ProPublica / Justin Elliott, Patricia Callahan, and James Bandler
Financial Times / Arash Massoudi and Leila Abboud
Financial Times / Lauren Indvik
Anna Wintour: “I just have to make sure things are being done right” →“It is probable that Condé Nast cannot afford to lose her. Advertisers run ads in Vogue not only because they think that will sell clothes, but also to secure Wintour’s favour and advice. She is frequently consulted by investors looking for young labels to back and executives in search of a new creative director.”
The Washington Post / Paul Farhi
AI may be news reporting’s future. So far, it’s been an embarrassment. →“They can’t discern fact from fiction, which means they can pass off nonsense just as easily as the real goods. They can’t call up experts and sources to gather new information, which limits their effectiveness on breaking news stories. They also have trouble understanding context and cultural nuance — that is, what’s appropriate in the body of a news article.”
The Guardian / Alexandra Topping
Russell Brand and why the allegations took so long to surface →“The reason, according to multiple experts, is simple: publishing stories like this in England and Wales is extremely difficult, and fraught with risk. ‘People often think that we have a law that protects free speech here. We don’t. We have a law that protects reputation,’ says Caroline Kean, a partner at Wiggin who represented the journalist Catherine Belton when she was sued by multiple Russian billionaires. ‘Getting stories out like this may sound easy to people who watch a lot of crime dramas, but it’s actually incredibly difficult.'”
The Washington Post / Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski, and Joseph Menn
Misinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks →“Academics, universities and government agencies are overhauling or ending research programs designed to counter the spread of online misinformation amid a legal campaign from conservative politicians and activists who accuse them of colluding with tech companies to censor right-wing views.”
The Guardian / Charles Kaiser
How The New York Times survived — and thrived — through the digital disruption →“Journalists have been waiting half a century for a worthy sequel to [Gay] Talese’s book, and that is what Adam Nagourney has attempted with The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism, a history of the newspaper from 1976 to 2016, which he wrote with Talese’s encouragement and cooperation.”
The Guardian / Tara Conlan
Next BBC chair faces tougher scrutiny over conflicts of interest →“The deadline for applicants to replace [Richard] Sharp in the £160,000-a-year post passed last Monday…In an information pack seen by the Observer, candidates are asked to provide not only ‘interests that might be relevant to the work of the BBC’ but also ones that ‘could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest.'”
The New York Times / John Koblin
TV networks’ last best hope: Boomers →“Just nine years ago, the median age of most top-rated network entertainment shows ranged from the mid-40s to early 50s…But in the most recent network television season, which ended in May, the median viewer was older than 60 for most entertainment shows, including ‘The Voice’ (64.8), ‘The Masked Singer’ (60.6), ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (64.1) and ‘Young Sheldon’ (“65+,” the highest range that Nielsen provides).”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
Lachlan Murdoch will be fully in charge of Fox. Will viewers notice? →“In 2021, Murdoch moved back to Australia with his family. That distance from Fox’s headquarters in New York is also representative of his remove from the network’s day-to-day machinations. In a deposition he gave for the Dominion case, Murdoch made clear that he has delegated authority to the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, along with its president, Jay Wallace.”
The New York Times / Jeremy W. Peters
Dana Perino of Fox News is about to face her biggest test as a journalist →“Not known for being as provocative or partisan as many of her colleagues behind the desk, Ms. Perino, 51, has spent a good part of the last decade trying to thrive as a Bush Republican working for a network where loyalty to former President Donald J. Trump is often the ticket to high ratings and the career advancement that accompanies them.”
The Guardian / Jim Waterson
Rupert Murdoch’s last move? The Spectator is in his sights →“The rightwing magazine, which is due to be auctioned off next month, is said to be a favourite of the billionaire, who used his resignation statement to claim much of the media is ‘in cahoots’ with elites who have ‘open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class.'”
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
Journalists fear “secret justice” over proposed one-reporter limit in U.K. sex trials →“The Law Commission’s proposed reform suggests excluding all media except for one reporter while evidence is heard from a complainant in a sex offence case. Currently, alleged victims in such cases frequently give evidence from behind a screen, remotely or in a pre-recorded interview. The consultation also questions whether the public should potentially should be excluded from the courtroom for entire sexual offences trials.”
The Atlantic / Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis: I was wrong about the death of the book →“Fifteen years ago, in What Would Google Do?, I called for the book to be rethought and renovated, digital and connected, so that it could be updated and made searchable, conversational, collaborative, linkable, less expensive to produce, and cheaper to buy. The problem, I said, was that we so revered the book, it had become sacrosanct. ‘We need to get over books,’ I wrote. ‘Only then can we reinvent them.’ I recant.”
The Guardian / Tory Shepherd
Press Gazette / Joanne Forbes
The fight to save the U.K.’s Community News Project after Meta stopped funding →“Meta’s decision was always going to be a commercial one, based on its business priorities, which have changed, and with the politics of regulation and fair competition as the backdrop. It’s some comfort that its decision is no reflection on the project itself which it regards as one of its most successful industry initiatives.”
Financial Times / Max Seddon