The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media; The Washington Post, October 28, 2024

Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post; The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media

Jeff Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.

"I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally. Dave Limp, the chief executive of one of my companies, Blue Origin, met with former president Donald Trump on the day of our announcement. I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision. But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand. Even Limp didn’t know about it in advance; the meeting was scheduled quickly that morning. There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false."

John Grisham poached material for new book, media outlets say; The Washington Post, October 18, 2024

Will Sommer,  The Washington Post; John Grisham poached material for new book, media outlets say 

"Both ProPublica and the Times said in statements to The Post that they want changes made to “Framed” to better credit Colloff.

“We are in conversation with the publisher to correct this very concerning oversight and ensure the original work receives appropriate credit,” ProPublica said in its statement.

The similarities between Colloff’s series and Grisham’s writing were first noted publicly by Maurice Chammah, a criminal justice reporter for the Marshall Project who reviewed “Framed” for the Times.

Chammah wrote “Grisham relies so heavily on Pamela Colloff’s 2018 reporting” that “simply mentioning her work in a note at the end does not feel adequate.”

Chammah said Grisham’s use of Colloff’s series is especially notable because reporting on apparent wrongful convictions can require years of painstaking investigation."

Trump wages campaign against real-time fact checks; The Washington Post, October 14, 2024

Ashley Parker

 and 

Josh Dawsey

, The Washington Post; Trump wages campaign against real-time fact checks

"Donald Trump and his campaign have waged an aggressive campaign against fact-checking in recent months, pushing TV networks, journalism organizations and others to abandon the practice if they hope to interact with Trump...

The moves are the latest example of Trump’s long-held resistance to being called to account for his falsehoods, which have formed the bedrock of his political message for years. Just in recent weeks, for example, Trump has seized on fabricated tales of migrants eating pets and Venezuelan gangs overtaking cities in pushing his anti-immigration message as he seeks a second term in office.

Lucas Graves, a journalism and mass communications professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said that publicly chafing at fact-checking has become a form of tribalism among some Republicans.

“Within the political establishment on the right, it is now considered quite legitimate — and quite legitimate to say publicly and openly — that you disapprove of fact-checking,” said Lucas, author of “Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism."

2024 Tech Ethics Symposium: Coming October 17-18!; Duquesne University, October 17-18, 2024

 Duquesne University; 2024 Tech Ethics Symposium: Coming October 17-18!; How is AI Transforming Our Communities?

"The Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law will host the fifth annual Tech Ethics Symposium: “How is AI Transforming Our Communities?” This two-day symposium, co-sponsored by the Institute for Ethics and Integrity in Journalism and Media, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business, will focus on how generative AI is transforming our daily lives and our communities. It will also explore how AI has already changed our region and will continue to alter our world in the next decade.

How do major stakeholders like journalists, educators, and tech workers use AI to shape our community?  How have professional communities in tech, journalism, and education been impacted already by AI? What is the role of politics in responding to AI’s influence on, and through, these impactful stakeholder communities? What has AI changed for communities of faith, artists, people with disabilities, and historically marginalized communities? What can each of us do to utilize –or avoid– AI to ensure strong, healthy human communities?"

Surviving Putin's gulag: Vladimir Kara-Murza tells his story; The Washington Post, August 14, 2024

Today’s show was produced by Charla Freeland. It was edited by Allison Michaels and Damir Marusic and mixed by Emma Munger, The Washington Post; Surviving Putin's gulag: Vladimir Kara-Murza tells his story

"Pulitzer Prize winner Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was part of August’s massive prisoner exchange with Russia, sat down to talk with Post Opinions editor David Shipley about his time in jail, the importance of freedom of speech and what the future holds for Putin’s regime."

The assignment: Build AI tools for journalists – and make ethics job one; Poynter, July 8, 2024

Barbara Allen , Poynter; The assignment: Build AI tools for journalists – and make ethics job one

"Imagine you had virtually unlimited money, time and resources to develop an AI technology that would be useful to journalists.

What would you dream, pitch and design?

And how would you make sure your idea was journalistically ethical?

That was the scenario posed to about 50 AI thinkers and journalists at Poynter’s recent invitation-only Summit on AI, Ethics & Journalism. 

The summit drew together news editors, futurists and product leaders June 11-12 in St. Petersburg, Florida. As part of the event, Poynter partnered with Hacks/Hackers, to ask groups attendees to  brainstorm ethically considered AI tools that they would create for journalists if they had practically unlimited time and resources.

