A Chinese court sentences Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, to 5 years on state subversion charges (Helen Davidson/The Guardian)

Mediagazer: A Chinese court sentences Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, to 5 years on state subversion charges (Helen Davidson/The Guardian)

Top News:

Wired:

Yahoo debuts a revamped version of its free Yahoo News app, powered by Artifact's AI tech, after acquiring the Instagram co-founders' news app in April 2024— Artifact, the news app startup from Instagram's cofounders, was purchased by Yahoo earlier this year.
Discussion:

Will Shanklin /
Engadget: Yahoo News gets an AI-powered overhaul Gadgets 360: Yahoo News App Gets an AI-Powered Revamp, Integrates Artifact's Technology for Personalised News Discovery

Jim Lanzone /
@jlanzone: @kevin @mikeyk Also important to note that the app is grounded in partnerships with a huge number of curated content sources across dozens of categories - reducing spam/noise - and we share revenue with those partners.

Jim Lanzone /
@jlanzone: It's alive. Yahoo+Artifact app launches today. Thanks @kevin and @mikeyk for helping us make it happen. Killer roadmap ahead - so much more we can do here.

Coleen O'Lear /
Coleen O'Lear on LinkedIn: You know I live for launching news products! 🚀 This one will forever be near and dear ... my first launch at Yahoo News was a big one. …

Vera H-C Chan /
Vera H-C Chan on LinkedIn: AI scaling up human ingenuity is key (and not the other way around). Glad to see Yahoo continue to make strides in this area. …

Caragh Fisher O'Connor /
Caragh Fisher O'Connor on LinkedIn: The new era of Yahoo News is here - and it's pretty great! Today we introduce a brand new mobile app and homepage powered by the incredible AI technology …

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: Yahoo News Integrates Artifact AI Technology Into Reimagined App - Here's What's Different

RELATED:

Platformer:

Sources: Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down after five years and won't conduct research into any future elections; Stanford may retain SIO's branding— After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down.

Discussion:

Theo Baker /
@tab_delete: An utter shame: The pioneering Stanford Internet Observatory (@stanfordio), responsible for groundbreaking trust and safety research and home to the nonpartisan Election Integrity Partnership, is being shuttered. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

Rep. Dan Bishop /
@repdanbishop: A major victory in the battle to dismantle the Censorship Industrial Complex. I'll never let up in the fight to preserve freedom of expression in America. [image] @Mikal@sfba.social: @Mediagazer — It's appalling that Stanford caved in to GOP bullying. Anyone who thinks we need to play nice with fascists is in for a horrible reality check very soon.

Joshua Foust /
@joshuafoust@appdot.net: The bad guys are winning. Get angry. — https://www.platformer.news/ ... @metacurity@infosec.exchange: https://www.platformer.news/ ... Oh no! — The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled

Julia Scott /
@juliascribe: Oh NO. This is a huge deal. Such a disappointing move from @Stanford whose students and staff have been menaced by elected lawmakers and their henchmen. Unbelievable. The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled https://www.platformer.news/ ...

Casey Newton /
@caseynewton@mastodon.social: NEWS: After sustained attacks from House Republicans, the Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled. A huge blow to academic freedom and our ability to understand platforms and influence operations https://www.platformer.news/ ... [image]

Annemarie Bridy /
@AnnemarieBridy@mastodon.social: Here's a good example of the vulnerability of university researchers who lack tenure. — The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled https://www.platformer.news/ ...

Brian Knutson /
@knutson_brain@sfba.social: @Mediagazer Inspired our current work on sentiment and social media virality (which will continue)...

Lauren Weinstein /
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org: After sustained attacks by the GOP, Stanford Internet Observatory is being shut down — https://www.platformer.news/ ... [image]

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: The massively bad-faith Republican “investigations” — persecutions to deter truth-telling — into vital research on right-wing extremism have paid off for the extremists. — In a cowardly but understandable move, Stanford University is dismantling its Internet Observatory, which has been a focus of the Republican lies and attacks. …

Nieman Lab:

The Insider Union asks BI management to share details of its OpenAI licensing deal, citing issues with ChatGPT's inaccurate or missing links to Insider scoops— “We are...deeply worried that despite this partnership, OpenAI may be downplaying rather than elevating our works,” Business Insider's union wrote in a letter to management.

Discussion:
@davetroy, @laurengoode, @estherbrooklyn, Talking Biz News, @decka227, @themckenziest and @krustelkram

Discussion:

Esther Kaplan /
@estherbrooklyn: And...here we are. “When prompted to name the outlet that broke the Dave Portnoy investigation, ChatGPT correctly identified Business Insider but hallucinated an incorrect URL.”

