a single news article on a paywalled site isn’t particularly new, but Columbia Journalism Review media writer Mathew Ingram told Fortune that the notion required too many middle men and that media companies failed to come up with a standard payment amount for single-serve news. One solution could be Facebook’s blockchain concept, Project Libra, which would create its own currency and provide media organizations with an easy way to receive micropayments. Messaging app Kik also is in the blockchain game, having recently given its millions of users blockchain-based coins that also could lead to micropayments.
The post Need to Know: May 30, 2019 appeared first on American Press Institute.
