The Facebook effect: Users often think they are immune to negative influences of social media, while others are not, writes Joseph B. Walther.
“That paradox helps explain why more than 2 billion people continue to use the site each month,” writes Walther, “and it also helps explain what’s behind the pressure to regulate” Facebook.
Philanthropy boosts western media: A journalism collaboration stretching from Montana to New Mexico focuses on rural issues and Native American stories, writes Christine Schmidt.
A partnership started in 2015 aims to make local newspapers and TV stations useful sources of information.
Opinion in the news: It’s a split decision when RAND looked at media objectivity, reports Laura Hazard Owen.
Journalism became more subjective over time, she writes. But it depends on the type of journalism.
“Newspapers reporting remains much as it was before the Web — but both TV and online news rely more heavily on emotion, personal experiences and argument.”
Slow journalism advancing: News fatigue spawns a slower kind of journalism born of frustration with the mainstream press, writes Benjamin Bathke.
“One of the hallmarks of slow journalism is giving readers a realistic chance to consume everything before more content arrives,” he writes.
Canada ponders ethics of funding media: Canada’s government proposes to give $595 million to struggling news media, write Heather Rollwagen and Ivor Shapiro.
If Canadian news organizations take government money, do journalists become government servants? they ask, but conclude some financial security will help journalists “remain independent monitors of power.”
Correcting errors in the digital age: “One essential element of transparency is doing corrections right,” writes Dan Gillmor.
In the digital age, “we can fix the error right in the news article (or video or audio) and append an explanation, thereby limiting the damage, because people new to the article will get the correct information,” he writes.
Defining journalism and activism: “Journalism has long been committed to unbiased reporting and to shining a light on injustices in society,” writes Michael Blanding.
The tension between these two mandates has become more apparent in the current polarized political moment, he says.
Saving local newspapers: Dwindling local news leads to partisan political polarization write Joshua P. Darr, Johanna Dunaway and Matthew P. Hitt.
“Local newspapers provide a valuable service to democracy by keeping readers’ focus on their communities,” they write. “When they lose local newspapers, we have found, readers turn to their political partisanship to inform their political choices.”
Protecting sources: Best practices to minimize risks to whistle-blowers require new tactics, writes Joshua Benton, including a mix of digital and “human” practices.
He cites “The Perugia Principles for Journalists Working with Whistle-Blowers in the Digital Age.”
A symphony way to rescue journalism: Some cities are going to adopt this non-profit, community-based model to rescue journalism outlets or create new ones, predicts Bill Grueskin.
“Symphonies depend on ticket sales and a few retail sales, but they can’t survive without philanthropy.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 