Popular Information / Judd Legum
A top Sinclair anchor resigned over concerns about biased and inaccurate content →“One of the primary issues that prompted Ramirez’s resignation was the requirement to include at least three stories produced by Sinclair’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) on a nightly basis…a look at the RRT’s stories over the course of the year shows that the group frequently produces pieces that have more in common with right-wing agitprop than journalism.”
Intelligencer / John Herrman
AI chatbots have a Donald Trump problem →“You might say that AI companies are outsourcing the difficult and costly task of making contentious and disputed claims to the industry [the news industry] that is qualified, or at least willing, to do it, hopefully paying enough to keep the enterprises afloat.”
The Verge / Andrew Liszewski
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
1 million newsletter subscribers, 10 staffers — and no editors →“So we thought, well, rather than sell licenses for brands to have access to use this tool in their own way, why don’t we launch loads of our own newsletters that we own…publications that we own, where they’re all powered by this AI and we can generate our revenue by selling advertising, sponsorship and lead gen with these newsletters?”
The Information / Sahil Patel and Stephanie Palazzolo
Condé Nast sends cease-and-desist letter to AI search engine Perplexity →“The legal demand from Condé Nast comes a month after Forbes sent a similar letter to Perplexity, accusing it of infringing Forbes’ copyright. In Condé Nast’s letter, sent on Monday, the publisher accused Perplexity of plagiarizing its content. The challenge adds to a growing tide of legal actions facing AI startups over their use of news outlets’ content for training their large-language models.”
The Washington Post / Amy Argetsinger
The Guardian / Jim Waterson
Half a million households cancelled their BBC license fee last year →“The stark extent of the BBC’s challenges are set out in the corporation’s annual report, which shows the total number of British households paying the £169.50 license fee fell to 23.9 million, suggesting a growing number of people feel able to go without BBC services. The fall has hit the BBC’s income at a time when its finances were already struggling owing to a decade of funding cuts and high inflation.”
Press Gazette / Bron Maher