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Thank you for the news summaries... (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by beefontoast@lemmy.world to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Just wanted to drop a quick message in to say thank you to those who put in the news articles here... I was getting frustrated with the poor journalism across different mainstream news and really appreciate your efforts summarising everything here.

I felt like just a stat for websites like BBC news clicking up views to then guide them on what news stories to focus on publishing, and what to not publish... First world censorship at its finest. At least now I can just read the content here.

The autotldr bot also saves a lot of time from having to read extra non-value text that journalists pump in to make stories longer.

I do wonder what happens if feddituk is shutting down, hopefully this community and these news articles continue... I'd hate to have to actually go to the BBC news site again 😳

Thank you to you and all those growing Lemmy 🙏 2024... the year of everyone migrating to Lemmy.

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[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I felt like just a stat for websites like BBC news clicking up views to then guide them on what news stories to focus on publishing, and what to not publish… First world censorship at its finest

I don't quite understand what you are getting at here - could you unpack it a bit.

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I think the gist is that OP feels like people visiting sites like BBC News are essentially providing the Marketing department at BBC News with view counts, which they'd use to help guide them on what to report on or suppress, and the visitors were incidentally fueling a sort of subtle censorship just by reading the news.

Although please feel free to correct me if I'm putting words in your mouth, OP!

[–] beefontoast@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

That's right!

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hmmm,

I would say that every media outlet looks at ratings, newspaper/magazine sales, click-throughs to see what kind of stories, images, etc are popular and drive readership to shape future coverage. That’s not really censorship in any meaningful way. I only post stuff in the Fediverse that I think people will be interested in. I don’t think that means I’m self-censoring

[–] rayquetzalcoatl@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I don't disagree with you, and I'd find it hard to comment on exactly how the digital marketing arm of the BBC works when it comes to view counts and how it affects their content, cos I just don't know. I was just clarifying for you what I thought OP meant.

I do agree that you're not self-censoring by choosing to post things you think people will be interested in, though!

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

Yeh, I took your comment in the spirit was intended. Didn't really mean to argue with you :)