Thursday, August 1, 2024 |
| “A lot of times, people are not drawn in when climate is the top line. So I like to start with [a question like] ‘O.K., what’s affecting your daily life?’” By Neel Dhanesha. |
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| In 2023, stories produced by the organization’s climate teams outperformed the average story on the website in 11 months out of 12, often dramatically. By Katherine Dunn. |
What We’re ReadingThe Wall Street Journal / Joe Parkinson, Drew Hinshaw, Bojan Pancevski, and Aruna Viswanatha
Putin wanted his hit man back. A mother wanted her journalist son to come home. →“The Russian Federation had a few final items of protocol to tick through with the man who had become its most famous prisoner…they had another piece of writing they required from him, an official request for presidential clemency. The text, moreover, should be addressed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The pro forma printout included a long blank space the prison could fill out if desired, or simply, as expected, leave blank. In the formal high Russian he had honed over 16 months imprisonment, the Journal’s Russia correspondent filled the page. The last line submitted a proposal of his own: After his release, would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview?”The Guardian / Andrew Roth, Pjotr Sauer, and Shaun Walker
How Evan Gershkovich was finally freed after a 500-day odyssey in Russia’s prison system →“It may never be clear if Gershkovich was targeted for specific reporting, or simply because the Kremlin needed a hostage to further negotiations for a prisoner swap with the west, after numerous arrests of high-profile Russian assets and officers.”New York Times / Katie Robertson
The Wall Street Journal kept Evan Gershkovich’s detention front and center →“Since Russia imprisoned Mr. Gershkovich in March 2023, The Journal has pushed to keep his detainment top of mind.” (Nieman Lab also covered the Journal’s efforts
here.The Wall Street Journal / Drew Hinshaw, Joe Parkinson, and Aruna Viswanatha
WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich is free →The 32-year-old’s release was secured as part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. Read a letter from Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker is
here.The New York Times / Kate Conger
Don Lemon sues Elon Musk over canceled X deal →“Mr. Lemon did not sign a contract cementing the agreement, which he believed would be a launchpad for his new show after CNN fired him last year, the lawsuit said. Mr. Musk told him during a phone call that there was no need to ‘fill out paperwork’ and reassured Mr. Lemon that X would financially support the show even if he did not like the views Mr. Lemon espoused, according to the court filing.”BBC / Graham Fraser
The founder of the collapsed social media site IRL has been charged with fraud →“The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accuses Abraham Shafi of defrauding investors by making misleading statements about the company’s growth. IRL – which was once considered a potential rival to Facebook – took its name from its intention to get its online users to meet up in real life. However, the initial optimism evaporated after it emerged most of IRL’s users were bots, with the platform shutting in 2023.”Futurism / Maggie Harrison Dupré
Amid New York Times lawsuit, ChatGPT is citing plagiarized versions of NYT articles on an Armenian content mill →“In Futurism’s testing, ChatGPT regularly cited DNyuz’ plagiarism factory as an authoritative and original source. And even after we alerted OpenAI to the issue, ChatGPT continued basing its answers on DNuyz’s stolen content.”AP News / Tales Azzoni
Top soccer leagues and broadcasters send letter to X demanding more action against illegal content →“The signatories said they wanted ‘to draw X’s immediate attention to its persistent failings in the fight against the availability of unlawful content on its platform and urgently call for a meeting with X’s representatives to address this unacceptable situation.’”Engadget / Anna Washenko
Senators introduce bill to protect individuals against AI-generated deepfakes →“If it passes, the NO FAKES Act would create an option for people to seek damages when their voice, face or body are recreated by AI. Both individuals and companies would be held liable for producing, hosting or sharing unauthorized digital replicas, including ones made by generative AI.”The Verge / Alex Heath
Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site →“[Reddit CEO Steve Huffman] said that Microsoft has been using Reddit’s data to train its AI and summarizing its content in Bing results ‘without telling us’ and that Reddit’s data has also been sold through the Bing API to other search engines.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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