“Oh no, the devil is coming”

The Weekly Wrap: March 15, 2024

“Oh no, the devil is coming”

Five out of the 45 finalists in this year’s Pulitzer Prizes for journalism disclosed using AI in the process of researching, reporting, or telling their submissions. Alex Perry reported for us this week on how the folks behind major journalism prizes are thinking about AI in submissions. (The list of finalists isn’t yet public but will be announced with the winners on May 6.) The Pulitzer’s board started thinking about AI submissions last year when AI tools “had an ‘oh no, the devil is coming’ reputation,” Pulitzer Prize administrator Marjorie Miller told Alex.

What changes now that the devil is…here? (I just realized three headlines on our site this week contain the phrase “AI-powered,” whoops, maybe we’ll have to find a new way to describe some of this stuff.) Speaking at SXSW, Zach Seward, the editorial director of AI initiatives for The New York Times, explained how he’s thinking about “the bad and the ugly” and the good, pointing to one recent story about Israeli bombing in Gaza as “a great example of a story that simply could not have otherwise been told without machine learning paired with journalists and experts.” It’s the type of thing we might see more of in next year’s list of Pulitzer finalists.

Zooming back in time for a sec though, we also published a nice story by Corey Hutchins this week about how The National Trust for Local News just bought a “mission-driven” printing press in Colorado. “We recognize that printing presses are no longer the sole means of providing trusted community information,” Colorado Trust program manager Johanna Ulloa Girón told Corey. But “for specific communities [print remains] the only trusted source of hyperlocal news.”

— Laura Hazard Owen

From the week

A window into Facebook closes as Meta sets a date to shut down CrowdTangle CrowdTangle will close August 14. Meta has argued the tool was used to generate inaccurate and incomplete reports about Facebook. By Sarah Scire.

A company linked to a large “pink slime” network is being hired by big publishers like Gannett An executive from a company associated with Metric Media was hired to teach journalism, but the story doesn’t end there. By Steven Monacelli.

The National Trust for Local News buys a “mission-driven” printing press in Colorado “Demand has gone down for printed newspapers, but the supply chain for providing newspapers in a printed format is collapsing faster than the natural interest in a printed newspaper.” By Corey Hutchins.

AI news that’s fit to print: The New York Times’ editorial AI director on the current state of AI-powered journalism “I’m only speaking for myself today, but this certainly reflects how I’m thinking about the role AI could play in the Times newsroom and beyond.” By Zachary M. Seward.

Mexican journalists launch a new outlet from the ashes of the country’s shuttered state news agency Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had said last year that there no need for a state news agency since he conducts daily press briefings. By Hanaa' Tameez.

The world’s wire services call out British palace PR for a royally doctored photo When Photoshopped royal PR meets journalistic standards, something’s got to break. (And for the record, that isn’t a real photo of Kate Middleton mixin’ pixels on an IBM PCjr.) By Joshua Benton.

Five of this year’s Pulitzer finalists are AI-powered Two of journalism’s most prestigious prizes — the Pulitzers and the Polk awards — on how they’re thinking about entrants using generative AI. By Alex Perry.

Feeling the industry-wide pinch, ONA makes programming cuts “ONA is not immune to the challenges facing journalism. The industry continues to contract, and that impacts all of us.” By Sarah Scire.

A new AI-powered tool can help journalists detect audio deepfakes in Spanish Highlights from elsewhereWAMU / Elliot Williams“It’s a part of our lives”: What DCist meant to its readers and former staffers →“DCist was comfortable being serious or taking local leaders to task when it came to what was going on in our communities,” said former WAMU/DCist editor, reporter, and host Rachel Kurzius. “But it was also unapologetic about having a good time.” (Kurzius “covered everything from a pack of escaped zebras in Maryland, to disgraced councilmember Jack Evans, to allegations of sexual harassment within WAMU’s own newsroom.”)CNN / Saira Mueller“It has to be a little bit challenging”: Inside the world of Wordle at The New York Times →“I find it really heartwarming that people are able to use this as a kickstarter for their relationships and their day. There’s a comfort to being like ‘we did this together.’”Foreign Policy / Amelia LesterPrincess Catherine, BBC Dad, and the new picture perfect →“The public’s reception to two families, both alike in virality, illustrate this phenomenon. ‘BBC Dad’ is no longer the aberration. He’s the norm. And until the Waleses embrace this new world, conspiracy will swirl in the information vacuum they’ve created.”The Boston Globe / Steven PorterThe University of New Hampshire is cutting its “unsustainable” English/journalism major →Journalism education at UNH will continue, though faculty and students alike are worried about the industry at large. “I have had doubts in this past year,” one student told the Boston Globe, “just because of how the program is kind of training people to work in traditional newsrooms, when not a lot of the journalism jobs or journalism-adjacent jobs are in physical newsrooms.”Time / Charlotte AlterThe fight to free Evan Gershkovich →“The legal team at Dow Jones focused on getting Gershkovich the right representation — a challenge complicated by the withdrawal of most Western law firms from Russia. One hurdle was finding a good lawyer who also wasn’t ‘politically aligned in one way or another,’ recalls Jay Conti, Dow Jones’ general counsel. ‘You don’t want that to be a signal.'”Politico / Gabe Fleisher The mystery social media account schooling Congress on how to do its job →“@ringwiss has never even stepped foot in the Capitol, much less worked there. The account, which lists its location as ‘Durham,’ uses Homer Simpson’s head as a profile photo and frequently runs circles around veteran congressional experts, is run by Kacper Surdy, a 20-year-old economics student at Durham University in England. He is revealing his identity here for the first time publicly.”

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