Top News:
Andrew Buncombe / The Independent:
Jack Dorsey, responding to Maggie Haberman's criticisms of Twitter, vows to work on identifying credibility and improving conversations' organization, context — The CEO of Twitter has admitted the platform is no longer a place where nuanced or thoughtful discussion can take place …
Discussion:
New York Times, Gizmodo, @johnwdean, @jack, Axios, @aditijuneja3, @digiphile, The Hill, @nanjala1, @notd_io, @jack, @jack, Boing Boing, @jack, @gugsm, @angryblacklady, Mashable, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and The Wrap
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Facebook could recognize Holocaust denialism as hate speech and ban it on those grounds, but trying to censor every falsehood should be noted as a bad idea — To follow Mark Zuckerberg's utterances is to constantly cringe. — Last week was no different.
RELATED:
Alex Shephard / New Republic:
Facebook falling into false equivalence trap; hosting conservative media means being implicated in conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, or worse — Yes, the social media network is huge. But by spreading news from conservative sites, Facebook runs the risk of being dragged down with them.
Discussion:
@alex_shephard and @newrepublic
New York Times:
Sources: feds think National Enquirer owner AMI may have acted more as a political supporter than a news org, raising 1st Amendment, campaign finance questions — Federal authorities examining the work President Trump's former lawyer did to squelch embarrassing stories before the 2016 election …
Discussion:
Washington Post, @videoevan, @kausmickey, @kausmickey, @jamestaranto, @peterbakernyt, @nytimes, @peterstris, 89.3 KPCC and The Guardian
Andrea Chang / Los Angeles Times:
Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold dies of pancreatic cancer at 57 — Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times restaurant critic who richly chronicled the city's vast culinary landscape and made its food understandable and approachable to legions of fans, has died.
Discussion:
@stevesaldivar, @mosteverybody, @erinoverbey, Bon Appétit, @thesarahbennett, @wendellpierce, @geraldineebaum, @thefienprint, LA Observed, @jadabird, New York Times, @eunowhat, Variety, @edgarwright, @whammybah, Eater, 89.3 KPCC, Slate, The Wrap, @molly_knight, @originalspin, @kbiegel, @thedailybeast, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline
Max Willens / Digiday:
Buzzfeed's standalone news site buzzfeednews.com only includes programmatic ads at launch although native ads still drive a majority of BuzzFeed's revenue — BuzzFeed has been on a mission to diversify away from direct-sold advertising. And nowhere is that more evident than on its new BuzzFeed News site.
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Despite being debunked 80+ times and having 45+ posts marked as false by Facebook, YourNewsWire still gains hundreds of thousands of engagements per month — InfoWars isn't the only misinforming page that's still allowed to publish on Facebook. — YourNewsWire is one of the most popular fake news publishers in the world.
Discussion:
The Week
Lincoln Pigman / New York Times:
Russian lawmakers propose bill requiring sites with 100K+ daily visitors to take down inaccurate posts or comments within a day or face fines up to about $800K — MOSCOW — Russia, which American intelligence agencies said spread its fair share of misinformation during the 2016 United States election …
Discussion:
@andrew_cares and @sulomeanderson
James Ball / Columbia Journalism Review:
It is time for newsrooms to cover technology extensively, across desks, acting as watchdogs rather than cheerleaders — A lowly tech employee was trying to do some simple task online and found out it was really hard. Inspired by that difficulty, he—and it was almost always a he …
Discussion:
BuzzMachine
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
UK specialist media firm Future plc, owner of 100+ brands including TechRadar and PC Gamer, to buy Purch, which owns Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, for $132.5M — This week U.K. specialist publisher Future announced the purchase of technology platform and publisher Purch for $132.5 million …
Discussion:
PR Newswire and The Drum, more at Techmeme »
Megan Garber / The Atlantic:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders' briefings include obfuscation and disputes of basic facts as the press secretary fights to control facts, truths, and common knowledge — On wednesday, two representatives of the United States government held press briefings, both of them touching …
Discussion:
ABC News and @theatlantic
Bloomberg:
Inside state-sponsored trolling efforts that combine virtual hate mobs, surveillance, and misinformation to silence critical voices and spread disinformation — Sitting cross-legged on a charpoy, an Indian day bed, Mahaveer Prasad Khileri taps on his laptop, his face lit by the screen …
Discussion:
@mashaborak, @mcaruanagalizia, @marklittlenews, @standupideas and @benimmo