We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more. Here’s some of what we’ve seen lately.
December 20, 2024
There’s a war between content publishers and AI companies unfolding in courts across the country. The outcome could make, break or reshape the information ecosystem. —
“Our paid subscriber community did not grow in tandem with our free community this year. In fact, we have fewer paying subscribers now than we did at this time last year … That’s why I’ve made the difficult decision to abandon my goal of growing HEATED into a reader-funded newsroom. Instead, I’ll be moving back to a more personal, one-author newsletter in 2025.” —
“New Hampshire knows far less about itself now, and that’s a damn shame.”
—SS
Boston Globe / Aidan Ryan
/ Dec 20“With the exception of one interview, the Sunday shows covered and debated the so-called ‘Israel-Hamas war’ for 12 months without speaking to a single Palestinian or Palestinian American.” The shows included in the survey include NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, CBS’s Face the Nation, and CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. —
The Nation / Adam Johnson and Othman Ali
/ Dec 20December 19, 2024
“In a joint statement, bodies representing thousands of creatives dismissed the proposal made by ministers on Tuesday that would allow companies such as Open AI, Google and Meta to train their AI systems on published works unless their owners actively opt out. The Creative Rights in AI Coalition (Crac) includes the British Phonographic Industry, the Independent Society of Musicians, the Motion Picture Association and the Society of Authors as well as Mumsnet, the Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Getty Images, the Daily Mail Group and Newsquest.” —
The Guardian / Robert Booth
/ Dec 19“After Sun’s team complained about the tone of the piece, CoinDesk’s owners, the crypto exchange Bullish, demanded editorial staff remove it from the publication’s website, according to sources familiar with the matter. Tron is a major sponsor of CoinDesk’s flagship Consensus conference series. In response, sources close to CoinDesk say the site’s journalists raised concerns over editorial independence.” —
Fortune / Leo Schwartz
/ Dec 19“In August, Rienzie and Burkesmith were denied a permit to film an attempt to break the record for the fastest time to ascend a mountain in Grand Teton National Park. They filmed anyway from publicly accessible areas of the park using small handheld cameras and minimal equipment but haven’t fully commercialized the content due to National Park Services threatening criminal charges.” —
The Hollywood Reporter / Winston Cho
/ Dec 19“Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience during the Israel-Gaza war, according to BBC research. In a comprehensive analysis of Facebook data, we found that newsrooms in the Palestinian territories — in Gaza and the West Bank — had suffered a steep drop in audience engagement since October 2023. The BBC has also seen leaked documents showing that Instagram — another Meta-owned platform — increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023. Meta, the owner of Facebook, says that any implication that it deliberately suppressed particular voices is ‘unequivocally false.'” —
BBC / Ahmed Nour, Joe Tidy and Yara Farag
/ Dec 19“For this story, L.A. TACO spoke to more than 11 people who attended the reveal party—including one of our staff members—who suspected they got food poisoning at the event.” —
L.A. Taco / Lexis-Olivier Ray
/ Dec 19“The AI-powered summary falsely made it appear that BBC News had published an article claiming Mangione, the man accused of the murder of healthcare insurance CEO Brian Thompson in New York, had shot himself. He has not. Now, the group Reporters Without Borders has called on Apple to remove the technology. Apple has made no comment.” —
