#ubergate

[tinyasafirefly]

Amelia isn’t here for fun facts so I will fill in with what rattles around in my head: did you know ghosts aren’t fun to drink with because they can’t hold their boos

[techboomtv-blog]

Uber: Rides of Glory

[thenewsaboutnews]

Obama’s Immigration Speech, UberGate Round 3, Adnan Syed’s Family Speaks Out

Some major US network’s didn’t air Obama’s speech. Why?

In a short post, Quartz highlights what was aired on the four major US networks while President Barack Obama delivered a speech on immigration, that needless to say, has been met with much controversy. Instead of airing Obama’s decision to grant work permits to as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants, and shield them from deportation, NBC aired an episode of The Biggest Loser. CBS went with The Big Bang Theory, ABC opted for Grey’s Anatomy, and Fox also aired a TV show, Bones. Quartz says it was a ratings-driven decision.

Giving a slightly different perspective on the issue, Mediaite on the other hand says that at least three of those networks weren’t even asked to air the speech. Rather than ask CBS, NBC and ABC to air the speech, as they have done in the past, the White House seems to have satisfied itself with the knowledge that the speech will be livestreamed, and of course will be aired by major news networks, like CNN. Other pre-speech theories suggest that Obama was speaking to a niche audience. But immigration laws are certainly no niche topic.

Either way, it says a lot about how these major networks are perceived, whether by themselves or from the outside looking in. Hulu and Netflix offer a flexibility they can’t, as does the simple act of streaming a speech online wherever you have an internet connection and a laptop, tablet, or even phone - no TV necessary.

Read Obama’s full speech here

Here’s one very real example of how Obama’s decision will affect a prominent journalist and unauthorized immigrant - Jose Antonio Vargas (Regardless of what Bill O’Reilly thinks.)

UberGate Round 3

UberGate doesn’t want to go away. BuzzFeed has dug a little deeper (forgive the pun) and has found that Uber was seeking to hire “opposition researchers” to dig up dirt, but not on journalists. Instead, according to some confidential recruiting documents BuzzFeed managed to get its hands on - they were planning on digging up dirt on their competition.

And with BuzzFeed’s direct involvement with Ben Smith blowing the lid off the story in the first place, should he have disclosed the fact that “BuzzFeed chairman (and backer) Ken Lerer is an investor in Uber rival Sidecar, and BuzzFeed investor Andreessen Horowitz is backing Uber rival Lyft.” Smith says no.  

Adnan Syed’s family speaks out

Following a highly emotional and charged episode of Serial (I won’t go into any details in case you haven’t heard it yet, and if you haven’t, go listen to it now), CBS published the first ever interview with Adnan Syed’s family.

Adnan’s younger brother Yusuf tells a CBS reporter Jan Crawford, “It seems like yesterday. It's hard to think back that I once had a family.”

Watch the full interview here.

With no word from Hae Min Lee’s family up until now, someone alleging to be Hae’s brother posted a short message on the Serial subreddit reminding us all again of the moral grey area many people have battled with as they follow the weekly updates: “TO ME ITS REAL LIFE. To you listeners, its another murder mystery, crime drama, another episode of CSI”

NPR advice on engagement

NPR’s social media desk has a few tips from NPR journalists on how to increase engagement online. Some of these include:

Team promotion (Think Kardashians says Emily Viz)

Swear (Yes as in profanity)

Request comments by phone (This is when Google Voice comes in handy)

[h/t Poynter]

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