Andrew Deck /
@decka227: ChatGPT is hallucinating fake links to Business Insider articles, despite its parent company's multimillion-dollar deal with OpenAI. My latest for @NiemanLab, including details on @InsiderUnion's letter calling for BI to share its OpenAI contract. https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Lauren McKenzie /
@themckenziest: @decka227 ... It's truly incredible just how bad this all is

Céline Keller /
@krustelkram: “... Altman proclaimed that AI hallucinations (when an LLM asserts something untrue as fact, because AI doesn't know anything) are a feature, not a bug, and ... should be regarded as a form of creative expression.” Silicon Valley's False Prophet https://www.wheresyoured.at/ ... [image]

NPR:

A look at Prison Mirror, one of the US' oldest prison newspapers, running since 1887, made by and for the people held at the Minnesota Correctional Facility— Inside a state prison near Stillwater, Minn., past the armed guards and the wings of cells stacked one on top of another …

Discussion:
@johncarson, @meerabee, @omunderdal, @spj_tweets, Prison Journalism Project on LinkedIn and @camilosmith

Discussion:

John Carson /
@johncarson: https://www.npr.org/... “Publications like this aren't common, but in an era where many journalism outlets in the free world are struggling to thrive amid scores of layoffs, journalism behind bars is actually growing.” = Really interesting.

Ameera Butt /
@meerabee: I learned about the oldest prison newspaper from @meg_anders Publications like this aren't common, but in an era where many journalism outlets in the free world are struggling to thrive amid scores of layoffs, journalism behind bars is actually growing. https://www.npr.org/...

Olav Mitchell Underdal /
@omunderdal: This prison newspaper has been publishing for more than a century - A newspaper in a Minnesota prison began publishing more than a century ago. The paper covers prison life and gives its writers purpose. It's one of around two dozen similar publications ... https://www.npr.org/... @spj_tweets: “The Prison Mirror is one of the oldest prison newspapers in the country, running since 1887. Publications like this aren't common, but in an era where many journalism outlets...are struggling to thrive... journalism behind bars is actually growing.” https://www.npr.org/... Prison Journalism Project on LinkedIn: A newspaper in a Minnesota prison began publishing more than a century ago. The paper covers prison life and gives its writers purpose. …

The Guardian:

A Chinese court sentences Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, to 5 years on state subversion charges— Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, sentenced along with labour activist Wang Jianbing

Discussion:
Voice of America, Committee to Protect …, @sophiedrich, @jfsteinfeld, CBS News and New York Times

Discussion:

William Yang /
Voice of America: China sentences #Metoo journalist, labor activist to up to 5 years in jail Committee to Protect Journalists: CPJ calls for immediate release of Chinese journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin

Sophie Richardson /
@sophiedrich: 5 yrs and 3.5 yrs for not breaking the law. Free #HuangXueqin and #WangJianbing!

Jemimah Steinfeld /
@jfsteinfeld: In 2022 @IndexCensorship gave our Freedom of Expression in journalism award to Sophia Huang Xueqin. Here's the video that accompanied the award. A little glimpse into how remarkable she is. She must be freed, as must Wang Jianbing, also sentenced today https://www.youtube.com/...

Haley Ott /
CBS News: Supporters say China's Sophia Huang Xueqin, #MeToo journalist and activist, sentenced to jail for “subversion”

Politico:

Sources say the publisher Little, Brown canceled prominent journalist Jason Zengerle's biography of Tucker Carlson, partly due to Carlson's mainstream absence— A major publisher just canceled a big-budget book on the former Fox News star, cementing his mainstream absence.

Discussion:
@threnody.bsky.social: reposting @katmabu.bsky.social's video because deplatforming works—from the host of the most watched cable “news” show to pedophile accounts on bluesky. — a year & change ago, this man was an inescapable avatar of white nationalist hate. he can't get a book published. even josh hawley can do *that. …

Justin Baragona /
@justinbaragona: Pretty much the perfect breakdown of Tucker Carlson's fall from mainstream relevance. https://www.politico.com/... [image]

Gillian Branstetter /
@gbbranstetter.bsky.social: That's it's own fascinating story, no? Most influential cable news host and white supremacist propagandist reduced to niche vlogger [embedded post]

