Mark Potts

You're all wondering, as you should: "Who is National Public Data and why did it have all my personal information, since I never granted that outfit permission?" It's a backgrounding company that other companies use to see if they are about to hire a criminal by accident. It specializes in "fraud prevention." (Calling The Onion!) For what it's worth, National Public Data's About Us page looks like it was set up by a someone in a very big hurry, so I don't blame you for not trusting it. https://lnkd.in/eFUajsxe

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Hi all. My latest column published on my Substack, Just the Business, takes a look at Infratil's plans to accelerate development at its 48.2% owned CDC Data

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I have a new article on Substack: How I correctly predicted the 2024 election results one month in advance! https://lnkd.in/gPmKhrg9

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You’ve probably seen a lot of headlines pointing out that red states outpace blue states with clean tech growth — including here at Cipher! — so we set out to dig deeper to determine the “why” behind this trend by interviewing renewable energy developers, lawyers, economists and analysts involved in the U.S. energy transition. The answer lies in a mix of natural resources and regulatory policies that give these states “the competitive edge,” especially when IRA credits are factored in, said Peter Gardett, head of research at Karbone, a New York-based firm specializing in decarbonization and renewable markets. In other words, development goes where the economics make sense — even if the politics don’t. Read more from Amena H. Saiyid in Cipher News:

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Very interesting discussion of code switching here and using that term re: Vance's identity, something I'd considered, but not seen in previous stories

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Chatbots are a risky for endeavor for newsrooms (automated and highly-visible), and political chatbots more so. Kudos to Ryan Serpico and all others involved in the development of this fantastic new tool to ask questions about Kamala Harris via San Francisco Chronicle. I like that there's a link to editorial guidelines right there, and a detailed rundown of how it works. And a feedback form! This is a template for anyone looking to do the same at your newsroom. And, if you're looking for AI guidelines before experimenting (as you should), the Poynter Institute has a free template (in the comments)

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The Role of Trusted #Journalism Has Never Been More Critical – With the craziness of upcoming elections and recent revelations about culture in parts of media, it’s clear our industry isn’t always painting itself in glory, sometimes it feels far from it. From concerns about transparency to questions of integrity, bias, agenda, misrepresentation, or just straight-up garbage... the media landscape faces immense scrutiny and criticism. However, this isn’t a fight for journalists or those working in the #media industry. It’s a fight for all of us - for an informed, engaged and empowered public that can think critically, not be fooled and make well-rounded decisions. All of our industry must do better and rise above. Our society must demand better, as being informed is essential. I argue that there has never been a more crucial time to understand what is happening around us. I read some recent industry studies highlighting a major shift in news habits among younger audiences, with social media becoming a primary news source. In the UK, 71% of 16- to 24-year-olds rely on social media for news, with 47% of adults doing the same. Instagram (44%) and TikTok (29%) lead the pack. Think about that for a second... What a scary thought: without editorial checks, anyone can say anything and algorithms create echo chambers that reinforce beliefs. It’s no wonder divides are growing and real debate is taking a backseat. We’re making people dumber by prioritising clicks over truth. And many major media companies have been forced to follow suit in the name of staying "competitive"... adopting tabloid styles, click-baiting and chasing cheap eyeballs. As a result, getting to the trustworthy, in-depth reporting from their great journalists (of which they have many) has become challenging (almost impossible) amid all the noise and distraction. This dangerous cycle must be broken. #News should inform, enlighten and elevate conversation, not dumb it down or exploit impulses for clicks. We need to reclaim news’ essence, where facts matter and well-researched stories are valued. Now, more than ever, we must advocate, fund and support high-quality journalism. This means supporting (subscribing to) outlets committed to fact-checking, balanced reporting and genuinely informing their subscribers and readers. Decent #journalists should refuse to put up with demands to "dumb it down", stand up and be seen, be loud and proud. When news falls into click-driven traps, we should call it out and demand better. It’s up to all of us – for an informed, engaged and critically thinking society. I want my kids to grow up to be part of a WA that is well informed, values truth, critical thinking and meaningful conversation. I demand that from myself every day, I demand it from our team at Business News (and I'm so proud of how they take it so seriously) now I demand it from our industry - for all of us and for the generations to come. Would love to know what you all think...?

