Journalism with a PhD: The Conversation is pairing up academics with reporters for big investigations

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Tuesday, August 15, 2023 [Journalism with a PhD: The Conversation is pairing up academics with reporters for big investigations]( “It is elevating investigative reporting to a level where we are able to access … jewels lying on the beach in the research of the academic world.” By Sophie Culpepper. [Are libraries the future of news?]( “We share a lot of the same goals. When we talked about mission statements, there were so many similarities.” By Kate Harloe. What We’re Reading Digiday / Sara Guaglione [Publishers push for negotiations with generative AI companies, tout new uses in latest earnings calls →]( “There remains a lack of specific examples of how this technology is contributing to publishers’ revenue and profits.” The Washington Post / Jeremy B. Merrill and Drew Harwell [Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to news and websites he dislikes →]( “The delayed websites included X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack, as well as the Reuters wire service and the Times. All of them have previously been singled out by Musk for ridicule or attack.” Miami Herald / Howard Cohen [Alex Mena is the Miami Herald’s first immigrant executive editor →]( “A Nicaraguan child who came across the Rio Grande on his father’s shoulders, Mena worked his way up to lead sports and metro news departments, el Nuevo Herald, and helped direct the Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Surfside condo collapse.” International News Media Association / Olalla Novoa Ojea [Carrusel Deportivo introduces Victoria, an AI-powered soccer host, to a century-old radio station →]( “Victoria, the voice of soccer, is also a story of cross-platform and cross-brand experimentation. Victoria debuted on Carrusel Deportivo last November and also helps fans follow their teams 24/7 through Alexa. On Amazon’s platform, Victoria delivers a complete experience around the user’s favourite soccer team combining assets from Cadena SER, Diario As (Prisa’s sport newspaper), and sports data.” The Guardian / Jim Waterson [Vice blocked news stories that could offend Saudi Arabia, insiders say →]( “The enormous sums of money now flowing from Saudi Arabia into Vice have led to high-level concerns within the company’s news division that the bosses are censoring its western-facing news content in order to protect staff working on contracts in Saudi Arabia.” The Verge / Alex Cranz [The Roku Channel is getting better about news →]( “The Roku Channel will begin streaming a selection of CBS and Fox news stations starting today, meaning it will now have the Big Four terrestrial channels offering news for free. It already offered live news from both ABC and NBC, which means the additions give it maybe the most robust news offerings of any FAST service currently available.” Columbia Journalism Review / Jon Allsop [The crusading journalism of Ecuador’s assassinated presidential candidate →]( “The full circumstances of Villavicencio’s assassination aren’t yet clear, though officials have stated that suspects in the killing are nationals of neighboring Colombia and have ties to organized crime. And the incident has drawn global attention to a once relatively secure country that is rapidly spiraling into violence.” CNN / Jon Passantino [Dozens of news organizations condemn police raid on Kansas newspaper and call for seized materials to be returned →]( “Newsroom searches and seizures are among the most intrusive actions law enforcement can take with respect to the free press, and the most potentially suppressive of free speech by the press and the public,” the letter said. The Verge / Jon Porter [YouTube starts mass takedowns of videos promoting “harmful or ineffective” cancer cures →]( “Going forward, Google’s video platform says it will apply its medical misinformation policies when there is a high public health risk, when there is publicly available guidance from health authorities, and when a topic is prone to misinformation.” Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Laida Kaoma Chongo [How to rid Zambian journalism of “blalizo” →]( “Introduced by press conference and event organisers, blalizo was originally intended as a transport refund to entice more underfinanced media outlets to travel to cover their events. Today it is being abused as a supplementary income that interferes with the impartiality of news.” LatAm Journalism Review / Florencia Pagola [Racism persists in Colombian media, even with an Afro-Colombian woman as vice-president →]( “There is a racist bias with the way in which Afro-descendant peoples are looked at. They carry on with the idea that there’s only poverty and violence there. It’s [considered] less important because it’s what happens to Black people,” [Afro-Colombian journalist Beatriz Valdés Correa] said. NBC News / Nicole Acevedo [Climate disasters hit, and Spanish-language disinformation spreads →]( “…There was a network of Spanish-language social media accounts, mostly based in Spain and Latin America, that engage with a broader right-wing agenda and heavily relies on translated right-wing content originally generated in the U.S. in English. Among that content is climate change denialism.” Wired / Nita Farahany [TikTok has started to let people (in Europe) think for themselves →]( “TikTok recently announced that its users in the European Union will soon be able to switch off its infamously engaging content-selection algorithm. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is driving this change as part of the region’s broader effort to regulate AI and digital services in accordance with human rights and values.” Platformer / Casey Newton [Elon Musk’s creep show →]( “…It’s another cringeworthy sideshow on the road to X’s eventual bankruptcy. And one more example of Musk as that most familiar figure: the noisy forum shitposter, forever writing checks with his mouth that his body can’t cash.” [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](