Saturday, April 29, 2017

#journalism agenda: “a list of initiatives that hope to fix trust in journalism and tackle “fake news”

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Here’s a list of initiatives that hope to fix trust in journalism and tackle “fake news”

There’s lots.

I’ve tried to collect an extensive list of projects, initiatives and tools created to fix trust in journalism and false/fake news and misinformation. This also includes efforts and initiatives around verification. Where possible I’ve also tried to attach where the funding has come from for each initiative.

Fact Checking & Verification – Collaborations & Coalitions

Poynter International Fact Checking Network — United States

“The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is a forum for fact-checkers worldwide hosted by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. These organizations fact-check statements by public figures, major institutions and other widely circulated claims of interest to society.”….

Editor’s note: Last weekend was the latest edition of my favorite journalism conference, the International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin. You can catch up on what you missed through thesetwo epic YouTube videos of the two days’ livestreams.

But there were two talks in particular that I thought Nieman Lab readers might be interested in seeing, from America’s two top newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Both Andrew Phelps, an editor on the Times’ Story[X] newsroom R&D team, and Joey Marburger, the Post’s director of product, spoke about how they were using bots in their news operations.

So here’s one of them: This is Sam Manchester. He’s a deputy sports editor. I don’t know if anyone had the chance to see this — it was a relatively small experiment — but Sam was one of a lot of journalists who went to the Rio Olympics, and we actually asked Sam to text with people, anyone who would sign up, his personal observations from the games. You know, not breaking news, not headlines that you can get anywhere else, but to talk to people the way he might send texts to a friend, right?

The growing stream of reporting on and data about fake news, misinformation, partisan content, and news literacy is hard to keep up with. This weekly roundupoffers the highlights of what you might have missed.

“Something that Facebook has never done: ignoring the likes and dislikes of its users.” I really liked this recent BuzzFeed essay, “Donald Trump And America’s National Nervous Breakdown: Unlocking your phone these days is a nightmare,” in which Katherine Miller writes: “There’s so much discordant noise that just making out each individual thing and tracking its journey through the news cycle requires enormous effort. It’s tough to get your bearings.”

 

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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

As European Commission urges ‘different type of relations’ with Turkey, “Ankara prosecutors launch probe into ex-French diplomat for ‘inciting’ Erdoğan’s assassination…

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The European Union executive urged EU governments yesterday (24 April) to consider changing its relationship with Turkey after a referendum that handed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sweeping powers put Ankara’s stalled membership talks deeper into cold storage.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on April 25 decided to reopen a monitoring process against the country

US: Turkish man charged with serious national security crime

The Iranian-born Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab has denied charges against him in the case over attempting to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran, while Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a deputy general manager of Halkbank, said he has no connection to the case

Ankara prosecutors launch probe into ex-French diplomat for ‘inciting’ Erdoğan’s assassination: Spokesperson

The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched a probe into a former French diplomat on charges of “instigation of the assassination of the president,” a presidential spokesperson said on April 24.

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Monday, April 24, 2017

From Turkey with love: Taksim Square, Tulips and Security Personnel securing tulips…

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Istanbul municipality has a special like for tulips. Due to crisis with Netherlands, tulip business might have shifted but still Taksim Square was decorated with islands of tulips. However, municipality stated that in order to protect tulips, security personnel are on duty:

 

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Sunday, April 23, 2017

#Europe agenda: “Macron and Le Pen ‘through to run-off’ in French elections…

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Projections see centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen facing off on 7 May.
Who are Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron?
The far-right female National Front leader will go head-to-head with the 39-year-old favourite to win the presidency.
What do the voters of Marseille think about the race to choose the next French president?

Russia-linked fake news floods French social media

One in four of French social media users are sharing links to anti-EU fake news that promote candidates such as Le Pen, amid marked Russian influence, a new study says.

Debate: The mood in France before the elections

Just a few days before the first round of the presidential elections in France the outcome appears more open than ever. The far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has dropped in the opinion polls, while the leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has gained support. That brings the number of candidates who could reach the second round up to four: Macron, le Pen, Fillon and Mélenchon. The press examines the mood in France shortly before the elections.
Support for Germany’s opposition Greens has fallen to its lowest level in almost 15 years, a Forsa poll showed on Wednesday (19 April), dimming prospects for a left-leaning coalition snatching power from Chancellor Angela Merkel in the September election.

