Adversity makes a man wise, not rich...
~ MEdia Dragon saying via slavic proverbs
Danny Sullivan on Twitter: "Important new nugget from today's Google ...
Tech industry is facing adversity and wisdom kicks in - Google commits to helping journalism and MEdia Dragonism
And it's bringing some of its most popular YouTube stars with it
Google has taken its share of criticism from journalists over
the years, but on Tuesday it announced several new initiatives that should put
it back in their good graces for several years.
After several months of behind-the-scenes coordination with
various players, including the Poynter Institute, the company made a major
announcement in an event space called the Garage in New York: Google will be
committing $300 million over the next three years to "strengthen quality
journalism" under the umbrella of an effort it’s calling the Google News
Initiative.
The new project contains three large components:
·
Subscribe with Google. This will allow people to sign up for
news subscriptions using the existing billing information Google already has on
file.
·
Disinfo Lab. Set up in conjunction with the Shorenstein Center
at Harvard's Kennedy School, it’s designed "to combat mis- and
disinformation during elections and breaking news moments."
·
MediaWise. This is a collaborative effort between Poynter,
Stanford University and the Local Media Association to develop a digital
literacy curriculum. (Read our announcement.)
Poynter, which is already home to the International
Fact-Checking Network as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, will
also be launching a fact-checking venture in which teens will work with
professional journalists to sort out fact vs. fiction on the internet. The fact
checks will be done with graphics, memes and videos, and will be spread across
various platforms to help fight hoaxes or false stories that are catching
teens’ attention. (We’ll be posting jobs for this initiative soon, so watch this
space.)
The MediaWise project, which is aimed at students from middle
school upward, will also turn to some intriguing celebrities to help: YouTube
stars.
Contributing YouTube creators include a CrashCourse series hosted by the uber-popular John Green (who’s also the author of young adult novels like “The Fault in Our Stars”) and several Smarter Every Day episodes featuring Destin Sandlin. The dynamic team of Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown will transfer the teachings towards STEM learning through their ASAP Science channel.
Contributing YouTube creators include a CrashCourse series hosted by the uber-popular John Green (who’s also the author of young adult novels like “The Fault in Our Stars”) and several Smarter Every Day episodes featuring Destin Sandlin. The dynamic team of Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown will transfer the teachings towards STEM learning through their ASAP Science channel.
Several YouTube influencers are donating their time to the
initiative. Additional collaborators include Ingrid Nilsen, Alonzo Lerone
and Mark Watson, better known as Soldier Knows Best.
You can watch a fun promotional video featuring all of them here on our YouTube channel.
Here’s a lengthy blog post from Google’s chief
business officer, Philipp Schindler.
And this is what the subscription sign-up will look like:
Quick HitsAnne Glover and Ren LaForme bring you the latest
QUITE THE CONTRAST: Mere
hours after Google announced its initiative, Facebook employees were meeting
at their headquarters in a town hall to discuss the Cambridge Analytica
debacle. But two key players were missing, reports Spencer Ackerman in the Daily Beast:
Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer
Sheryl Sandberg. Instead, the session was conducted by a Facebook attorney,
Paul Grewal, according to an anonymous source.
SPEAKING OF CAMBRIDGE:
Whatever effects they had in the U.S. or U.K., it’s bound to be much worse in
the developing countries they claimed to be operating in, reports New York Magazine. An excerpt: “One
of the most striking examples of the global power of the new generation of
internet companies is their ability (and willingness) to use smaller and
developing countries as testing grounds for their new products — in
particular, for initiatives they couldn’t get away with in the U.S.”
RUNNERS ARE
CONSCIENTIOUS: Do you enjoy anime? You’re probably not extroverted. Like
listening to The Smiths? You’re probably neurotic. At least, that’s what
Cambridge Analytica’s personality assessment thinks of you. The New York Times tracked
how the maligned firm’s researchers turned Facebook users’ likes and
favorites into character assessments. They then used that data to pitch
services to clients like Mastercard and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
YOUTUBE GETS AGGRESSIVE:
But sadly, it was for the wrong thing. The video site removed from searches
the “Hail, Trump” video that Atlantic reporter
Daniel Lombroso had captured at a speech by white supremacist Richard Spencer
just weeks after the election of Donald Trump. In removing it from all public
searches and closing comments, YouTube said the video bordered on hate
speech. After a complaint by The Atlantic on Monday, it was restored to
search results and its comments reopened.
NABJ FOUNDER DIES:
Pulitzer Prize-winner Les Payne died unexpectedly on Monday night at the age
of 76. Payne wrote for Newsday in a career that spanned four decades and
several continents. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer in 1974 for a
33-part series that followed the growth of heroin in Turkey to the American
streets it was sold on. Payne was also a founding member and former
president of the National Association of Black Journalists. He retired from
Newsday in 2006.
FLYING BLIND: While
local news reporters might moan about having to write the perennial “flu hits
_____ hard” story, there’s a group that depends on those write-ups:
epidemiologists. And with so many counties across the country now without a
local newspaper — so-called news deserts — they are sounding the alarm about what effect it will
have on mapping outbreaks, reports STAT.
HER TOO? A
former Playboy model is suing the owners of the National Enquirer
for buying and burying the story of her alleged extramarital affair with
President Trump. Karen McDougal says American Media Inc. paid her $150,000
for her silence during the 2016 campaign but hasn’t lived up to the rest of
the deal — a monthly column in OK! and Star magazines and several
monthly posts on Radar Online. The story echoes previous news about Stephanie
Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, including alleged tryst locations and offers of
gifts.
REDDIT REWARDS: Not
that anyone expected it, but this has to make the social engagement team at
the Dallas Morning News happy:
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What We're Reading
THE RIGHT: After
a man threatened to hurt someone, police used a controversial law to take
away his guns — all 81 of them. A powerful narrative, by the
Washington Post’s Eli Saslow.
BIG: The
giant heads of Easter Island are being threatened by rising seawater.
UNEQUAL PAY?
The BBC seeks to defend itself after revelation it paid John McEnroe at least 10 times more than Martina
Navratilova for commentary at Wimbledon.
HELLO. IT'S ME: The
White House confirmed the Kremlin's claim that President
Trump phoned Russian PresideVladimirmir Putin to congratulate him on his
election win. Leaders on other countries have withheld from such a call
because Putin's strongest opponent was barred from even appearing on the
ballot.
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~Greek Proverb before Iron Curtain was born