Nieman Foundation at Harvard
HOME
          
LATEST STORY
Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela
ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela
In recent weeks, Venezuelan journalists have found innovative ways to keep independent journalism alive; here are some of their efforts.
By Hanaa' Tameez
The Salt Lake Tribune, profitable and growing, seeks to rid itself of that “necessary evil” — the paywall
The first daily newspaper in the U.S. to become a nonprofit has published a refreshingly readable and transparent annual report.
By Sarah Scire
Want to fight misinformation? Teach people how algorithms work
In the four countries studied, each with its own unique technological, political, and social environment, understanding of algorithms varied across different sociodemographic groups.
By Myojung Chung
Newsonomics: California’s local news agreement with Google is a win
Here’s my perspective on what sense we can now make of a settlement, one that may act as a template for other states.
By Ken Doctor
Would a tech tax be a fair way to make Google and Meta pay for the news they distribute and profit from?
“Every country needs to address the theft of intellectual property that diminishes both the incentives and ability to produce the news on which we all — including the platforms — depend. The bargaining codes were a start.”
By Anya Schiffrin
Here’s how 7 news audience directors are thinking about Google’s AI Overviews
Google’s generative AI search feature is here to stay, but will it actually impact how digital outlets do business?
By Andrew Deck
This news aggregator–slash–dating app helps news nerds meet
“The idea is matching on the things that you enjoy.”
By Hanaa' Tameez
Three more nonprofit newsrooms announce content sharing agreements with the AP
The Associated Press now has content sharing partnerships with nine nonprofit newsrooms across 10 states.
By Sophie Culpepper
Newsrooms are finding new ways to build community, online and off
“The thing that had the strongest connection to someone’s propensity to develop a habit and their propensity to give is sociability — that it gives people things to talk about.”
By Celeste LeCompte
Are people more likely to accurately evaluate misinformation when the political stakes are high? Haha, no
“Elections, it seems, amplify the influence of partisanship on the perception of truth.”
By Joshua Benton
Readers prefer to click on a clear, simple headline — like this one
“Headlines with more common words — simple words like ‘job’ instead of ‘occupation’ — shorter headlines, and those communicated in a narrative style, with more pronouns compared with prepositions, received more clicks.”
By David Markowitz, Hillary Shulman and Todd Rogers
“AI reporters” are covering the events of the day in Northwest Arkansas
OkayNWA’s AI-generated news site is the future of local journalism and/or a glorified CMS.
By Andrew Deck
Does legacy news help or hurt in the fight against election misinformation?
Plus: One way local newspapers covered the pandemic well, how rational thinking can encourage misinformation, and what a Muslim journalistic value system looks like.
By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis
Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela
In recent weeks, Venezuelan journalists have found innovative ways to keep independent journalism alive; here are some of their efforts.
By Hanaa' Tameez
The Salt Lake Tribune, profitable and growing, seeks to rid itself of that “necessary evil” — the paywall
The first daily newspaper in the U.S. to become a nonprofit has published a refreshingly readable and transparent annual report.
Want to fight misinformation? Teach people how algorithms work
In the four countries studied, each with its own unique technological, political, and social environment, understanding of algorithms varied across different sociodemographic groups.
What We’re Reading
Mother Jones / Anna Merlan
Tenet Media shutters after being accused of taking $10 million in covert Kremlin funding
YouTube says it deleted Tenet Media’s account to fight “coordinated influence operations.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Jake Lahut
The decline of local news has become a campaign problem
“Sometimes I’ve had to employ the strategy of getting the national press to cover something just so the local press will pick it up.”
Adweek / Mark Stenberg
The WSJ offers advertisers an election performance guarantee
“Any campaign that fails to meet this AU guarantee will be offered a makegood in the form of additional added-value impressions. The guarantee is not meant to assuage advertisers’ potential brand safety concerns. Instead, it is designed to appeal to marketers who understand the value of advertising against news content but who are wary of having their message lost in the noise of a hectic moment.”
CNN / Hadas Gold
The Murdoch family is secretly battling over succession. News outlets are asking a court to make it public
“A coalition of media organizations, including CNN, has petitioned a Nevada court to open up the secret proceedings surrounding a legal battle over the future of billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. The New York Times, Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, Reuters and CNN filed a motion Wednesday in the Second Judicial District Court in Nevada to make public the proceedings, objecting to the case being so extensively sealed that it doesn’t even appear on any court schedule or docket.”
The Guardian / Mark Sweney
Advertiser exodus from X gathers pace with 26% ‘planning to cut spending’
“Research by data firm Kantar, based on interviews with 18,000 consumers and 1,000 senior marketers around the world, has found that 26% of marketers are planning to cut back ad spend on X in 2025. ‘Marketers are brand custodians and need to trust the platforms they use,’ said Gonca Bubani, a director at Kantar.”
Wired / Kate Knibbs
The Internet Archive loses its appeal of a major copyright case
“The new verdict arrives at an especially tumultuous time for copyright law. In the past two years there have been dozens of copyright infringement cases filed against major AI companies that offer generative AI tools, and many of the defendants in these cases argue that the fair use doctrine shields their usage of copyrighted data in AI training. Any major lawsuit in which judges refute fair use claims are thus closely watched.”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
Mehdi Hasan saw a market for a new kind of media company
“Four months in, Zeteo has pulled in 31,000 paid subscribers through the Substack platform, including more than 1,000 at the $500-and-up ‘founder’ level, accounting for about $3 million in annualized revenue. Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie called Zeteo’s launch ‘one of the most successful and fastest growing in Substack history.’ That subscriber count makes Zeteo the fifth most-popular politics publication on Substack, trailing long-established offerings from popular pundits Bari Weiss (the Free Press) and Nate Silver (Silver Bulletin) and outlets like the Bulwark.”
CNN / Zachary Cohen, Donie O
DOJ alleges a Russia-funded US media company is linked to right-wing social media stars
“The goal of the operation, according to prosecutors, was to fuel pro-Russian narratives, in part, by pushing content and news articles favoring Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others who the Kremlin deemed to be friendlier to its interests. Among the commentators listed on Tenet Media’s website are right-wing personalities Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin. All have released statements saying they were victims of the alleged Russian scheme and they maintained editorial control of the content they created. Each has a loyal fanbase online, with a combined roughly 6 million followers on YouTube alone.”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
YouTube is developing AI detection tools for music and faces
“YouTube on Thursday announced a new set of AI detection tools to protect creators, including artists, actors, musicians and athletes from having their likeness, including their face and voice, copied and used in other videos. One key component of the new detection technology involved the expansion of YouTube’s existing Content ID system, which today identifies copyright-protected material. This system will be expanded to include new synthetic-singing identification technology to identify AI content that simulates someone’s singing voice. Other detection technologies will be developed to identify when someone’s face is simulated with AI.”
The 19th / Zurii Conroy
LaSharah S. Bunting joins The 19th as its first vice president
“Bunting, the current CEO and executive director of the Online News Association, will scale up The 19th’s fundraising capacity and lead our development, finance and budgeting operations, helping to sustain our critical independent journalism.”
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.