How Tech Will Probably Save Journalism - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 5/25/2017

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The conventional wisdom is that tech is threatening journalism. I don't think so. I'll explain why in my 100% opinion column this week. Plus a recap of the top news to follow. Enjoy!

CLOSER LOOK - Politico reported today that New York Magazine’s Lauren Kern took the job as Editor-in-Chief of Apple News. Apple News does curation, not original reporting, but presumably Apple wants people with news sense who can identify the quality sources and weed out the bad ones. Eddy Cue has previously said Apple wants someone to vet news providers for legitimacy.

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/14/eddy-cue-apple-combat-fake-news/ 

This made me think of all the consternation about journalism. Let me say right up front that journalism is definitely in a tough transition. I also believe quality journalism is important. The trend towards hating the media may be well-deserved in some quarters but that doesn’t mean good journalism isn’t being done.

And I don’t think journalism is in as dire straits as some believe. The cry about journalism usually rests on the following points.

1. Ad revenue and print circulation are declining

2. Ad blockers prevent publications from making up revenue online

3. Cheap operations with clickbait headlines are reducing readership online.

Usually the remedies involve paywalls, and raising public awareness about the need for quality journalism.

Those are reasonable options but I don’t think either one of them work. Paywalls generally drive casual readers away. They work great for specialty publications like The Information, because the readers are dedicated. They may even work great for a specialty publication as big as the Wall Street Journal. But for general interest papers they are a form of punishing the readers you want to attract. The New York Times has created the most precarious balance between the two but it remains to be seen if it will work and if it’s sustainable.

Raising public awareness might help a few outlets. It’s the kind of thing that keeps NPR afloat. But again you have to have a dedicated audience that already cares.

So what then? Will tech kill quality journalism?

Let me present a few other points to consider.

1. There has never been more journalism available to you. Rather than a daily newspaper, three local TV stations and a  handful of radio stations you have unlimited options for news. That kind of unprecedented competition will take years, likely decades, to sort itself out. The models of coverage, much less monetization, that worked in regional markets do not work in a global one. Regionalism now works by appeal, not by geography. I choose to consume my city’s news because I live here, not because it’s forced upon me.

2. Every news outlet now publishes in all formats. Pre-Internet, it didn’t make sense for a TV station to also do a  newspaper. It required a whole other set of infrastructure. Now, every TV station has a website, every newspaper does video., and everybody does audio. No longer do you read the newspaper in the morning listen to the radio on the way to work and watch TV news in the afternoon. That model allowed each outlet to compete only with those who were also in its format. Now all TV stations, radio stations and newspapers compete against each other. Your local news options tripled because of the Web. And if they’re all covering the same thing, that’s going to split the market too thin. We need a shakeout on local scenes to happen. If a few quality outlets merged they would have no problem squashing the smaller clickbait sites, in my opinion.

3. Local news shouldn’t be national or international. Again, when you read one newspaper in the morning it needed to have all the news. Now you can go to world sources from anywhere for international news, and national outlets for national news. Your local sources just can’t compete. And they shouldn’t. A common complaint is that local news is under covered, and yet local outlets continue to chase national and international news in competition with much larger and more experienced outlets.

I think it’s worth considering that there are plenty of quality journalists out there and plenty of quality outlets. Over time we may, and probably should, lose a few venerable old news organizations, especially on the local level, but that will allow the remaining ones to get workable audiences and concentrate talented staff. Some of those will be old media that make the transition some won’t.

One model for what I think may happen is tech publications. Almost none sit behind a paywall. Ad dollars still aren't easy but they are there. I think that’s because tech journalism was never as overpopulated. You never had local tech news. And we also saw publications die off quickly as the Web took hold fast among the tech-savvy audience. The general news is going through the same thing in slow motion. And yes, it’s painful to watch.

So it’s going to take time. It will not be easy. And the answers are not obvious for any individual outlet. But ion the end reduced cost of publication and distribution will allow quality journalism to survive. 

NEWS RECAP

Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that patent infringement suits can only be filed in courts located in the jurisdiction where the targeted company is incorporated. This overturned a ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that suits could be brought anywhere a company’s products are sold. Kraft had filed a suit against Heartland beverages of Indiana in Delaware court. More than 40% of patent lawsuits in the US are filed in the Eastern District of Texas. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-kraft-heinz-idUSKBN18I1SZ 

The US FCC voted 2-1 in favor of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would eliminate the Title II classification of ISPs and seek comment on what if anything should replace the existing Open Internet Guidelines that rely on Title II classification as their justification. The FCC plans to take comments until August 16. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/net-neutrality-goes-down-in-flames-as-fcc-votes-to-kill-title-ii-rules/ 

Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro— no numbers this time— at an event in Shanghai. The power-efficient Kaby Lake chip and some other tweaks let Microsoft claim 13.5 hours of battery life. Otherwise the hardware is similar to the Surface Pro 4, including no USB-C ports. A version with LTE built-in will eventually be offered. The Surface Pen now has 4,096 levels of sensitivity up from 1024 including tilt sensitivity, but must be bought separately for $99. Platinum, burgundy, and cobalt blue cloth covered Surface Pro Type Covers will be available separately at $159 and a black non-cloth model for $129. Pre-orders start today starting at $799 for shipping in 26 countries June 15. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/05/surface-pro-updated-at-last-kaby-lake-gives-longer-battery-life-but-still-no-modern-ports/ 

