“It’s O.K. to abandon ship”: How to critically evaluate scientific claims before pursuing a story
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Tuesday, February 15, 2022
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“It’s O.K. to abandon ship”: How to critically evaluate scientific claims before pursuing a story"We owe it to our readers and to the general public, and even to our sources, to be thoughtful in what we decide to cover, and to make sure that it's worthy of the platform that we're giving it." By Megha Satyanarayana. |
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The global effort to defend journalism needs a reset — here's how to do better"It is time for states that claim they defend democracy to start acting like it." By Martin Scott Mel Bunce. |
What We’re Reading
Washington Post / John Wagner
Trevor Noah will host the first White House Correspondents' Association dinner since 2019 →
“In 2019, Trump announced he would hold a rally instead of attending the association's dinner in Washington.”
Pew Research Center / BRIAN KENNEDY, ALEC TYSON AND CARY FUNK
Americans’ trust in journalists continues to decline, report finds →
“Four-in-ten say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in journalists and business leaders to act in the public's best interests; six-in-ten now say they have not too much or no confidence at all in these groups.” (Also? “Trust in scientists and medical scientists, once seemingly buoyed by their central role in addressing the coronavirus outbreak, is now below pre-pandemic levels.”)
Inquirer / Wesley Lowery
The Philadelphia Inquirer has grappled with a racist past for decades. Can it move on? →
“Today, in response to a new civil rights movement, The Inquirer's leadership has made a bold new pledge: to be an anti-racist institution. But whether — and how — a newspaper that, for generations, has remained complicit in systemic inequality can now be a collaborator in its defeat remains significantly less clear.”
The Verge / James Vincent
Did you and a friend solve Wordle with different answers today? The New York Times changed the game’s solution for the first time. →
Words that have been removed from guesses and solutions include "fibre," "pupal," "slave," and "wench."
Washington Post / Erik Wemple
Sarah Palin needed a smoking gun. She had boring emails. →
“For years and years, discussion of New York Times v. Sullivan has been confined to coastal elites in media and legal circles. Now, those hallowed protections would get a hearing from a citizen jury.” (The jury wound up agreeing with the judge and unanimously concluded the Times was not liable.)
Bloomberg
The U.S. accuses the financial news website Zero Hedge of spreading Russian propaganda →
U.S. intelligence officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers and a significant American readership, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media. Of note: “In recent months, Zero Hedge has published numerous articles that accused the U.S. of fomenting panic about Ukraine, which now faces the possibility of an invasion by more than 130,000 Russian troops massed on several sides of the country.”
Axios / Sara Fischer
The Associated Press will hire 20 journalists across Africa, Brazil, India, and the U.S. to expand its climate change coverage →
“The new climate desk also aims to produce more localized climate stories, including working with partner news agencies abroad to produce more localized climate coverage in multiple languages. In the U.S., the AP will launch a StoryShare, for climate change, which is a shared content network between local news outlets, later this year.”
Time / Billy Perrigo
Inside the Nairobi-based company Facebook has hired to be “the emergency first responders of social media” →
“Here in Nairobi, Sama employees who speak at least 11 African languages between them toil day and night, working as outsourced Facebook content moderators … They perform the brutal task of viewing and removing illegal or banned content from Facebook before it is seen by the average user. Since 2019, this Nairobi office block has been the epicenter of Facebook's content moderation operation for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. Its remit includes Ethiopia, where Facebook is trying to prevent content on its platform contributing to incitement to violence in an escalating civil war.”
New York Times / Jeremy W. Peters
A judge announced plans to dismiss Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against The New York Times even before jurors came to their decision →
“The judge indicated that he understood that his word would not be the last one in the case. Ms. Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, is very likely to appeal. And his decision to allow the jurors to continue weighing the evidence and come to a decision was intended to avoid any complications if the case is heard by an appeals court.”
Washington Post / Julie Zauzmer Weil
The Washington Post wanted to tally slaveholders who once served in Congress. Readers stepped up to help. →
“Scores” of readers — some from as far away as China and France — sent in evidence, including handwritten wills and newspaper ads placed by congressmen seeking the return of Black people who fled captivity.
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