Laden...
How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reportingFor a second year, the Pulitzer Prizes required applicants to divulge AI usage — one winner and three finalists disclosed. By Andrew Deck. |
How big is the market for rigorous reporting on misinformation? This new newsletter will be an Indicator“It’s just politically expedient in this climate [for platforms] to lay low. And so this manifests in record levels of digital scams, AI slop everywhere, and entire chatbots dedicated to fringe conspiracy theories.” By Joshua Benton. |
“There’s not much hostility toward experts in unhurried realms of inquiry like numismatics or number theory. It’s when uncertainty collides with urgency that the authorities enter the fray, convene commissions, and issue findings. Those who accept the sanctioned conclusions gain official backing. Those who don’t are ruled out of bounds. No longer recognized as colleagues with legitimate hypotheses, they risk being treated as crackpots, deniers, and conspiracy theorists…But in science, and in intellectual inquiry more broadly, where you draw the line matters enormously.”
The Washington PostKimi Yoshino, founding Baltimore Banner editor-in-chief, joins The Washington Post as Managing Editor →Yoshino will oversee the Features, Sports, Local, Investigations and Data teams at the Post. She will be one of four managing editors at the Post, alongside Jason Anders (who came from the Wall Street Journal earlier this month), Liz Seymour (a Post veteran) and Peter Spiegel (who came from the Financial Times in January).
Wired / Molly TaftTrump cuts are killing a tiny office that keeps measurements of the world accurate →“The work of [the National Geodetic Survey, the oldest scientific agency in the U.S.], says Tim Burch, the executive director of the National Society of Professional Surveyors, ‘is kind of like oxygen. You don’t know you need it until it’s not there.’”
The Atlantic / Daniel EngberNow PBS is censoring a film about free speech →“Alicia Sams, who co-produced the film, told me that she received a call from the executive producer of American Masters, Michael Kantor, at the beginning of April. It was less than a week after a contentious congressional hearing in which the network was accused of being a ‘radical left-wing echo chamber’ that is ‘brainwashing and trans-ing children.’ According to Sams, Kantor said that Disaster Is My Muse would need one further edit before it could be shown: The filmmakers had to remove a short sequence where [Art Spiegelman, author of Maus] reads aloud from the one of the few comic strips about Trump that he’s ever published, in a zine associated with the Women’s March in 2017. There was no opportunity for negotiation, Sams said.”
The Guardian / Ashifa KassamEU urged to act over Hungary’s plans to “effectively outlaw free press” →“The statement published this week, signed by leading media voices from 23 countries, described the draft bill as being in line with ‘the authoritarian tactics’ seen in Russia under Vladimir Putin, in a reference to the country’s ‘foreign agent’ law…The Hungarian legislation, which would allow the government to blacklist organisations, levy steep fines on them and ban them from receiving donations, had been written ‘so broadly that it could be applied to virtually any organisation involved in public life or debate,’ it said.”
Literary Hub / Maris KreizmanYou see? Generative AI is bad at doing my job →“There are so many factors to consider when putting together a list. I not only want to feature the best books, but I also want diversity of topic, of tone, of author background, of publisher size, of general popularity. I use my expertise to weigh my choices and game them out to create a balanced list that reflects both my personal taste plus the voice of the outlet I’m writing for. I would wager to say that ChatGPT can’t do this, and now it’s just a matter of convincing the world, including media bosses and readers alike, that there is value in what I do.”
Wired / Kate KnibbsPolitico’s newsroom is starting a legal battle with management over AI →“This isn’t just a contract dispute, it’s a test of whether journalists have a say in how AI is used in our work. With no federal rules in place, union contracts remain one of the only enforceable frameworks for AI accountability on a national scale.” — Newsguild president Jon Schleuss.
The Washington Post / Jeremy BarrCBS News staffers see leader’s departure as a sign of Trump settlement →“’We understand that a settlement will be made,’ [a CBS News staffer] said. ‘We also understand that an apology [to Trump] is likely. We also understand that in doing so, CBS News will be very badly damaged.’”
The Guardian / Helen DavidsonHong Kong authorities trying to disrupt independent press with “strange” tax audits →“Requests or audits were made against the [Hong Kong Journalists Association], at least eight independent media outlets, and at least 20 journalists and their family members…the tax department had told one journalist that they had to pay a profit tax for a company they did not run, and had cited a registration number that did not exist. Another company was told it was being audited for profits made during the year before it was even founded. One journalist had their income ‘assessed’ as double the amount they had actually earned, and was issued a demand for prepayment of tax on the ‘under-reported’ income.”
NPR / David FolkenflikThe EU is throwing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty a lifeline →EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters the $6.2 million infusion was “short-term emergency funding designed as a safety net for the [network’s] independent journalism.” Sweden has also pledged $2 million, but those funds haven’t arrived yet. RFE/RL is suing the Trump administration for the full $75 million that has been appropriated for it for the rest of the fiscal year.
Vanity Fair / Kase WickmanHow The Skimm, once deemed “the Ivanka Trump of newsletters,” grew into a must-read for political leaders on the left — and right →“The mistake that we’ve seen so many media outlets make is thinking they know how an audience feels.”
Nieman Lab | View email in browser | Unsubscribe
You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org.
Nieman Journalism Lab · Harvard University · 1 Francis Ave. · Cambridge, MA 02138 · USA
Laden...
Laden...
© 2025
