Apple makes New York Magazine editor Lauren Kern 'editor in chief' at Apple News

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple has reportedly recruited New York media icon Lauren Kern to serve as the first-ever "editor in chief" for Apple News, possibly hinting at greater ambitions for the app.




The duties involved are unknown, and Kern has refused to comment, Politico said on Thursday. Her LinkedIn profile continues to list her as the executive editor for New York Magazine, where she also worked as an editorial director from 2004 to 2010. Between 2010 and 2014, she was a deputy editor at The New York Times Magazine.

Apple News launched two years ago as a content aggregator for iPhones and iPads, replacing a failed Newsstand feature. The app comes preinstalled with iOS, but typically doesn't generate much fanfare from Apple, and has had mixed results for content providers. While The Telegraph has credited it for driving traffic, The Guardian recently withdrew, hoping to improve ad and subscription revenues.

Apple could conceivably try to launch its own reporting, but that would be an expensive endeavor and start an uphill battle against entrenched organizations like Reuters, Bloomberg, and the New York Times.

More likely is that Apple is hoping to better manage and present Apple News content, for instance by keeping fake news sources at bay. Fabricated claims have sometimes been blamed for swaying the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, particularly in favor of Republican winner Donald Trump.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Shouldn't be that hard. Let me choose from what sources I want news pushed and display them in a nice way. Do not curate, push or recommend stuff from anywhere else.
    jSnivelySpamSandwichanton zuykovlostkiwi
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Interesting development.  What does it mean to the Editor in Chief of an algorithm-driven news aggregation app?  Hopefully Apple will commit resources and stick this out.  It seems like one of those things that they start up and then let languish.  Hopefully this hiring signals something else.
    jSnivelydoozydozenleavingthebigganton zuykovlostkiwipscooter63
  • Reply 3 of 16
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    One thing that needs to be fixed at news aggregators like Apple News: filter out ads disguised as NEWS stories. I'm looking at you, CNET. Many others do this too, even iMore who I otherwise like. 
    jSnivelycalianton zuykovlostkiwipscooter63
  • Reply 4 of 16
    Fake news and click bait news sites are getting out of hand. Hopefully Apple News improves or better fix it like Facebook hasn't been able to.
    sockrolidr210anton zuykovpropodlostkiwi
  • Reply 5 of 16
    Fake news and click bait news sites are getting out of hand. Hopefully Apple News improves or better fix it like Facebook hasn't been able to.

    Fortunately Apple News makes it very easy to say "don't show me anything from this source any more."  I have a pretty solid feed now with very little effort on my part.
    sockrolidAI_liasanton zuykovlostkiwipscooter63
  • Reply 6 of 16
    Please Apple be objective in the news filtering. There are no objective news sources anymore that I'm aware of, at least in the US. We have Fox News biased to the right, and everyone else biased to the left. The US desperately needs a source of unbiased information. (Especially since Trump is such a wild card; no one knows how to interpret what he does or says, so by default everyone seems to just interpret through their respective ideological lenses.)
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 7 of 16
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Please Apple be objective in the news filtering. There are no objective news sources anymore that I'm aware of, at least in the US. We have Fox News biased to the right, and everyone else biased to the left. The US desperately needs a source of unbiased information. (Especially since Trump is such a wild card; no one knows how to interpret what he does or says, so by default everyone seems to just interpret through their respective ideological lenses.)
    Is there really any no objective news sources anywhere? I started reading news from the UK a while back, but its the same thing there as well. 
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 8 of 16
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Please Apple be objective in the news filtering. There are no objective news sources anymore that I'm aware of, at least in the US. We have Fox News biased to the right, and everyone else biased to the left. The US desperately needs a source of unbiased information. (Especially since Trump is such a wild card; no one knows how to interpret what he does or says, so by default everyone seems to just interpret through their respective ideological lenses.)
    There is no such thing as a source without bias. People are inherently self-interested, so it's just a matter of the degree of self-interest.
    anton zuykovlostkiwi
  • Reply 9 of 16
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Please Apple be objective in the news filtering. There are no objective news sources anymore that I'm aware of, at least in the US. We have Fox News biased to the right, and everyone else biased to the left. The US desperately needs a source of unbiased information. (Especially since Trump is such a wild card; no one knows how to interpret what he does or says, so by default everyone seems to just interpret through their respective ideological lenses.)
    I agree that Fox News is biased to the right, but more than that they are just biased. It is a stretch calling it a 'news' site. But to say that EVERYONE ELSE is biased to the left is pretty ridiculous. There is nothing left wing about questioning the status quo. Some are more liberal with more of left leaning view, but none of the main news organizations qualify as 'left wing' by traditional standards. It is odd to hear people call Hilary Clinton or Barak Obama 'left wing'. They may be more liberal than some but hardly left wing. 

