The Daily Digest: March 13, 2025
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| Chalkbeat and Midcoast Villager have already published stories with sources and leads pulled from AI transcriptions. By Andrew Deck. |
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| From AI to OSINT, maps to the sports section, it’s a data journalism jubilee. By Joshua Benton. |
What we’re reading
Reuters / Jonathan StempelNews Corp sued by Brave Software, a Google search engine rival →Brave “seeks to forestall a lawsuit by Rupert Murdoch’s company for when readers are directed to copyrighted articles from the Wall Street Journal and New York Post…Brave countered that it is ‘fair use’ to index website content, ‘which all search engine operators must do to exist.'”
CNBC / Hayden FieldOpenAI is asking the Trump administration to make clear it can train AI models on copyrighted materials →“On Thursday, OpenAI submitted its proposal to the U.S. government, emphasizing the need for speed in Al advancement and a light hand from regulators while highlighting its take on the dangers of Al technology coming out of China…OpenAl expressed its distaste for the current level of regulation in Al, calling for ‘the freedom to innovate in the national interest’…rather than ‘overly burdensome state laws.'”
The Wall Street Journal / Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Meghan BobrowskyShe promised not to speak ill of Meta. Then she wrote a tell-all. Now, she can’t talk about it. →“The book, ‘Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams, details CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to make inroads in China and levies harassment allegations against former and current executives…An arbitrator ruled Wednesday that Wynn-Williams had to temporarily stop making ‘disparaging, critical, or otherwise detrimental comments’ about the Facebook owner or its employees, after Meta alleged she had violated terms of her 2017 severance agreement, which included a nondisparagement clause.”
Press Gazette / Charlotte TobittOnly about 1 in 5 British journalists currently works in the office full-time →“Three days a week in the office appears to be the most common practice according to Press Gazette’s research, with the Financial Times, News UK, The Guardian, Sky News, Future, Haymarket and Ladbible all adopting this hybrid approach.”
The Washington Post / Jeremy BarrWith recent appointments, Fox News enters a new stage of Trump closeness →“Jesse Watters wasn’t afraid to admit it: He’s envious of all of his Fox News colleagues who have gotten plum jobs in the new Trump administration. ‘I’m also a little jealous because I feel like everybody is getting things — ambassadorships, award seats, Cabinet positions,’ he said…’I only asked for a statue. It doesn’t have to be life-sized.'”
The Verge / Nilay PatelCongress’ new anti-deepfake bill could give Trump another way to target his enemies →“At a high level, her argument is that Trump is much more likely to wield a law like this against his enemies — which means pretty much anyone he doesn’t personally like or agree with — and much more likely to shield the people and companies he considers friends from the consequences. And we know who his friends are: it’s Elon Musk, who now works as part of the Trump administration while at the same time running X, which is full of NCII [non-consensual intimate imagery].”
Bloomberg / Benoit BerthelotFrench publishers are suing Meta for using its work to train its AI models →“The group said it had gathered evidence of ‘massive’ breaches of copyright and had already reached out to Meta with no success, SNE’s president Vincent Montagne said. It has also notified the European Commission, alleging that Meta’s activities violate EU rules on AI, he added.”
The Wall Street Journal / Nidhi SubbaramanThe for-profit scientific journal industry is seeing a wave of retractions →“In December, nearly every member of the editorial board of the pre-eminent Journal of Human Evolution walked out on Elsevier, the largest publisher of scientific papers, because of changes the staff said jeopardized the quality of the 53-year-old publication…Altogether, editors at nearly 40 journals have quit in the past decade over differences with their publishers, according to the website Retraction Watch.”
The New York Times / Ken BensingerAs markets whipsaw, conservative media shrugs →“Nervous investors seeking news about the plunging markets on Monday afternoon would have been out of luck if they turned to the websites of The New York Post, The Daily Caller, One America News or The Blaze. Not one of those right-leaning outlets featured articles about the sell-off as the closing bell rang, cementing Wall Street’s steepest decline of the year.”
The Verge / Ron WydenWhy the internet still needs Section 230 →“Across U.S. politics, it’s become fashionable to blame nearly all the internet’s ills on one law I co-wrote: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act…Many of these claims give Section 230 too much credit. While it’s a cornerstone of internet speech, it’s a lesser support compared to the First Amendment, as well as Americans’ own choices in what they want to see online. But I’m convinced the law is just as necessary today as when I co-wrote it with Rep. Chris Cox in 1996.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Sewell Chan and Betsy MoraisWesley Lowery has left the Investigative Reporting Workshop after less than two years →“His departure follows a number of complaints against him, according to former colleagues, including at least three Title IX allegations, in which he was accused of improper behavior with colleagues and female students.”
Press Gazette / Bron MaherThe Guardian is paying “substantial” damages to settle a libel claim brought by a Spectator editor →“The claim related to an Observer column from August in which writer Kenan Malik claimed that, during an interview, [Douglas] Murray had spoken in favor of the UK’s far-right summer riots.”
The New York Times / Stephanie SaulYale scholar banned after AI news site accuses her of links to terrorism →“The article about Dr. Doutaghi was published on March 2 on Jewish Onliner. On its website and on Substack, Jewish Onliner says it is ’empowered by A.I. capabilities.’ It does not identify any reporters on its site. An effort to reach Jewish Onliner for comment elicited a response from ‘JO,’ which identified itself as an A.I. assistant developed by Jewish Onliner.”
MetaMeta says testing has begun for Community Notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads →“Around 200,000 potential contributors in the US have signed up so far across all three apps, and the waitlist remains open for those who wish to take part in the program. But notes won’t initially appear on content. We will start by gradually and randomly admitting people off of the waitlist, and will take time to test the writing and rating system before any notes are published publicly.”
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