How a titan of 20th-century journalism transformed the AP — and the news

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, June 5, 2023 [How a titan of 20th-century journalism transformed the AP — and the news]( “If one man fails to file a story of a millionairess marrying a poor factory hand because that man understands such a story is not properly A.P. stuff, such an error of news judgment ought to be generally made known to other employees.” By Gene Allen. [Less than a year after launch, The Baltimore Banner says it has 70,000 subscribers]( What We’re Reading New York / Brian Stelter [Can Chris Licht survive at CNN? →]( “Some top anchors want him out. ‘I feel like a quarterback without a coach,’ one anchor commented Sunday…In the words of three employees: ‘He’s over.’ ‘He’s done.’ ‘There’s no coming back from that profile.’ However, the staffers don’t know whether [CEO David] Zaslav agrees.” Axios / Sara Fischer [YouTube is reversing its policy that banned U.S. election denialism →]( “YouTube established the policy in December 2020, after enough states had certified the 2020 election results. Now, the company said in a statement, leaving the policy in place may have the effect of ‘curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm.'” Fast Company / Chantel Tattoli [Inside Snopes: the rise, fall, and rebirth of an internet icon →]( “America’s premier fact-checking site was failed by the two men who had charge of it, critics say. As Snopes turns a corner, here’s the tale of what went so right — and so wrong.” The New York Times / Ryan Mac and Tiffany Hsu [Twitter’s U.S. ad sales plunge 59% as woes continue →]( “The company has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30 percent, the document said. That performance is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according to the documents and seven current and former Twitter employees.” The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr and Will Sommer [Behind-the-scenes videos of Tucker Carlson were leaked. Was it a crime? →]( “Late last week, a U.S. attorney in Florida alerted Fox that it might be the victim of several cybercrimes, including wiretapping and the intentional unauthorized access of a computer. The Tampa Bay Times, which first reported the notification letter, connected it to an FBI search in early May at the home of a local city council member and her husband, veteran journalist Timothy Burke.” MIT Technology Review / Will Douglas Heaven [People are now making short films entirely with DALL-E and other AI tools →]( “The Frost is a 12-minute movie in which every shot is generated by an image-making AI… After some trial and error to get the model to produce images in a style they were happy with, the filmmakers used DALL-E 2 to generate every single shot. Then they used D-ID, an AI tool that can add movement to still images, to animate these shots, making eyes blink and lips move.” Semafor / Ben Smith [Inside the high-stakes clash for control of Ukraine’s story →]( “Articles and broadcasts from outlets including NBC News, The New York Times, CNN, The New Yorker, and the Ukrainian digital broadcaster Hromadske have led to journalists having their credentials threatened, revoked, or denied over charges they’ve broken rules imposed by Ukrainian minders.” Poynter / Steven Waldman [How high school sports coverage can save democracy →]( “In addition to the watchdog function, local news — of a different sort — has a community cohesion role. Obituaries, high school sports, school board meetings, the new economic development plan, the amateur theater production, a couple’s 50th wedding anniversary — these types of stories teach neighbors about each other, provide basic information on community problems and create a sense of shared interest.” Global Investigative Journalism Network / Laura Dixon [From fact-checker to editor-in-chief: How one woman rose to the top at OCCRP →]( “More investigative journalism equals more change. And more change equals a better world. Maybe one day.” The Washington Post / Lisa Bonos [Montana banned TikTok. Now these Montanans are fighting back. →]( “Shayla Burch, 26, of Belgrade (Montana’s eighth largest city with a population of 13,500) called the ban ‘a breach of our freedom.’ ‘We should be able to express ourselves,’ Burch said, adding that watching videos on TikTok makes her feel better when she’s sad. ‘It’s a coping thing. Please don’t take that away.'” The Atlantic / Tim Alberta [CEO Chris Licht said he was on a mission to restore CNN’s reputation for serious journalism. How did it all go wrong? →]( “I told Licht that while I agreed with his observation — that Trump had baited reporters into putting on a jersey and entering the game, acting as opposing players instead of serving as commentators or even referees — there was an alternative view. Trump had forced us, by trying to annihilate the country’s institutions of self-government, to play a more active role than many journalists were comfortable with. This wasn’t a matter of advocating for capital-D Democratic policies; it was a matter of advocating for small-d democratic principles. The conflating of the two had proved highly problematic, however, and the puzzle of how to properly cover Trump continued to torment much of the media.” The Hollywood Reporter / Alex Weprin [Spotify to cut 200 jobs and merge Parcast and Gimlet podcast studios →]( Parcast and Gimlet will become a single Spotify Studios division, which will join The Ringer in producing Spotify originals. Medium / Mike Krieger [How Artifact uses AI to rewrite clickbait headlines →]( “In early testing, we found that if we included anything similar to the original title in our user prompt, the LLM would often rewrite the headline to an almost identical headline as the original. Instead we feed it as much content as we can, but skip anything similar to the original title.” Business Insider / Nicholas Carlson [Inside CNN’s epic PR fail that made a mockery of CEO Chris Licht →]( “There is no way a story like this happens without Licht himself being super duper into all of it.” USA Today [USA Today names NPR executive editor Terence Samuel as editor-in-chief →]( “Samuel succeeds Nicole Carroll who stepped down May 1 after more than five years of leading the news organization.” Associated Press [AP Images and AP Archive platforms replaced by AI-powered AP Newsroom →]( “AI-powered search for video is capable of finding individual moments within an entire video clip, regardless of length. The search is powered by an engine called NOMAD™ from MerlinOne, a software company with expertise in AI applications for visual objects.” Vice / Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman [Vice has made thousands of public records regarding Jeffrey Epstein available to the public →]( “We are making the entire set of records available so that researchers, journalists, and other members of the public can examine them themselves.” Twitter / Insider Union [Insider’s union starts an indefinite strike and asks readers not to cross “digital picket line” →]( “Don’t read Insider articles, watch videos or use the app.” “I hope we can reach a fair contract soon so we can all get back to doing the work we do best! Pls support by not clicking on any Insider links, newsletters, app notifications, til then.” [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. 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