Journalism student wins Pulitzer, Israel, Brands and Alexa, Quoting Enough Women, Microsoft's new $22,000 mega-tablet, Instagram addiction, Charlie Rose and #MeToo, Facebook's “Bad” Content Report, Staged Lambos, Google News' plans to pop your filter bubble

1. Week 7, Spring 2018
J408/508: Demystifying the Media
10 things you need to know this week

2. Meet the journalism student who
found out she won a Pulitzer in class
• Mariel Padilla, 23, master’s student at Columbia Journalism School
• She worked with more 59 journalists in a 7-day intense chronicle about the
Cincinnati's heroin crisis. Here’s the Inquirer's story.
• “Seven days of heroin” by The Cincinnati Enquirer
• The staff from The Cincinnati Enquirer won the prize on local reporting
• As intern, she was in the right place, at the right time
• But, she made the difference. In her own initiative, she developed a database
for all the reporters. There, she documented the time, location and the nature
of every opioid-related arrest.
• “She knows exactly how to find a story out of data and ask the
right questions; that’s one of the most important skills.”
www.tiagocosta.photography
https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/mariel-padilla-pulizter-cincinnnati.php

3. Israel on Split Screen
https://www.politico.com/media/tipsheets/morning-media
Summary + cite Industry Source you found this in
• Under the Trump Admin, the U.S. has moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
• Monday was supposed to be a big media win for the Trump Administration. The networks were
all primed to provide ample coverage -- Big media win for Palestine
• An awkward split screen played out in the media when many died during the protests
• The smiling faces of dignitaries (Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu) airing on
one side contrasted greatly with the scenes of violence and chaos in Gaza.
What surprised you/why this matters
• Liberal and conservative outlets, including FOX, were quick to cover the chaos in Gaza and
success/celebration in Jerusalem
• Additionally, the decision hinders any positive movement of a peace agreement or a two state
solution in the near future
Julia Teitelbaum

4. How brands can keep their identity while using Alexa’s voice
https://www.prweek.com/article/1464417/brands-keep-identity-using-alexas-voice
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/finally-ask-alexa-order-pizza-dominos-uk/1440852
Summary + cite Industry Source you found this in:
• Amazon Alexa has grown dramatically since its birth in 2017 with over 50 billion
searches.
• Brands are retaining their identity and personality by creating key phrases.
• For example:
• Domino’s AI personality, Dom, is on hand to respond to customer questions with a
quirky and fun tone of voice that reflects Domino’s brand.
• Although, Dom will not speak in his own voice, he still has to use Alexa's.
What surprised you/why this matters:
• With the way tech is constantly growing and our ability to produce AI, I was surprised
how difficult and how strong of barriers there are to create a new voice.
• Why aren't they able to produce different voices such as male, female, accents and
etc.?
• Why this matters is because it shows how evolved our world has become/is becoming
with AI technology as well as the strong emergence of voice, but it also highlights the
laziness of the new public (need a code or can just order freely? Kids..)
Lauren Terry

5. I’m Not Quoting Enough Women by David Leonhardt
https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?u=d4573d74e237e345f9abc9034&id=08a9eae102
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/opinion/women-sexism-journalism-conferences.html
Summary
• Adrienne LaFrance was a freelance journalist who decided to explore the gender breakdown of the people she was
quoting. What she expected was different than the results. Only 25 % of her quoted sources were women--similar to
the overall share in media.
• Since LaFrance’s work, the underrepresentation of women's voices has been recognized and addressed.
-For example, Ed Young (The Atlantic) wrote a piece on how he was working to quote more women.
• David Leonhardt addressed the skepticism that some people had about efforts to quote more women: “The problem
isn’t journalism or panels, and it’s silly to pretend otherwise. Many fields remain dominated by men. Of course their
voices are more prominent. Let’s work on the pipeline, not some kind of quotation quota.”
-The pipeline: making sure men and women have equal opportunities to serve in government, run organizations and
become experts.
-Journalists and organizers aren’t going to solve the gender imbalance by themselves.
• “All of which means that journalists aren’t being neutral if they just go about their business and pretend to ignore gender.
They are allowing sexism to help dictate their sources — and are perpetuating the problem.
• What surprised you/why this matters
-Women in several professional fields have got together to create female-expert lists.
-Brookings Institution will launch a database of female experts in technology.
-Hundreds of men have signed a petition to not accept a position on an all-male panel.
-Website ‘Gender Avenger ‘ keep statistical data on panales and guest appearances
-Tumblr called “Congrats you have an all male panel” → manels Emily Poole

