Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest

In Spain, a new data-powered news outlet aims to increase accountability reporting

Demócrata.es, launched in March, publishes data-driven reporting and plans to expand. By Hanaa' Tameez.
What We’re Reading
CNN / Allegra Goodwin and Richard Allen Greene
Israeli military took no accountability for journalists it killed over past 20 years, press freedom group says →
“The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published the report on Tuesday, just two days before the one-year-anniversary of the death of Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American who was killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022 while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin.”
The Guardian / Kevin Rawlinson
The United Kingdom is a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ journalists, according to a new study →
“The study particularly noted abuse targeted at transgender people, with LGBTQ+ journalists saying taking part in media coverage of trans issues often led to high levels of abuse.”
The Rebooting / Brian Morrissey
Where the media business goes next →
Axios’s Sara Fischer: “Niche media is thriving in an era where generalist media seems to be declining. Companies that launch with a little bit of money, but in a targeted way, focusing on one specific thing with authority, tend to build incrementally and more sustainably than companies that try to do it all at once upfront.”
Fortune / Chloe Berger
Elizabeth Holmes wants to reinvent herself as “Liz.” No one seems to be buying it →
“Prominent journalists and writers took to Twitter to criticize the Times for platforming a convicted fraudster’s PR campaign without noting the potential massive consequences to her wrongdoings.”
Rest of World / Danielle Keeton-Olsen
The Vietnamese military has a troll army and Facebook is its weapon →
“Facebook is no longer a safe place to express opinions and criticize the wrongdoing of the Vietnamese government.”
The Verge / Adi Robertson
Something Awful is racing to save the best and worst of web history →
“The worst-case scenario was obvious: an unceremonious purge of images from one of the longest-running communities on the web.”
NPR / David Folkenflik
Fox isn’t in the apology business. That could cost it a ton of money →
“Fox suffers from a failure of corporate accountability rooted in the same cause: The Murdoch family’s utter control of the company…‘Any time that you’ve got the insiders with a disproportionate amount of control, you’re asking for trouble. And any time you’ve got a succession plan based on who was born to whom, rather than who’s the best person, you’ve also got a problem.’”
dw.com / Julian Ryall
Why Japan ranks poorly in press freedom →
“Japan’s claims to freedom of the press are dented in particular by a system of government-approved press clubs for ministries and the tendency of the media to self-censor at the slightest pressure from the government or influential business partners, according to academics and journalists.”
Bloomberg / Low De Wei
Chinese authorities arrested a ChatGPT user who faked news about a deadly train crash →
The article about a deadly train crash — written using ChatGPT — was viewed more than 15,000 times before being removed.
Columbia Journalism Review / Jem Bartholomew
These are the deaths the British press is reluctant to cover →
“I think one of the important things — as well as the big stories where he’s revealing injustice — he gives a voice to a community which doesn’t really have a voice at all. And it can be an angry voice and a belligerent voice, but I think it’s quite an authentic voice, and it’s one that, if it wasn’t there, you’d really miss it.”
WSJ / Alexandra Bruell
The New York Times will get $100 million from Google over three years →
“[The deal] more than offsets the revenue that the Times is losing after Facebook parent Meta Platforms last year told publishers it wouldn’t renew contracts to feature their content in its Facebook News tab. The Wall Street Journal at the time reported that Meta had paid annual fees of just over $20 million to the Times.”
New York Times / Benjamin Mullin
A father-son duo in Alabama won a Pulitzer →
AL.com’s four-person team includes John Archibald, a 2021 Nieman Fellow; his son Ramsey Archibald, a data reporter; and Ashley Remkus and Challen Stephens, both investigative editors.