Top News:
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Instagram, which has largely escaped scrutiny, is teeming with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and extremist memes, linked by its recommendation algorithm — When Alex, now a high-school senior, saw an Instagram account he followed post about something called QAnon back in 2017 …
Discussion:
@taylorlorenz and @cwarzel
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Sources: WSJ plans to join the new paid tier of Apple News to be announced on Monday, expected to cost $10/month; NYT and The Washington Post have opted out — SAN FRANCISCO — The Wall Street Journal plans to join a new paid subscription news service run by Apple, according to two people familiar …
Discussion:
Fortune, The Verge, CNBC, @zidanism, @nytimesbusiness, @caro_milanesi, @mikeisaac, @mdudas, Engadget, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and MAC blog, more at Techmeme »
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James Vincent / The Verge:
Four European Wikipedia sites are blocking access and directing users to contact their EU representatives on March 21 to protest the copyright directive — Sites including Reddit, Twitch, and PornHub are also encouraging users in the EU to contact local politicians
Discussion:
Wikimedia Foundation, Business Insider, Fortune, Boing Boing and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »
Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:
After the events in New Zealand, journalists and tech companies should once again reflect on their roles in how extremist material enters the public square — Journalism has a panopticon problem. Just like the watchman in the center of Jeremy Bentham's theoretical circular prison …
Discussion:
@jbenton and @columbiajourn
Paige Leskin / Business Insider:
YouTube shut down Fantastic Adventures, a channel with 800K subscribers, as creator gets arrested for allegedly mistreating her kids who performed in the shows — - YouTube creator Machelle Hackney, behind the popular channel “Fantastic Adventures,” has been arrested in connection …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, @broderick, @brionykidd, @ambiej, Washington Post, NBC News, The A.V. Club, The Daily Caller and The Daily Beast
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google launches two new fact-checking tools for journalists and says 50 partners are working with Subscribe With Google, including The Washington Post and FT — The Google News Initiative launched in 2018 to tackle “fake news” and create products that support journalists and the broader industry.
Discussion:
Digiday, The Keyword, @googlenewsinit, @google, The Keyword and Fortune
Sarah Feldberg / Columbia Journalism Review:
A lawsuit in California about the employment misclassification of delivery truck drivers prompts some companies to stop working with freelance reporters — Carrie Bell likes being her own boss. A full-time freelancer for nearly 18 years, she covers entertainment and travel for outlets like Yahoo and PopSugar.
Discussion:
@malenawatrous, @rachaelmyrow, @paperalphabet, @candjattorneys, @wordchem, @bu_law and Columbia Journalism Review
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Interview with Donna Brazile on her job with Fox News, the role of the network and others in fomenting hate, and why she thinks reaching Fox viewers is valuable — Donna Brazile, who has twice served as the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, is one of the most prominent political strategists of recent times.
Caroline Haskins / Motherboard:
Interviews detail the ongoing battle on YouTube between children-focused channels making animated videos and those featuring humans — Animated videos dominate the kids YouTube space. Humans are fighting against YouTube's algorithm to try and compete. — Last month, news feeds were saturated with distressing headlines about Momo.
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Despite a diverse Democratic field for president in 2020, national media outlets focus on three white men, depicting candidates as characters in a drama — As amorous embraces go, few could be more ardent than the one Beto O'Rourke got this month from Vanity Fair magazine.
Discussion:
@sulliview, @katzonearth, @bobstep, @amy_siskind, @jayrosen_nyu, @projomike, @amlwhere, @nprinskeep, @heidilifeldman, @jrubinblogger, @bykowicz, @sulliview, @sullivanamy, @nickconfessore, @karaswisher, @sjdemas and Slate
Guy Rosen / Facebook:
The NZ shooting video was harder to block on Facebook than official terrorist propaganda videos because the latter aren't rebroadcast or reshared widely — We continue to keep the people, families and communities affected by the tragedy in New Zealand in our hearts.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, The Register, CNET, KTLA, Business Insider, @raju, Engadget, The Guardian, Associated Press, Mother Jones, MediaNama, @sarahfrier, @hadas_gold and @ruskin147, more at Techmeme »
Laura M. Holson / New York Times:
After Rep. Devin Nunes sued Twitter and the @DevinCow account claiming defamation, the parody account gained 465K+ followers, surpassing his own follower count — Consider this: a parody account pretending to be an imaginary cow owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Analysts say ripple effects of the Disney-21st Century Fox deal may not be clear for years: predictions include 3,000+ layoffs and more competition in streaming — LOS ANGELES — “Everything the light touches is our kingdom.” — It's a line from Disney's “The Lion King,” spoken by Mufasa to young Simba as they sit atop Pride Rock.
Discussion:
Variety, Fox News, Hollywood Reporter, @tonkohouse, @thr, Hollywood Reporter, FierceVideo, Multichannel News, Vanity Fair, MacRumors, The Week and Bloomberg
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Mike Isaac / New York Times:
With no spammy notifications, bots and troll mentions, email newsletters are becoming a more attractive medium than news feeds for writers — SAN FRANCISCO — My favorite new social network doesn't incessantly spam me with notifications. When I post, I'm not bombarded with @mentions from bots and trolls.
Discussion:
@nikillinit, @millie, @alexisohanian and Boing Boing