Category: media

The burning question, at this point, is whether this recommender system can reliably lead users down epistemically problematic rabbit holes. In other words, is it possible to discern a pattern in YouTube’s AutoPlay system that takes users from ABBA to lizard people? This becomes especially significant when you consider that 70% of all watch-time spent on YouTube is due to videos suggested by the recommender system. – 3 Quarks Daily

A couple of the filmmakers: “This is where our brains went. Instead of making bread, we were like, ‘what can we do with how we’re creative?'” – NPR

Some stations have meditation minutes, and some have other ways to fill all of that time when they’d normally have stories about events (the events that aren’t happening right now). Some 30-second promos “feature sounds like ocean waves and remind listeners to breathe and limit their screen time.” – Nieman Lab

Rupert Murdoch’s son James, who has championed environmental causes and helped force out Bill O’Reilly at Fox after the host’s past with sexual harassment came into the open, “abruptly resigned from the board of his father’s publishing company Friday, signaling an acceleration in family tensions over the tenor and politics of its far-flung media empire. “- Los Angeles Times

Whew: “If HBO’s Game of Thrones was the last great piece of TV monoculture, then the pandemic has popularized a series of forgettable productions that each offers a fleeting, miniature facsimile of communal attention. Absent the usual summer blockbusters, and with few prestige shows rolling out new episodes, the landscape of American entertainment is barren enough for C- shows and movies to rack up the viewership of B+ productions, if not the associated enthusiasm.” – The Atlantic

“These systemic barriers – no one seemed to notice, no one seemed to care, and so we felt like we had to say something,” says Jennifer Holness, who adds that even as the most senior Black filmmaker in the country, it’s hard to get any funding for projects. – CBC

Classic Hollywood movies are getting spitshined and put out again, so why not video games as well? “‘Nostalgia is the major driving force for the success of a remake,’ said Doug Clinton, managing partner for the venture capitalist firm Loup Ventures, which focuses on emerging technology and gaming. ‘Any game that doesn’t have meaningful nostalgic value isn’t likely to be successful.'” Give us anything but 2020. – The New York Times

When I pop around and listen to public radio streams from around the country, they almost universally sound like they did before the pandemic started. Same with the programs themselves. Things have changed topically, but not formatically. The audience dynamics have completely changed, so why hasn’t the stations’ sound? – Current

The video-sharing social media app said in a blog post Wednesday that it will give creators in the U.S. over $1 billion in the next three years, and more than double that globally. – CNBC