"Toward the end of Traffic, a new account of the early rock n roll years of internet publishing, Ben Smith writes that the failings of Buzzfeed News had come about as a result of a “utopian ideology, from a kind of magical thinking”.No truer words, perhaps, for a digital-based business that for a decade paddled in a warm bath of venture capital funding but never fully controlled its pricing and distribution, a basic business requirement that applies to information as much as it does to selling lemonade in the school yard or fossil fuels.Buzzfeed News, a pioneer of the internet news business that walked away with a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2021, said it was shutting down its newsroom on 20 April after shares in the company tumbled 90% since the company went public. Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the company “can no longer continue to fund” the site.But that was just one of the pieces of bad news hitting the digital media sector."
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Monday, May 8, 2023
The Guardian: "The digital media bubble has burst. Where does the industry go from here?"
Sunday, August 28, 2022
More Perfect Union: 057 - The Local News Crisis (audio)
In this episode, the group is joined by Stephen Sherlock of Franklin Matters, Alan Earls of the Franklin Observer, and Martin Luttrell, former long-time reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, to dive into the issue of "The Local News Desert" - the dissolution of smaller local news outlets, discussing the decline of readership seen by newspapers, the economics of small businesses, the importance journalism plays in your community and the online future for regional reporting.
If you'd like to learn more about Steve Sherlock and the news Franklin Matters brings to the Franklin community, you can visit their here: https://www.franklinmatters.org/
If you'd like to learn more about Alan Earls and the reporting done from Franklin Observer, you can visit them here: https://franklinobserver.town.news/
Audio file -> https://more-perfect-union.captivate.fm/episode/057-the-local-news-crisis
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Franklin.TV: A More Perfect Union (audio) |
Monday, July 18, 2022
Reminder: first session of "How to Spot Misinformation Online" Monday, Jul 18 at 1 PM
When:
“This free short course from MediaWise for Seniors will teach you how to tell what’s true and false on the internet. By looking at examples of political, health, travel and climate misinformation, you will learn techniques for identifying false information and how to seek out trustworthy sources.
Christiane Amanpour, Joan Lunden, Lester Holt, Hari Sreenivasan and Dave Jorgenson — MediaWise Ambassadors — will also pop in to share their advice as experienced journalists to help you navigate information on platforms like Google, Facebook and more.”
The online course is listed as taking 1-2 hours. We have scheduled 2 one hour sessions to allow for discussion and following links to research current examples along the way.
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How to Spot Misinformation Online - 2 sessions at Franklin Senior Center |
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
How to Spot Misinformation Online - 2 sessions at Franklin Senior Center - Jul 18 & 25
When:
“This free short course from MediaWise for Seniors will teach you how to tell what’s true and false on the internet. By looking at examples of political, health, travel and climate misinformation, you will learn techniques for identifying false information and how to seek out trustworthy sources.
Christiane Amanpour, Joan Lunden, Lester Holt, Hari Sreenivasan and Dave Jorgenson — MediaWise Ambassadors — will also pop in to share their advice as experienced journalists to help you navigate information on platforms like Google, Facebook and more.”
The online course is listed as taking 1-2 hours. We have scheduled 2 one hour sessions to allow for discussion and following links to research current examples along the way.
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How to Spot Misinformation Online - 2 sessions at Franklin Senior Center |
Monday, March 14, 2022
The Guardian provides another view to US news
Death is a topic not well discussed and perhaps even more so when associated with COVID-19. The counting process can be problematic. Everyone needs to be using the same definitions and even in MA, the definition of a COVID death is changing. One thing is clear, the disease is deadly.
one of the 8 charts in the article |
"Sandy Hook review: anatomy of an American tragedy – and the obscenity of social media"
"Even in a country now completely inured to the horrors of mass shootings, the massacre at Sandy Hook remains lodged in the minds of everyone old enough to remember it. Ten years ago, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fired 154 rounds from an AR-15-style rifle in less than five minutes. Twenty extremely young children and six adults were killed.It was the worst elementary school shooting in American history.Elizabeth Williamson’s new book is about that “American Tragedy”, but more importantly it is about “the Battle for Truth” that followed. In excruciating detail, Williamson describes the unimaginable double tragedy every Sandy Hook parent has had to endure: the murder of their child, followed by years and years of an army of online monsters accusing them of inventing this unimaginable horror."
Note: my wife taught kindergarten for 20+ years here in Franklin so the Sandy Hook tragedy hits close to home.
Thursday, February 10, 2022
“What do you think is the strongest argument for the other side?”
"In recent years, the number of nonprofits and initiatives that could be categorized under a concept called “bridging” has expanded in the U.S.: Millions of Conversations, The People’s Supper and Good Conflict are just a few. Some efforts build on conflict resolution practices at a large scale (think social psychology) or individual (think marriage counseling), and all aim to create strong conditions for talking and working together across various fault lines.Looking at this expanding list, it’s easy to wonder what journalists — who are faced with their own challenges in reaching people with shared conversation and facts — might learn from them. But why, amid all other pressures on their work and livelihood, might they want to?"
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/articles/journalism-bridging-monica-guzman/ |
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MÓNICA GUZMÁN - BRIDGE BUILDER | AUTHOR | JOURNALIST |
Sunday, December 26, 2021
How the Media Covered Voting Rights in 2020
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Monday, September 27, 2021
Dan Rather: We Need a New Vocabulary For Our Politics...
Terminology is always key. I have told a story that grass is green, Your grass maybe greener than mine or vice versa, but we both know 'green grass'. When it comes to ordering a particular shade of green, the color match becomes critical and the terminology plays more of a role. Emerald green, lime green, dark green... You get the point.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
FM #559 - Don Wilding talks "Shipwrecks of Cape Cod" - 06/01/21 (audio)
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Franklin resident and author Don Wilding. We had our conversation outdoors, on the Town Common, albeit with some traffic and a gentle breeze. We were able to remove the sounds of the one truck that interfered. We had a pleasant talk about Don’s story, living in different parts of the Hockomock League area and now here in Franklin.
It was exciting to be in person, my second time for a recording this year. We get into Don’s recent book: Shipwrecks of Cape Cod. He is out on a lecture circuit of sorts with a presentation on this book.
The recording runs about 33 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Don Wilding
Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/d9d1ec1a-fcbe-4527-9c85-e09fe9d3fb87
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Don Wilding’s page -> https://www.dwcapecod.com/
Shipwrecks of Cape Cod -> https://www.dwcapecod.com/books-articles
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/donwildingscapecod/
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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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Steve Sherlock (left) Don Wilding (right) on the Town Common |
Friday, January 8, 2021
New York Times: Don't loose this Pentagon papers story in the midst of everything else going on
"There was one story Neil Sheehan chose not to tell. It was the story of how he had obtained the Pentagon Papers, the blockbuster scoop that led to a 1971 showdown between the Nixon administration and the press, and to a Supreme Court ruling that is still seen as a milepost in government-press relations.
From the moment he secured the 7,000 pages of classified government documents on the Vietnam War for The New York Times, until his death on Thursday, Mr. Sheehan, a former Vietnam War correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, declined nearly every invitation to explain precisely how he had pulled it off.
In 2015, however, at a reporter’s request, he agreed to tell his story on the condition that it not be published while he was alive. Beset by scoliosis and Parkinson’s disease, he recounted, in a four-hour interview at his home in Washington, a tale as suspenseful and cinematic as anyone in Hollywood might concoct."