Network quality vital for Europe’s move to ‘Gigabit Society’

While capacity and speed will always be important, European companies need networks that are exceptionally reliable and adaptable to launch new technologies across Europe, writes Richard Swinford.

Corbyn vows to ‘change UK election’s course’

The Labour leader says the general election is about “the establishment versus the people”.

Le Pen takes aim at EU flag

The National Front’s presidential candidate has made a symbolic scapegoat of the European flag during her campaign. Yet, the flag is not an official symbol under EU law. EURACTIV France reports.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Despite the referendum propaganda, “State of Emergency to Be Extended for 3 More Months

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Vice PM Kurtulmuş has announced that the cabinet decision to extend the State of Emergency was submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned his claimed victory into political reality, but the vote’s legitimacy is still in doubt as observer groups list many concerns.
Having called the HDP voters “scumbags”, AKP MP Kocabıyık has sued sociologist Öztürk upon responding to Kocabıyık’s offense as “No, you are the scumbag”.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Less than one week to go for the Referendum

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Uber offers free rides on Turkish referendum day

The offer only applies in Istanbul — a city of 15 million people — and is limited to … Uber launched in Istanbul in 2014 and has faced competition from a …

A photo of President Erdoğan teaching how to read Koran to his grandson released yesterday. Allegedly the photo was taken on 15 July 2016- the day of coup attempt. Photo source: http://ift.tt/2o4l4Hb

In the mean time, some AKP supporter-Turkish citizens in France went to voting in Ottoman suits:

Photo credits- Diken and Birgün

 

Al Jazeera interviews Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, on the April 16 referendum.
Turkey’s referendum: A democratic quest
The proposed constitutional amendments provide a taste of the overall direction of Turkey for future.
Turkish referendum: all you need to know

Sunday’s vote could lead to the most significant political development since the Turkish republic was declared in 1923

Washington Post – Apr 11

Henri J. Barkey is the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. On April 16, Turkish voters will be casting votes in the most consequential referendum of modern Turkish history. President Recep

Turkish No voices struggling to be heard

There is a week to go until a referendum on new powers for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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… And Erkan is in the year he could not figure out if he is 41 or 42

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A sweet Poltio survey. How well you know Erkan? 

In fact, I did have a system for that but this year I forgot. This year I did not care to remember. However, just a little ago, when I was having a shower, I decided I am definitely 42 now. After achieving most of my life goals, and after living through a tumultuous year in Turkey I have settled for a future in which I live in tranquility working on my writings/ research or hobbies. I have lost interest living in Istanbul, I would prefer to have a smaller but a more humane city. However, my search for a better place to work and to live has not given fruits yet. As I stated months ago, I have decided to move abroad and I feel I am in my prime in academic production, but this could not be conveyed to the interested parties. I have been so out of job market that it is hard to adapt again. By the way, I still believe I was super lucky to work in Istanbul Bilgi University; my reasons to move forward are different and I will write in another post- including my job searches. Let me not distract myself from the fact that today is my birthday.

Many years I go I posted … And Erkan is 34. Before being aware of the term “quantified self”. I do not like increasing quantification emphasis on social research but for the fun of it I will update the post!

Erkan has spent 27 years as a student (5 primary school+7 secondary and high school+4 college+ 3 MA+ 8 Phd). [This did not change] He has been teaching for 8 [16] years in various levels at university (not including a year of teaching English at a primary school), has been blogging for 5,5 [13.5] years and his blog has been visited a little more than 850,000 times [1,500,000] and it has 252 RSS subscribers now 91 at Feedly, 228 at WordPress], he has 326 [13,921] twitter followers, he has 3 beloved siblings [still same, but 2 nieces added now],  he has 1239 [3022] Facebook friends (but of course only a couple of’em are really close ones), and he has (only) three academic publications (so far)[oh this seems to have improved and also check out my Google Scholar profile]. Erkan has voted 2516 [7751] movie and episode titles in IMDB. He has spent 157 days as a soldier, stayed in Houston, TX for three years. He was born in Trabzon, spent a year there then since 2 he has been living in Istanbul (excluding Houston years, that is 38 years). [Although officially he was born in Bayburt, which has become a troll city in recent past]. He has driven more than 30,000 kms in 4 years [more than 100,000 I guess now and he has had his second car], he has 7-8 kilos he has to get rid of [still same], he could do 20-25 push ups just after he left the service [not a new success at at that front], he visited 5 European cities, visited 9 American cities [I could not find an exact stats for that but Swarm says I have visited 25 countries so far!], he has more than 100 [300, I have even curated an exhibition!] items in his local newspaper collection, he is an academic advisor for 45 students, he has 134 students registered in his 4 courses [I did not bother to collect new stats but there are definitely more].

