New Report On Facebook Alleges It Filters Conservative News From Its Trending Section, Dying Without A Will

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A recent study shows only 34 percent of Americans have a valid will, and going without one can cause complications when a person passes away. Our guest explains what happens when someone dies without a will. We also talk to a guest from Poynter about a new report alleging Facebook’s employees regularly filter out conservative news from its trending section.

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  • Media Analyst Says Facebook Should Be More Transparent About How Content Is Curated

    Facebook should be more transparent about how it distributes content to its users in wake of recent allegations that the social media website routinely suppressed conservative news, according to a media analyst.

    A report released on Monday from Gizmodo, a design and technology blog, alleged that curators for Facebook’s Trending Topics, its “trending” section, regularly filter out conservative news. The trending section appears on the website’s righthand column and is thought to have included its most popular content determined by an algorithm.

    Facebook officials responded to Gizmodo’s story, which relies on anonymous sources, by saying they’re taking the allegations seriously and affirmed its role as a “platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum.”

    In a long post on Facebook, Tom Stocky, who oversees the team that is responsible for Trending Topics, said that the social media platform “found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true.”

    Regardless of the report’s veracity, Benjamin Mullin, managing editor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, said that Facebook users deserve transparency so that they can trust that they haven’t been manipulated to see certain news stories.

    “I think part of the reason why you saw such a huge outcry here was because this was on Facebook’s part such an opaque method for determining who saw what,” said Mullin. “I think if folks had known all along that these were people in New York or Silicon Valley determining what we saw, I don’t think you would see this much of an outcry.”

    Unlike traditional news outlets — whether they be print, broadcast or online — Facebook is not a news organization. Rather, said Mullin, Facebook is a media distributor. But still, he added, it should be seen as a journalistic enterprise as it literally helps sustain newsrooms by driving traffic to content. And because of that, it deserves scrutiny and professional standards.

    “I think Facebook considers itself, and rightly so, a distributor of the news and not a producer of the news,” he said. “But Facebook has a huge, huge responsibility as a primary mediator of the news that we see and the information that we consume, in my opinion, to adopt some of the standards and practices that you see in news organizations.”

    Mullin added that as Facebook has evolved as a news mediator, he believe it hasn’t lived up to its responsibility to be a transparent organization that helps people become more savvy consumers of media. Even if the trending topics are not setting the day’s news agenda, Mullin said that the report, if true, is an indicator of the human biases inside the institution.

    On Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Committee sent a letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting information about the website’s trending section and how the content is curated.

  • Madison Lawyer Says Most Americans Don't Have A Will

    Many people were shocked to hear that music legend Prince died without a will. While it might be surprising that someone with so much wealth and a musical legacy to protect wouldn’t have done estate planning, he certainly isn’t alone. In fact, less than half of Americans write a will.

    “People often don’t have a will because they really don’t know where to start,” said Melinda Gustafson Gervasi, founder of Gustafson Gervasi Law Office in Madison and author of the book “Middle Class Philanthropist: How Anyone Can Leave a Legacy.”

    One of the barriers that often prevent people from starting the process is the emotional stress of planning for a world without one in it. The key, said Gustafson Gervasi, is focusing on “control.”

    “These decisions are going to be made,” she said. “And you’re the best person to make them. And if you don’t take control of the situation someone else will. And if you care about the loved ones you’re leaving behind, getting yourself organized in this area will save them a tremendous amount of money, time and emotion. It’s not easy and it’s not going to be easy, so know that going into it.”

    A good place to start, said Gustafson Gervasi, is by slowly educating yourself about estate planning. She said there’s a lot of resources out there, including online and local libraries. But she warned that planners be careful to consult locally-sourced materials because laws differ state-to-state.

    Gustafson Gervasi said people should also know that the will-writing process does not require a lawyer.

    “You can certainly work through things on your own,” she said. ” A lawyer should make it a lot easier to work through the process. I would encourage people if they don’t have the means to work with a lawyer, or they just don’t want to have the experience with working with a lawyer, to actually look to a very low cost Wisconsin fill-in-the-blank will that I believe is available through the Wisconsin State Law Library.”

    It’s also important to update a will after major life events. Gustafson Gervasi said she suggests people revisit their wills when new children or grandchildren are born, after marriages and the name changes that often come with them, after divorces and after deaths in the family.

  • New Report Alleges Facebook Filters Conservative News From Its Trending Section

    A report released Monday from Gizmodo alleged that curators for Facebook’s “trending” section regularly filter out conservative news. The social media site responded by saying it’s taking these allegations very seriously and affirmed its role as a “platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum.” We talk to a guest from Poynter about this news and the role Facebook plays in how people consume news.

  • The Risks Of Dying Without A Will

    Reports are that Prince died without a will, leaving his multimillion dollar estate in limbo. While it may be shocking that someone with his resources did not plan ahead, in fact less than half of the population makes their wishes known legally. An estate lawyer tells us what happens in Wisconsin if you die without a will, and why it makes sense to prioritize recording your wishes in a legally binding way.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Host
  • Amanda Magnus Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Benjamin Mullin Guest
  • Melinda Gustafson Gervasi Guest

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