6 ms·

Fanpage: Italian website that went from gossip to award-winning scoops

101 points by cunidev 5y ago

1cvmask 5y ago
This makes complete sense. Corporate journalists have many incentives to not publish the truth or to be stenographers for the establishment. That is why corporate media and journalists hate truth tellers and fearless journalists like Julian Assange and demand censorship on Internet platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebok with their corporate "factcheckers" in tow as muzzlers. Access journalism wants to censor all other voices.
- namdnay 5y ago
  > Corporate journalists have many incentives to not publish the truth or to be stenographers for the establishment Agreed, if the establishment locks you out it’s impossible to do your job, so it’s difficult to bite the hand that feeds you > journalists hate truth tellers and fearless journalists like Julian Assange Huh? Assange and Snowden published with the help of several major newspapers > demand censorship on Internet platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebok with their corporate "factcheckers" in tow as muzzlers Journalists asking for censoring other journalists from YouTube? Where!?
  - barbacoa 5y ago
    >Journalists asking for censoring other journalists from YouTube? Where!? There is a constant drumbeat from the NYT, WASPO, corporate media crowd for platforms to "do more to combat misinformation".
    - namdnay 5y ago
      Yes, such as fact checking from real journalists. They’re not asking for less journalism, they’re asking for more
- jmrm 5y ago
  I don't know where you are from, but in Europe fact checker are actually only face up (and not too much) blogs, Facebook groups, and other similar media that makes hoaxes. Their news are like "that politician said that and this is false due to this, this, and this", "microwaving your phone won't charge it", or "vaccines won't give you 5G". Heck, I read in some of them about how some important people done really bad things in the past, all with valid evidence from trusted sources, and no media faced them up.
  - barbacoa 5y ago
    In the USA fact-checkers are usually funded by dark money super PACs looking to influence politics.
blamazon 5y ago
>Naples office >”Readers began to deliver pizzas to our office as a gesture of gratitude for what we had done.” I bet those were good pizzas!
- ribosometronome 5y ago
  I would not be brave enough to eat a random pizza showing up at the office after running a scoop on the mafia.
  - tunnuz 5y ago
    My thoughts exactly!
darkerside 5y ago
Similar arc to BuzzFeed probably?
- Sebb767 5y ago
  I'm not an expert, but as far as I know, the difference between BuzzFeed (click-bait trash) and BuzzFeedNews (serious journalism sponsored by the former).
- c0d3w4rr10r 5y ago
  Yeah it started out as the Italian Buzzfeed, but now they’re getting serious
- ThePadawan 5y ago
  Or Teen Vogue (which pivoted hard from beauty/fashion into sociopolitical commentary around 2016/2017).
  - Dma54rhs 5y ago
    Every rag aka DailyMail provide commentary, it's standard. Can't compare it with the Italians or Buzzfeed news. Vogue pivoted from beauty to standard gossip rag.
  - prionassembly 5y ago
    Yes, but Buzzfeed presumably broke news and did the whole journalism mambo. Anyone can write sociopolitical commentary.
  - throwaway599281 5y ago
    Sociopolitical commentary as in an anal sex guide to minors, and several articles "explaining" how Socialism is the way forward? It's pretty clear to figure out what is their end-game, and it's not just a redirection from shallow subjects such as the fashion world and teenagers stuff, to more "serious" topics.
- fortran77 5y ago
  And TMZ
musikele 5y ago
I did a job interview with them 10 years ago for a software developer position. (I live in the Naples area). At the time, I just graduated from college. The test was about JAVA and it was really hard. They also had a piece of their infrastructure written in Scala, that was bleeding edge at the time for such a small company. In the end I failed the interview but, like all hard interviews, I felt somehow satisfied by finally knowing what i didn't know. Kudos to them
licnep 5y ago
Meh, as an italian i find the quality of fanpage journalism to be pretty low. It's mostly clickbait and "let's send a leftist to a right-wing protest and see if they get beaten up or catch somebody doing nazi salutes". I'm still happy they exist and are succeeding, but i feel that real investigative jouranlism is dying in Italy. With the fall of newspaper sales most outlets are just incentivized to publish low quality clickbait, or government propaganda if they live off of government grants.
