Journalism Today. 13 Dec 2024

By Eduardo Suárez

🗞️ 3 top news stories

1. Who owns the AI tools journalists use? A new report from the Media and Journalism Research Center exposes a dangerous transparency gap around the ownership of AI tools regularly used by news publishers for fact-checking and news-gathering, and the influence that these factors may have on how journalists work. The report shows that only 24 of the 100 companies covered shared information about their revenues and only 43 made available their total funding. 

• The piece. Our contributor Laura Oliver spoke with researcher Sydney Martin, author of the report, who explained how funding and ownership may be skewing AI models or even helping to obscure the experiences of those who live in the Global South. "It is essential to understand who has a stake in these AI companies and how AI is being used," she says. "This will ensure the protection of consumers, democracy and truth." | Read

2. Kari Lake’s pick spooks press freedom advocates. On Thursday US President-elect Donald Trump said that media-basher and election denier Kari Lake would serve as the next Director of Voice of America (VOA). Trump’s move sparked opposition from journalists and press freedom groups who see it as an attempt to silence an organisation that produces award-winning journalism and promotes democratic values around the world. A new piece by Brian Stelter explains that VOA has a firewall in place that “prohibits interference by any US government official in the objective, independent reporting of news.” Will the firewall hold? | Read

• A good thread for context. Researcher Kate Wright is the lead author of this enlightening book on the battle around Voice of America during Trump’s first term. In a new thread on Bluesky Wright explains why journalists should be concerned about the move: “The laws meant to prevent VOA from being turned into a presidential mouthpiece are ambivalent and hard to enforce,” she says. | Read

3. Two takes on TikTok and the future of democracy. The Chinese-owned video platform has been in the news this month for two different reasons: the shocking annulment of the latest Romanian election and its own ban in the United States, which is supposed to take place in January and which the company is trying to stop. These essays will make you smarter about each of these issues. 

• On Romania’s election. Marietje Schaake, a fellow at Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and the author of this recent book, welcomes the decision of Romania’s Supreme Court to annul the most recent presidential election and thinks it’s an opportunity to shed some light on the true impact of disinformation campaigns on the public sphere. “That democracies and electoral processes are under attack is clear — from foreign interference to domestically-fuelled efforts intended to mislead and polarise voters,” she writes. “But assessing the exact impact and causality has been a challenge for academics around the world. Insights gained in Romania’s case will indirectly shed light on any manipulation that takes place via social media platforms in other contexts.”
• On the US TikTok ban. Scholars Jameel Jaffer and Genevieve Lakier argue that the arguments used in the latest ruling against TikTok are dangerous for the future of press freedom in the United States, especially in light of Trump’s return to power. “Governments around the world are using the threat of foreign interference to justify the closure and harassment of media organizations and advocacy groups. Our next president has made clear he will exploit any legal authority he can to suppress what he deems to be ‘fake news.’ In this political landscape, the court’s opinion is an invitation to abuse.” | Read

📊 Chart of the day

📊 Media criticism is tied to distrust. According to data from last year’s Digital News Report, media criticism is correlated with media distrust. Higher proportions of people say they distrust the news media in markets where our survey data documents a higher proportion of people exposed to news media criticism. At the higher end of exposure to media criticism are many Latin American countries and markets in Southern and Eastern Europe. Highest of all is Peru, at 71%. At the lower end are markets such as Singapore, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Japan, the lowest at just 22%. | Read the report

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☕ Coffee break

YouTube is AI-generating replies for creators on its platform so they could more easily and quickly respond to comments on their videos, but it appears that these replies can be misleading, nonsensical, or weirdly intimate, Emanuel Maiberg reports for 404 Media. | Read

• Our own Marina Adami recently wrote a long piece on the impact of AI-generated slop on journalism and society as a whole. | Read

TMZ repeatedly called a reporter who covered United Healthcare and claimed multiple sources said he had killed the company's CEO, Brian Thompson. He's only revealed his ordeal now a suspect has been arrested. | Read

Digiday has a piece on how Bluesky is trying to attract news publishers to the platform. “Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok — they’ve all tried the same play over the years, luring attention-grabbing content that keeps eyeballs glued,” writes Kristal Scanlon. | Read

New Yorker columnist Kyle Chayka writes a piece about the rise of independent content creators, who’ve never been so influential in the US public sphere: “In the creator era, who you are is more important than what you do or make, in part because what you make is always changing, as digital platforms evolve.” | Read

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Are you our next Director? The University of Oxford is seeking a new Director of the Reuters Institute. They will have the strategic vision, academic credentials and public engagement skills to ensure the Reuters Institute continues to thrive. Applications close Friday 17 January, 17.00 UK time. | Find out more and how to apply

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📚 One piece from our archive

Women-led newsrooms in the Global South. Earlier this year we published this article by our contributor Laura Oliver on four independent media outlets led or founded by female editors:  Brazil’s AzMina, Uganda’s HerStory, Nigeria’s BONews Service and Nepal’s Boju Bajai are all part of this movement. I spoke with journalists in these publications to learn more about their work and the challenges they face. | Read

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