Monday, June 17, 2024 |
| Some findings from RISJ’s 2024 Digital News Report. By Nieman Lab Staff. |
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| “To believe that the richness of Black identity can be understood through a temporary costume trivializes the lifelong trauma of racism. It turns the complexity of Black life into a stunt.” By Alisha Gaines. |
What We’re ReadingThe Washington Post / Isaac Stanley-Becker, Sarah Ellison, Greg Miller, and Aaron C. Davis
Incoming Post editor tied to self-described “thief” who claimed role in his reporting →“At The Post and other major American news organizations, the use of deceptive tactics in pursuit of news stories violates core ethics policies. In Britain, ‘blagging’ — using misrepresentation to dupe others into revealing confidential information — has been a known feature of a certain brand of tabloid journalism, especially before a public reckoning over press ethics began in 2011.”Popular Information / Judd Legum
Sinclair Broadcast Group floods local news websites with deceptive articles about Biden’s mental fitness →“On June 6, Sinclair also devoted an entire article to amplifying the right-wing fabrication that Biden soiled himself on stage. The URL for the article even includes the word ‘pooping’…Each of these crass political smears masquerading as journalism was syndicated to at least 86 local news websites owned by Sinclair.”The New York Times / John Branch
In a digital age, high-end outdoors magazines are thriving in print →“The screen experience is so reductionist,” said Stephen Casimiro, a former editor of Powder and National Geographic Adventure and founder and publisher of
Adventure Journal. “It just flattens the world, so that a Pulitzer Prize-winning story feels the same as spam. Some things deserve better.”BBC / Thomas Germain
AI took their jobs. Now they get paid to make it sound human →“Now, people like Miller are finding themselves being asked to team up with the same robots that are stealing their jobs to give the algorithms a bit of humanity – a hidden army making AI seem better than it really is.”Wired / Jason Parham
The Anderson Cooper of Black Twitter believes journalism can survive influencers →“I don’t want to bring attention to everything because there’s so much engagement bait online now,” Phil Lewis says. “What I try to avoid doing is lighting something on fire.”Defector / Owen Lewis
The “Longform” podcast told the story of an industry →“If you want to learn about writers’ processes, it’s the place to go. If you want to hear rejection stories and tales of someone taking a chance on writers, it’s the place to go. A single Longform episode can invoke fierce inspiration or great sorrow, sometimes both within an hour.”The Guardian / Ari Saperstein
Accessible and “a pleasure to read”: How Apple’s podcast transcriptions came to be →“Apple’s journey to podcast transcripts started with the expansion of a different feature: indexing. It’s a common origin story at a number of tech companies like Amazon and Yahoo – what begins as a search tool evolves into a full transcription initiative. Apple first deployed software that could identify specific words in a podcast back in 2018.”TechCrunch / Aisha Malik
YouTube is experimenting with Notes, a crowdsourced feature that lets users add context to videos →“YouTube is introducing a new experimental feature that will allow viewers to add “Notes” to provide more context and information under videos…If the feature sounds similar, it’s because it follows the same concept as
Community Notes on X (formerly Twitter).”Axios / Kerry Flynn
New York Times to recognize The Athletic union if formed, CEO says →“The Athletic editorial staffers are mulling an effort to unionize,
Axios first reported last month, as the sports media brand becomes more integrated into the larger company.”Semafor / Ben Smith
The Washington Post looks to remake its identity →“At their best, these corporate branding exercises force companies to decide what they’re selling. And the Post is in desperate need of a clear pitch, lest it simply be seen as a cheaper, lower-quality version of The New York Times.”BBC / Gianluca Avagnina
Evan Gershkovich trial to be behind closed doors, Russian court says →“The trial of detained US journalist Evan Gershkovich will be held behind closed doors, Russian state media, citing the courts service, has reported. Russian officials have accused the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter of collecting ‘secret information’ from a Russian tank factory on behalf of the CIA. He denies the allegations….The WSJ dismissed the trial as a ‘sham,’ while US officials said the charges had ‘zero credibility.'”Gizmodo / Maxwell Zeff
YouTube is testing a new kind of unskippable ad →“The introduction of server-side ads only seems to be affecting a few users for now, but it appears to be YouTube’s latest hit in its long war on ad blockers.”Federal Trade Commission / Michael Atleson
“Succor borne every minute”: U.S. Federal Trade Commission warns against AI hype →“Your therapy bots aren’t licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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