The 105th Block: On media and tech ethics
And passwords
This week…
Did you know it was World Password Day on the first Thursday of May? I didn’t. Here’s something we probably all foresaw: Facebook pulled the plug on its podcast business.
Anyway, here’s a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
“Think carefully before you quote-tweet”: The Guardian releases new social media guidelines for staff
“Last month, The New York Times released new guidelines around the way its reporters use Twitter,” writes Laura Hazard Owen for Nieman Lab. And now it’s The Guardian’s turn. Interesting trend.
Newsrooms must reframe abortion coverage and the worn-out debate around the rules of objectivity
Kelly McBride for Poynter:
This is actually a double dose of “High Conflict,” journalist Amanda Ripley, author of the book by the same name, told me. High conflict is bad for democracy and hard for journalists to cover because arguments are reduced to good-versus-evil frameworks.
“Abortion is the O.G. of high conflict,” Ripley said.
If that’s not hard enough, high conflict seeps into our newsroom culture. As demonstrators took to the streets, many newsrooms, including NPR (where I am the public editor) and The Associated Press, predictably issued all-staff memos first thing Tuesday morning advising journalists to avoid sharing their personal opinions on this political issue.
In doing so, newsroom leaders reverted to a traditional framing of neutrality that assumes the public will lose confidence in their news providers should some of their journalists (not opinion staff) publicly discuss their personal beliefs or experiences on abortion.
In several newsrooms, these memos reignited the often generational conflict that broke out after the police murder of George Floyd. Some journalists frame the conversation as one of human rights, while traditionalists want to apply a lens of neutrality.
Tech companies face a legal nightmare if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Ben Brody for Protocol:
That could mean tech companies, which generally comply with legal information demands, could suddenly be helping states investigate and punish people who seek or facilitate abortions, and even those who help them unwittingly.
There’s little doubt that consumers will turn to tech they carry in their pockets when they’re seeking abortions. Tech, in other words, will snitch on its users thanks to the data-driven business models it’s spent decades building. After all, once the procedure is outlawed or curtailed in roughly half of U.S. states, law enforcement will take a keen interest in precise data revealing intentions and locations — and not just by those who seek abortions.
What I read, watch, and listen to…
I’m reading As an Indigenous Writer, I Push and Protect My Readers, My People, and Myself by Autumn Fourkiller for Catapult. Relatable.
I’m watching Silverton Siege. Beyond the clichés of a heist film is a diverse group of hostages, each one representing a specific social commentary angle on South Africa apartheid.
I’m also watching the 2022 Fairbreak Invitational T20. A sole Malaysian is in the mix of players from 36 full member countries and associate countries — the first of its kind in any form of cricket. And associate players can indeed hold a candle next to these professional stars. Malaysia’s Wini Duraisingam took player of the match in her second game, bowing 3/24. Sweet.
More stray links:
Former New Naratif team members respond to recent announcements on Medium.
Apple, Microsoft, and Google are teaming up to eliminate passwords by Annie Rauwerda for Input.
Where anonymity on Twitter is a matter of life or death by Andrew Deck, Emily Fishbein and Genevieve Glatsky for Rest of World.
Chart of the week
How do you keep your passwords? Americans memorise them, according to Statista’s Florian Zandt report:
