The “passive news consumer” is on the rise

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, June 26, 2023 [The “passive news consumer” is on the rise]( “We find that news users who say their experiences engaging with news online are negative (21%) are nearly four times as likely as those who say they are positive (6%) to not participate at all with news.” By Kirsten Eddy. [This social app said it had 20 million users (and, hey, they were only off by about 19 million)]( What We’re Reading The New York Times / Mike Ives [Canada will force Google and Facebook to pay news outlets for linking to articles →]( “The law, passed on Thursday, is the latest salvo in a push by governments around the world to force big companies like Google and Facebook to pay for news that they share on their platforms…With some caveats, the new Canadian law would force search engines and social media companies to engage in a bargaining process — and binding arbitration, if necessary — for licensing news content for their use.” ProPublica / Jesse Eisinger and Stephen Engelberg [Behind the scenes of Samuel Alito’s unprecedented Wall Street Journal prebuttal of a ProPublica story →]( “Six hours later, The Wall Street Journal editorial page posted an essay by Alito in which he used our questions to guess at the points in our unpublished story and rebut them in advance. His piece, headlined ‘Justice Samuel Alito: ProPublica Misleads Readers,’ was hard to follow for anyone outside ProPublica since it shot down allegations (notably the purported consumption of expensive wine) that had not yet been made.” The Verge / Wes Davis [Twitter alternative Bluesky has published its moderation manifesto →]( “If a thread contains misinformation, then giving reply controls to the author means they might use it to suppress corrections from other users. Our hypothesis…is that giving users more tools to protect themselves from harassment is worth some downsides like not always having the record corrected in the replies.” The New York Times / Charlie Savage [How Charlie Savage tied Pink Floyd and “The Wizard of Oz” together →]( “Nearly three decades ago, I wrote the first article about it when I was a summer intern at The Journal Gazette in my hometown, Fort Wayne, Ind. In recent months, as various music magazines and websites have been putting together packages about ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ in honor of its 50th anniversary, I have received a surge in interview requests about this article I wrote when I was 19, which has become an absurd footnote to my career as a national-security and legal journalist.” The Verge / Jay Peters [Google is launching a Perspectives search feed that’s designed to show results from humans →]( “‘Tap the filter, and you’ll exclusively see long- and short-form videos, images and written posts that people have shared on discussion boards, Q&A sites and social media platforms’…that includes things like TikTok videos, YouTube videos, websites, tweets, Quora results, and Reddit posts.” The New York Times / Nico Grant [Russia blocked Google News during the abortive insurrection this weekend →]( “After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, many Western technology companies pulled their services and products out of Russia or were blocked. TikTok and Netflix suspended their services in the country. Facebook was blocked. Twitter was partly blocked and Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and others pulled back or withdrew entirely.” The Washington Post / Ben Strauss [FanDuel makes betting lines. FanDuel’s Shams Charania moves them. →]( “‘I don’t think there is anything nefarious going on, but I find it puzzling that a regulated Sportsbook is allowed to take bets on the NBA draft and also employ an “insider” who can tweet nonsense that can move the betting markets,’ tweeted Haralabos Vargoulis, a prominent NBA bettor and former member of the Dallas Mavericks front office.” The New York Times / Mike Isaac [Reddit’s chief says he wants it to “grow up.” Will its community let it? →]( “‘It is really demoralizing,’ Bucky said. Being a Reddit moderator and dealing with users is already difficult, he said. ‘I take all this abuse for you, and keep your website clean, and this is how you repay us?'” The Guardian / Joanna Partridge [After giving up print, The Independent has now had six straight years of profits →]( “The Independent, which is edited by the former Daily Mail editor Geordie Greig, has been profitable every year since it closed its print edition in March 2016 and became a fully digital publisher.” Duke Reporters's Lab / Mark Stencel, Erica Ryan, and Joel Luther [Misinformation keeps spreading, but the growth of fact-checking has leveled off →]( “In our 10th annual fact-checking census, the Duke Reporters’ Lab counts 417 fact-checkers that are active so far in 2023, verifying and debunking misinformation in more than 100 countries and 69 languages. While the count of fact-checkers routinely fluctuates, the current number is roughly the same as it was in 2022 and 2021.” Hong Kong Free Press / Irene Chan [“The damage has already been done”: Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy on winning a battle but not the war →]( “Embroiled in a legal battle since 2020, the veteran journalist…won an unexpected victory when the Court of Final Appeal quashed her conviction for making false statements linked to accessing vehicle records for a documentary about the 2019 Yuen Long mob attack.” The Guardian / Lisa O'Carroll [Draft EU plans to allow spying on journalists are dangerous, critics warn →]( “On Wednesday, the European Council — which represents the governments of EU member states — published a draft of the European Media Freedom Act that would allow spyware to be placed on journalists’ phones if a national government thought it necessary. Unusually, the council did not take the step of holding an in-person meeting of ministers responsible for media before the draft was published.” Reuters / Dietrich Knauth [News organizations challenge court decision on FTX customer privacy →]( “U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Wilmington, Delaware, ruled earlier this month that FTX did not have to reveal its customers’ names because doing so could expose them to identity theft and other scams…Bloomberg, Dow Jones & Company, The New York Times Company and the Financial Times…have argued that FTX is not entitled to a ‘novel and sweeping exception’ to bankruptcy’s typical disclosure requirements simply because its customers used cryptocurrency.” The Verge / Jay Peters [YouTube is getting AI-powered dubbing into other languages →]( “Still, even with a limited number of languages, Aloud could be a useful tool as a growing number of creators add multi-language dubs to their videos…Down the line, YouTube is ‘working to make translated audio tracks sound like the creator’s voice, with more expression, and lip sync,’ Hanif says. Those features are planned for 2024, Gibby says.” The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin [Barry Diller is no longer trying to sell The Daily Beast →]( “Until recent days, according to people with knowledge of the talks, he had been in discussions about a deal with Ankler Media, a start-up that has earned a reputation for its unsparing coverage of Hollywood elites since Janice Min, a longtime magazine editor, co-founded it early last year.” Semafor / Neal Rothschild [What the Titanic vessel disaster says about media →]( “The Titan submersible story was an increasingly rare, shared media experience in an environment defined by consumers who watch shows at different times, get news from different sources, and get their entertainment diet curated based on individual preferences.” The Verge / Makena Kelly [Someone, anyone, please fix the FCC →]( “Now in 2023, Biden’s term is half over…His FCC can’t take stronger action to fix the problem because he can’t get a third Democratic commissioner to push his agenda through. This is unprecedented. Never, under any administration, has the FCC been without a working majority for this long.” Poynter / Elizabeth Djinis [Local journalism’s burnout crisis is unsustainable →]( “Roughly 72% of local journalists in a study of more than 500 participants reported experiencing personal burnout and 70% reported experiencing work-related burnout…The age divide is also clear: More than 75% of journalists under 45 experienced both personal and work-related burnout while 62% and 57%, respectively, of those 45 and older reported the same.” The Guardian / Tory Shepherd [The Australian Broadcasting Corporation wants a bigger international budget to counterbalance China →]( “Claire Gorman, the ABC’s head of international services, told the inquiry into supporting democracy in the region that China is spending at least $3bn a year on international media, compared with $11m for the ABC.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. 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