Mexican journalists launch a new outlet from the ashes of the country’s shuttered state news agency

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Tuesday, March 12, 2024 [Mexican journalists launch a new outlet from the ashes of the country’s shuttered state news agency]( Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had said last year that there no need for a state news agency since he conducts daily press briefings. By Hanaa' Tameez. [A new AI-powered tool can help journalists detect audio deepfakes in Spanish]( What We’re Reading The Atlantic / Sophia Stewart [What do crossword puzzles really test? →]( “In a nation as heterogeneous as the U.S., the very idea of common knowledge is a false one. And because mostly white men have decided what ends up in the Times crossword, its content is often circumscribed by the biases of those doing the constructing.” Cosmopolitan / Fortesa Latifi [What’s the price of a childhood turned into content? →]( A new series from Cosmopolitan looks at the family-vlogger reckoning and what happens when the kids of parenting influencers grow up: “I was told by my mom, ‘Do you want us to starve? Do you want us to not be able to make our payment next month on the mortgage?’” The Moscow Times / The Moscow Times [Putin signs ban on advertising with “foreign agents,” crippling Russian independent media →]( “President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed into law a bill that bans advertisers from working with ‘foreign agents’, a move widely expected to make it next to impossible for independent media outlets and journalists hit with the designation to earn money.” The Verge / Cath Virginia [Pulitzer-winner Mona Chalabi on telling stories about Gaza through data →]( “It’s funny how a lot of people viewed me as a rigorous journalist on every other topic. And when it came to this, all of a sudden there was this disbelief in my method of research. There was this suspicion that all of a sudden it wasn’t rigorous. I think that really, really speaks to the very, very, very deeply entrenched biases that exist around this subject.” Mashable / Elena Cavender [What do we lose when influencers replace journalists on the red carpet? →]( “Studios paying social media personalities like Daniels to do TikTok bits on the red carpet legitimizes behavior that would be deemed unprofessional for journalists and puts traditional media in competition with attention-grabbing theatrics for short-form, viral videos.” The New York Times / Katie Robertson and Benjamin Mullin [A handful of digital start-ups are sprouts of hope in a gloomy media landscape →]( “The new class of news start-ups — [Puck]( [Punchbowl News]( [The Ankler]( and [Semafor]( are among the most prominent — have kept spending down and hired carefully. They are all centered on newsletters covering specific niches with broad appeal. They have attracted top journalists by putting them at the heart of the enterprise, sometimes as part owners in the companies.” Garbage Day / Ryan Broderick [Misinformation is fun →]( “Most people’s experience with misinformation isn’t true crime-obsessed Instagram moms looking for zip ties in Target parking lots or insurrectionist QAnon shamans. It’s just entertainment now…You read and share this stuff because it’s salacious and exciting and funny. And no amount of media literacy or whatever is going to make it not funny to speculate about a literal princess getting a BBL and hiding it to protect her reputation.” Axios / Sara Fischer [The Associated Press is launching an e-commerce site powered by Taboola →]( “It’s part of a broader effort by the AP to diversify its business by adding more consumer revenue.” The site will be called AP Buyline. [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](