Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela

In recent weeks, Venezuelan journalists have found innovative ways to keep independent journalism alive; here are some of their efforts. By Hanaa' Tameez.
The Institute for Nonprofit News rejected more than half of newsrooms that applied for membership in 2023
What We’re Reading
Adweek / Mark Stenberg
The WSJ offers advertisers an election performance guarantee →
“Any campaign that fails to meet this AU guarantee will be offered a makegood in the form of additional added-value impressions. The guarantee is not meant to assuage advertisers’ potential brand safety concerns. Instead, it is designed to appeal to marketers who understand the value of advertising against news content but who are wary of having their message lost in the noise of a hectic moment.”
CNN / Hadas Gold
The Murdoch family is secretly battling over succession. News outlets are asking a court to make it public →
“A coalition of media organizations, including CNN, has petitioned a Nevada court to open up the secret proceedings surrounding a legal battle over the future of billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. The New York Times, Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, Reuters and CNN filed a motion Wednesday in the Second Judicial District Court in Nevada to make public the proceedings, objecting to the case being so extensively sealed that it doesn’t even appear on any court schedule or docket.”
The Guardian / Mark Sweney
Advertiser exodus from X gathers pace with 26% ‘planning to cut spending’ →
“Research by data firm Kantar, based on interviews with 18,000 consumers and 1,000 senior marketers around the world, has found that 26% of marketers are planning to cut back ad spend on X in 2025. ‘Marketers are brand custodians and need to trust the platforms they use,’ said Gonca Bubani, a director at Kantar.”
Wired / Kate Knibbs
The Internet Archive loses its appeal of a major copyright case →
“The new verdict arrives at an especially tumultuous time for copyright law. In the past two years there have been dozens of copyright infringement cases filed against major AI companies that offer generative AI tools, and many of the defendants in these cases argue that the fair use doctrine shields their usage of copyrighted data in AI training. Any major lawsuit in which judges refute fair use claims are thus closely watched.”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
Mehdi Hasan saw a market for a new kind of media company →
“Four months in, Zeteo has pulled in 31,000 paid subscribers through the Substack platform, including more than 1,000 at the $500-and-up ‘founder’ level, accounting for about $3 million in annualized revenue. Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie called Zeteo’s launch ‘one of the most successful and fastest growing in Substack history.’ That subscriber count makes Zeteo the fifth most-popular politics publication on Substack, trailing long-established offerings from popular pundits Bari Weiss (the Free Press) and Nate Silver (Silver Bulletin) and outlets like the Bulwark.”
CNN / Zachary Cohen, Donie O
DOJ alleges a Russia-funded US media company is linked to right-wing social media stars →
“The goal of the operation, according to prosecutors, was to fuel pro-Russian narratives, in part, by pushing content and news articles favoring Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others who the Kremlin deemed to be friendlier to its interests. Among the commentators listed on Tenet Media’s website are right-wing personalities Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin. All have released statements saying they were victims of the alleged Russian scheme and they maintained editorial control of the content they created. Each has a loyal fanbase online, with a combined roughly 6 million followers on YouTube alone.”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
YouTube is developing AI detection tools for music and faces →
“YouTube on Thursday announced a new set of AI detection tools to protect creators, including artists, actors, musicians and athletes from having their likeness, including their face and voice, copied and used in other videos. One key component of the new detection technology involved the expansion of YouTube’s existing Content ID system, which today identifies copyright-protected material. This system will be expanded to include new synthetic-singing identification technology to identify AI content that simulates someone’s singing voice. Other detection technologies will be developed to identify when someone’s face is simulated with AI.”
The 19th / Zurii Conroy
LaSharah S. Bunting joins The 19th as its first vice president →
“Bunting, the current CEO and executive director of the Online News Association, will scale up The 19th’s fundraising capacity and lead our development, finance and budgeting operations, helping to sustain our critical independent journalism.”
Washington Post / A.G. Sulzberger
A.G. Sulzberger on how the quiet war against press freedom could come to America →
“As that list makes clear, these leaders have realized that crackdowns on the press are most effective when they’re at their least dramatic — not the stuff of thrillers but a movie so plodding and complicated that no one wants to watch it.”