Sounds great, can't wait. Just hope it doesn't follow the path of the Intercept: starting out as a legitimate source of in-depth governments exposees, only to turn into a run-of-the-mill liberal rag that hires lazy college graduates and unrepentant race-baiters.
News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
51–60 of 65 posts
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#52I would love for someone to take an investigative look at how the stock market is not working for society in many ways. I can't help but feel that as the pressure of being a listed stock weighs on listed companies, their value sets change and not in ways beneficial to "greater" society.
I thought that was common sense but you're right. Some non-listed companies are like that by choice, to avoid all that encompasses being a public listed company.
The law requires that the executive board to provide value to shareholders (valuation or dividends). This usually translate in quarter reports with good numbers for greater valuations. It's known that this requirement and tradition skews boards to short term goals which can damage companies' future.
This is the good scenario, just a skew for short term goals.
The bad scenario is when the quarter reports look good my quasi-illegal number juggling and also legal practices which should be illegal like a company buying it's own stocks to please shareholders.
Currently this even worse because central banks interventions from low interest rates (it has been cheaper for a company to use debt buy it's own stocks than to invest) to central banks buying stocks and causing inflated valuations.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#53I eagerly await the announcement of Newmark funding an ambitious local news initiative. That would be a way to put critical information in front of millions of people.
This initiative may also be important, but it doesn't do anything to fill the void of local investigative reporting and press accountability created when Craigslist denuded local newsrooms.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#54I eagerly await the announcement of Newmark funding an ambitious local news initiative. That would be a way to put critical information in front of millions of people. This initiative may also be important, but it doesn't do anything to fill the void of local investigative reporting and press accountability created when Craigslist denuded local newsrooms.
One problem is that local news doesn't scale. Nothing really replaces local reporters developing sources and attending a lot of boring selectman, zoning, etc. meetings. I live in a small town that had a "labor of love" local paper for a while but it went out of business and now there's effectively no local coverage.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. Fresh produce is basically always cheaper than processed foods, and there are no places on the continent that lack access to 'agriculture'. Hawaii, way up in Northern Canada - maybe. I buy a big bad of produce from the local market and it comes to like $12. A bag of arbitrary goods from the processed isles would be 5 times that. The only dietary staple that's expensive is meat. My grandparents grew up on farms, t…
I don't see how that makes economic sense. Preserved food should wind up cheaper than the highly perishable even with additional input costs barring truly massive differences - the surplus isn't lost and can build up and even if it the sale price minus processing costs is less per item something is more than nothing. As for your grandparents they were poor farmers so of course labor and seeds were cheap for them - th…
"I don't see how that makes economic sense. "
I'm really befuddled at some of the reasoning here.
You buy groceries, right?
Because if you do, and you look at the prices, well then it's pretty clear.
So this should be an exercise in understanding why that is the case, not trying to reason against the reality that produce is cheap.
Most produce, and most of the best foods are really cheap.
Even other things like lentils, beans, quinoa (a little more expensive), chick peas.
You just have to cook it.
As for your argument 'preserved foods should be cheaper' - which by the way is a reasonable point for someone who takes an academic perspective and doesn't actually buy groceries, the answer is simply that those 'massive costs' are indeed that massive. They include expensive things like 'metal' in the cans. Fuel for transportation. Branding. Marketing. Distribution. Supply chains. Etc.
Fresh food is accessible to everyone in America with any kind of domicile. The notion that poor people eat more processed foods due to economic situation doesn't hold a lot of water, though there might be some issues around the margins (again: time), but I suggest it's more simply due to bad behaviours and bad eating habits.
FYI: poor people are also much more likely to smoke - which is a prohibitively expensive activity. Granted - it's addictive - but still.
The thought of homemade garlic hummus with baked peppers has inspired me to go and do that literally right now. It'll cost me $1 ... but a lot of time which I don't really have ...
Edit: My grandparents did not have electricity or cars as children and did not have plumbing until middle age w/ several children. Does that count as 'poor'?
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. Fresh produce is basically always cheaper than processed foods, and there are no places on the continent that lack access to 'agriculture'. Hawaii, way up in Northern Canada - maybe. I buy a big bad of produce from the local market and it comes to like $12. A bag of arbitrary goods from the processed isles would be 5 times that. The only dietary staple that's expensive is meat. My grandparents grew up on farms, t…
I'm a big fan of buying and processing my own vegetables too. Not a whole lot of work in peeling a carrot or dismembering my own broccoli. But its only fair to note, organic vegetables can be way more expensive than processed regular (commercially grown and processed) vegetables. That's pretty much the definition of commercial - where production cost is the driving factor.
'Organic' is definitely 'commercial' in most cases.
It usually just means no pesticides etc..
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much do you think it costs to employ 30-40 of the following people for 5 or 10 years? “reporters and junior reporters, data journalists, researchers, copy editors, line editors, and an assistant managing editor. Graphics editors and designers, a social media editor, a reach/engagement editor, a partnerships lead, developers, and an analytics lead. A Chief Revenue Officer, a Chief of Finance and Administration, an…
And during that time there's no revenue? I'm not sure why I'm being downvoted: as a publisher of multiple online and offline projects it seems an extravagant amount for a publication that has a very narrow scope.
I downvoted you (before the flag) because you were snarky. I wish I could do so again for you not disclosing your newsblocks affiliation.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#58I can't wait to see their first publishing. With every article seemingly a sponsored piece nowadays, it's almost impossible to identify those with hidden agendas from reporters whose only interest is to fill up their quotas. I'm happy to see any news source that I can trust.
Mr. Newmark has put it correctly when he said "we're at an information war now". I have seen it first hand how information was reported incorrectly and intentionally on popular news websites just to attack and harm individuals. Our privacy is long gone as people spying on you just so they can sell your private life information to those who have interest. Information is literally being used as weapon nowadays so it's really time we need to wake up.
I hope they have enough power that will back them up as no doubt they will face relentless pressures from the big tech companies.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#59Can ProPuboica/MarkUp investigate how Apple never comes under the scanner of anti trust regulators either in the US or EU, while Google, Microsoft get fingered for far less. For instance, Android, which is open source, has been fined by the EU, while EU app developers have consistently complained against Apple's app store authorization and related policies onto deaf ears.
Re: News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder
#60This looks awesome. >"The site will explore three broad investigative categories: how profiling software discriminates against the poor and other vulnerable groups; internet health and infections like bots, scams and misinformation; and the awesome power of the tech companies. The Markup will release all its stories under a creative commons license so other organizations can republish them, as ProPublica does." Also,…
Thanks for the suggestion! I've also been simultaneously reading You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier, and The Efficiency Paradox by Edward Tenner, both of which seem to be pretty good reads so far.
Cool, thanks for those rec's too! :)