Can tech companies avoid a section 230 repeal?
NBC can't even report accurately on itself; tech is increasingly walking on eggshells; Donald Trump has a good tweet? And, a kid killed himself over bad UX design
Photo by Christina Warner on Unsplash
Dear Readers (especially those considering a Scooby-Doo revenge scheme),
It’s been a helluva week for news.
Coronavirus is surging back with 119,000 deaths across the United States.
At least 20 Indian soldiers were beaten to death with sticks and stones in an armed conflict with Chinese forces along the highly contested Line of Actual Control. It’s the first time in 45 years a conflict between the two nuclear powers has been deadly.
The United States Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination based on sex. A milestone event that during any other year, let alone pride month, would have been plastered across every screen, front-page, and ad-campaign this side of the galaxy.
NBC’s self-misreporting, still not corrected
NBC News
[The Goonies spoilers ahead]
The other night, my local drive in theater was doing a double feature of The Goonies and Back to The Future. I love Back to The Future, so after a long day of kayaking and some horrible cherry shaved ice double date, my girlfriend, our friends, and I decided to go catch the screening. I haven’t seen The Goonies in years, and honestly I don’t remember much of it even from a few nights ago. It’s an adult movie that feels like it was written for kids, and the pacing, plot, and characters gave me second hand embarrassment. The one part of the movie that I did like was the character Chunk (Jeff Cohen, Ask Max). The stereotypical chunky kid with a boy-who-cried-wolf dynamic, Chunk has real growth throughout the movie and gains the respect of his peers and community. His character traits are by far the best used throughout the script. A klutz, Chunk’s butter-fingers and knack for breaking everything he gets his hands on is established early, and is often used by the gang to accomplish tasks without Chunk really being aware of his own misuse at the hands of his friends.
How does this have anything to do with NBC News Verification Unit staffer misreporting her own actions? The gang using Chunk to break glass and doors is NBC reporting The Federalist to Google. The Goonies making fun of Chunk and treating him like he’s not a valued member of the group is NBC congratulating itself for stopping a “far-right” website, and Chunk finding Sloth and inevitably saving the day is Google immediately stating that it had not cut The Federalist from its ad network, and everyone realizing that NBC had lied.
There are no jewels in this story, however. NBC still has its article up, most people probably don’t care unless they’re on the right or one of the few journalists who still give a shit. The stinky bit is that NBC hasn’t even corrected its original article. Any imbecilic who suffered through four years of journalism school knows that corrections are a keystone of journalistic integrity.
I say “lied” instead of “misreported” because, at a certain point, there should still be some rugged floor which any piece below is well agreed upon as a deliberate falsehood. The NBC News Verification Unit staffer, Adele-Momoko Fraser, is at such a point within the company, and in her career, where misreporting a story about herself, and her company should come with professional punishment. A suspension at least, with pay—as in this trying time I cannot imagine a scenario where somebody should be cut off from their income—and an apology from NBC itself. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like The Federalist or hate what it preaches, letting a media company—let alone NBC—sleaze by without so much as it issuing a correction is dangerous to a free and open press.
You can read more details about the story in my original article here.
A 20-year-old Robinhood customer killed himself after seeing a $730,000 negative balance
As reported by Forbes, on June 12th, a 20-year-old college student and user of the mobile brokerage firm Robinhood took his own life. I’m not going to write about the incident itself. If you’re interested, please feel free to read the Forbes article.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
Tweet of the Week
I swear, it’s not about the context. I’m just of the opinion that Donald Trump has genuinely hilarious moments. This tweet is so obviously a bait it’s amazing that it got on trending in the US. Like, your “nobody likes you” tweet will really make a difference. It’s at the point where looking at what flies on Twitter these days goes so far beyond even what we’ve come to know as virtue signaling that I wouldn’t be surprised if the Twitter bird took a bath in Lake Springfield.
Your weekly media critique
Lex Villena
Blocked and Reported
Turns out, getting canceled can be the watershed moment of your career.
Former New York Post staffer Jesse Singal and accomplished freelancer and former The Stranger writer Katie Herzog host the podcast, Blocked and Reported. A casual and informed conversation between the two about the week in cancel culture. I’ve enjoyed this podcast so much that they’ve become the first project I’ve supported on Patreon, and I highly recommend supporting them if you care about fact-based journalism.
What I really enjoy about Herzog and Singal is their playful and entertaining dialogue. You can genuinely tell both hosts enjoy working together, and some of the show’s most endearing moments come at one host making a joke at the other’s expense. What might appeal to listeners, however, is their obvious expertise and respectful dialog. Listening to Blocked and Reported takes me back to the good old summer of ‘16, when we could all actually have a conversation and not be afraid we’d all be tried in kangaroo court for having different informed opinions. I highly recommend giving them a listen.
Digiday Podcast feat. Steve Hayes of The Dispatch
We don’t need your clicks
Steve Hayes, founder of The Dispatch, was on the Digiday Podcast talking about the young publications subscription based publication model and its role in the live your life news cycle. The Dispatch is also built on Substack and the premier example of how publications can work on a platform otherwise designed for individual newsletters. Of course, the team at Substack worked with The Dispatch to build a custom solution, but inspecting The Dispatch is a great way to get a sense of what’s coming down the pipeline to us other writers. I’m most excited about custom domains.
A plea to you, the reader
The Scratch is now Ham Typed. As I’ve been working on rebranding the newsletter, I’ve ran into a few roadblocks. Namely, I currently don’t have a computer capable of image editing. If any of my readers are graphic designers, I’m looking to commission a set of logos and graphics for the newsletter, website, and social media. If you’re interested, please get in touch with me here.
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