“Journalism moves fast…philanthropy moves slow.” Press Forward’s director wants to bring them together

Monday, May 20, 2024

“Journalism moves fast…philanthropy moves slow.” Press Forward’s director wants to bring them together “I see, every week, some example of where the two don’t understand each other. Each of them needs to shift a little bit.” By Sophie Culpepper.

After criticism over “viewpoint diversity,” NPR adds new layers of editorial oversight “We will all have to adjust to a new workflow. If it is a bottleneck, it will be a failure.” By Sarah Scire.

What We’re ReadingWIRED / Nilesh Christopher and Varsha BansalIndian voters are being bombarded with millions of deepfakes. Political candidates approve →“While the U.S. recently made it illegal to use AI-generated voices for unsolicited calls, in India sanctioned deepfakes have become a $60 million business opportunity. More than 50 million AI-generated voice clone calls were made in the two months leading up to the start of the elections in April—and millions more will be made during voting.”Semafor / Max TaniAs clicks dry up for news sites, could Apple’s news app be a lifeline? →“The partnership also raises some of the questions publishers avoided during the peak social media era. It incentivizes users to subscribe to Apple News+ rather than to publications directly, likely cannibalizing some potential revenue. It’s driving editorial decisions, meaning publishers are once again changing their content strategy to placate a platform. And of course the company could wake up one day and decide, like Facebook, that it no longer really wants to be in the news business, leaving news publishers stranded.”The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin and Katie RobertsonFraud trial to begin for Ozy founder Carlos Watson →“The jury trial of Carlos Watson, who is charged with trying to defraud investors in the digital media start-up he co-founded, Ozy Media, is scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection in federal court in Brooklyn. Mr. Watson has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. If convicted, he could face up to 37 years in prison.”The Verge / Nilay PatelGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai on AI-powered search and the future of the web →Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai “says injecting AI into Search is about creating value for users, and those users are telling him that they find these new features to be helpful — and even clicking on links at higher rates in the AI previews. But he didn’t say where that leaves the people who put the content on the internet in the first place.”The Washington Post / Pranshu VermaThese ISIS news anchors are AI fakes. Their propaganda is real. →“The videos offer some of the earliest signs of AI helping terrorist groups quickly disseminate propaganda and recruit members, terrorism media experts said — and have even sparked an internal debate over the use of the technology under Islamic law.”CNN / Lauren Kent, Jack Guy, Claudia Rebaza and Lauren Said-MoorhouseJulian Assange can appeal extradition to the U.S., U.K. court rules →“The 52-year-old is wanted by U.S. authorities on espionage charges connected to his organization’s publication of thousands of classified documents and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011. Assange faces spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.”Vanity Fair / Charlotte KleinMeet “the Inspector General” of the New York Times newsroom →“Today the Times newsroom is a different place than it was 10 years ago…Management feels they have to provide more guidance across the board and take concerted moves to protect the institution. [Charlotte] Behrendt’s evolved role seems to be one such mechanism. As one former senior editor put it, ‘The fact that she has internal investigations in her title is a character change of astonishing order.'”Chicago Tribune / Robert Channick and Vincent AlbanTribune press operators say goodbye to an era as Freedom Center makes its final run →“‘You almost feel like an artist,’ [Andrew] Whitaker said. ‘People really don’t understand the logistics that go into the printing process. It seems like the paper just appears, but there’s a lot to it.'”Pew Research Center / Emily TomasikMore Americans want the journalists they get news from to share their politics than any other personal trait →“Most Americans say it is not important that the news they get comes from journalists who share their political views, age, gender or other traits. But people are more likely to say it is important for journalists to share their politics than any other characteristic we asked about.”Axios / Tim BaysingerAmazon wants Prime to be the ESPN of the streaming era →“Amazon is closing in on a deal to make it one of three partners with the NBA, a source with knowledge of those talks confirmed to Axios… Adding the NBA would be the latest salvo for Amazon’s quickly growing sports business.”The Verge / Mia SatoUSA Today is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of its articles →“The AI feature, labeled ‘key points’ on stories, uses automated technology to create summaries that appear below a headline. The bottom of articles includes a disclaimer, reading, ‘The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI.'”TechCrunch / Sarah PerezChatGPT’s mobile app revenue saw biggest spike yet following GPT-4o launch →“Though OpenAI said GPT-4o would be offered to users on its free tier, that promise didn’t stretch to include users of its ChatGPT app on mobile. Instead, mobile users are being pushed to upgrade to its $19.99 monthly subscription, ChatGPT Plus, if they want to experiment with OpenAI’s most recent launch.”Ars Technica / Scharon HardingOpenAI will use Reddit posts to train ChatGPT under new deal →“Generative AI firms are keen to tap into Reddit’s access to real-time conversations from a variety of people discussing a nearly endless range of topics. And Reddit seems equally eager to license the data from its users’ posts.”Columbia Journalism Review / Jon AllsopA tale of two shocking stories about world leaders →“If the Raisi incident suggests that state media control can never be absolute, particularly in a globalized world, the Fico incident points to ways in which censorship can grow even in democratic soil—and to how polarization can be weaponized to heighten it.”The Guardian / Otis FilleyFrom mining to Meta: the slow decline of Broken Hill’s only newspaper →“The Barrier Industrial Council was formed in 1923 by 18 trade unions, with the aim of improving worker conditions in Broken Hill. It successfully secured a 35-hour work week and five weeks of annual leave for mining employees….It took over as publisher of the Barrier Daily Truth from the Barrier District Australasian Labor Federation. But the unusual ownership was not able to protect the paper from the winds buffeting regional media.”

Nieman Lab / Fuego

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