The 226th Block: No context Scunthorpe problem
No right to disconnect for me (self-imposed)
This week…
Your reading time is about 5 minutes. Let’s start.
I’m travelling for most of September, but The Starting Block will still be in your inbox and Substack app with ±12 hours of difference in publication time.
Anyway, like many writers and journalists, I have a lot of undercooked ideas so I have to organise them to make sure when the baby is well incubated and ready for the world, I can revisit it and type away. One of my methods is to bookmark links in specifically-coded folders. But for the life of me, I have no idea why I have the Wikipedia page for the Scunthorpe problem in one of these folders.
Well, enjoy it; if you’ve never heard of the problem before, now it’s also yours.
And now, a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ICYMI: The Previous Block was about the (terrible) state of fact-checking. FWIW:
Journalists and social media users are key drivers behind product recall decisions by Vivek Astvansh (McGill University) for The Conversation.
CORRECTION NOTICE: None notified.ON THE MEDIA
Journalists in Venezuela protect themselves with AI avatars that present the news
Katherine Pennacchio for LJR:
Since elections, at least seven journalists in the country have been detained, according to the Press and Society Institute. Some have been released, while others are still detained without the right to a defense and are charged under anti-terrorism laws.
“The level of exposure that a journalist might face when conducting an interview or live broadcast in Venezuela has increased,” Carlos Eduardo Huertas, director of the Latin American journalism platform Connectas and promoter of the newscast, told LJR. “That’s why this new alternative was decided on.”
Huertas was chosen as the spokesperson for the initiative to protect those who are in Venezuela. He is not Venezuelan and does not live in the country.
Venezuelan journalists behind the newscast told LJR they feel more protected by not showing their faces and names while the situation in the country stabilises. Unlike other similar initiatives in Latin America, Operación Retuit is not intended as a technological experiment.
“We are witnessing an intelligent and strategic use of AI,” Huertas said. “It’s not just a trend or accessory.
Loosely linked:
The fall of Stand News, Hong Kong’s once leading online media outlet by Jessie Pang and James Pomfret for Reuters.
Is cinema journalism at risk of extinction? by David Mouriquand for Euronews.
Generation gap, military rhetoric and polarisation: what needs to change in Italian sports journalism by Alessandra Vescio for The Fix.
‘World’s largest’ piracy ring Fmovies shut down by police in Vietnam by Adrian Horton for The Guardian.
TECHBROS
Guide to Pavel Durov
Nishita Jha for Coda:
Headlines around the world have described Pavel Durov as Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk but also the Robin Hood of the internet. These descriptions struggle to tell us anything of note because they attempt to reduce something non-American into Americanisms.
First, let us skim the similarities: Like Zuckerberg and Musk, Durov is a tech-bro with a massive social media and messaging platform that has run into trouble with different governments. Like them, he is insanely wealthy, obsessed with freedom of speech, loves free markets, capitalism and posting hot takes on his favorite app. Durov rarely gives interviews, choosing instead to post updates, vacation photos and thirst traps with meandering captions to his 11 million followers on Telegram. Like many tech-bros, he has a fascination with his own virility and recently claimed to have fathered over a hundred children across the world via his “high quality donor material”. In 2022, he also made paper planes out of 5000 ruble notes (approximately $70 at the time) and Henry Sugar-like, flung them into a crowd of people from his window.
But unlike the American heroes of Silicon Valley, Durov is a man fashioning his own legend as an international man of mystery. His arrest is a striking example of how a tech billionaire’s monopoly over global information infrastructure gives them–as individuals–incredible geopolitical influence.
Authorities are investigating Durov for a range of crimes including possessing and distributing child porn, drug trafficking and criminal association. Loosely linked:
Telegram, the dark web in your pocket by Joe Tidy for BBC.
Behind the arrest of Telegram boss, a small Paris cybercrime unit led by 38-year-old Johanna Brousse by Gabriel Stargardter for Reuters.
Brazilian court orders suspension of X after it missed deadline for appointment of legal representative by Tiago Rogero for The Guardian.
Germany’s tech scene gets political ahead of state elections by J.D. Capelouto for Semafor.
LOOSE SCIENCE
The papers that most heavily cite retracted studies
Richard Van Noorden and Miryam Naddaf for Nature:
In January, a review paper about ways to detect human illnesses by examining the eye appeared in a conference proceedings published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in New York City. But neither its authors nor its editors noticed that 60 per cent of the papers it cited had already been retracted.
The case is one of the most extreme spotted by a giant project to find papers whose results might be in question because they cite retracted or problematic research. The project’s creator, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac at the University of Toulouse in France, shared his data with Nature’s news team, which analysed them to find the papers that most heavily cite retracted work yet haven’t themselves been withdrawn.
Loosely linked:
She’s a Norwegian princess. He’s an American self-professed shaman. Their wedding is this weekend by Jan M. Olsen and Stefanie Dazio for AP.
Nudge theory is making inroads in health care, with mixed results by Jyoti Madhusoodanan for Undark.
The staggering death toll of scientific lies by Kelsey Piper for Vox.
Other curious links, including en español et français
LONG READ | A prominent accessibility advocate worked with studios and inspired change. But she never actually existed by Grant Stoner for IGN.
INFOGRAPHIC | North Korea’s trash balloons, explained by Sudev Kiyada, Han Huang, Adolfo Arranz and Simon Scarr for Reuters.
How to watch the eastern German elections like a pro by Nette Nöstlinger for Politico.eu.
Las desapariciones forzadas como show en vivo por TikTok por Laura Sánchez Ley en Gatopardo.
La fulminante privatización de la investigación en inteligencia artificial por Pablo G. Bejerano en Retina.
De requisitos de idioma a restricciones horarias: la larga historia contra el voto latino en Estados Unidos por Nicholas Dale Leal en El País.
Emmanuel Macron « assume totalement » l’octroi de la nationalité française au PDG de Telegram, Pavel Durov par Le Monde avec AFP.
Paralympiques : virales et controversées, les vidéos du compte TikTok officiel divisent par Barbara Gabel dans France24.
Neurotechnologies commerciales : un far west à l’abri des normes médicales par Philippe Robitaille-Grou dans Radio-Canada.
What I read, listen, and watch
I’m reading Because Internet (2019) by Gretchen McCulloch, who provides an explanation (or pattern) for the evolution of informal Internet language (acronyms, meme, emoji, etc.)
I’m listening to Conspirituality on the dangers of Dr Google with Jonathan Stea.
I’m watching ARTE.tv’s documentary, Inside Europe’s Far-Right Movement.
Chart of the week
Australia recently became one of only a handful of countries—mainly in Latin America and Europe—where workers have the right to disconnect. Emily Peck has the bullet points for Axios.