What a trial 300 years ago tells us about Trump’s media lawsuits; Idaho Statesman, April 17, 2025

Scott McIntosh , Idaho Statesman; What a trial 300 years ago tells us about Trump’s media lawsuits

"President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News reminded me of a famous legal case that I teach my journalism students each semester at Boise State University.

It’s known as the Zenger trial...

By doing such things as suing media outlets, canceling subscriptions to Politico, threatening funding to NPR and PBS, barring the Associated Press from the Oval Office or refusing to answer questions from reporters who list their pronouns, Trump’s attacks on the media are just as petty and just as anathema to American values as then-Gov. William Cosby’s actions back in the early 1700s.

But the Zenger verdict shows just how deeply ingrained in America’s DNA is the recognition of the importance of freedom of the press and the need to protect the press from such government bullying."

‘We Know Donald Trump Wants the Story to Die’; The Bulwark, April 23, 2025

ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO, The Bulwark; ‘We Know Donald Trump Wants the Story to Die’

"The representatives who traveled to El Salvador also sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding the State Department continue wellness checks on Abrego Garcia, secure his access to counsel, and work for his return in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court order.

But while Abrego Garcia has garnered by far the most attention of the detainees sent to El Salvador, the four House Democrats also asked for proof of life of Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay, 19-year-old Venezuelan makeup artist whose detention has also made waves. Hernández Romero was classified as a gang member because he has tattoos that say “mom” and “dad” with crowns.

Ansari told me no one had heard from Hernández Romero, who has been documented to have no history of criminal activity, since March 14.

“Everyone is extremely worried about him,” she said from El Salvador. “We’ve had no proof of life in over a month.”

Lindsay Toczylowski, the president and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which is representing Hernández Romero and nine others sent from the United States to CECOT, told The Bulwark the last person to speak to Andry was his mother. At the time he spoke with her, he thought he was being sent to Venezuela."

U.S. Copyright Office Releases New Copyright Registration Toolkit; U.S. Copyright Office, April 22, 2025

  U.S. Copyright Office, Issue No. 1070; U.S. Copyright Office Releases New Copyright Registration Toolkit

"Today, the U.S. Copyright Office released the Copyright Registration Toolkit, a comprehensive resource designed to help creators, small business owners, advisors, and others navigate the copyright system. As part of the Copyright Office’s Copyright for All initiative, the toolkit is a visual breakdown of copyright, including essential information about copyright law, how to prepare for copyright registration, what to expect during the process, and post-registration considerations.

“The Copyright Registration Toolkit makes copyright information more accessible and user-friendly for all creators,” said Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education Miriam Lord. “Resources like this one empower authors, artists, musicians, and their advisors to protect and manage creative works with confidence.”

Developed in conjunction with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's intellectual property (IP) toolkits for trademarks, trade secrets, and patents, these resources collectively provide a broad overview of IP protection under U.S. law.

Copyright Office attorneys, writers, and designers collaborated on the toolkit to ensure it serves as a reliable and engaging reference for creators making business decisions about their creative works and for advisors who help guide them in understanding their rights as IP owners.

To explore the Copyright Registration Toolkit, visit the landing page. For further inquiries, the Public Information Office is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. eastern time, to assist with questions about the copyright registration process."

Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze; Axios, April 21, 2025

• Sareen Habeshian, Axios ; Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze

"Harvard filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, arguing that government overreach violated the university's constitutional rights.

The big picture: The Ivy League institution has rejected a litany of demands from the administration, resulting in a freeze on $2.2 billion in federal funds.

The suit marks an escalation in the administration's battle with elite institutions as it tries to influence and reorient their priorities through federal funds.

Driving the news: Harvard President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus community Monday that the "consequences of the government's overreach will be severe and long-lasting" and accused the administration of trying to impose "unprecedented and improper control.""

‘Who Among Us?’ The Cardinals Now Face Their Test.; The New York Times, April 21, 2025

 Austen Ivereigh, The New York Times; ‘Who Among Us?’ The Cardinals Now Face Their Test. 

