In an increasingly fractured Europe, this project is betting on one-on-one talks as a way to find common ground

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Wednesday, May 15, 2024 [In an increasingly fractured Europe, this project is betting on one-on-one talks as a way to find common ground]( “We get requests from all over the world, and everyone says that their country is experiencing unprecedented levels of polarization or a breakdown in social cohesion.” By Eduardo Suárez. [After The Messenger’s collapse, Jimmy Finkelstein seems to be itching for a do-over]( “May I suggest to any potential investors just setting your money on fire instead? Faster, less traumatic, same outcome.” By Joshua Benton. What We’re Reading Digiday / Sara Guaglione [Gannett’s new contract language around AI unsettles local union →]( “In a previous draft sent to members on April 11…the clause stated that AI ‘may be used to generate news content that is supplementary to local news reporting and is not a replacement for it.’ But on April 24, an updated draft sent by Gannett to the local paper’s guild removed that stipulation. ‘Artificial intelligence (AI) may be used to generate news content,’ it read.” The Nation / Jane Braxton Little [News deserts are obscuring the breadth of climate disasters →]( “As floods, fires, and tornadoes surge, and daily as well as weekly publications collapse, local journalism maintains an all-too-slender lifeline in devastated rural communities like mine. Local journalists remain after the Klieg lights go dark and the national media flee our mud-strewn, burned-out Main Streets.” Platformer / Casey Newton [Google’s broken link to the web →]( “As the first day of I/O wound down, it was hard to escape the feeling that the web as we know it is entering a kind of managed decline. Over the past two and a half decades, Google extended itself into so many different parts of the web that it became synonymous with it. And now that LLMs promise to let users understand all that the web contains in real time, Google at last has what it needs to finish the job: replacing the web, in so many of the ways that matter, with itself.” The Washington Post / Arelis R. Hernández and Frank Hulley-Jones [After a borderland shootout, a 100-year-old battle for the truth →]( “The fight reflects a larger tension in Texas — and across the country — over who controls how America’s history is told. Though much of the attention has centered on attacks over the teaching of Black history, attempts to chronicle Latino stories have run into similar conflicts, another knotty period of U.S. history up for debate.” Wired / Kate Knibbs [Deadspin’s new owners reveal their plans: betting content, but no AI →]( “Even if the new Deadspin never comes close to the quality of work produced by the staff of its original incarnation, it may end up distinguishing itself for a remarkably grim reason: In 2024, relaunching an old blog without resorting to AI slime is a rare, arguably even classy, move.” International Journalists' Network / Hanan Zaffar and Jyoti Thakur [How the Indian government is weaponizing laws to silence and intimidate journalists →]( “Since 2014, the government has charged at least 15 journalists under the stringent anti-terrorism law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). During this timeframe, 36 journalists have been imprisoned in the country…With polls predicting a victory for incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, experts warn that the Modi administration will further weaponize the UAPA and other legislation to target independent media in the election’s aftermath.” The Wall Street Journal / Nidhi Subbaraman [A flood of fake science has forced multiple journal closures →]( Kim Eggleton, head of peer review and research integrity at IOP publishing: “Generative AI has just handed [fraudsters] a winning lottery ticket. They can do it really cheap, at scale, and the detection methods are not where we need them to be. I can only see that challenge increasing.” The Verge / Alex Cranz [We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem →]( “The AI keeps screwing up because these computers are stupid. Extraordinary in their abilities and astonishing in their dimwittedness. I cannot get excited about the next turn in the AI revolution because that turn is into a place where computers cannot consistently maintain accuracy about even minor things.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](