Thursday, February 13, 2025 |
| The White House’s move to block AP’s reporters over its house style has turned a debate about language into one about power. By Joshua Benton. |
BBC News finds that AI tools “distort” its journalism into “a confused cocktail” with many errors What We’re ReadingNieman Foundation
Nieman Foundation curator Ann Marie Lipinski to step down after 14 years →“It has been a profound privilege to lead Nieman, not in spite of the industry complexities but because of them. Each year, journalism faced new challenges and each year, a new class of fellows rose to confront them. Fortifying those journalists for the future is essential. I am grateful to the colleagues who joined me in that work, strengthened collaboration here on campus and supported a global community sometimes fighting for the very right to practice journalism.” — Ann Marie Lipinski404 Media / Henry Larson
A “true crime” documentary series has millions of views. The murders are all AI-generated. →“’I’m trying to overdose the viewer on luridness, to try to confront them with the fact that they seem to be so invested in the luridness of it all. People’s secret lives, their secret affairs that are really taboo,’ Paul told me. Of course, Paul was also making money from the videos.”TechCrunch / Natasha Lomas
EU’s Disinformation Code moves closer to becoming a DSA benchmark →“While Musk’s X has made its entrenched opposition to the EU’s approach to online governance crystal clear, there are other worrying signs for the bloc. To wit: Meta recently dropped its own commitment to fact-checking. And yet, it remains on the list of Code signatories — at least for now — which looks awkward to say the least.”The Verge / Mia Sato
Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook →“For months, Mark Zuckerberg has laid it on thick in an attempt to curry favor with the administration, flattering Trump publicly and preaching the right-wing gospel on podcasts. One worker also pointed to a recent change made by Google to its calendar of holidays that removed celebrations like Pride Month and Black History Month.”Bloomberg / Aisha Counts
Yahoo News signs up influencers with promise of shared advertising sales →“The online personalities are participating in a program that Yahoo began last year. As part of a new homepage that debuted this month, Yahoo News launched a ‘Stories From Creators’ section that curates their content.”The New York Times / Ken Bensinger
How Elon Musk and the right are trying to recast reporting as “doxxing” →“The political right has increasingly ramped up an assault on mainstream journalists in recent weeks. Since his inauguration, Mr. Trump has amplified false claims that the government secretly funded news outlets including Politico, calling it ‘the biggest scandal of them all,’ while taking time to name specific journalists and calling for them to be fired.”Intelligencer / Charlotte Klein
Who wants to co-host The Daily? →“The Daily is so highly produced that it takes hours and hours to make a single episode, with producers and editors working until between 10 p.m. and midnight most nights, according to a source familiar with the process. And there’s always the possibility that the planned show will get scrapped at the eleventh hour if there’s breaking news. Tavernise raised issues with the workflow and urged the show to add a third host months before she ultimately decided to leave, I’m told.”Harvard Business Review / Amy Bernstein
Amy Bernstein is the new editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review →“She succeeds Adi Ignatius, who led a period of impressive innovation and growth for the iconic media brand and has decided to move to the role of Editor at Large to spearhead the launch of a new HBR offering for C-suite leaders.”The Wall Street Journal / Alexandra Bruell
The Atlantic, Politico, Vox and other major publishers are suing AI startup Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement →“In some cases, according to the suit, Cohere is also infringing on publishers’ trademarks by delivering ‘hallucinated’ material—with information that wasn’t actually published by the outlet—under a publisher’s name.”The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin
F.C.C. chair orders investigation into Comcast’s D.E.I. practices →“While Mr. Carr has ordered investigations into several media entities, the inquiry into Comcast is the first focused solely on D.E.I. His investigation into PBS and NPR focused on corporate sponsorships of news programming, and his inquiry at CBS News is focused on ‘news distortion’ complaint. Mr. Carr said in his letter that he was starting his D.E.I. push with Comcast because the company covered ‘a range of sectors regulated by the F.C.C.,’ including cable and high-speed internet.”Wired / Kate Knibbs
Thomson Reuters wins first major AI copyright case in the U.S. →“Notably, Judge Bibas ruled in Thomson Reuters’ favor on the question of fair use. The
fair use doctrine is a
key component of how AI companies are seeking to defend themselves against claims that they used copyrighted materials illegally.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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