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June 5, 2014 media notes: Tow data journalism report; Adobe online video report; CBS' Lara Logan returns this fall

6/5/2014

For Thursday, June 5, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

A report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University examines the state of data-driven journalism. It looks at the impediments to growth (availability of skilled talent, newsroom culture and data literacy, among others) and identifies several recommendations to make records more transparent and accessible and to make newsrooms better adopt them in their journalism.
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A U.S. report indicates online television viewing has grown by 246 per cent in the last year. The New York Times reports Adobe report suggests TV Everywhere (meaning authenticated viewing of channels you subscribe to and watch online) is approaching mainstream use, largely because of sports programming. Mobile video viewing grew 57 per cent and online video viewing overall was up 43 per cent in the year (35 billion viewings). As other evidence of transformation in consumption, The Guardian reports that film streaming and downloads will overtake the movie box office revenue by 2017.
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The Hollywood Reporter says correspondent Lara Logan will be back on CBS and 60 Minutes in the fall. Logan has been on a leave since her segment on the attack on the Libyan U.S. compound in Benghazi was discredited for using a source who fabricated his supposed eyewitness account.

May 6, 2014 media notes: consumers and newspaper slant; Lara Logan and CBS' bind; new service and authentic images

5/6/2014

For Tuesday, May 6, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

What determines a newspaper's slant? The owner? More likely, the community, says a study by economists Mathew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro. If a paper serves a liberal community, it is bound to be liberal; a conservative community gets a conservative paper, they found. The New York Times' new data and context feature, The Upshot, reports on the study today.
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Since she fronted an errant report on the Benghazi compound attack, 60 Minutes' Lara Logan has been off the air. Joe Hagan of New York Magazine writes about the dilemma for CBS with one of its marquee journalists. Hagan, in particular, wonders if she is too toxic to ever return to the newsmagazine.
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A new image hosting service, Izitru, gives journalists new tools to authenticate an image, or at least to reduce the likelihood of a doctored image. It can distinguish how an original JPEG might have been manipulated through successive handoffs. Craig Silverman writes on the service for Poynter.

April 2, 2014 media notes: Report criticizes BBC false balance, Digital First cuts Thunderdome, 60 Minutes apologizes

4/2/2014

For Wednesday, April 2, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

False balance is a concept that drives many journalists mad. It arises from the suggestion that there always needs to be two or more sides to a story, and that for each assertion there needs to be a counter, no matter the weight of the facts. A British parliamentary report has accused the BBC of false balance in its use of climate-change skeptics. The Independent says the report says the result was science-based facts versus opinion-based beliefs.
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Digital First Media is shutting its much-touted, mainly-praised Thunderdome digital journalism hub as it cuts costs and contemplates sales of newspapers. Ken Doctor, writing for Nieman Journalism Lab, suggests the private equity firm holding much of Digital First's paper is not getting the return it expected, so sales of assets are necessary. John Paton, the CEO of Digital First, indicates the focus will be local and that the two project leaders are leaving the firm.
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On Sunday, CBS' 60 Minutes carried a feature on Elon Musk, the engineer who owns Tesla. In featuring one of its cars, the program added audio that sounded more like a motorcycle's. It didn't go unnoticed. The Hollywood Reporter says the program has apologized for the editing and has corrected it online.

media notes 12.23.13

12/23/2013

Here are some media stories of note for Monday, December 23, 2013:

It hasn't been the best of times for CBS' 60 Minutes. The controversy involving its segment on Benghazi has shifted now into concern about its uncritical segment on the National Security Agency. In his latest Media Equation column for The New York Times, David Carr wonders if the program has temporarily lost its mojo or more permanently lost its skepticism.

The native advertising phenomenon is subjected to a range of predictions in a thorough set of soundbites from AdWeek. Several ad and marketing executives suggest the future of native advertising will involve greater integration with editorial content, clearer adjacency, higher standards and better pricing.

Can a news organization ethically report on Internet content? Reuters blogger Felix Salmon, in this contribution to the Nieman Journalism Lab, suggests it's a challenge. Verifying the information is no easy feat now that technology helps fake things go viral.

media notes 11.27.13

11/27/2013

For Wednesday, November 27, here are some media stories of note:

When CBS News placed Lara Logan and her producer on a leave of absence, it followed the completion of an internal report on their discredited 60 Minutes segment on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.

