Tuesday, January 28, 2025 |
| The Keene Sentinel weighed the pros and cons of becoming a nonprofit. It chose a hybrid option instead. By Sophie Culpepper. |
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| “One bad assumption that has not changed since I got into this industry is still that more information is better all the time.” By Richard Tofel. |
White House will reserve front-row seats in press briefings for influencers, podcasters, and others in “new media” What We’re ReadingReuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Marina Adami
What DeepSeek may mean for the future of journalism and generative AI →“In general, I don’t encourage journalists to adopt generative AI unless there’s a well-scoped use case which you believe uniquely plays to generative AI’s strengths. These tools are not meant to be search engines, and they’re not meant to be factually accurate.”The Handbasket / Marisa Kabas
An independent, one-woman publication The Handbasket was first to report catastrophic OMB funding memo →“Despite the massive growth of independent journalism, there’s still this idea that news is only “real” once it’s confirmed by massive corporate outlets. After all, could one woman with absolutely zero institutional backing in leggings and a sweatshirt in her NYC apartment really be the one to break such an important story? Now we know the answer is yes. What I lack in resources I make up for with moxie and close relationships established over years.”Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Davide Lerner
The Patriot effect: Israel’s shifting civil discourse under Netanyahu →“Today, nationalist sentiment dominates Israeli television, with little room for stories from Gaza. Channel 14, a fast-rising, government-aligned network, epitomizes this shift. Its flagship show, Hapatriotim (‘The Patriots’), blends satire, nationalism, and far-right ideology, offering a lens into how Israeli media has evolved in wartime.”International News Media Association / Paula Felps
A Bangladeshi newspaper wanted to boost subscribers to its streaming service. So it turned a (fictional) gangster into an influencer. →“To attract interest and create a buzz that would pay off with more subscriptions, the marketing team enlisted the help of Allen Swapan, a fictional character and protagonist of the original series, Myself Allen Swapan…By making the gangster the face of its campaign, Chorki picked up a nationwide buzz and “Myself Allen Swapan” landed on the must-see content list.”TechCrunch / Rebecca Bellan
Quartz has been quietly publishing AI-generated news articles →“Quartz started publishing simple AI-generated earnings reports months ago, but beginning last week, the outlet moved on to short articles. One of the 18 AI-generated articles published as of Monday afternoon, titled “
South Korea shares preliminary findings on Jeju Air crash investigation,” aggregates reporting done by real journalists at CNN, MSN, and The Associated Press on MSN.com.”Reuters / Arpan Chaturvedi
OpenAI asks Indian court to throw out book publishers challenge in copyright battle →“In India, the case began with legal action last year by local news agency ANI, and in recent weeks book publishers and almost a dozen digital media outlets, including those owned by Adani and Ambani, have sought to join the case to challenge the AI giant. Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported OpenAI had in a filing sought to dismiss the book publisher’s case, saying its ChatGPT service only disseminates public information. Later in court, OpenAI lawyer Amit Sibal said he would oppose the bid by media organizations to join the case.”MediaNama / Sakshi Sadashiv K
Here’s what the Federation of Indian Publishers is saying against OpenAI →“Generative AI companies depend on original, researched works by authors and publishers to fuel and train their tools and products thereby exploiting the creative works authored by academicians and intellectuals both in individual capacity as well as on an industry level without seeking permission or acknowledgement and offering zero compensation,” Pranav Gupta, the Federation’s General Secretary, said. “This is unacceptable.”Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
“It’s trial and error…you’re probably going to get banned”: Metro shares for news publishers on Reddit →“They also moved away from huge subreddits that other news organizations were more likely to be posting in – r/uknews for example which has 140,000 followers – towards niche pages that fit with the topics Metro does best where they think they can ‘create a meaningful interaction’. For example, they are particularly active in gaming and entertainment (including soaps) communities.”Courthouse News / Rox Laird
Ex-California congressman Devin Nunes loses bid to revive his defamation suit against Esquire magazine →“Nunes, a Republican who represented California in the U.S. House for 18 years and is now CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, sued Lizza and Esquire in 2019. Nunes claimed the September 2018 Esquire story, headlined ‘Devin Nunes’s Family Farm Is Hiding a Politically Explosive Secret,’ was filled with errors and falsely implied that Nunes conspired with his family and others to cover up charges that the dairy farm employs undocumented workers.”Chaotic Era / Kyle Tharp
These progressive groups left X for Bluesky. Was it a mistake? →“For most, the switch to Bluesky has not really been a resounding success. Every group in the above list has struggled to build serious audiences there, and none have passed even 100,000 followers. Bluesky’s
defenders will note that the engagement rate on posts on that site is much higher than on X, where political account growth no longer really happens and is essentially a ghost town for progressives.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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