So Journa & Newsie, two of Mastodon's most prominent...

So Journa & Newsie, two of Mastodon's most prominent journalism servers and home to journalists from around the world seeking safer online havens...are overseen by Mr. Jeff's entity known as "Fourth Estate."

I can't find anything solid on this Fourth Estate, which claims to be a non profit focused on press related issues.

It has a Wikipedia page, citing dead links or Fourth Estate's own website for all of its questionable claims.

Again, red flags, red flags.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Estate_Public_Benefit_Corporation

Like 9 Oct 2023 at 21:46 | Open on dair-community.social

7 comments

Zecharias Zelalem

I think you get the point. I'm now on the @DAIR instance, which was founded by someone I consider a sister to me, and a team renowned globally for their commitment to online safety and ensuring the harms caused by big tech/AI don't get shoved under the rug. With my transition away from Journa dot host, I feel much more reassured about my Mastodon use. They may not be journalists, but I'm acquainted with some of the team and can vouch as being 100% uncompromising when it comes to online harm.

9 Oct 2023 at 21:53 | Open on dair-community.social

John Francis

@ZekuZelalem @DAIR I love noticing that accounts I follow have seamlessly moved and that I'm still following them. Whatever the reasons. You found something that works better for you and off you go. This is the killer app of Mastodon.

9 Oct 2023 at 21:57 | Open on mastodon.social

Zecharias Zelalem

But as a journalist, it would be immoral and extremely selfish for me to stay quiet after taking care of my personal needs, and not express my serious concerns and worry for the future of journalism safety on Mastodon, and for the friends and colleagues who remain connected to both instances.

I feel very uneasy at how things are looking like for the press. This is the last thing I expected to see happen on a platform that marketed itself as a safe escape in the midst of the #TwitterMigration.

9 Oct 2023 at 21:57 | Open on dair-community.social

What's it to you?

@ZekuZelalem I was happy to see your post from your new location -- my follow converted automatically.

Clicking on your old account, it comes up as both greyed-out, and announcing you've moved to your new location (as well as providing a button to pull up the new address).

I'm pretty darned impressed with that level of migration management built in.

9 Oct 2023 at 22:06 | Open on freeradical.zone

Zecharias Zelalem

Monitoring instances is no easy task. It requires commitment, finances and a dedicated team.

I can understand if the team overseeing Journa decided that after a year, other parties should shoulder the burden. On top of your day job, family etc...you're dealing with the daily demand to clean a platform that threatens to be swarmed by fascists, trolls and racists if abandoned for even a day. I imagine it can be rigorous.

But...journalists should have been notified.

Not notifying us was wrong.

9 Oct 2023 at 22:12 | Open on dair-community.social

Zecharias Zelalem

Personally, I'm not willing to compromise. I lived and worked in a country where journalism results in life sentences. As a result, I spent years in exile, investigating war crimes and it came with maneuvering past cyber lynch mobs, daily death threats, and slander both online, offline and on regime propaganda TV.

Forgive me if I'm unwilling to gamble or risk anything. I can do without the uncertainty.

9 Oct 2023 at 22:16 | Open on dair-community.social

Zecharias Zelalem replied to Zecharias

Lastly, considering that journalists are by nature people who question and dig away at anything screaming a lack of transparency, I'm surprised that only a few (if any?) journalists have sounded alarms or protested.

Journalists flocked to Mastodon last year, and a year later, there's barely a whimper as one man's silent takeover/ownership of journalism platforms and even a verification tool here has him establish a monopoly, despite none of you knowing anything about him.

You shock me!

FIN.

9 Oct 2023 at 22:24 | Open on dair-community.social