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So Apple's got its very own newsreader app, aptly called News. It will come natively installed on its iOS 9 mobile operating system this fall. This adds to the list of third parties that publishers have come to rely upon to distribute their stories. Apple says one of the most appealing things about News is stories will look and feel distinctive, as if they're coming directly from publishers' own sites, creating a sense of independent control over their own content.
And yet.
As with its Podcasts app, iTunes, and the App Store, News is Apple's app, which means Apple is the ultimate arbiter of what appears on it. Shortly after announcing News, the company released a publishing guide. So far, it seems targeted largely at developers testing the app and figuring out how to publish on it ahead of its official release. But the guide does say "channels" will need to be approved by Apple, meaning Apple will determine to some extent what is or is not allowed on News.
And this matters at a time when a few prominent tech companies are becoming the stewards of the news millions of people see, read, watch, and experience each day. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter are the entry point for many readers checking the news daily—not to mention Google News. And each has its own standards for what it will and will not allow to appear. Now that Apple has committed to becoming a publisher, another tech giant will be mediating the news that the public consumes. This means the standards Apple chooses to follow will have a direct impact on what millions of readers see—or don't see.
http://www.wired.com/2015/06/apples-news-app-gives-power-decide-whats-news/
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday June 12 2015, @12:04AM
And the New York Times is "all the news thats fit to print." And fairly accurate in as much as if they refuse to print it most of the rest go along with making it an unstory. So meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Is the objection here that Apple is now going to join the club of gatekeepers or that it threatens to replace the old ones? Help me out here. Anybody who limits themselves to ANY of these data silos pretending to be THE news is inherently an uninformed and ignorant semi-savage. Ya gotta graze far and wide across the media landscape to have a clue.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Friday June 12 2015, @12:26AM
No kidding.
Well said, BTW.
Just like the 'blowup' that occurred with Fox News offering to host the Rep. Primaries, but limit it to the 'top ten' candidates.
Now, the Republican Party has a 'clown car' escapade to deal with due to a media corp. trying to play 'gatekeeper', and several more chiming in. *pops popcorn* ;-)
That is one of the side effects of equating freedom of speech with cash, and empowering corporations politically.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @12:31AM
I would read TFA but I'm not touching Wired with anyone's ten foot pole. But from the summary, it sounds like the app is intended to be an aggregator from news sources and the fear is that Apple may not aggregate fairly or without any bias. The reader wouldn't be trying to limit themselves to any single news source. There would be multiple news sources, but Apple would ultimately decide who or what is "newsworthy". Imagine seeing nothing but countless "15 things that Android users don't realize until it's too late" articles from Cracked/Wired/Gizmodo every day, and you have the worst case scenario.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @12:51AM
Google News is an aggregator, and I don't hear a lot of complaints about bias.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 12 2015, @01:18AM
They are "do no evil?" (unless there's shareholders with power)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 12 2015, @10:31AM
I do this, reading left-wing and right-wing sources, and get most of what I consider to be traditional reporting from Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and BBC. But still don't feel informed by any of it, because I worked for an American President and know how much the government and the wealthy manipulate the press and how incredibly lazy journalists are about their job. They like telling stories now more than they like reporting facts.
I don't feel "informed" about anything, though, until I come here and see it dissected by Soylentils who have a clue and have thought about things from an angle I hadn't considered.
Washington DC delenda est.