Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation laws are now in effect, and we’re getting a sense of what publishers have decided to implement on their websites as of May 25 — whether they’ve decided to block European Union and European Economic Area-based traffic outright, set up buckets of consent for readers to click through, or something…
The New York Times published a story last week about the “high-fashion makeover” of Manhattan’s Canal Street, the main artery of Chinatown, that more or less gentrified Chinese people out of the narrative. Their voices were displaced with those of a founder of a “high-end” design firm, an owner of a fine jewelry label and…
If you were on Twitter on April 22, you might remember this article. “Sorry Not Sorry, My Parents Paid For My Coachella Trip,” boldly declared a post on the Odyssey, a popular publication that crowdsources articles from unpaid college students. The post reeked of privilege, with the purported author, Kaycie Allen of Syracuse University, writing…
Most Americans probably don’t know his name, but we sure do live in his world. Roger Ailes — who died a year ago this week — co-created Fox News and fostered the presidency of Donald Trump. His hugely successful media empire billed itself as “fair and balanced” even though it was, by design, a place…
The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online draws on in-depth interviews by scholar Whitney Phillips to showcase how news media was hijacked from 2016 to 2018 to amplify the messages of hate groups. Offering extremely candid comments from mainstream journalists, the report provides a snapshot of an industry…
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has agreed to meet with a group of publishers next week at four of its global offices to discuss their concerns about its preparations for Europe’s forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation, according to people familiar with the matter. Some publishers have been critical of Google’s stance on the sweeping new data-protection law…
Many web publishers have been jilted by Facebook. Now they are quickly falling hard for Apple News. They just hope that this new love leads to new revenue. After a shaky start which led many in the media world to doubt whether Apple was serious about the product (the Wall Street Journal reported in 2016…
Irony can be a difficult concept to grasp, but some hypothetical examples can illustrate it clearly. It would be ironic, for instance, if people who claimed their free speech was being trampled on were actually being heard more than anybody else. It would be ironic if television hosts and podcasters who believe in “engaging in…
Illustration: Jim Cooke This is the story of how corporate raiding, complacency, excess, and incompetence are gutting a media company that matters to tens of millions of people. It’s not a novel story, and perhaps not even scandalous by the standards of corporate opulence: A shark-obsessed boss, millions wasted on consultants, and an executive who…
Every so often we must take a break from the real news, because something comes across Twitter that makes us scream at clouds about HOW THE FUCK did Chris Cillizza win the Failing Upward lottery to the point that he’s paid what must be multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, when you combine…