How 13 news publishers are using WhatsApp Channels

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Tuesday, November 7, 2023 [How 13 news publishers are using WhatsApp Channels]( We talked to the Financial Times, La Nación, The New York Times, Vox, Chilango, the Times of India, and others about their early experiments sharing news on the world’s favorite messaging app. By Hanaa' Tameez. What We’re Reading the Guardian / Simon Jenkins [“We cannot turn away from suffering, but I can no longer watch the news coverage from Israel and Gaza” →]( “Right now we have tabloid television, not broadcast news, offering a ghoulish voyeurism and simplified spectacle” Freedom of the Press / Seth Stern [Is it time to revisit undercover journalism? →]( “Don’t rush to put your hidden cameras back on … but we do think it’s worth noting that journalists have been limiting their reporting techniques for decades based, at least in part, on an incorrect ruling that has essentially been rescinded.” The Verge / Jacob Kastrenakes [Instagram’s paid subscriptions are still a tiny business →]( “Meta said there are now 1 million active subscriptions to Instagram creators, just over a year after the subscriptions feature launched.” Reuters / Filipp Lebedev [Radio Free Europe fears Russia has taken its journalist “hostage” for prisoner swap →]( “Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been in custody since Oct. 18.” The Verge / Mia Sato [TikTok’s $1 billion creator fund is shutting down →]( “TikTok didn’t respond to questions about whether it had paid out all of the $1 billion.” Reuters / Katie Paul [Meta says it’ll bar political advertisers from using its generative AI ads tools →]( “Meta and other tech companies have raced to launch generative AI ad products and virtual assistants in recent months in response to the frenzy over the debut last year of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, which can provide human-like written responses to questions and other prompts. The companies have released little information so far about the safety guard rails they plan to impose on those systems, making Meta’s decision on political ads one of the industry’s most significant AI policy choices to come to light to date.” The Verge / Jay Peters [Former Kotaku writers launch a new video game site — and they own it this time →]( “We got so tired of hearing everyone ask ‘why isn’t there a Defector for games?’ that we decided to make our own,” one co-owner [posted](. Digiday / Sara Guaglione [Black-owned publishers say they still suffer from discriminatory keyword blocklists →]( Execs at half a dozen publishers told Digiday anywhere between 15% and 37% of their traffic can get blocked at times. The issue hasn’t improved, even for their lifestyle content. Washington Post / Paul Farhi [“Are you sitting down?” The windfall that transformed NPR 20 years ago →]( Joan B. Kroc, the widow of the man who built McDonald’s into a global fast-food juggernaut, left NPR $222 million. The China Project / Jeremy Goldkorn [The China Project will close after “funding shortfall” and a series of “politically motivated attacks” →]( “We have been accused many times in both countries of working for nefarious purposes for the government of the other. Defending ourselves has incurred enormous legal costs, and, far worse, made it increasingly difficult for us to attract investors, advertisers, and sponsors. While our subscription offerings have been growing strongly and steadily, we are not yet in a position to rely on these revenues to sustain our operations.” Columbia Journalism Review / Jon Allsop [The untimely death of a masterful climate communicator →]( Journalists have lost “an invaluable source—a peerless guide to the insider maneuverings, power politics, and especially the moral questions at the heart of international climate negotiations.” More than that, the world—and the Global South, in particular—has lost perhaps its most talented communicator of the case for global climate justice. [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](