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Why “Sorry, I don’t know” is sometimes the best answer: The Washington Post’s technology chief on its first AI chatbot
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Why “Sorry, I don’t know” is sometimes the best answer: The Washington Post’s technology chief on its first AI chatbot
“For Google, that might be failure mode…but for us, that is success,” says the Post’s Vineet Khosla
By Andrew Deck
Browser cookies, as unkillable as cockroaches, won’t be leaving Google Chrome after all
Google — which planned to block third-party cookies in 2022, then 2023, then 2024, then 2025 — now says it won’t block them after all. A big win for adtech, but what about publishers?
By Joshua Benton
Would you pay to be able to quit TikTok and Instagram? You’d be surprised how many would
“The relationship he has uncovered is more like the co-dependence seen in a destructive relationship, or the way we relate to addictive products such as tobacco that we know are doing us harm.”
By Peter Martin
BREAKING: The ways people hear about big news these days; “into a million pieces,” says source
The New York Times and the Washington Post compete with meme accounts for the chance to be first with a big headline.
By Joshua Benton
In 1924, a magazine ran a contest: “Who is to pay for broadcasting and how?” A century later, we’re still asking the same question
Radio Broadcast received close to a thousand entries to its contest — but ultimately rejected them all.
By Julia Barton
You’re more likely to believe fake news shared by someone you barely know than by your best friend
“The strength of weak ties” applies to misinformation, too.
By Joshua Benton
To find readers for longform investigations, Public Health Watch leans on partners and in-person work
Nonprofit newsrooms are competing for limited funding and attention spans, grappling with diminishing returns on social, and trying to address low trust in media. It’s forcing outlets large and small to adapt to survive.
By Sarah Scire
Could social media support healthy online conversations? New_ Public is working on it
“We talk to a lot of towns where there is no newspaper anymore; there’s no community center anymore; the town store shut down. And this is kind of it.”
By Sophie Culpepper
Mashable, PC Mag, and Lifehacker win unprecedented AI protections in new union contract
Ziff Davis can’t lay off workers or decrease their salary due to generative AI, according to the tentative contract.
By Andrew Deck
Bloomberg Businessweek’s editor believes print remains the ultimate “distraction-free news product”
“I’ve joked about Businessweek(ish); I don’t think that one was really considered.”
By Sarah Scire
The Copa, Euro, and Wimbledon finals collide on July 14. Here’s how The Athletic is preparing for its “biggest day ever.”
The Athletic intends to use its live coverage as a “shop window,” giving new readers a taste of what they might get if they subscribed.
By Neel Dhanesha
Why “Sorry, I don’t know” is sometimes the best answer: The Washington Post’s technology chief on its first AI chatbot
“For Google, that might be failure mode…but for us, that is success,” says the Post’s Vineet Khosla
By Andrew Deck
Browser cookies, as unkillable as cockroaches, won’t be leaving Google Chrome after all
Google — which planned to block third-party cookies in 2022, then 2023, then 2024, then 2025 — now says it won’t block them after all. A big win for adtech, but what about publishers?
Would you pay to be able to quit TikTok and Instagram? You’d be surprised how many would
“The relationship he has uncovered is more like the co-dependence seen in a destructive relationship, or the way we relate to addictive products such as tobacco that we know are doing us harm.”
What We’re Reading
Popular Information / Judd Legum
A top Sinclair anchor resigned over concerns about biased and inaccurate content
“One of the primary issues that prompted Ramirez’s resignation was the requirement to include at least three stories produced by Sinclair’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) on a nightly basis…a look at the RRT’s stories over the course of the year shows that the group frequently produces pieces that have more in common with right-wing agitprop than journalism.”
Intelligencer / John Herrman
AI chatbots have a Donald Trump problem
“You might say that AI companies are outsourcing the difficult and costly task of making contentious and disputed claims to the industry [the news industry] that is qualified, or at least willing, to do it, hopefully paying enough to keep the enterprises afloat.”
The Verge / Andrew Liszewski
Slack introduces iPhone widgets to make your editors more inescapable
“Slack finding its way onto all of our devices has already made work feel like a nonstop thing. If you really want to bring more work into your life, adding these widgets could go even further, putting work front and center every time you open your phone.”
IJNet / Wei Xing
Behind the scenes of China’s first independent fact-checking initiative
“Almost 200 volunteers have participated to varying degrees in our projects. Their dedication enables us to remain operational without external funding, keeping the project non-profit.”
The Verge / Wes Davis
EU threatens to fine Meta for saying Facebook is “free”
“Didier Reynders, EU Commissioner for Justice, says customers shouldn’t be ‘lured into’ thinking they won’t see ads if they pay the subscription, or that it’s free despite the company profiting from their personal data. Companies must be transparent upfront about how they use user data, he added.”
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
1 million newsletter subscribers, 10 staffers — and no editors
“So we thought, well, rather than sell licenses for brands to have access to use this tool in their own way, why don’t we launch loads of our own newsletters that we own…publications that we own, where they’re all powered by this AI and we can generate our revenue by selling advertising, sponsorship and lead gen with these newsletters?”
Semafor
Semafor launches Semafor Gulf to target the Middle East market
“Semafor Gulf will launch with a team of staff reporters as well as columnists covering Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and will continue to expand through 2025.”
Deadline / Max Goldbart
BBC to lay off hundreds more staff with financial deficit projected to nearly double next year
“BBC headcount has fallen by 2,000 — or 10% — over the past five years, the corporation said, and a further 500 net public service posts will go over the next 20 months. A voluntary redundancy scheme was launched today. Headcount this year sat at 17,611.”
The Information / Sahil Patel and Stephanie Palazzolo
Condé Nast sends cease-and-desist letter to AI search engine Perplexity
“The legal demand from Condé Nast comes a month after Forbes sent a similar letter to Perplexity, accusing it of infringing Forbes’ copyright. In Condé Nast’s letter, sent on Monday, the publisher accused Perplexity of plagiarizing its content. The challenge adds to a growing tide of legal actions facing AI startups over their use of news outlets’ content for training their large-language models.”
The Washington Post / Amy Argetsinger
Hunter Biden drops his lawsuit over Fox News’ “mock trial” miniseries
“But ‘The Trial of Hunter Biden,’ a six-part miniseries released on the Fox Nation streaming platform in 2022, portrayed an imagined courtroom prosecution of Biden on charges of violating bribery and foreign-agent laws that he has never faced in real life.”
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.