That report by CBS' Al Ortiz, the executive producer for standards and practices at CBS News, found several disconcerting issues in the reporting and an inherent conflict for Logan that should have been avoided. Among other things, Ortiz concluded the program had the means to verify that the principal source of the segment, British security contractor Dylan Davies, was not telling the truth about what he witnessed the night of the attack. There were enough signs of trouble in the research to stop the report, but it sailed through the vetting process and aired.

Eric Wemple of the Washington Post examines the report and the CBS response to it. Among his five points: CBS and 60 Minutes don't work together, a leave of absence is meaningless, the CBS chairman/60 Minutes produce should also be penalized, it's problematic to investigate the boss, and CBS would have been wise to release the report on the holiday weekend. Brendan Nyhan, writing for Columbia Journalism Review, also criticizes how CBS News handled the controversy, including the scrubbing of the content from the Internet.

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A photographer has been awarded $1.2 million after a court ordered two news agencies to pay for images he took and they used without attribution from Twitter. The court concluded there were violations of the Copyright Act when images he took of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti were redistributed without appropriate compensation. Even though Twitter appears to be a public forum, the court indicated there remain in place requirements should anyone reuse content without permission. Guardian media columnist Roy Greenslade says the case has the potential to set an important precedent, but notes it is subject to appeals.

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In recent days USA Today and the McClatchy group of newspapers in the U.S. have clarified that they are not going to use handout photos from the White House (unless they are of significant news value). Andrew Beaujon, writing for Poynter, notes their moves follow a dispute in which the White House restricted access for press photographers. News organizations protested the move.

media notes 11.26. 13

11/26/2013

For Tuesday, November 26, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Plenty of high-profile comings and goings in legacy and digital media: Lara Logan and her producer are taking leaves of absence from CBS News following the discredited 60 Minutes report on the Benghazi attack; Alec Baldwin is a short-lived host on MSNBC following his anti-gay slug; and Katie Couric is the new face of Yahoo as she takes on a large role as its central anchor. David Freedlander of Daily Beast writes on the significance of the latter move: that Couric's move, and other recent moves like her's, are indications it is no longer career suicide to move from legacy to digital media.

The Beastie Boys are agitated about a parody of their misogynist song, Girls, in a toy commercial for GoldieBlox. They've moved (along with their record label, Universal) against the company and the company has in turn moved against them, claiming fair use. Corynne McSherry, writing for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the parody is fair play.

The New York Times examines the challenge of the newly free press in Myanmar to find a route to profitability. Newspaper, freed six months ago from government restrictions, are finding that Internet competition and the tepid advertising interest are making it difficult to operate in the black. It does not help that state-run newspapers under the junta continue to operate.

media notes 11.16-17.13

11/16/2013

For the November 16-17 weekend of 2013, here are some notes about the media:

It is an interesting revelation in an interesting Washington Post story about revelations obtained through surveillance: Based on the evidence to date, the U.S. won't be prosecuting journalist Glenn Greenwald for publishing accounts of National Security Agency activities. Those accounts were owing to the leaks from Edward Snowden.

The Washington Post's lengthy report on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's views also sheds light on the criminal investigations under way involving several high-profile cases. One highlight: Defendants will be provided information arising from surveillance, a move that The Atlantic suggests kicks open the door to a Supreme Court challenge of the warrant-less snooping.

While the U.S. still wants Snowden back to prosecute, Greenwald's apprehension that he might face arrest appears unfounded. Holder tells the Washington Post that, while he doesn't like what Greenwald did, he understands that it was journalism and that there should be no prosecution of what constitutes pure journalism.

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Politico's Dylan Byers notes that the internal review of the CBS 60 Minutes segment on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi carries some challenges for the person conducting it: Al Ortiz, an executive producer for special events. After all, Ortiz has to examine the role (or lack thereof) of senior management in the journalism. The executive producer of 60 Minutes is Jeff Fager, who is the chairman of CBS News. That means that Ortiz technically has to examine the role of his boss. Fager, according to a report, initially turned down the idea of a review.