- sorethescore 5y ago
  I hear what you're saying, but bait is the best way to catch fish. If you want to go fishing for racists, it's best to use race bait.
  - fulvioterzapi 5y ago
    > I hear what you're saying, but bait is the best way to catch fish. If you want to go fishing for racists, it's best to use race bait. The point is that it's not exactly news that at right wing rallies you can find racists. It's not exactly award winning journalism in my opinion.
- piffey 5y ago
  Random question: could you suggest some good Italian journalism to follow? Right now I just follow Repubblica and a handful of technology journalists I've found through reading articles there. I'm a security researcher and am learning Italian with the goal of being able to speak at a conference there in the next year or two. As my language skills improve I've been trying to find some good cybersecurity and long form reporting as well as Instagram/Twitter users to follow to force Italian into my daily life and hopefully begin picking up technical jargon and colloquialisms. Anything you could point to would be greatly appreciated -- especially if there is an Italian equivalent of HN.
  - marcocaccin 5y ago
    I used to read la Repubblica but the quality of the online content has gone down significantly (the physical newspaper is still good). I think ilpost.it is well curated non-partisan journalism - I’m a happy subscriber - and for more in depth articles I like internazionale.it, which instead is left wing but not to irritating levels. Hope it helps :)
pmontra 5y ago
This is a surprise. I really thought that Fanpage was still a gossip news site so I never clicked any link to it. I went looking at it now and its news look better then most mainstream newspapers/websites.
fulvioterzapi 5y ago
As an Italian, I have to point out that Fanpage is mainly Buzzfeed-level trash. I am surprised The Guardian is holding Fanpage in such high esteem. I am not a leftist but I do appreciate good reporting from the whole political spectrum, including often the Guardian. Still, I wouldn't touch the steaming pile of BS that Fanpage is with a ten-foot pole!
- zaphod12 5y ago
  So interesting that we're comparing to buzzfeed, who also has a fairly good investigative journalism group! Here's a rather interesting one: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/collection/wwfsecretwar https://www.buzzfeednews.com/collection/wwfsecretwar
  - iratewizard 5y ago
    - aspenmayer 5y ago
      That was likely on the main BuzzFeed domain, as the BuzzFeed News domain doesn’t post that kind of clickbait content headline. Can you find this headline or one like it on buzzfeednews.com? Otherwise you’re conflating the two separate sites.
    - ribosometronome 5y ago
      Exposing Uyghur detention camps and the FinCEN files are. Which is why the won the Pulitzer for that and not the best ways to hit your prostate.
    - fivea 5y ago
      > "21 things I know fit in my ass" is great investigative journalism. That's like accusing the New York Times of not doing great investigative journalism just because it publishes crossword puzzles.
  - thenanyu 5y ago
    This meme needs to stop. It is pure legitimacy-washing and I can’t believe the HN crowd falls for it. It’s like Exxon donating a pittance to an environmental protection fund and calling it even. I wish we would stop giving them credit for “helping” when they’re the ones causing and profiting from the damage in the first place.
1_player 5y ago
> members of an elite Italian police squad raided the Naples office of small news website. The previous day it had revealed links between elected politicians and organised groups in an illegal waste dumping racket. This is so Italy it hurts. A group of journalists investigates a possible collusion between the mafia and politicians, and the police raids the journalists' office instead.
- utor 5y ago
  >This is so Italy it hurts That's not really Italy. Peak Italy would be police raiding journalists with actually good reasons because published evidence was obtained illegally. Indeed, wiretapped evidence routinely get published in breach of the law.
  - aspenmayer 5y ago
    As long as journalists don’t incite or induce others to break the law or do so themselves, why does it matter how they gather the relevant information to support reporting on factual events? I’m not sure I follow your reasoning.
- WYepQ4dNnG 5y ago
  > This is so Italy it hurts You clearly have no idea on what you are talking about.

