We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more. Here’s some of what we’ve seen lately.
March 20, 2024
“A lengthy X thread posted by the antifascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective last week claimed that Stonetoss is a man named
Hans Kristian Graebener from Spring, Texas.
Stonetoss cartoons, which feature simple and colorful imagery coupled with racist, homophobic, and antisemitic language, have become hugely popular among right-wing communities since they were first published at least seven years ago.”
—WIRED / David Gilbert
/ Mar 20“Some Western media nevertheless covered this orchestrated drama as if it really were an election. Reporters interviewed voters, cited ‘exit polls,’ even commented on the ‘results,’ as if these things mean anything in a country whose leadership lies openly about everything: economic statistics, war casualties, Russian history. Reuters ran a
headline declaring Putin had won ‘in a landslide.'”
—SCThe Atlantic / Anne Applebaum
/ Mar 20“Millions of people pay attention to the Florida-based Filipkowski, the Minnesota-based Rupar, and the anonymous
Acyn, a video editor in Los Angeles who works under Filipkowski at the activist liberal news site
MeidasTouch. They have a combined 2.3 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, though only Filipkowski pays for a blue check. And their editorial judgments have immense influence on campaign coverage and the political discourse.”
—LOSemafor / David Weigel
/ Mar 20“The A.P. once relied primarily on licensing fees from newspapers but now has a variety of other revenue streams, including a news website, an e-commerce site, and software and production services. According to
an article on its website, fees from U.S. newspapers account for roughly 10 percent of The A.P.’s income.”
—The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson
/ Mar 20“For Reddit…going public feels less like a new beginning for the company than a lifetime achievement award.” —SC
Platformer / Casey Newton
/ Mar 20“A ‘wholesome’ video platform linked to a Chinese spiritual movement and right-wing newspapers looks a lot like YouTube.” —SC
Columbia Journalism Review / Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen
/ Mar 20“Gannett still pays for physical newsrooms for their biggest daily papers in Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Times and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. They said in a statement that two other daily papers still have access to an office: The Gardner News and The New Bedford Standard-Times…That leaves the Milford Daily News, MetroWest Daily News, The Brockton Enterprise, The Fall River Herald News, and the Taunton Daily Gazette working without newsrooms, along with the The Patriot Ledger.” —
Boston.com / Molly Farrar
/ Mar 20March 19, 2024
“The Mexican journalist left Chihuahua in 2008 after he received death threats from the Mexican military due to stories he wrote about their corruption. He came to the U.S. with his son through a border crossing in Antelope Wells, N.M., and applied for political asylum.” —HT
El Paso Matters / Daniel Perez
/ Mar 19“Interviews with 14 witnesses to the attack and colleagues of the slain reporters offer the most detailed account yet of the deadly incident. The Post found no indications that either man was operating as anything other than a journalist that day.” —
The Washington Post / Louisa Loveluck, Imogen Piper, Sarah Cahlan, Hajar Harb, and Hazem Balousha
/ Mar 19“Over the past two months, Slate spoke to more than 30 Pitchfork writers, editors, and executives, past and present—as well as critics, industry luminaries, and some of the musicians whose careers Pitchfork made and destroyed—to tell the story behind the raves, the pans, the festivals, the fights, the indie spirit, the corporate takeover, and, of course, the scores.” —HT
Slate Magazine / Dan Kois, Nitish Pahwa, and Luke Winkie
/ Mar 19
