By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

May 2, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.com

1. The dirty war between Trump & the press: The public sees Trump and the rest of his administration trashing the press. But behind the scenes, it’s a very different picture, as Trump and others work hard to curry favor with certain reporters — including the mainstream publications they disparage in public. A nuanced look at the the tense, brawling relationship between the media and the presidency. By Ben Schreckinger and Hadas Gold for Politico Magazine.
2. ‘Wikitribune’s’ lofty goal is to fight fake news — too bad it will fail: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has created Wikitribune to take on the scourge of fake news. The idea is to create a crowd-funded cooperative that channels the power and skill of professional journalists. But Mathew Ingram of Fortune is dubious it will work. Other similar efforts have failed. It’s just not clear that non-journalists care enough to pay at scale to fund the effort, he says.
3. How real is that ‘media bubble’?: Media critic Jack Shafer argues that the East Coast/West Coast media bubble, with newsrooms isolated from the conservative heartland and clustered in mostly liberal metro areas, is real and is more extreme than is generally believed. Others argue that’s wrong because the big right-wing outlets are located in exactly those some areas. Either way though, the charts in the Shafer story show fewer and fewer reporter jobs are in the heartland.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

April 25, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail

1. In a new journalism era, quality is key: Online news has quickly cycled through a number of eras — portals, search, and social, each with its own winners and losers, argues David Skok on Medium. Now, he says, we are entering a new era where journalism will be paid for by readers, for readers. It’s a great opportunity for newsrooms that produce quality journalism and can build tight bonds with their readers. An interesting take.
2. What went wrong with Instant Articles: Instant Articles was ballyhooed by Facebook as a great innovation for news publishers — big revenue and readership were expected. But two years in, news publishers have found that neither has happened, and organizations from the New York Times to Vice News have given it up. A nice “what went wrong” piece by Casey Newton for The Verge.
3. Facebook denies what it is & its responsibilities: It’s time Facebook figured out they are a media company, and with that comes tremendous responsibility, argues Margaret Sullivan for the WaPo, pointing to the recent murder on Facebook Live. Yet the company, with 2 billion users, keeps its head firmly in the sand, denying the obvious even to itself. That has to change, she writes. A good read.

Extra: A conference on ‘Conversations’: The Northeastern U conference on “Conversations” focused on how the media can build bridges to fragmented communities. A short video about the day.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

April 18, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. How local newsrooms can collaborate on big projects:Slowly, maybe reluctantly, more newsrooms are collaborating on projects. Want it to go well? Well, says Kristen Hare for Poynter, pick your partners carefully, set aside your competitive instincts, and be ready to give up some controls. A good set of tips for how to create a successful news collaboration. Yes, it can work.
2. Me & my (polite) troll — the evolving world of comments:Commenting on stories was originally seen as a way for news sites to engage better with readers. Then came the trolls, driving readers away, and Facebook and Twitter, giving commenters major platforms to speak their mind. Jason Pontin of the MIT Technology Review writes about how one particular polite troll on his site has forced him to rethink comments, and how that world is changing.
3. Pulitzer win highlights decline of family-owned papers: When the family-owned Storm Lake Times in Iowa won a Pulitzer for editorials, it was a win for the little guy. But the victory for the 2,000-subscriber paper was also a grim reminder of how few papers are still owned by a single family. Nice piece by Lukas I. Alpert of the WSJ on the long, slow decline of what was once a journalism staple.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

A conference on media innovation in an era of fragmented communities: March 31 at Northeastern University

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

The public is increasingly fragmented in how it consumes information, with change driven by newly emerging media and ever-shifting cultural trends.

At the same time, how and why we communicate and what constitutes viable information has gained new tools, contexts and constituencies. The media needs to focus on effective, fact-based communication as it takes on on problems that span politics, policies and research.

The conference is called: “Conversations: New frameworks for public discourse. Exploring the role of media innovation, emerging modes of communication and digital storytelling in an era of fragmented communities.”

It’s being held on on Friday, March 31, at Northeastern University in Boston.

If you are interested in attending, more information and registration details are here. The event is free. We hope to see you there.

Media needs to leverages the art and science of communication to promote civil discussion about the most pressing and complex problems facing society — bridging technological infrastructures, data analytics, information visualization, and public engagement expertise.

Increasingly, information is consumed by the public in diverse ways as the definition of news evolves, and communication itself is reshaped by cultural trends and emerging technology.

Within this fluid environment, the media has a unique capacity to drive fact-based storytelling that leverages the art and the science of communication.

What tools, contexts and constituencies can media bring to bear to promote civil discussion about the complex, pressing problems facing fragmented communities today?

How can media effectively bridge technological infrastructures, data analytics, information visualization, and public engagement to serve multifaceted audiences and participants?

Join us on March 31 at Northeastern University as we meet with a broad range of journalists and communicators from across the country, eager to address these questions and to search for new frameworks for promoting civil discussion.

The conference is sponsored by Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media & Design.

We’re planning an exciting day of panels, panelists, and table discussions. Here are the panels:

• True listening beyond the data: Making sure we hear and understand the people behind the numbers
• How to foster reasoned public dialogue on issues of diversity & difference
• Preparing journalists to “co-create”: Working with the communities they serve in reporting the news
• Are we hard-wired for hard conversations? Navigating the cultural and neurobiological obstacles to communicating across difference.

Matt Carroll is a professor-of-the-practice in the Journalism Department at Northeastern University.