"Whatever else emerges in the cardinals’ priorities for a new leader, it is likely to be Francis’ call for “synodality” that most resonates in their discussions. “Synodality” is the word given to the ancient church habit of assembling, discussing, discerning and deciding. Francis adapted the ancient practice of synods and councils in a radically inclusive way that invites all the faithful to be involved. The cardinals may conclude that right now, this is the greatest sign of hope the church can offer the world.

This “culture of encounter,” as Francis called it, may seem a puny thing to the powers that be. But it starts from the idea that those in thrall to the will to power cannot understand: the innate dignity of all, the need to listen to everyone, including those on the margins, and the importance of patiently waiting for consensus. These things are all crucial to the repair of a torn civic fabric.

The cardinals may look at the world and decide that, whatever else they might want from the next pope, the pressing issue facing humanity is how we treat one another."

For Pope Francis, a Last Burst of Pastoring Before Death; The New York Times, April 21, 2025

Jason HorowitzElisabetta PovoledoEmma Bubola and Michael Levenson, The New York Times; For Pope Francis, a Last Burst of Pastoring Before Death

"For the faithful who began streaming into St. Peter’s Square in tears, Francis’ death at 88 was shocking, coming at the end of a brief period in which he had seemed determined to return to his pastoral duties. He had used his final days to emphasize the themes that defined his papacy, particularly the need to defend migrants and others on the margins of society...

Many said they were particularly distraught because Francis’ style of leadership had made him seem particularly accessible. “He was one of us, one of the people,” Maria Teresa Volpi, 80, said. “He was everyone’s pope.”...

World leaders also mourned the pope’s death, praising his commitment to the poor and marginalized...

His final address was read aloud by a Vatican aide and amplified many of the priorities of his papacy. It called for disarmament and lamented the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza and the plight of immigrants.

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” Francis wrote."

Pope Francis had the moral courage to stand up for the Earth and its people; National Catholic Reporter, April 21, 2025

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES , National Catholic Reporter; Pope Francis had the moral courage to stand up for the Earth and its people

"The significance of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's choice of "Francis" as his papal name cannot be overstated. It was a deliberate evocation of St. Francis of Assisi, who saw all of creation as a sacred manifestation of God's love. This choice was no mere symbolic gesture — it was a declaration of intent, signaling the pope's recognition that our relationship with nature is intrinsically connected to our spiritual well-being. In choosing this name, he aligned himself with a tradition that views nature not as a resource to be exploited, but as God's inalienable creation to be cherished and protected."

What Francis meant; The Ink, April 21, 2025

Anand Giridharadas, The Ink; What Francis meant

"Some of you will have followed Francis’s running dispute with Vice President (and Catholic convert) JD Vance; the Pope singled out Vance’s limited interpretations of scripture for criticism on multiple occasions, continuing into this past Easter Week.

On Easter weekend, Francis first sent church deputies to meet with Vance (who was in Italy last week, for meetings with right-wing ally Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni). Francis did finally meet briefly with Vance on Easter Sunday. The in-person meetings were reportedly cordial, though Francis’s criticism of U.S. immigration policy was reportedly on the table, and the Pope did call out the Trump regime in his final Good Friday address:

Today’s builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of hell. God’s economy, on the other hand, does not kill, discard or crush. It is lowly, faithful to the earth.

Francis was the rare leader, spiritual or political, who appeared to have taken the Bible literally and seriously. That brings with it plenty of baggage, but his successors, his followers, and people with all manner of religious affiliations or lack of affiliations in the U.S. and everywhere else, could do worse than to emulate his example."

Humble Francis; Thinking About, April 21, 2025

 Timothy Snyder, Thinking About...; Humble Francis

"Awaiting Francis, I was sitting with the other honorees in a pew towards the front and on the left. The church was very full of people, sitting and standing. I noticed, though, that the people with disabilities were led carefully to the first pew on the right. In this setting, I was reminded of the practices of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which is dedicated to the "martyrs and the marginalized," including the service of the disabled. I do not know whether Francis would have expected this particular arrangement when he entered the church. I can only report on what he did.