101 points by cunidev 5y ago

This makes complete sense. Corporate journalists have many incentives to not publish the truth or to be stenographers for the establishment. That is why corporate media and journalists hate truth tellers and fearless journalists like Julian Assange and demand censorship on Internet platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebok with their corporate "factcheckers" in tow as muzzlers. Access journalism wants to censor all other voices.

namdnay 5y ago
> Corporate journalists have many incentives to not publish the truth or to be stenographers for the establishment Agreed, if the establishment locks you out it’s impossible to do your job, so it’s difficult to bite the hand that feeds you > journalists hate truth tellers and fearless journalists like Julian Assange Huh? Assange and Snowden published with the help of several major newspapers > demand censorship on Internet platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebok with their corporate "factcheckers" in tow as muzzlers Journalists asking for censoring other journalists from YouTube? Where!?
- barbacoa 5y ago
  >Journalists asking for censoring other journalists from YouTube? Where!? There is a constant drumbeat from the NYT, WASPO, corporate media crowd for platforms to "do more to combat misinformation".
  - namdnay 5y ago
    Yes, such as fact checking from real journalists. They’re not asking for less journalism, they’re asking for more
jmrm 5y ago
I don't know where you are from, but in Europe fact checker are actually only face up (and not too much) blogs, Facebook groups, and other similar media that makes hoaxes. Their news are like "that politician said that and this is false due to this, this, and this", "microwaving your phone won't charge it", or "vaccines won't give you 5G". Heck, I read in some of them about how some important people done really bad things in the past, all with valid evidence from trusted sources, and no media faced them up.
- barbacoa 5y ago
  In the USA fact-checkers are usually funded by dark money super PACs looking to influence politics.

blamazon 5y ago

>Naples office >”Readers began to deliver pizzas to our office as a gesture of gratitude for what we had done.” I bet those were good pizzas!

ribosometronome 5y ago
I would not be brave enough to eat a random pizza showing up at the office after running a scoop on the mafia.
- tunnuz 5y ago
  My thoughts exactly!

darkerside 5y ago

Similar arc to BuzzFeed probably?

Sebb767 5y ago
I'm not an expert, but as far as I know, the difference between BuzzFeed (click-bait trash) and BuzzFeedNews (serious journalism sponsored by the former).
c0d3w4rr10r 5y ago
Yeah it started out as the Italian Buzzfeed, but now they’re getting serious
ThePadawan 5y ago
Or Teen Vogue (which pivoted hard from beauty/fashion into sociopolitical commentary around 2016/2017).
- Dma54rhs 5y ago
  Every rag aka DailyMail provide commentary, it's standard. Can't compare it with the Italians or Buzzfeed news. Vogue pivoted from beauty to standard gossip rag.
- prionassembly 5y ago
  Yes, but Buzzfeed presumably broke news and did the whole journalism mambo. Anyone can write sociopolitical commentary.
- throwaway599281 5y ago
  Sociopolitical commentary as in an anal sex guide to minors, and several articles "explaining" how Socialism is the way forward? It's pretty clear to figure out what is their end-game, and it's not just a redirection from shallow subjects such as the fashion world and teenagers stuff, to more "serious" topics.
fortran77 5y ago
And TMZ

musikele 5y ago

I did a job interview with them 10 years ago for a software developer position. (I live in the Naples area). At the time, I just graduated from college. The test was about JAVA and it was really hard. They also had a piece of their infrastructure written in Scala, that was bleeding edge at the time for such a small company. In the end I failed the interview but, like all hard interviews, I felt somehow satisfied by finally knowing what i didn't know. Kudos to them

licnep 5y ago

Meh, as an italian i find the quality of fanpage journalism to be pretty low. It's mostly clickbait and "let's send a leftist to a right-wing protest and see if they get beaten up or catch somebody doing nazi salutes". I'm still happy they exist and are succeeding, but i feel that real investigative jouranlism is dying in Italy. With the fall of newspaper sales most outlets are just incentivized to publish low quality clickbait, or government propaganda if they live off of government grants.

