Nieman Lab
The Daily Digest: June 23, 2025

This new app wants to help prose-loving journalists make the leap into vertical video

Sophiana wants to turn your semicolon-laden story into something your nephew won’t swipe past. By Joshua Benton.

Nonprofit news executives share tips on handling the tough times

“Change is coming to us. We can manage to it and figure out where we want to go, or we can let [it] happen to us, and it’s going to be even more painful.” By Sophie Culpepper.
What we’re reading
The Guardian / Amanda Meade
News Corp is betting big on an in-house AI tool called NewsGPT →

“Staffers on the Australian, the Courier Mail, and the Daily Telegraph say the tool enables them to take on the persona of another writer, or to adopt a certain style, and NewsGPT will then generate a custom article.”

Global Investigative Journalism Network / Alcyone Wemaere
6 tips for launching an investigative podcast →

“Originally a print magazine offering high-quality and in-depth journalism, [Poland’s] Pismo now produces up to three podcast seasons every year, covering complex and sensitive topics…The podcast also reached an unexpected audience, noted Nesterowicz: ‘The press and news avoiders — mostly young people, women, and people from lower socioeconomic classes who consider traditional news outlets not for people like them.'”

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The Guardian / Dan Milmo and Michael Savage
The U.K. film industry is hoping Chinese “vertical dramas” will spark a turnaround →

Quibi’s revenge? “Within the filming community, some actors, some crew, it’s not for them. And sometimes it’s not for me either. It depends on the script. But it is becoming more legit. As times goes on the scripts are getting better.”

Los Angeles Times / Andrea Flores
Former TelevisaUnivision anchor Jorge Ramos has “a few pending battles left” →

“On Wednesday, the Mexican reporter announced his new independent daily news program, ‘Así Veo las Cosas,’ on Instagram. Featuring interviews with notable figures and everyday people alike, his broadcasts will be accessible across multiple social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok, beginning Monday.”

Semafor / Reed Albergotti
Reddit is in talks to embrace Sam Altman’s iris-scanning Orb to verify users →

“According to two people familiar with the matter, World ID could soon become a way for Reddit users to verify that they are unique individuals while remaining anonymous on the platform.”

The Fix / Dusica Tomovic
A new “foreign agent” law in Bosnia threatens independent media →

“Framed as a measure of transparency, the law mirrors authoritarian models used to suppress dissent forcing media outlets that receive foreign funding to register, report, and operate under a cloud of suspicion.”

The Verge / Lauren Feiner
Inside the courthouse reshaping the future of the internet →

“For much of this spring, the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in downtown Washington, DC, was buzzing with lawyers, reporters, and interested onlookers jostling between dimly lit courtrooms that hosted everyone from the richest men in Silicon Valley to fired federal workers and the DOGE-aligned officials who terminated them.”

Forbes / Andy Meek
The Washington Post is running out of readers willing to pay →

“The Washington Post’s average paid [print] daily circulation has dropped below 100,000 for the first time in 55 years. To put that in perspective: 97,000 is the sort of figure you’d expect to see from a mid-size regional paper like The Minnesota Star Tribune or The Seattle Times. Not from a globally recognized newsroom with multiple Pulitzers to its name.”

Digiday / Sara Guaglione
Why Hearst built an AI voice assistant tool for its recipe site Delish →

“A pop-up on the site invites users to enable their microphone, unlocking access to the Cooking Coach assistant. Once activated, the voice tool helps users choose and follow Delish recipes (“I’m looking for chicken tacos that take less than an hour”). It can also suggest ingredient swaps, adjust serving sizes, set multiple timers and answer questions about cooking techniques and terminology — all in multiple languages.”

The Guardian / Michael Savage
A rise in “alert fatigue” may be making smartphone users uninstall their news apps →

“Researchers found news companies are acutely aware they are walking a delicate line between notifying users about crucial information and causing them to unsubscribe by sending them too many updates.”

Ars Technica / Timothy B. Lee
A Meta AI model can reproduce almost half of the first Harry Potter book →

“Specifically, the paper estimates that Llama 3.1 70B has memorized 42 percent of the first Harry Potter book well enough to reproduce 50-token excerpts at least half the time…Interestingly, Llama 1 65B, a similar-sized model released in February 2023, had memorized only 4.4 percent of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

TechCrunch / Anthony Ha
LinkedIn’s CEO says its AI writing assistant is not as popular as expected →

“When asked why, he argued that the ‘barrier is much higher’ to posting on Linkedin, because ‘this is your resume online.’ Plus, users can face real backlash if they post something that’s too obviously generated by Al. ‘If you’re getting called out on X or TikTok, that’s one thing,’ he added. ‘But when you’re getting called out on LinkedIn, it really impacts your ability to create economic opportunity for yourself.'”

The New York Times / Nicole Sperling
Netflix dips its toe into old-fashioned TV →

“The partnership, the first of its kind for Netflix, means that the company’s subscribers in France will have access to TF1’s broad array of programming, including game shows like ‘The Voice,’ as well as live sporting events and soap operas without leaving the service.”

Digiday / Alexander Lee
Creators turn to agentic AI to manage fan engagement →

“The most visible way that creators are using agentic Al is to respond to comments and direct messages from fans on social media…Agentic Al can be used to actively monitor incoming engagement (DMs, comments) and decide when and how to respond with personalized replies — offering fans a sense of connection they might not otherwise get.”

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