Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Mediator By JIM RUTENBERG Wrong, wrong, wrong — to the very end, we got it wrong. Just a couple of weeks ago, political prognosticators in television and print media were describing Indiana as the “most important test” for Donald J. Trump and a “firewall” where Ted Cruz “should do well.” It was one of those…
(updated below: Thurs.) Trying to predict the future can be fun, which is why — from office sports pools to stock market speculation — many do it. Generally, though, people make such predictions with at least some humility: with the knowledge that they do not actually know what the future holds. But not America’s beloved political pundits. When they pronounce…
Gavin Dunaway icx_story_begin It’s all right if you find the perpetual commotion of the ad-tech space hard to follow. The convoluted proceedings might feel like lost “Game of Thrones” plots, only with less sex and violence (actually, that depends on which conferences you attend). Take the other week, when Google made the startling announcement around…
The Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times announced Tuesday afternoon that it has acquired The Tampa Tribune, ending a 29-year competitive battle in the bay region and creating the fifth-largest Sunday circulation newspaper in the nation. “The continued competition between the two newspapers was threatening to both,” said Times chairman and CEO Paul Tash. “There are very…
A simple fix to diffuse the adblock vs. adtech showdown comes down to a simple button that’s missing on the browser toolbar, not hidden in the settings. We need a Data Sharing button, next to the Back and Reload buttons on the browser toolbar. Ads are blocked unless a site adheres to the Do Not…
You may not expect this, but I like James Robinson’s recent memo about clear cutting the copy desk at the Bay Area News Group. Why? It shows that Robinson, the managing editor for content at the newspaper group, is aware of the ramifications of the decision. And instead of just pretending that life can go…
Former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan has sued Gawker again, saying the gossip website leaked sealed court documents with a transcript that quoted him making racist remarks. Hogan’s new lawsuit on Monday comes on the heels of winning a $140m verdict against Gawker after it posted a video of him having sex with his then best…
Illustration by Jim Cooke Depending on whom you ask, Facebook is either the savior or destroyer of journalism in our time. An estimated 600 million people see a news story on Facebook every week, and the social network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg has been transparent about his goal to monopolize digital news distribution. “When news is…
Last Friday, the head of Bloomberg Media told The Guardian that publishers are “feeding on the scraps” of Facebook’s ad business. Justin Smith said that Facebook makes a lot more from ads in its News Feed than publishers do from linking content on the social network: It’s a problematic situation. On its current trajectory this…