Event organizer Kelly McBride, senior vice president and chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at Poynter, said the hackathon was born out of Poynter’s desire to help journalists flex their intellectual muscles as they consider AI’s ethical implications.

“We wanted to encourage journalists to start thinking of ways to deploy AI in their work that would both honor our ethical traditions and address the concerns of news consumers,” she said.

Alex Mahadevan, director of Poynter’s digital media literacy project MediaWise, covers the use of generative AI models in journalism and their potential to spread misinformation."

We asked people about using AI to make the news. They’re anxious and annoyed; Poynter, June 27, 2024

 Jennifer Orsi, Poynter; We asked people about using AI to make the news. They’re anxious and annoyed

"Sometimes, when it comes to using artificial intelligence in journalism, people think of a calculator, an accepted tool that makes work faster and easier.

Sometimes, they think it’s flat-out cheating, passing off the work of a robot for a human journalist.

Sometimes, they don’t know what to think at all — and it makes them anxious.

All of those attitudes emerged from new focus group research from the University of Minnesota commissioned by the Poynter Institute about news consumers’ attitudes toward AI in journalism.

The research, conducted by Benjamin Toff, director of the Minnesota Journalism Center and associate professor of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, was unveiled to participants at Poynter’s Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism on June 11. The summit brought together dozens of journalists and technologists to discuss the ethical implications for journalists using AI tools in their work. 

“I think it’s a good reminder of not getting too far ahead of the public,” Toff said, in terms of key takeaways for newsrooms. “However much there might be usefulness around using these tools … you need to be able to communicate about it in ways that are not going to be alienating to large segments of the public who are really concerned about what these developments will mean for society at large.”

The focus groups, conducted in late May, involved 26 average news consumers, some who knew a fair amount about AI’s use in journalism, and some who knew little. 

Toff discussed three key findings from the focus groups:"

Ethics in an age of disinformation: Free webinar series from the National Press Club Journalism Institute; National Press Club Journalism Institute, April 4, 2024

Press Release, National Press Club Journalism Institute; Ethics in an age of disinformation: Free webinar series from the National Press Club Journalism Institute 

"The National Press Club Journalism Institute is pleased to announce a free, four-part webinar series focused on ethics in the age of disinformation. These discussions are geared toward equipping journalists and the public with tools to combat mis and disinformation efforts aimed at disrupting journalism and democracy.

All of these webinars are free and open to the public and are designed to provide tools and best practices to support ethical, trustworthy journalism."

The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet sue OpenAI for copyright infringement; The Guardian, February 28, 2024

 Nick Robins-Early, The Guardian ; The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet sue OpenAI for copyright infringement

"OpenAI and Microsoft are facing a fresh round of lawsuits from news publishers over allegations that their generative artificial intelligence products violated copyright laws and illegally trained by using journalists’ work. Three progressive US outlets – the Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet – filed suits in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, demanding compensation from the tech companies.

The news outlets claim that the companies in effect plagiarized copyright-protected articles to develop and operate ChatGPT, which has become OpenAI’s most prominent generative AI tool. They allege that ChatGPT was trained not to respect copyright, ignores proper attribution and fails to notify users when the service’s answers are generated using journalists’ protected work."

After Hospital Blast, Headlines Shift With Changing Claims; The New York Times, October 18, 2023

 Katie Robertson, The New York Times; After Hospital Blast, Headlines Shift With Changing Claims

"Covering wars is always fraught, both because journalists on the ground are often in harm’s way and because the sides at war aggressively push information in their favor."

Vice blocked an article criticising Saudi Arabia. This is why we published it instead; The Guardian, August 18, 2023

Jemimah Steinfeld , The Guardian; Vice blocked an article criticising Saudi Arabia. This is why we published it instead

"If you want proof Saudi Arabia is trying to improve its reputation, visit the website of the Saudi Tourism Authority. There you will find the Q&A section has recently been updated to state that LGBTQ visitors to the country are welcome. This from a country that executed five men for same-sex relationships just four years ago. The hubris is astonishing. And yet to directly challenge those contradictions isn’t easy, something John Lubbock, Daisy Steinhardt and Max Colbert recently learned.

As reported by the Guardian on Tuesday, the journalists had co-written an article for Vice World News, which looked at how LGBTQ Saudis face threats from their families and state authorities. It was commissioned after Vice signed a partnership deal with the MBC Group, a media company controlled by the Saudi government. The article’s publication was first delayed and eventually spiked. The reason given? To protect staff at Vice’s offices in Riyadh."

Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin; The Guardian, August 20, 2023

Tim Adams, The Guardian ; Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin

"Smartphone footage of this event from April 2022 is the opening scene of a documentary film about the life of Muratov, which will be shown on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday night. The film is called The Price of Truth, and if you were ever in doubt about the human cost of publishing factual news in a time of war and repression, then Muratov’s career establishes it in frank detail.

I spoke to Muratov last week, by Zoom in the office of the newspaper he has edited for 30 years, Novaya Gazeta, standard bearer for the glasnost and perestroika of its founding patron, Mikhail Gorbachev. None of those years have been without challenge and trauma. The photographs of six Novaya Gazeta journalists murdered in the course of their work are on the wall above Muratov’s desk. But even so, he suggested to me, this last year has been the worst.

“All non-state media [including his paper] has been closed,” he says. “Hundreds of thousands of web pages have been blocked.” Government propaganda, he suggests, spreads “like radiation” into every home. “There is no one to control power in Russia, and our society hasn’t understood that yet.”"

Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business; The New York Times , August 15, 2023

Jeremy W. Peters  , The New York Times; Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business

"Some First Amendment advocates said the playbook was relatively easy to replicate: A public official unhappy with the coverage sues, creating crushing costs for an outlet."

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel; ProPublica, August 10, 2023

 Brett Murphy and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica; Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

"This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount.

While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.”"

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

The Guardian’s editorial code has been updated – here’s what to expect; The Guardian, July 27, 2023

 Elisabeth Ribbans, The Guardian; The Guardian’s editorial code has been updated – here’s what to expect

"Much has changed since 2011 – at the Guardian, in the way society shares information and opinions, and in the world at large. The updates reflect this. But as “the embodiment of the Guardian’s values”, which is how the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, described the code in an email to staff today, the standards by which journalists agree to be held accountable, while geared (as far as possible) to the modern environment, seek to maintain something immutable: trust."

In 35 years’ reporting from Solomon Islands, I have never seen such secrecy as the last few months; The Guardian, May 2, 2022

Dorothy Wickham, The Guardian; In 35 years’ reporting from Solomon Islands, I have never seen such secrecy as the last few months

"As we deal with the attention our country is getting since the signing of the security agreement with China, it is now more important than ever to have a free press and a government that wants to communicate their actions to their people."

Politico’s Supreme Court leak leaves some lingering ethics questions; Politico, May 2, 2022

Kelly McBride, Poynter; Politico’s Supreme Court leak leaves some lingering ethics questions

"Politico published Monday night a leaked copy of a draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal in every state. The ethics behind Politico’s decision to publish the document will likely become a case study for future generations of journalists."

Names on a list: Fleeing Mariupol, one checkpoint at a time; Associated Press, March 21, 2022

MSTYSLAV CHERNOV, Associated Press; Names on a list: Fleeing Mariupol, one checkpoint at a time

"The absence of information in a blockade accomplishes two goals.

Chaos is the first. People don’t know what’s going on, and they panic. At first I couldn’t understand why Mariupol fell apart so quickly. Now I know it was because of the lack of communication. 

Impunity is the second goal. With no information coming out of a city, no pictures of demolished buildings and dying children, the Russian forces could do whatever they wanted. If not for us, there would be nothing.

That’s why we took such risks to be able to send the world what we saw, and that’s what made Russia angry enough to hunt us down. 

I have never, ever felt that breaking the silence was so important."

Fleeing Putin’s wartime crackdown, Russian journalists build media hubs in exile; The Washington Post, March 13, 2022

Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post ; Fleeing Putin’s wartime crackdown, Russian journalists build media hubs in exile

"Smirnov was also imprisoned for 25 days for retweeting a joke that offended the Kremlin."

About WBUR's Ethics Guide; WBUR, March 10, 2022

WBUR; About WBUR's Ethics Guide

"The committee approached the guidelines from the vantage point of WBUR journalists and journalism — while acknowledging the importance of the ethical guidelines and standards that need to be understood and embraced by everyone who works or is associated with WBUR.

The committee used the NPR Ethics Handbook as a structural model and source text, adopted with a WBUR voice. They also addressed ethics issues from a 2021 perspective, recognizing that much has changed in the public media and journalism field since the NPR Handbook was first written a decade ago."

WBUR Ethics Guide PDF: https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2022/03/WBUR-Ethics-Guidelines.pdf