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This Gallup piece is interesting. On the one hand, it's disheartening, though not surprising, to see such a partisan gap in trust in media. Has anyone studied why this is? Can (should?) anything be done about this? On a perhaps separate note, it's encouraging is to see how Rs and Ds both seem to have a lot of trust in local government: https://lnkd.in/gKdePu-M. Maybe if you see government in action, you trust it. Would something similar be true for journalism? Genuine questions.

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My latest column for Real Clear Politics asks how the dominant media can betray most every principle of journalism and still believe their doing their job: "To figure out why they persist in this untoward conduct, daily compromising the values of skepticism, fairness, and bringing truth to power that they say they hold dear, we need to ask: What higher value do they believe they are serving? What do they tell themselves so they can see their corruption as heroic?" https://lnkd.in/eZpUXRgZ

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AI-powered data analysis and visualization have in no small measure impacted the journalism profession by making the work less cumbersome for journalists working on data-driven reports. A tool like Google Pinpoint uses the best of AI and Search technology to help journalists easily go through large amounts of documents, audio files, and video. With Pinpoint’s latest feature, you’ll be able to quickly export structured data into Google Sheets. You’ll also learn how Pinpoint can help transcribe audio and video in multiple languages.

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Worth reading from NiemanLab: Readers prefer to click on a clear, simple headline — like this one By David Markowitz, Hillary Shulman and Todd Rogers In an era when people trust news less than ever, how can journalists break through and attract the attention of average people to provide information about their communities, the nation and the world? By not complicating things. Our research, published in Science Advances, shows that simple headlines significantly increase article engagement and clicks compared with headlines that use complex language. In our research, typical news readers preferred simple headlines over complex ones. But importantly, we found that those who actually write headlines — journalists themselves — did not. We first used data from The Washington Post and Upworthy to see how language features, such as word length and how common a word is, changed how many people clicked on an article’s headline. These datasets included over 31,000 randomized experiments — also known as A/B tests — that compared two or more headline versions of the same underlying article to determine which one generated the most clicks. Headlines with more common words — simple words like “job” instead of “occupation” — shorter headlines, and those communicated in a narrative style, with more pronouns compared with prepositions, received more clicks. For example, The Washington Post headline, “Meghan and Harry are talking to Oprah. Here’s why they shouldn’t say too much” outperformed the alternative headline, “Are Meghan and Harry spilling royal tea to Oprah? Don’t bet on it.” This example illustrates how sometimes a more straightforward headline can generate more interest. In follow-up laboratory experiments, we found that typical news readers focused more on simple rather than complex headlines because the writing was easier to understand. When journalists participated in the same experiments, they didn’t show any preference for simple headlines over complex ones. Put differently: Those who write the news appear to be less responsive to simple writing than regular audiences. Generations of communication consultants have advised that communicators follow the rather crass acronym KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid. We suggest a modified version applied for journalists. Since KISJ isn’t all that simple, we propose: Keep It Simple, Staffers. Simplicity increases the number of people who click on a news story headline and improves reader recall of the material in the article. Most importantly, simplicity boosts reader engagement, such as how much attention they pay to the information.

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Join us for an important conversation next week about platform design and elections with Glenn E., Ravi Iyer, Kaili L., and Nicole Schneidman - how is tech getting in the way and/or facilitating election integrity? 🤔 https://lu.ma/59uxawc5

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Defending Digital Campaigns Michael Kaiser sheds light on the tactics used by bad actors in election interference, emphasizing their goal could be to sow chaos and apathy rather than influence voting. “They’re trying to divide us at another level,” he said. “For some bad actors, the misinformation and disinformation is not about how you vote. It's just that we're divided.” Learn more in Paige Gross’s article in States Newsroom about combating misinformation and disinformation in the upcoming elections. #Misinformation #Disinformation #Election2024 #ArtificialIntelligence #AI https://lnkd.in/eBypvBP6

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Ofc, the channel is already full of you know what. https://lnkd.in/gF38xxTy. #democracy #journalism #disinformation #electionintegrity

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