You can catch up on Nieman Lab’s previous reporting about the Online News Act, Bill C-18, here.

“Collaboration among competitive large publishers is rare, and the talks are indicative of the existential threat generative AI technology represents both to the industry and society.”

“Polling found that younger adults are worse than older adults at identifying false headlines, and that the more time someone spent online recreationally, the less likely they were to be able to tell real news from misinformation…When it came to age, only 11% of 18- to 29-year-olds got a high score (more than 16 headlines correct), while 36% got a low score (10 headlines or fewer correct). By contrast, 36% of those 65 or older got a high score, while just 9% of older adults got a low score.”

“NBCUniversal is cracking open its TV and movie archives to launch around four dozen free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels — significantly expanding its footprint in the free streaming space.”

“Just over three weeks into her new job, [Linda] Yaccarino, the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, has been prevented from working on a key component of what she was hired to do: drum up advertising for Twitter…That’s because a contractual agreement with NBCUniversal prevented Ms. Yaccarino — at least initially — from working on advertising deals that would conflict with the interests of her former employer, three people familiar with the arrangement said.”

“The publisher is currently producing a ‘Newscondenser’ – an in-house tool that uses generative AI to summarise stories, create bullet points and generate ten headlines for a journalist to choose from. The headline creator combines insights from a ‘recommendation engine’, which suggests the headline that could work best given the metric in which a journalist is most interested.”

“In total, Maldita’s BuloBús [which translates as ‘HoaxBus’] reached 1,900 people over age 65. During the bus tour, the BuloBús team also provided media literacy training for nearly 500 students at local high schools. The bus — and media coverage from highly trusted local outlets — also successfully helped Maldita build trust and name recognition among people who live outside of Spain’s major metropolitan areas, [CEO and co-founder Clara] Jiménez Cruz said. Maldita saw 1,700 new tip line users from the project.”

“Telegram appears to be a vital resource in a world that feels like it is unraveling, despite being one of the many forces pulling at the seams.”

“In October, Coca-Cola enlisted the AI image creation tool Stable Diffusion to help create a video that was shortlisted for an award at the festival. The ad, called ‘Coca-Cola Masterpiece,’ used AI in addition to traditional methods, like CGI, to create complex animations under a tight deadline. The two-minute spot shows characters popping out of the art in a gallery to toss a classic Coca-Cola bottle in and out of famous paintings, like a Warhol and a van Gogh; the bottle takes on the visual style of the work of art when it enters each picture. It’s an incredibly complex animation process that took only eight weeks, according to visual effects company Electric Theatre Collective, which Coca-Cola commissioned. Without the help of AI, the company told Digiday, it could have taken five times longer.”

“Game shows offer two big benefits for executives: They are one of the least expensive programs to create, in part because many episodes can be filmed in a short period. And they are attractive to the largest demographic group that still consumes traditional television — people 60 and older.”

“The campus culture war is playing out in large part off campus: primarily, in the media.”