6. Microsoft is launching a new version of its $22,000
mega-tablet - and it looks super futuristic
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-hub-2-price-details-availability-2018-5
Summary
• Microsoft unveiled the Surface Hub 2, a mega-sized 50.5-inch Windows 10 tablet for
conference rooms (launches 2019).
• Users will have the power to switch the tablet from portrait to landscape orientation due
to an incorporated hinge on the back.
• Can combine multiple Surface Hub 2s and converge them into one big screen.
• Thinner and lighter then the Surface Hub 1 (83 inches).
• What surprised you/why this matters
• I found this interesting because of the push for more interactive technology
combining physical space and user interaction.
• Could lead to more practical uses such as incorporating this idea in homes,
schools, etc. (Made me think of sci-fi movies where everything is touchscreen).
• Implication: price isn’t practical - limits the target market.
Charlie Walton

7. Instagram will soon show you just how
addicted you are to the app
Summary + cite Industry Source you found this in:
• Instagram is planning a new feature that will show people how much time they spend on
the app.
• The new feature was uncovered by computer scientist Jane Manchun Wong, and
confirmed by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom.
• More tech companies are trying to introduce time management features to fend off
criticism that they encourage people to spend too much time on their phones.
What surprised you/why this matters
• This matters because our addiction to social media tends to be excessive, and we never
know when to stop using social media platforms like Instagram.
• Hopefully, features like this will bring self-awareness to all of us about how much time we
spend on social media and why we should manage our time on social media platforms.
• Features like this should bring awareness to tech companies, as well, to deliver better
usage controls to devices for children.
Kaulana Dilliner
http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-addiction-time-spent-usage-insights-2018-5

8. Charlie Rose accuser: Don’t call him a villian
Summary
• Kyle Godfrey Ryan says people are multifaceted and Charlie
Rose is brilliant and a predator
• People should reflect on themselves
• What surprised you/why this matters
• Recent events, #metoo trend
• Opposite viewpoint
• Personally unsure
Hannah Lee
CNN’s Reliable Sources (https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/05/06/charlie-rose-accuser-kyle-godfrey-ryan-villain-sot-
rs.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/)

9. Facebook “Bad” Content Report
Summary(http://adage.com/article/digital/brands-care-facebook-s-report-nudity-hate/313527/)
• Facebook released it first internal study on “bad” content
• Out of 21 million posts, 96% managed to be taken down before viewed
• Facebook users do not associate ads with surrounding content
• uses AI to find posts - harder for things like hate speech
• What surprised you/why this matters
• Facebook continues to be transparent
• impressed by numbers
• slightly skeptical of motive
• AI on the rise
Elise Lee

10. Lamborghinis lined the street outside a massive NYC
cryptocurrency conference, but it turns out they were
only staged rentals
Summary-http://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrency-exchange-rents-lamborghinis-to-park-outside-consensus-2018-5
-A cryptocurrency exchange used expensive Lamborghinis as a way to
entice consumers to invest. The cars were not owned by anyone who
attended the convention in New York City… they were rented for a hefty
price
-What surprised you/why this matters
• This shows false advertising at its finest… because they’re implying that investing in
cryptocurrency is a great idea when in reality it’s risky
• This shows how people want to acquire wealth and status. BitMex, the company
that staged the cars knew how to target their audience to used the cars as a way to
get more money in their pocket.
Maddie Groh

11. Google News has a new feature that may
just pop your filter bubble
Summary
• Google launched their AI Google News app called “Full Coverage”
• https://thenextweb.com/google/2018/05/17/google-news-has-a-
new-feature-that-may-just-pop-your-filter-bubble/
• What surprised you/why this matters
• Unlike most other news app, “Full Coverage” shows differing
opinions
• Algorithms have limited the amount of viewpoints we consume in
media and this app removes algorithms entirely so you can view
stories that you normally would not be exposed to.
Savanna Puccinelli