Monday, July 8, 2024 |
| Institute for Poetjournalism founder Aaron Dworkin hopes a cash prize and a wire service for “newspoems” will help the form take off. By Neel Dhanesha. |
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| In countries that have demanded Facebook pay local news publishers, the tech giant has responded with threats — and sometimes action. Will a Canada-style ban become the international norm? By Axel Bruns. |
What We’re ReadingThe Intercept / Nikita Mazurov
The New York Times is suing OpenAI — and experimenting with it for writing headlines and copy editing →“The Times’s use of the technology came to light thanks to leaked code showing that it developed a tool that would use OpenAI to generate headlines for articles and ‘help apply The New York Times styleguide’ — performing functions that, if applied in the newsroom, are normally undertaken by editors at the newspaper.”Columbia Journalism Review / Jon Allsop
In France, journalists have not all “watched quietly” →“The broader instinct to keep the far right from holding institutional power at all costs held for decades, not only in French partisan politics but in other spheres of society, including the media. In some places, something like it holds still. Ahead of the first round, more than a hundred news outlets signed an open letter calling for a journalistic ‘common front’ against the far right and warning that its arrival in power would constitute a mortal threat to press freedom […]”The Atlantic / Zoë Schlanger
Welcome to the era of extreme-weather push alerts →“Eventually, certain climate-related extreme weather events may become so repetitive that their danger—though no less threatening—might cease to feel exceptional. Some call this human quirk “shifting baseline syndrome.” Emergency managers call it “alert fatigue.” It may be one of the biggest problems facing their field as climate disasters mount.”Rest of World / Matheus Andrade
Conservative evangelicals are using social media to sway Brazil’s upcoming elections →“As a wave of evangelical conservatism surges across Brazil, a cohort of popular evangelical YouTubers — including Malafaia — are voicing an anti-leftist sentiment through their online platforms. Their supporters have garnered significant political clout, pushing Lula to engage with their bloc ahead of October’s municipal elections.”The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
LinkedIn co-founder and billionaire Reid Hoffman is helping fund Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News →“Smartmatic built a global business by using technology to better engage citizens, regardless of party or ideology, by making voting simple and trustworthy,” Hoffman said. “After Donald Trump lost in 2020, however, Smartmatic became a target of the defamatory campaign to overturn his defeat.”Entrepreneur / Sherin Shibu
OpenAI is asking for proof that The New York Times’ journalism is original →“The NYT submitted a
filing on Wednesday [July 3] asserting that OpenAI’s request “serves no purpose other than harassment and retaliation for The Times’s decision to file this lawsuit.”Voz de América / Houston Castillo Vado
From TikTokers to journalists, there are more than 100 political prisoners in Nicaragua →In Spanish: “The list of more than 100 political prisoners includes TikTokers such as Geovany López Acevedo, who was arrested by the National Police on November 22 for criticizing news anchors of the pro-government Channel 13. There is also a journalist in custody, Victor Ticay, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for broadcasting an event by the Catholic Church for his news outlet La Portada.”Al Jazeera
Five journalists killed as Israel steps up bombardment across Gaza →“On Saturday, Gaza’s Government Media Office said separate Israeli strikes killed three journalists in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the territory and two in Gaza City, raising to at least 158 the number of media workers killed since the current war erupted on October 7.”Local News Blues / Amos Gelb
The American Journalism Project’s partnership with JPMorgan Chase merits a second (skeptical) look →“If JPMorgan really wanted to support local journalism, it could give direct grants or offer low/no fee loans to local news orgs. That would truly help local journalism and do what the bank does best because local news orgs generally suck at financials. Think of the potential of local bank managers working with news orgs to help them manage their finances and develop a path to sustainability. The news orgs benefit, JPMorgan makes a real difference, the burden is diffused among local branches, and everyone wins. So why does JPMorgan need AJP?”American Press Institute / Letrell Deshan Crittenden
Andrea Wenzel on creating equitable news outlets and the challenges of doing good journalism in the face of DEI pushback →“If you’re not thinking about reporting for people who have a lot of different demographic backgrounds in your community, you’re probably not doing good journalism. And so it’s not only doing a disservice to BIPOC communities, it’s doing a disservice to white members of the community too, because they’re going to get a distorted understanding of their world. It’s a problem for everyone.”Tech Policy Press / Justin Hendrix and Paul M. Barrett
The politics of social media research: We shouldn’t let Meta spin the studies it sponsors →“Policymakers, journalists, civil society experts, and researchers need to resist the argument that crucial questions about social media and democracy are somehow settled by a narrow set of results from research conducted four years ago. Instead, we all need to push for policies that provide independent researchers the access to data bringing greater clarity to the complicated relationship between platforms and politics.”The Irish Times / Fiona McCann
The New York Times election podcast. “The Run-Up”, takes the more interesting approach of talking to ordinary people →“Rather than convening a panel of experts talking in wondrous wonky detail about policy details and insider wheeling and dealing, Herndon’s approach is to get out and find the people who are actually going to decide this thing.”
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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