Monthly Archive for December, 2011

Outsourcing fact-checking

Published on December 21, 2011 in Journalism. 0 Comments

The New Republic publishes this column on the derth of fact-checking in Journalism — perhaps in light of the controversy over PolitiFact’s “lie of the year.” The author makes an appealing triangulation between decreasing budgets, shrinking staff, and avoidance of “bias,” while connecting it to the rise of organizations like PolitiFact.

The appeal [of PolitiFact] is clear: it seeks to protect the reporters from charges of bias while giving the work of political judgment and analysis a scientific aura. And, let’s be honest, it also makes the job easier for reporters who can’t be bothered to learn enough about the facts of the matter at hand to judge the issue themselves.

Cuts in newsrooms and a desire not to appear biased have led to an outsourcing of fact-checking to PolitiFact. We need more news orgs doing this work, not fewer (and not just blogs).

via The Hard Truth About Fact-Checking | The New Republic.

Remix culture is the new Prohibition

Published on December 13, 2011 in Copyright, Education, Technology and Video. 0 Comments

“Waxy” makes some important connections between copyright and the habits of youth.  After pointing out the prevalence of (misguided?) “no copyright intended” messages on media sharing sites, the author poses the following “thought experiment:”

Here’s a thought experiment: Everyone over age 12 when YouTube launched in 2005 is now able to vote.

What happens when — and this is inevitable — a generation completely comfortable with remix culture becomes a majority of the electorate, instead of the fringe youth? What happens when they start getting elected to office? (Maybe “I downloaded but didn’t share” will be the new “I smoked, but didn’t inhale.”)

This is why understanding the intersection of copyright, culture, and technology is not just a worthwhile pursuit — it should be a prerequisite for future policymaking.

via No Copyright Intended – Waxy.org.