Leaked code, blocked journalists, and billions gone: It’s just another few days in late Twitter

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, March 27, 2023 [Leaked code, blocked journalists, and billions gone: It’s just another few days in late Twitter]( Or how to lose $24 billion without even trying. By Joshua Benton. [The corrections dilemma: Admitting your mistakes increases accuracy but reduces audience trust, a new study finds]( “If posting corrections means a hit to their credibility in the short term, that is a risk they should be willing to take.” By Dan Gillmor. What We’re Reading Axios / Sara Fischer [After being acquired by The Messenger, Grid’s website is set to shut down Monday afternoon →]( “While The Messenger is still evaluating what to do with Grid’s products, it’s likely that Grid’s branding will not live on, a source told Axios…The Messenger’s team is currently interviewing Grid employees for roles at The Messenger, with the hope that most of the company’s editorial talent can join the startup.” The Texas Tribune / Sewell Chan and Brandon Formby [The Texas Observer, the storied progressive publication, plans to shut down →]( “Our reader base and our donor base is aging out…We weren’t able to build a bridge to the younger, progressive generation. I think the legacy is worth fighting for, but I do understand why the board feels the way it does.” The Washington Post / Elahe Izadi and Lori Rozsa [Ron DeSantis wants “media accountability,” so he’s pushing a new bill to make suing journalists easier →]( “While Republican state lawmakers quickly took up his cause, publishers and free-speech advocates, including some from conservative media, warn that the bill would dramatically change how journalists do their jobs.” The Verge / David Pierce [ChatGPT started a new kind of AI race — and made text boxes cool again →]( “The command line is back — it’s just a whole lot smarter now.” Press Gazette / Bron Maher [How games are powering online subscriptions at The New York Times →]( “But increasingly, it’s this kind of constellation of products that surround the news — with the news being the sun in that analogy — and what we’re really finding is that we can just bring a lot more value to our subscribers, and engage them and retain them over longer periods of time, when we offer a suite of products.” The Washington Post / Joseph Menn [Report: The conservative social network Gettr is controlled by indicted Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui →]( “They said the arrested expatriate, Guo Wengui, and his longtime money manager, William Je, called the shots at the company while Donald Trump senior adviser Jason Miller was its chief executive and public face…The revelations show that a man accused of massive fraud on two continents climbed high into Trump’s political sphere and dictated messaging at a social media site that reaches millions of Americans.” The Guardian / Mark Sweney [“The model is broken”: The U.K.’s regional newspapers are fighting for survival in a digital world →]( “The numbers make for bleak reading: in the past decade about 300 local newspapers have shut as print advertising, the once mighty backbone and lifeblood of the market, has lost more than £1bn in value, mostly to digital companies such as Facebook and Google.” The New York Times / Alex Kingsbury [Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the Pentagon Papers, wonders why more people don’t leak →]( “Why aren’t there more?…Many of the people whistle-blowers work with know the same things and actually regard the information in the same way — that it’s wrong — but they keep their mouths shut…Of course, people are worried about the consequences.” Press Gazette / Aisha Majid [How publishers have been squeezed on Google top stories and what they can do about it →]( “We see diminished visibility in top stories, either by [news publishers] appearing lower in the top stories order or not appearing at all and then being relegated to Google’s news tab. When you click on the ‘more stories’ link, we’re getting fewer opportunities to rank in top stories.” The Verge / Jay Peters [The Internet Archive has lost its first fight to scan and lend ebooks like a library →]( “Judge John G. Koeltl decided that the Internet Archive had done nothing more than create ‘derivative works,’ and so would have needed authorization from the books’ copyright holders — the publishers — before lending them out through its National Emergency Library program.” The New York Times / Constant Méheut [Famed antiwar protester was once a cog in Russia’s propaganda machine →]( “Convinced both that she was innocent of any crime and that she had no future in Russia, she engineered her escape: She cut off her electronic monitor, swapped cars six times on her way to the border, then went the final distance by foot, finally sneaking under a barbed-wire border fence, before ultimately making her way to France, where she now lives in exile.” The Wall Street Journal / Alexandra Bruell [Axios’ software business raised millions to fund an AI expansion →]( “The $20 million cash infusion, which was led by Glade Brook Capital Partners and Greycroft Partners — two former Axios investors — values the software business at close to $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter.” The New York Times / Brett Sokol [Alberto Ibargüen is retiring as head of the Knight Foundation →]( Times: “Do you have a successor in mind? I’ve been hearing whispers about Knight hiring an art museum director who would continue your pivot toward the arts.” Ibargüen: “The tradition at Knight is the president does not participate in the selection of his successor.” The New York Times / Alan Feuer [Man at center of Jan. 6 conspiracy theory demands retraction from Fox →]( “The fanciful notions that Mr. Carlson advances on his show regarding Mr. Epps’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection are demonstrably (and already proven to be) false…And yet Mr. Carlson persists with his assault on the truth.” NPR / David Folkenflik [NPR cancels four podcasts and cuts staff by 10% →]( The seasonal podcasts Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot, and Rough Translation have been canceled, along with a comedy podcast called Everyone & Their Mom. The New Yorker / Sarah Larson [Audie Cornish’s struggle to remake the news →]( “When people are in dialogue with each other in a group, and they outnumber the journalist, they feel comfortable,” Cornish said of her show’s format. The New Yorker describes the half-hour podcast, “The Assignment with Audie Cornish,” as “an insightful news show that delivers substance without a side helping of despair.” [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](