Microsoft also announced a new version of Windows 10 customized for government use in China. It uses China’s own encryption scheme and a joint venture manages system updates, instead of having them provided directly by Microsoft. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-23/microsoft-unveils-new-surface-pro-device-to-reverse-sales-drop 

Sources tell Reuters Facebook has signed deals with Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, Group Nine Media and others to make original video shows. A new video service from Facebook would have long and short-form content with ad breaks. Scripted shows would run 20-30 minutes and unscripted shows range 5- 10 minutes long. Facebook is supposedly paying up to $250,000 for the longer shows and between $10,000 and $35,000 for the shorter episodes. Shows will premiere exclusively on Facebook but run on creators sites after a period of time. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-tv-idUSKBN18K2U0 

The Guardian published what it says are leaked policy guidelines for Facebook moderators, describing when to remove posts. The Guardian published excerpts from around 100 manuals it obtained. One broad principle quoted said, “We aim to allow as much speech as possible but draw the line at content that could credibly cause real world harm.” http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-moderation-idUSKBN18I04A 

Google announced Google Attribution which uses machine learning to estimate how real world, video ads, banner ads, emails and other materials contribute to a customer transaction. Google Attribution is free in beta but will eventually charge for enterprise pro deployment. Google also has begun including analysis of credit card transactions to help determine when digital advertising led to real world purchases. https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/23/google-attribution-is-a-free-and-easy-way-to-evaluate-marketing-efforts/ 

-- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23/google-now-knows-when-you-are-at-a-cash-register-and-how-much-you-are-spending/?utm_term=.fdafa7fcc7ad 

Google introduced “Family Group”  to make it easier to share calendars, photos, notes and content. Family Group supports up to six people with one person designated as the manager who can create accounts for children under 13, set payment methods, and choose services. Parent accounts can approve Play purchases and change content restrictions.   https://9to5google.com/2017/05/23/google-family-group-sharing-photos-calendar-youtube/ 

A court filing says Uber has told Anthony Levandowski he must hand over any files he took from Google or his job with Uber will be terminated. Waymo, formerly Google’ autonomous car effort, is suing Uber over theft of trade secrets. Levandowski has pleaded fifth amendment protection, meaning he need not incriminate himself by admitting he has the documents. However the court has ordered Uber to hand over the documents, meaning they must comply or fire Levandowski so that any documents he has are no longer under Uber’s control. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-tech-alphabet-lawsuit-idUSKCN18E399 

The Chaos Computer Club were able to unlock a Samsung Galaxy S8, using a picture of the users’ Iris. An image of a user’s iris can be obtained from a high resolution picture or taken from up to five meters away using a 200mm lens in night-shot mode or with the infrared filter disabled. The club printed a picture of the iris on a high-quality Samsung laser printer and placed a contact lens on top of it to mimic the curvature of the eye.   http://www.securityweek.com/hackers-defeat-samsung-galaxy-s8-iris-scanner 

Microsoft’s Xbox One game subscription service called Game Pass will launch June 1st. Subscribers get access to more than 100 Xbox One and 360 games for $10 a month. Game Pass subscribers can download the games and purchase them for a discount. Xbox Live Gold subscribers can get access to Game Pass starting now. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/24/15684972/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-subscription-launch-date 

Sources tell Reuters Facebook has signed deals with Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, Group Nine Media and others to make original video shows. A new video service from Facebook would have long and short-form content with ad breaks. Scripted shows would run 20-30 minutes and unscripted shows range 5- 10 minutes long. Facebook is supposedly paying up to $250,000 for the longer shows and between $10,000 and $35,000 for the shorter episodes. Shows will premiere exclusively on Facebook but run on creators sites after a period of time. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-tv-idUSKBN18K2U0 

HP announced several laptop upgrades Monday. HP Elite x2, a tablet with a detachable keyboard case now uses Core i processors, in place of Core m. That means processing power gets a big boost though battery life drops from 10 to 8 hours. Screen resolution improved to 3000 x 2000 and the hard drive bumped up to a 360 GB SSD. The Elite x2 goes on sale next month starting at $999.99. The Elite 13 gets a little thinner and adds a USB-C port. The Elite 13 starts at $1,049.99. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/22/15667472/hp-spectre-x2-envy-13-laptop-upgrades 

Acer announced two new 10-inch Android 7.0 tablets at Computex in Taipei. The Iconia Tab 10 and Iconia One 10. Both tablets have wide-viewing-angle IPS display, and DTS-HD Premium sound and promise up to 8 hours of battery life. The Tab 10 comes with a quantum dot display. Acer also announced the 15.6-inch Nitro 5 laptop with a GTX 1050 Ti graphics card in the US and China  in July for $799 and wide release in August and the 11.6-inch Spin 1 convertible for $329 in July. https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/05/acer-intros-iconia-tab-10-one-10-tablets-with-android-7-0.html 

-- https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/24/15685562/gogoro-2-price-range-availability-taiwan-batteries