Nieman Foundation at Harvard
HOME
          
LATEST STORY
Screenshots are one big winner of Meta’s news ban in Canada
ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
Screenshots are one big winner of Meta’s news ban in Canada
“We observe a dramatic increase in posts containing screenshots of Canadian news stories in the post-ban period.”
By Laura Hazard Owen
This year’s Pulitzer Prizes were a coming-out party for online media — and a marker of local newspapers’ decline
For the first time ever, more online news sites produced Pulitzer finalists than newspapers did.
By Joshua Benton
Most Americans say local news is important. But they’re consuming less of it.
Just 15% of Americans paid or gave money to a local news source in the past year, according to new research from the Pew-Knight Initiative.
By Sophie Culpepper
Newsonomics: Eight essentials as California’s “save local news” bill picks up speed
What’s important to watch, in this gnarly legislation filled with acronyms, are two simple things: Money In and Money Out.
By Ken Doctor
Media coverage of campus protests tends to focus on the spectacle rather than the substance
“There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation — the old journalism adage of ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ still prevails in many newsroom decisions…But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.”
By Danielle K. Brown
Pulitzer’s AI Spotlight Series will train 1,000 journalists on AI accountability reporting
The Pulitzer Center is prioritizing reporters in the Global South, and all the sessions are free.
By Andrew Deck
Even if mistrust in news isn’t entirely reporters’ fault, it is their problem
Recent work from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership offers recommendations.
By Sarah Scire
Debugging tech journalism
A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?
By Timothy B. Lee
The New York City Tenement Museum used historic Black newspapers to create its latest exhibit
“Archiving materials still matters even in our digital age, primarily if the stories you explore provide a counter-narrative to the dominant society.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Why are politicians so negative? (Hint: It’s a media problem)
Plus: Surprising attitudes about gender and credibility on the beat, how Trump drives outsized mainstream media attention to alternative media, and “sifting” as the key mode of next-gen news consumers.
By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis
The Financial Times inks new licensing deal with OpenAI
The ChatGPT developer previously signed deals with The Associated Press, Axel Springer SE, the French newspaper Le Monde, and more.
By Andrew Deck
How I explained AI and deepfakes using only basic Vietnamese
Using slides, hand gestures, and the Vietnamese vocabulary of a five-year-old, we talked about fake faces.
By Lam Thuy Vo, The Markup
Seeking “innovative,” “stable,” and “interested”: How The Markup and CalMatters matched up
Nonprofit news has seen an uptick in mergers, acquisitions, and other consolidations. CalMatters CEO Neil Chase still says “I don’t think we’ve seen enough yet.”
By Sarah Scire
“Objectivity” in journalism is a tricky concept. What could replace it?
“For a long time, ‘objectivity’ packaged together many important ideas about truth and trust. American journalism has disowned that brand without offering a replacement.”
By Jonathan Stray
Screenshots are one big winner of Meta’s news ban in Canada
“We observe a dramatic increase in posts containing screenshots of Canadian news stories in the post-ban period.”
By Laura Hazard Owen
This year’s Pulitzer Prizes were a coming-out party for online media — and a marker of local newspapers’ decline
For the first time ever, more online news sites produced Pulitzer finalists than newspapers did.
Most Americans say local news is important. But they’re consuming less of it.
Just 15% of Americans paid or gave money to a local news source in the past year, according to new research from the Pew-Knight Initiative.
What We’re Reading
Committee to Protect Journalists / CPJ Staff
Why the impact of the Israel-Gaza war has become harder to document
“Every bit of information we cannot access means the world loses more of its ability to understand what is happening in the war, how it has affected journalists and media workers, and who is specifically accountable.”
TechCrunch / Kyle Wiggers
OpenAI says it’s building a tool to let content creators “opt out” of AI training
“The tool, called Media Manager, will allow creators and content owners to identify their works to OpenAI and specify how they want those works to be included or excluded from AI research and training. The goal is to have the tool in place by 2025, OpenAI says.”
Futurism / Maggie Harrison Dupré
Meet AdVon, the AI-powered content monster infecting the media industry
“AdVon engages in what Google calls ‘site reputation abuse’: it strikes deals with publishers in which it provides huge numbers of extremely low-quality product reviews — often for surprisingly prominent publications — intended to pull in traffic from people Googling things like ‘best ab roller.’ The idea seems to be that these visitors will be fooled into thinking the recommendations were made by the publication’s actual journalists and click one of the articles’ affiliate links, kicking back a little money if they make a purchase.”
Press Gazette / Aisha Majid
First Google core update of 2024 brings bad news for most news publishers
“Data from SEO tool Sistrix shows that of 70 leading news publishers tracked by Press Gazette…all but 15 saw falls in their visibility score. Of those, almost half (33) saw declines in the double-digits. Sistrix’s Visibility Index measures how successful a website is in Google search results, assigning higher scores to sites that rank better in search results.”
Engadget / Karissa Bell
Substack is trying to lure TikTok stars to its platform
“The company says creators in the program can still post on TikTok, Instagram and other social channels but that Substack should be the ‘primary home base for free and premium content.’ Creators will also be expected to engage with subscribers on Substack Chat.”
The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin
The New York Times added 210,000 digital subscribers in Q1
“The company said it had about 10.5 million subscribers overall for its print and digital products at the end of the first quarter, up roughly 8 percent from a year earlier. About 640,000 of those were print subscribers, down about 10 percent from the same period last year. The company’s goal is 15 million total subscribers by the end of 2027.”
Press Gazette / Bron Maher
BBC World Service risks being overtaken by Russia and China, warns outgoing director
“The World Service announced last week that more than 300 of its journalists, approximately 15% of the total, are working in exile…’Russia and China are investing hard, and not properly funding one of the UK’s most valuable soft power assets makes no sense economically or culturally.'”
Bloomberg / Rachel Metz
OpenAI is readying a search product to rival Google and Perplexity
“The feature would allow users to ask ChatGPT a question and receive answers that use details from the web with citations to sources such as Wikipedia entries and blog posts, according to the person, who asked to remain anonymous discussing private information.”
The Guardian / Alex Hern
Jack Dorsey quits Bluesky board and urges users to stay on Elon Musk’s X
“Dorsey confirmed he had cut ties with Bluesky on Sunday, telling a user on X that he was no longer on the social network’s board. The announcement was apparently unexpected, since Bluesky still listed him as a board member until late on Sunday evening.”
404 Media / Jules Roscoe
Met Gala AI images of Katy Perry and Rihanna show the relentless spread of AI junk
“It’s unclear where these images came from. They appear more realistic than standard AI-generated images — enough so to fool Perry’s own mother — and they fit into a wider growing trend of image generation…The AI-generated images of these celebrities, while benign, show how generative AI tools are now a part of every news event.”
Nieman Lab is a project to try to help figure out where the news is headed in the Internet age. Sign up for The Digest, our daily email with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.