[And I have more stats, new ones: 3579 connections in Linkedin. In every 7.76 days I finish a book. Since I finished up my military service, I calculate how much I read. My Klout rating is around 65. [I have deleted the last parts, it seems I was more desperate and depressed at that time although the future seemed to be more optimistic. However, I might still end up in my favorite metal bar to drink alone, which has become a ritual. I have thought of getting married twice in those years but it did not work and I do not care. I might get married one day but if not, not a big deal. In my own way, I challenge and may succeed the family ideology around here.

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Monday, April 10, 2017

#journalism agenda: “A Field Guide to Fake News”

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What does fake news tell us about life in the digital age? Not what you might expect

Editor’s note: The first three chapters of a remarkable new document, A Field Guide to Fake News, are being released at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia. The guide, the work of a team of scholars, explores new and more subtle ways of looking at the fake news phenomenon — and, through it, how our lives are mediated in an age of data, platforms and algorithms. Below, three of its coauthors summarize some of what they’ve found; don’t forget to check out the full document.

If you’re not sure whether having a news bot on Messenger or other chat apps adds value to your newsroom, here is one clear advantage to experimenting with bots
By turning traditional information into structured data and connecting archive content to stories, journalists can help develop new data sources

Google adds fact check to global search results in the war against fake news


Google is upping the ante in its battle against fake news and false information on the web by introducing fact checks from third parties in its search and news results. That information, supplied by the likes of PolitiFact and Snopes, will show up in cards with a ‘Fact Check’ tag when you use the company’s search engine or look up news. As the company noted in a blog post, “the snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact check of that particular claim.” Google first added fact checks to search back in October 2016…

Critics say the bill would limit free speech, and on Wednesday, Andrus Ansip, European Commission VP for the digital single market, told European Parliament (echoing remarks he’d made previously), “We have to believe in the common sense of our people. Fake news is bad, but a Ministry of Truth is even worse…We need to address the spread of fake news by improving media literacy and critical thinking.” At least in the U.S., the audience for fact checks has become somewhat partisan; research here last year found that Democrats view fact-checking more favorably than Republicans. “At a time of no trust in the media, why would the voter trust the [fact-checker] over the politician he or she supported?” Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, asked recently at a fact-checking summit in D.C.

Journalists should have an understanding of the context in which their audiences are using these images, and apply it to how they cover the issues sparking the memes
Read later
A Field Guide to Fake News explores digital methods and recipes that can be used as a starting point to experiment

In 2014, the Associated Press began automating some of its coverage of corporate earnings reports. Instead of having humans cover the basic finance stories, the AP, working with the firm Automated Insights, was able to use algorithms to speed up the process and free up human reporters to pursue more complex stories.

A new network for European data-driven news

In Oct 2017, the European Data Journalism Network – EDJNet will start producing, sharing and publishing data-driven content on European affairs across Europe and beyond

Fact-checking fake news in the French election

Macron and Islamic law, Le Pen and Moscow and accidental cemetery desecrations.

App for journalists: Lexis Audio Editor, for editing audio files on your smartphone

This free Android app enables journalists to record and edit one or more audio files on a single-track editor

In the wake of November’s election, the concept of the filter bubble is often discussed as if it’s a uniquely American reflection of a left/right that other countries are somehow immune to.

Not so. In Sweden, concerns about the country’s own potential political filter bubbles helped give birth to Filterbubblan (translation: “The Filter Bubble”), an online tool that gives users a side-by-side, real-time view of the political conversations happening among the country’s political parties. On the left are the liberal parties (represented by red and green); green and blue represent the center parties; and on the right are the more conservative discussions (blue and a darker blue). With a swipe, users can navigate from one feed to the next, simplifying the process of reading about how a topic is discussed in different political circles.

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