Tow Center for Digital Journalism

🗞️ What is "pink slime" journalism? The Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Floodlight and ProPublica explain how some reporting is like filler in processed meat: the final product may look natural, but it’s been tampered with. Their research reveals a vast network of over a thousand "pink slime" publications, including one publicly linked to fossil fuel interests in Knox County, Ohio. Read the full story published by Columbia Journalism Review: https://bit.ly/3U3UxKg

Each cog in the anti-solar machine — an opposition group, political texts, the local paper, an energy publication — was linked to the others by finances and overlapping agendas, an investigation by floodlight news ProPublica and Tow Center for Digital Journalism found. https://lnkd.in/eb4A8x2H

The campaign against solar benefited from two powerful forces funded by oil and gas interests. A former gas exec worked behind the scenes while the longstanding local paper, now in the hands of a “pink slime” media company, operated more publicly. Copublished by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism, ProPublica, and Floodlight. https://lnkd.in/eb4A8x2H

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism on how to best understand the changing landscape of local news.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a conference hosted by Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism, where I was invited to be part of a panel discussion on AI and the Newsroom: Navigating What’s Next alongside some really thoughtful folks! The conversation touched on the evolving role of AI in newsrooms, the ethical challenges, and the potential AI holds for addressing the information needs of journalists and our readers alike. 🫡 Shoutout to Dhrumil Mehta Tazbia Fatima Ryan Kost Willow G. Higgins, Anu Narayanswamy and Aisvarya Chandrasekar Takeaways from our conversation: ✋ There are some problems that we don't need to approach using AI. For example, perhaps we don't want to outsource copyediting to a machine because it doesn't dignify the reader; 💁 You might not know what problem you are really trying to solve until you try to use AI and realize the limits of its ability to solve the problem you thought you were trying to solve; 👥 Bias is a inherent part of AI/ML systems. Instead of trying to address that problem with more technology, why not bring your audience into the reporting process? Convene community boards. Work with people close to the issues you are covering. They can identify bias and gaps more easily than a machine. And pay them if possible! For those curious or who couldn’t attend, here are some resources from the session: 📚 Resource document: https://lnkd.in/epHniduq

Publishers told the Tow Center for Digital Journalism we need regulatory intervention to protect intellectual property as quickly as possible. But Big Tech firms, in a bid to dominate the AI sector, would prefer to avoid delay. Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen on last week's summit on the role of generative AI in the newsroom, hosted by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism. https://lnkd.in/eiy6vBfQ

What does a good ethical framework for #AI and journalism look like? Where is the audience trust when it comes to AI use in news ? How do we report on AI systems well enough? Should newsrooms be in bed with AI companies? What are the issues for journalism and the election when it comes to AI? Almost every conference addressing these issues has corporate sponsorship from a tech company, or is attempting to shape a conversation with a particular agenda in mind. This is a chance to hear the unvarnished concerns, aspirations and observations of many leading practitioners and thinkers in the space All of these questions addressed by stellar journalists, technologists and researchers into #AIJournalism including Sewell Chan Ben Smith, Julia Angwin, Dalia Hashim , Kashmir Hill , Alan Miller , Kelly McBride, Dave Lee, Jason Koebler, Chris Moran, Dhrumil Mehta This is shaping up to be a great two days, Wednesday and Thursday this week, 25th and 26th September at Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism . We are all but sold out, with only a few spots left for in-person, but a livestream available to those who register today!

💻 Next week, Pulitzer Hall is buzzing with AI events! Starting September 25, the newest cohort of students will explore the role of AI in journalism, from content-sharing agreements to hands-on editing workshops — all right here at CJS, with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation. Learn more about the advanced insights students are gaining during the first month of their program: https://lnkd.in/eqSTrMsC #CJS2030 #JournalismAndAI

A statement from the Columbia Journalism School faculty calling for the protection of journalists who report on Haitian immigrant communities: https://lnkd.in/eJpjD_bR

Join us for a two day conference exploring AI and ethics in today’s journalism, including discussions from leading industry thinkers, and hands-on workshops. RSVP on Eventbrite: https://lnkd.in/gDQJ7PpQ