The Daily Digest: April 16, 2025
|
| The model could allow local reporters to be part of bigger, better-resourced teams, while maintaining a level of community trust that’s out of reach for most national counterparts. By Sophie Culpepper. |
“Fake news detection” AI is more likely to fail in the Global South, new study shows What we’re reading
Semafor / Kelsey WarnerA well-funded UAE news startup runs aground →“Around $50 million — furnished by the Sawiris family office — was spent by the time Moniify launched, and those working on the business plan forecast another $50 million in annual running costs after that, one person with direct knowledge told Semafor. Runaway expenses mounted: two years of strategizing and extensive hiring before Moniify published its first story, expensive studio rentals that went unused, a new office in a creative district in Abu Dhabi, and a staffing plan that called for a 100-plus person newsroom.”
Poynter / T.J. Thomson, Ryan J. Thomas, Michelle Riedlinger, and Phoebe MatichWhat news audiences can teach journalists about artificial intelligence →“Almost all (98%) of our interviewees said they thought it was important for news organizations to have AI policies, but they also wanted simplicity and clarity about what these policies might mean in practice. Think: a few bullet points clearly and transparently outlining the organization’s approach rather than lengthy paragraphs or complicated ‘if-then’ logic trees.”
The Wrap / Sean BurchTikTok to launch its own Community Notes feature called “Footnotes” →“The video app on Wednesday said it is launching its own version of the feature — first made famous by X and later copied by Meta — that is dubbed ‘Footnotes.'”
Garbage Day / Ryan BroderickDid you even notice 4chan’s gone? →“But the most fitting synchronicity of all might be that the day that 4chan died — which is also the same day the Titanic sank fwiw — was the same day
it was revealed by The Verge that OpenAI is building a social network. A literal changing of eras right before our very eyes. The demise of the text-based, anonymous website that overran the rest of the internet happening the same week we discover the company that continues to promise a new internet may be actually trying to build one. A new internet not just full of autoplaying videos and verified user names, but one where a machine would sort through the human chaos we upload every second of the day. Chaos that, thanks to 4chan, we have to begrudgingly accept is somehow innate to what people will just do when they are safely anonymous behind a computer.”
The Hollywood Reporter / Julian SanctonSeth Rogen’s criticisms of Silicon Valley’s support for Trump were cut from the “full” Breakthrough Prize stream →“’And it’s amazing that others [who have been] in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science,’ Rogen said, clearly making Norton uncomfortable. The comment underlined the irony of Silicon Valley’s increasingly cozy relationship with the Trump administration, which has cut federal science funding and defied scientific consensus. ‘It’s amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Jr, very fast,’ Rogen continued.”
TechCrunch / Jagmeet SinghGoogle used AI to suspend over 39M ad accounts suspected of fraud →“By leveraging large language models (LLMs) and using signals such as business impersonation and illegitimate payment details, the search giant said it could suspend a ‘vast majority’ of ad accounts before they ever served an ad.”
The Verge / Lauren FeinerMark Zuckerberg revealed some of his wildest ideas in Meta’s history in his antitrust testimony →“When he was wondering about how to bring some early magic back to Facebook in 2022, Zuckerberg suggested the idea of
wiping users’ friends lists to experience the joy of starting from scratch. He even considered
beating the government to the punch by spinning off Instagram — the very app he’s
now fighting so hard to keep.”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr and Maegan VazquezWhite House eliminates permanent spot for news services in press pool →“According to a White House official, the pool will consist of one print journalist to serve as print pooler; one additional print journalist, occupying the seat formerly provided to wire services; a television network crew; a secondary television network or streaming service; one radio journalist; one ‘new media/independent journalist’; and four photographers. The pool covers the president at close proximity on behalf of the larger press corps, providing text reporting, photography and video to outlets not afforded access.”
The New York Times / Tiffany HsuTariff confusion and recession fears leave advertisers “paralyzed” and “somber” →“Should a retailer commit to holiday television commercials for toys manufactured by
newly vulnerable trading partners? How do social media companies account for the
potential disappearance of
Chinese companies that have spent billions of dollars promoting their wares? How does an automaker pitch vehicles that may cost consumers
thousands of dollars more than they did a year ago?”
MIT Technology Review / Eileen GuoU.S. office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated →“In shutting the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, the department’s controversial acting undersecretary, Darren Beattie, is delivering a major win to conservative critics who have alleged that it censors conservative voices. Created at the end of 2024, it was reorganized from the Global Engagement Center, a larger office with a similar mission that had long been criticized by conservatives who claimed that, despite its international mission, it was censoring American conservatives.”
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
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