sorethescore 5y ago
I hear what you're saying, but bait is the best way to catch fish. If you want to go fishing for racists, it's best to use race bait.
- fulvioterzapi 5y ago
  > I hear what you're saying, but bait is the best way to catch fish. If you want to go fishing for racists, it's best to use race bait. The point is that it's not exactly news that at right wing rallies you can find racists. It's not exactly award winning journalism in my opinion.
piffey 5y ago
Random question: could you suggest some good Italian journalism to follow? Right now I just follow Repubblica and a handful of technology journalists I've found through reading articles there. I'm a security researcher and am learning Italian with the goal of being able to speak at a conference there in the next year or two. As my language skills improve I've been trying to find some good cybersecurity and long form reporting as well as Instagram/Twitter users to follow to force Italian into my daily life and hopefully begin picking up technical jargon and colloquialisms. Anything you could point to would be greatly appreciated -- especially if there is an Italian equivalent of HN.
- marcocaccin 5y ago
  I used to read la Repubblica but the quality of the online content has gone down significantly (the physical newspaper is still good). I think ilpost.it is well curated non-partisan journalism - I’m a happy subscriber - and for more in depth articles I like internazionale.it, which instead is left wing but not to irritating levels. Hope it helps :)

pmontra 5y ago

This is a surprise. I really thought that Fanpage was still a gossip news site so I never clicked any link to it. I went looking at it now and its news look better then most mainstream newspapers/websites.

fulvioterzapi 5y ago

As an Italian, I have to point out that Fanpage is mainly Buzzfeed-level trash. I am surprised The Guardian is holding Fanpage in such high esteem. I am not a leftist but I do appreciate good reporting from the whole political spectrum, including often the Guardian. Still, I wouldn't touch the steaming pile of BS that Fanpage is with a ten-foot pole!

zaphod12 5y ago
So interesting that we're comparing to buzzfeed, who also has a fairly good investigative journalism group! Here's a rather interesting one: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/collection/wwfsecretwar https://www.buzzfeednews.com/collection/wwfsecretwar
- iratewizard 5y ago
  - aspenmayer 5y ago
    That was likely on the main BuzzFeed domain, as the BuzzFeed News domain doesn’t post that kind of clickbait content headline. Can you find this headline or one like it on buzzfeednews.com? Otherwise you’re conflating the two separate sites.
  - ribosometronome 5y ago
    Exposing Uyghur detention camps and the FinCEN files are. Which is why the won the Pulitzer for that and not the best ways to hit your prostate.
  - fivea 5y ago
    > "21 things I know fit in my ass" is great investigative journalism. That's like accusing the New York Times of not doing great investigative journalism just because it publishes crossword puzzles.
- thenanyu 5y ago
  This meme needs to stop. It is pure legitimacy-washing and I can’t believe the HN crowd falls for it. It’s like Exxon donating a pittance to an environmental protection fund and calling it even. I wish we would stop giving them credit for “helping” when they’re the ones causing and profiting from the damage in the first place.

1_player 5y ago

> members of an elite Italian police squad raided the Naples office of small news website. The previous day it had revealed links between elected politicians and organised groups in an illegal waste dumping racket. This is so Italy it hurts. A group of journalists investigates a possible collusion between the mafia and politicians, and the police raids the journalists' office instead.

utor 5y ago
>This is so Italy it hurts That's not really Italy. Peak Italy would be police raiding journalists with actually good reasons because published evidence was obtained illegally. Indeed, wiretapped evidence routinely get published in breach of the law.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  As long as journalists don’t incite or induce others to break the law or do so themselves, why does it matter how they gather the relevant information to support reporting on factual events? I’m not sure I follow your reasoning.
WYepQ4dNnG 5y ago
> This is so Italy it hurts You clearly have no idea on what you are talking about.