    Just as superficial comparison ...  Ronal Reagan was universally reviled by the left and Obama was universally reviled by the right.

    Reagan:
    -Gave Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants
    -Negotiated with Terrorists (Traded Arms for Hostages with Iran)
    -Raised Taxes on a Large Scale Four Times (After Initially Lowering Them)
    -Negotiated with the “Evil Empire” without Pre-conditions
    -Made a Decision to “Cut and Run” From Lebanon After Our Troops Were Attacked

    Obama:
    -Escalated the Afghanistan War (Added 30,000 More Troops)
    -Has Ordered Drone Strikes (Assassinations) on US Citizens Outside the Country
    -Gave Drug Companies Near Monopoly Power by Barring Imports, Extending Patents and Not Allowing the Government to Negotiate Better Prices
    -Funneled Billions into the Biggest Banks in the Country After They Crashed the Economy
    -Stacked Deficit Commission with Fiscal Conservatives
    -Lowered Taxes Significantly (Stimulus Bill)
    -Ordered Increased Offshore Drilling Before BP Spill

    It is safe to say we are a product of our time :) (and also that the right has shifted further to the right in quite a dramatic fashion)
    edited May 2017 AI_liasStrangeDayslostkiwimontrosemacsdecoderingGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 10 of 16
    AI_liasAI_lias Posts: 434member
    Apple News is the only aggregation service I know of which can block Fox News, New York Post, and Breitbart, completely. That is why I use them nowadays. When Google News can do that I'll start using them again. 
    boredumblostkiwimontrosemacsGeorgeBMacSpamSandwich
  • Reply 11 of 16
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    I just wish it never sent me out to the normal internet. Defeats the purpose. 
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 12 of 16
    lostkiwilostkiwi Posts: 639member
    Maybe some day we will get Apple News in New Zealand without having to change the country ID on the phone to 🇦🇺  or 🇺🇸. 

    One can dream, I guess. 
  • Reply 13 of 16
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    lostkiwi said:
    Maybe some day we will get Apple News in New Zealand without having to change the country ID on the phone to 🇦🇺  or 🇺🇸. 

    One can dream, I guess. 

    Yes, I wish I had access to it as well.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    Please Apple be objective in the news filtering. There are no objective news sources anymore that I'm aware of, at least in the US. We have Fox News biased to the right, and everyone else biased to the left. The US desperately needs a source of unbiased information. (Especially since Trump is such a wild card; no one knows how to interpret what he does or says, so by default everyone seems to just interpret through their respective ideological lenses.)
    Uhh, no...
    That's the standard excuse used by Republicans to excuse their own bad behavior:
    ....  "EVERYBODY DOES IT!"

    Actually, no.   Only a few bad apples -- like FauxNews, Breitbart, InfoWars, and the Russian trolls who supply them with their news feeds...

    The rest, what the right wing calls the "liberal media", do their best to report facts.   Real facts rather than the Alternative variety the right seems to favor...  But, since real facts discredit the right wing politicians and agenda, they try to discredit truth and make it whatever you want it to be...
  • Reply 15 of 16
    eliangonzaleliangonzal Posts: 490member
    This reminds me: is News Publisher still in beta? Any word on producing tools to extend it as a standalone app rather than strictly as a web app? It's been quite some time when this was announced, but I figured it will still just languishing on the vine.
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