Author: Douglas McLennan

Why Do We Fall For Fake News? Researchers Have Theories

Much of the debate among researchers falls into two opposing camps. One group claims that our ability to reason is hijacked by our partisan convictions: that is, we’re prone to rationalization. The other group — to which the two of us belong — claims that the problem is that we often fail to exercise our critical faculties: that is, we’re mentally lazy. – The New York Times

Gallery Sues Former Employee For Stealing “Trade Secrets”

It alleges that Bona Yoo, a former director who is now working at Lévy Gorvy gallery as a sales director, “surreptitiously copied valuable trade secrets” from Lehmann Maupin’s computer systems before she left and “maliciously corrupted” or deleted important information from the gallery’s database. Yoo’s plan, according to the lawsuit, was designed to impede the gallery’s business while simultaneously allowing her to use the information for her own financial gain at another gallery. – Artnet

A note from Doug McLennan

I’d like to ask for your help. ArtsJournal has traditionally not linked to stories behind hard paywalls because our readers can’t see them unless they pay. We have, however, linked to stories behind “soft” paywalls such as the New York Times, LA Times and others. On these sites you can access stories until you reach the limit. And even then, by using different browsers or computers you can often get around the paywalls.

BUT: An increasing number of news sites are now going to the paid subscriber paywall model. And a growing number of ArtsJournal readers are getting frustrated clicking through to stories they can’t see unless they pay. Alas, we can’t do anything about that (we’ve tried…. really).

We have always considered AJ to be a curated survey of stories you should know about. The average reader scans stories, clicking through to about 20 percent of the links to read the whole story. Thus the headlines are a good “scan” of what’s out there. If you come to the website or subscribe to the premium newsletter, [sample here] you also get a short description of the story – so a little more information about the story so you can decide whether to click.

I’d like to ask you to participate in a short survey about what we should do about stories behind paywalls – it’s only three questions – so we can figure out how we should deal with them. Thanks! [CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE]

  • Doug McLennan, Editor

What Happens When MLK Is A National Icon (But Your Politics Don’t Really Agree)

That Mike Pence and other standard-bearers within this movement can regularly lean on King’s legacy is a consequence of how the civil-rights leader has been canonized. When President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law, in 1983—reversing his own objections to the holiday, and earlier ones to King himself—he signaled that America had accepted King in its pantheon of similarly revered leaders, people such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But in order to do so, King’s legacy had to be repackaged in a way similar to theirs.  – The Atlantic

Record Numbers Of Readers Buying Poetry In The UK

Statistics from UK book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan show that sales grew by just over 12% last year, for the second year in a row. In total, 1.3m volumes of poetry were sold in 2018, adding up to £12.3m in sales, a rise of £1.3m on 2017. Two-thirds of buyers were younger than 34 and 41% were aged 13 to 22, with teenage girls and young women identified as the biggest consumers last year. – The Guardian

Proposed New London Concert Hall Makes A Bold Statement

The £288 million it will cost will all come from private donations, and the hall’s backers know critics will say now is not the time for such an expensive building. “Now is never the time to do anything new,” said Sir Simon Rattle, the LSO’s music director and public face of the project. “This is not something that we are trying to do with public money, this is something we are attempting to do ourselves and we are trying to make a difference.” – The Guardian