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Jill Geisler, writing for Poynter, looks at the inevitable problems of media management. She identifies the main complaints about managers (not listening, not delegating, not informing, not following up, etc.), but also provides a five-point plan for dealing with fumbles: take a critique to heart, apologize to those affected by bad habits, chart a course of change, invite observation and feedback, and be authentic as you proceed.

media notes 11.15.13

11/15/2013

For Friday, November 15, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former communications director, spoke in his role as a visiting professor at Cambridge about the media and politics. It is a meandering speech, but its central points appear to be: the audience is savvy enough to drive media change, the regulation debate in England is a mess, politicians would do better to think strategically more than tactically, and the threat to journalism comes from within. He argues that media decline owes not to technology but to a lack of accountability, abuse of power, and rising public awareness of journalism's methods.

Alexander Howard, writing for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, examines some of the recent ethical pitfalls of data-driven journalism. He argues that the tensions and their consequences will only grow more difficult and that journalists need to be more conscious of ethics than ever in this new environment of access to and distribution of data.

A report from the Pew Research Journalism Project suggests 21 per cent of Facebook users and 18 per cent of Twitter users get news often from newspapers. Local TV is a news source often for 42 per cent of Facebook users and 23 per cent of Twitter users. Cable (23 and 17 per cent for Facebook and Twitter users, respectively) and radio (25 and 24 per cent) are also strong sources.

USA Today media writer Rem Rieder argues that CBS News must conduct a full, transparent inquiry into the errant 60 Minutes report last month on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. Rieder believes the damage to the venerable program is substantial and that CBS News must move swiftly to answer many questions about its practices in this matter.

media notes 11.14.13

11/14/2013

For Thursday, November 14, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

The CBS 60 Minutes/Benghazi controversy shows little signs of subsiding. CBS News now says it is conducting a more thorough review of practices that permitted the program to feature a now-thoroughly-discredited source as its main subject in a segment on the attack. And Nancy Youssef, writing from Cairo for the McClatchy news service, has an extensive look at the questionable conduct of CBS in relying on Dylan Davies, the British security contractor, for an eyewitness account that proved to be fabricated. Among other things, she questions why CBS determined Al Qaeda was responsible for the 2012 attack when there is limited evidence to that effect.

Jeff Sonderman and Millie Tran have created a report for the American Press Institute that explains the development of sponsored content (native advertising, as it is also known). Their white paper looks at the opportunities for news organizations in it, some business models, how to manage the risks to standards and ethics, and some unanswered questions. Their report paints a largely positive picture, with some reservations about the need to keep clear the source of the content.

Matt Schiavenza, writing for The Atlantic, examines China's increased suppression of foreign correspondents and the difficulties for reporters to operate in the country. They face authorities who refuse to grant visas or threaten expulsion.

media notes 11.12.13

11/12/2013

For Tuesday, November 12, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had at 60 Minutes Monday about its end-of-show apology Sunday for using Dylan Davies as a principal in its segment on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. Michael Calderone of Huffington Post notes that the program didn't get to the bottom for its audience on how it was duped by Davies, how it vetted (or didn't) his assertions, and whether it even bothered to check with the FBI if its segment was congruent with what he had told them. The segment and the tepid apology raises more questions, he asserts, including those about CBS News' leadership. Lloyd Grove, writing for The Daily Beast, reports that media ethics experts believe 60 Minutes needs to do much more than apologize. They argue it needs to demonstrate how it will avoid such blunders in future.

As anyone who has dealt with the International Olympic Committee can attest, the issue of copyright is no small burning matter. The IOC owns lock, stock and barrel the rights to anything that smacks of Olympics and is vigilant, to say the least, in according opportunities to share its spoils. Which is why it is a surprise that an IOC spokesman has said that Instagram's short-form video and all other social media photography will be permitted from accredited photographers at the Sochi Games in three months' time. USA Today reports on the clarification of the guidelines and how they are social-media friendly.

David Carr's latest Media Equation column for The New York Times looks at Contently, the next-generation version of the much-reviled content farms that produces well-paid, well-researched journalism for corporate websites. Carr wonders if this is a site/sight of things to come in journalism: writers creating solid content, with some boundaries on editorial independence, for those who want to reach audiences directly without using public relations.

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