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posted by martyb on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-you-gonna-trust? dept.

Apple News will feature a dedicated section for 2018 US Midterm Elections 'fact-based' news

Apple is launching a dedicated section in Apple News to cover the US midterm elections. US Apple users will be able to view the latest updates for the election inside the Apple News app through November.

It will feature content from Fox News, Vox and other curated publications including some exclusives from the Washington Post, Axios and Politico.

[...] The midterm section will include features including 'The Conversation', opinion columns from diverse sources, and 'On the Ground' which is more localized reporting to individual constituents.

Apple will have a special news section for the midterm elections, curated by human editors

Apple's longstanding approach of using human editors to select a limited number of stories from reliable sources stands in contrast to Facebook's approach of letting publishers and users post stories, then relying on a mixture of technology and human editors to weed out less reliable sources. Facebook has faced sharp criticism for its role in spreading fake news in the runup to the 2016 presidential election, including posts created by Russians attempting to sway the election to Donald Trump, according to a grand jury indictment.

Facebook is taking measures to avoid similar criticism in the runup to the 2018 midterm elections. The company last week said it was ramping up its efforts to fight fake news, including expanding fact-checking programs to more countries and for the first time fact-checking photos and videos.

Apple press release.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:31AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:31AM (#698634)

    And nobody jumped already onto "That's actually censorship!" and "Can't trust Apple/Google/Facebook"? What, the " Sarah Sanders kicked out of eatery" story exhausted you?

    (one has even high hopes in a "the only source of truth is ${X} and that truth will set you free" position)

    Come ooon mates, don't give up the fight!

     

    (cynical grin)

    • (Score: 2) by shortscreen on Tuesday June 26 2018, @08:26AM (1 child)

      by shortscreen (2252) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @08:26AM (#698657) Journal

      so you can get the dox from the cox on your box

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @11:16AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @11:16AM (#698690)

        so you can get the dox from the cox on your box

        And CNN? You had to go there and remind everyone of the cox around Sarah Sanders box didn't you? In related news, I've seen my last White House press conference for this term.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:08PM (2 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:08PM (#698703) Journal

      And nobody jumped already onto "That's actually censorship!"

      Every news organization on the planet curates (and is expected to curate) their news. If I write some screed, I have an expectation that it'll make it onto SN at least as a post or journal. I have no similar expectation that it'll automatically show up on Apple's news service. So if SN admins were to block my post based on its political (or similar) content, that would be censorship, but it wouldn't be censorship, but rather bias, if Apple chose not to pass my stuff on for the same reasons.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:23PM (1 child)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:23PM (#698729) Homepage
        Since when has the self-proclaimed victim's expectation been the arbiter of whether some wrong-doing has taken place? That would be classic SJW rhetoric, and equally falacious, for the same reasons.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:08PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:08PM (#698759) Journal

          self-proclaimed victim's expectation

          Everyone else has this expectation too.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @11:52AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @11:52AM (#698697)

    ... Facebook is now putting up whiny ads on billboards and bus shelters, claiming that they are enhancing security and fighting fake news.

    Hope this is the beginning of the death spiral.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:34PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:34PM (#698711) Journal
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:27PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:27PM (#698735)

        A towering giant may reach a peak before it falls.

        At the very least, we can hold out hope that he suffers an unfortunate event due to his lifestyle choices that result in his inability to continue to lead that company. If you can call it leading, anyway.

        I don't understand why someone would go out of their way to sabotage Tesla, yet facebook does not seem to have experienced any problems like that--at least not ones that caused significant and lasting harm.

        I suppose the ego hit from not getting a promotion (what appears to be the trigger at Tesla) is far different from Facebook's constant massaging of one's ego.

        It's easy to get a new job--at least, it's easier than trying to get your privacy back.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:50PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:50PM (#698749) Journal

          I don't think that the removal of Zuck would necessarily stop the Facebook or cause it to become less successful. He could make decisions by dart board and not lose more than 100 million users. Put someone else in his place, and how much worse could they do? Facebook also has a containment zone for fickle millennials/GenZs: Instagram.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:35PM

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:35PM (#698742) Homepage Journal

      The hand can be used like a knife.

      But that doesn't work on a tomato.

      --
      Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:25PM (3 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:25PM (#698769) Journal

      I saw one such in Midtown Manhattan Sunday. It was incredibly distasteful.

      The idea of censorship is anathema to a free people.

      I cannot believe that we find ourselves in this upside-down world, where torture is government policy, police state surveillance has been normalized, and censorship is considered good sense. It is a sure sign that evil people have triumphed over freedom.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @03:03PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @03:03PM (#698789)

        Trump! Trump! Trump!

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:41PM (1 child)

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:41PM (#698931) Journal

          In all fairness, Trump is not entirely responsible on his own. But he has had a hand in accelerating these things. Even if some of it is unwittingly, ignorantly, without even realizing it.

          Example: He promises to drain the swamp. I don't think he understands that his own attempts to enrich himself through his office ARE a manifestation of the very thing the people (who voted for him) want to stop. And his enabling of others to enrich themselves through his powers. I don't think he has any awareness of the irony or contradiction.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by fadrian on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:43PM (2 children)

    by fadrian (3194) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:43PM (#698746) Homepage

    It will feature content from Fox News, Vox and other curated publications including some exclusives from the Washington Post, Axios and Politico.

    Ahhh, so no actual left-wing media. Par for the course - middle-of-the-road and right-wing coverage is all you need. Especially that corporate-supporting media from Fox, WaPo, and Politico. That provides "balance".

    --
    That is all.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @04:16PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @04:16PM (#698825)

      Ahhh, so no actual left-wing media. Par for the course - middle-of-the-road and right-wing coverage is all you need. Especially that corporate-supporting media from Fox, WaPo, and Politico. That provides "balance".

      So they should promote Mother Jones? Can you name a single credible left-wing US news source?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @06:46PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @06:46PM (#698909)

        thenation.com

  • (Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:44PM (2 children)

    by Alfred (4006) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:44PM (#698747) Journal
    There is no way in hell this will not be biased. But Apple can be quite clever. They can still be far left but right of all the main outlets and will be hailed as champions of truth from all sides.
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:28PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:28PM (#698770) Journal

      It takes real effort to combat bias. You have to go to original sources. You have to closely examine and question how the data in the original sources was compiled. You cannot trust anything you get second-hand.

      But we are long past those days. Now, it's all an echo chamber of people too lazy to double-check anything, yet who still demand the title, and respect that comes with the title, of "journalist."

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by meustrus on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:58PM

      by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:58PM (#698784)

      You think left/right bias is something Apple cares about? They are corporatists, not leftists. They have more in common with the National Socialists than the Labor movement.

      You can bet that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News will both be prominently featured. Depending on how partisan you are, between 1 and 3 of those sources feature "fake news" all the damn time.

      But they all will be given top billing for one reason: they're big and they have lots of money. Don't even begin to pretend something else will factor into what Apple considers "trustworthy".

      --
      If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:47PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:47PM (#698932) Journal

    I don't want curated news any more than I want a curated translation of The Bible.

    I just want the truth. Whether I like it or not. I want it to be the truth.

    In the case of the news, I want it to be the truth and the facts. Whether I like what I'm hearing or not. Whether it favors my views or not (maybe my views are wrong?)

    Similarly in a translation (of anything), I don't want an edited doctored version of the text. I might not like everything the text says, but I want to read it as what it actually means (and meant when written). If you're a diplomat, you don't want an edited version of a translation. That hinders communication. You want a straightforward translation that conveys the thought as accurately and clearly as possible.

    Do you want the truth? Or do you want to hear what you like?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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