Big tech is painting itself as journalism’s savior. We should tread carefully.

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Tuesday, September 10, 2024 [Big tech is painting itself as journalism’s savior. We should tread carefully.]( “We set out to explore how big tech’s ‘philanthrocapitalism’ could be reshaping the news industry, focusing on countries in the Global South…Our findings suggest an emerging web of dependency between cash-strapped newsrooms and Silicon Valley’s deep pockets.” By Mathias Felipe de Lima Santos. [The old Recode Media podcast is returning to a familiar home]( What We’re Reading Los Angeles Times / Jenny Jarvie [Philanthropists invest $15 million in L.A. County local news →]( “Funded by organizations including the American Journalism Project, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Spiegel Family Fund, the initiative will support a network of community-first media outlets to report across digital, print and radio platforms for L.A. County’s [10 million residents](. Those hyperlocal outlets will work in partnership with CalMatters, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on explaining California politics and policy, and LAist, part of the Southern California Public Radio group, to deliver enhanced regional accountability journalism that fills news gaps.” Financial Times / Alex Rogers [Conservative activist launches $1 billion crusade to “crush liberal dominance” in news and entertainment →]( Leonard Leo says he “intends to invest in a US local media company in the next 12 months, although he has not decided which.” The Verge / Lauren Feiner [Google and DOJ’s ad tech fight is all about control →]( “To the government, Google exerts too much control over every step of the way publishers sell advertising space online and how advertisers buy it, resulting in a system that benefits Google at the expense of nearly everyone else. To Google, the government is seeking control over a successful business by making it deal with rivals on more favorable terms, disregarding the value of its investments in technology and the unique efficiencies of its integrated tools.” The New Yorker / Gideon Lewis-Kraus [The angst and sorrow of Jewish Currents →]( “In the past ten months, even without a paywall, Currents’ subscriber base has nearly doubled, though it’s still only about ten thousand—a circulation close to half that of the right-wing Jewish magazine Commentary, and in line with that of n+1. The magazine’s only authority derives from its commitment to substance and clarity, qualities that have attracted an ardent readership.” (Nieman Lab wrote about Jewish Currents [here]( Talking Biz News / Chris Roush [Law360 editorial workers go on strike →]( “The Law360 Union — which is represented by The NewsGuild of New York — has been preparing to strike since taking a formal authorization vote in February. The union said ‘significant barriers remain.'” Columbia Journalism Review / Meghnad Bose and Dhrumil Mehta [Can Kamala Harris use the debate to keep her media momentum? →]( “From the point President Biden announced that he would not be running to the end of the DNC, a period of one month, Harris was mentioned in about 8 percent more clips than Trump. In the two and a half weeks since, Trump has been mentioned in about 46 percent more clips than Harris. While Harris’s bump might not seem like much, she was able to wrest a bigger share of cable news coverage from Trump than either Hillary Clinton or Biden was able to at this point in the previous two election cycles.” TechCrunch / Sarah Perez [Apple partners with third parties, like Google, on iPhone 16’s visual search →]( “What’s interesting about this feature is that it presents a new paradigm for interacting with software and services beyond those that Apple ships with the iPhone. And it arrives at a time when the concept of an App Store has begun to feel dated.” Baekdal / Thomas Baekdal [The affiliate revenue market for publishers has changed a lot →]( “If all you are doing as a publisher is to post low-effort product recommendations, you are chasing a model that both the search engines and the ecommerce platforms are devaluing.” Platformer / Casey Newton [Telegram changes its tune →]( “‘You could have just Googled it’ seems unlikely to succeed as a legal defense, as the issue is not that police couldn’t find an email address but that no one at Telegram responded to their messages after they did.” Wired / Will Knight [Why is AI so bad at generating images of Kamala Harris? →]( “Despite being a prominent figure, Harris hasn’t been as widely photographed as Trump. Wired’s search of photo supplier Getty Images bears this out; it returned 63,295 images of Harris compared to 561,778 of Trump. Given her relatively recent entry into the presidential race, Harris is ‘a new celebrity,’ as far as AI image makers are concerned, according to Cuenca Abela…That Harris is a Black woman, of Jamaican and Indian descent, also may be a factor. [Irene Solaiman]( head of global policy at AI company Hugging Face, says that ‘poorer facial recognition for darker skin tones and femme features’ may affect the sorting of images of Harris for automated labeling.” The Atlantic / Arash Azizi [The dangerous rise of the podcast historians →]( “‘I think the podcast media is intrinsically tough because a lot of people go to podcasts for what I call ‘shortcut learning,’ and that lends itself to the charlatans and self-styled non-PC ‘truth tellers,’ from [Joe] Rogan to Tucker,’ [said] Joseph Stieb, a historian at the U.S. Naval War College and an avid user of X.” Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt [Online overtakes TV as biggest source of news in UK for first time →]( “More people are getting news online than they are from TV for the first time, according to Ofcom’s annual survey of news consumption habits in the UK. And within that online segment, publisher websites are falling in influence and social media (which includes publisher accounts) dominates.” Variety / Brian Steinberg [Jorge Ramos, Univision news legend, will exit at year-end →]( “Ramos has pressed for better representation of Spanish-language media when it comes to access to major U.S. politicians. He has grilled lawmakers on immigration policy — a top issue among his viewership — and saw his profile gain a different sort of traction in 2015 as he sought an interview with then-candidate Donald Trump. Trump, who had put Ramos’ cell-phone number on social media, famously had Ramos pushed out of a room during a press conference in Iowa, and then allowed the journalist to return.” The Guardian / Mark Sweney [GB News investor Paul Marshall seals £100m deal to buy Spectator →]( “Marshall, the hedge fund tycoon who already owns the UnHerd website, is also in the running to buy The Daily and Sunday Telegraph with the second round of bids by prospective buyers due by 27 September.” [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](