Josh Kraushaar /
@joshkraushaar: “The journey from comfort in the mainstream to aggrievement on the margins is one of the most fascinating evolutions in today's society.” https://www.politico.com/... @nahbabynah: Political News, R&L The Disappearing Tucker Carlson: For Tucker Carlson, it has to be the ultimate good-news, bad-news moment: A major publishing house has canceled a prominent political journalist's upcoming biography of the far-right media... https://www.politico.com/... #Trump2024 [image]

Whither news?:

A look at the problems of new legislation to support journalism, through state tax money or fees on Big Tech, in California, New York, and Canada— Newspaper lobbyists look out only for themselves — Whither news? — · — Just now — California legislators have amended …

Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, @timmcguire, @progresschamber, @gaufre, @jeffjarvis, @danablankenhorn@threads.net and @pehoco@threads.net

Discussion:
@jeffjarvis: New post on the bad newspaper legislation in California, New York, and Canada. “If you're going to pass laws to support journalism, then don't support news as it was, support news as it could be.” https://medium.com/... @progresschamber: After taking a year to fix CJPA, the bill still suffers from the same issues: it still sends money to hedge funds and Fox News. It still results in local outlets losing link traffic. Check out @jeffjarvis's post on CJPA's problems: https://medium.com/... @gaufre: @jeffjarvis We've introduced a ton of better language to ensure the money support the jobs and transparency.

@jeffjarvis:
@gaufre They should have better. The money will support hedge fund publishers over them.

Dana Blankenhorn /
@danablankenhorn@threads.net: Investors need to save journalism. Politicians can't.

Digiday:

GroupM expects global ad spending excluding political advertising to grow 7.8% in 2024, a bump from its original 5.3% forecast; Dentsu also bumped its forecast— Don't ever say that uncertainty stops ad spending. — So far this year, it's held up strong despite regional conflicts …

Discussion:
@digiday, Michael Burke on LinkedIn, Gregory Jensen on LinkedIn and WORLD SCREEN

Discussion:
@digiday: Don't ever say that uncertainty stops ad spending. So far this year, it's held up strong despite regional conflicts, sticky inflation, high borrowing costs and the possibility of several markets slipping into a recession. https://digiday.com/...

Michael Burke /
Michael Burke on LinkedIn: Does better measurement = more ad spend? — It's encouraging to see increasingly optimistic ad growth expectations, and “better measurement tools” is cited as one of the key reasons. …

Gregory Jensen /
Gregory Jensen on LinkedIn: Whew. Unpredictable as ever, global ad spending forecasts, which exclude political ad spend, indicate ad spend is rising more quickly …

Mansha Daswani /
WORLD SCREEN: GroupM: 2024 Adspend To Rise 7.8 Percent

Nieman Reports:

Q&A with Ibrahaim Abdelbaki, the editor of BBC Arabic's Lifeline Service in Gaza, on providing information to displaced citizens, reporting challenges, and more— How the BBC Arabic's Lifeline Service in Gaza is delivering vital information to displaced citizens and airing first-hand accounts of survivors.

Discussion:
Associated Press

Press Gazette:

Investigation: Google returned AI-written summaries for ~25% of news-related US search queries in mid-May 2024, with organic links pushed far down the page— The dramatic impact of Google's AI-written summaries on search result visibility for publishers has been revealed through exclusive new research.

Discussion:
Future Media, Dominic Ponsford on LinkedIn, @laurahelmuth@mastodon.social and KHOU-TV

Discussion:

Dominic Ponsford /
Dominic Ponsford on LinkedIn: Today Press Gazette publishes the first major research into the impact of AI Overviews on publisher search discoverability. …

Laura Helmuth /
@laurahelmuth@mastodon.social: Google serving up AI responses to HEALTH-related queries is one of the most dangerous applications of this whole stupid thing. Anyway, bookmark and subscribe to trusted sources of information while you can still find them. https://pressgazette.co.uk/...

Press Gazette:

UK nonprofit The Bureau of Investigative Journalism launches paid memberships and explores other revenue streams to address a £250,000 funding shortfall— The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) is on a mission to diversify its revenue away from relying on foundations as …

Discussion:
Media Voices

Reuters:

A US judge orders X's lawsuit against Media Matters over accusations of misrepresenting the amount of antisemitic content on X will go to trial on April 7, 2025— Social media platform X's lawsuit against media watchdog group Media Matters will head to trial on April 7, 2025, a U.S. District judge ordered on Thursday.

Discussion:
MEDIANAMA, CNN and New York Post

Discussion:

Simone Lobo /