Francis was led down the aisle, resplendent in white, very erect, walking slowly and greeting people along the way. Just before he reached the sanctuary, he halted suddenly and turned to his right, noticing that pew. Then, as the rest of us waited, he walked to its far end, and bent himself to speak. He greeted each person in turn, touching them. As the people with whom he was conversing could not rise, he had to lower himself. So, over and over, Francis knelt down to look someone in the eye and to hold both of their hands in his. This took about fifteen minutes. It was a moment to think about others, and in that sense, for me, a liberation, from my own anxiety and selfishness.

Many words and much grandeur followed. But that moment is what I remember. None of us is perfect. Even Father Omelian Kovch was not perfect. Pope Francis was not perfect. The institution they represented has much to answer for. But imperfection can represent itself as service, in the acknowledgement that we can transcend ourselves when we see others first."

Pope Francis met briefly with Vice President Vance on Sunday; NPR, April 21, 2025

 Joe Hernandez, Rachel Treisman, NPR; Pope Francis met briefly with Vice President Vance on Sunday

"Before he died, Pope Francis met briefly Sunday morning with Vice President Vance. Vance was in Italy over the weekend meeting with Italian officials and celebrating Easter with his family. Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019.

The Holy See Press Office said the pair exchanged Easter greetings in a private meeting that lasted for a few minutes.

In February, Pope Francis warned that the Trump administration's effort to dramatically ramp up deportations was driving a "major crisis." The pope also appeared to criticize Vance directly for claiming that Catholic doctrine justified such policies."

Analysis: Pope Francis' legacy marked by reform efforts and outreach to 'marginalized' people; ABC News, April 21, 2025

Phoebe Natanson , ABC News; Analysis: Pope Francis' legacy marked by reform efforts and outreach to 'marginalized' people

""God is not afraid of new things! That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways."

So declared Pope Francis in October 2014, just over a year-and-a-half after he was elected, as he beatified Pope Paul VI, who led the Catholic Church nearly two generations earlier...

Pope Francis, who died on Monday, called for "a church for the poor," a church that would reach out to what he called the "peripheries." He called for a humble, more merciful and inclusive church, and repeatedly remembered the "marginalized" people in society.

His papacy brought a series of firsts to the role, which endeared him to people all over the world. Among these: He was the first to take the name Francis, after the medieval friar St. Francis of Assisi, who vowed to live in poverty."

Donald Trump's Easter Message Sparks Backlash From Critics; Newsweek, April 20, 2025

 Mandy Taheri, Newsweek; Donald Trump's Easter Message Sparks Backlash From Critics

"President Donald Trump's Easter message, which focused less on the Christian holiday and more on attacking political rivals, including former President Joe Biden and judges, over immigration policy, has drawn backlash from criticson both sides of the aisle."

This Is How Meta AI Staffers Deemed More Than 7 Million Books to Have No “Economic Value”; Vanity Fair, April 15, 2025

 

KEZIAH WEIR, Vanity Fair; This Is How Meta AI Staffers Deemed More Than 7 Million Books to Have No “Economic Value”

"Last month, I prompted Meta AI with a question: “Is it okay to use pirated books to train AI?” The machine’s response was unequivocal. “Using pirated books to train AI is not okay,” it admonished. “In fact, it’s a serious violation of copyright laws and can have significant consequences for authors and publishers. Recently, it’s been reported that Meta used millions of pirated books to develop its AI programs, which has sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from the writing community.”"

Trump turns a COVID information website into a promotion page for the lab leak theory; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 18, 2025

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; Trump turns a COVID information website into a promotion page for the lab leak theory

[Kip Currier: Click on covid.gov webpage and assess for yourself the accuracy and judgment of placing "a photo of President Donald Trump walking between the words “lab” and “leak” under a White House heading", adjacent to the words "The True Origins of Covid-19".

Many of the purported claims on this webpage constitute disinformation and propaganda that lack conclusive empirical scientific evidence.

The cherry-picked information about Dr. Anthony Fauci is intentionally misleading. Former Pres. Joe Biden pardoned Fauci on January 20, 2025 because of fears that the incoming Trump 2.0 administration would pursue baseless legal actions against him. The photo of Fauci used on the revamped covid.gov webpage by the current Trump administration depicts Fauci "face-palming". The face-palming picture is placed directly next to Biden's pardon of Fauci, implying that Fauci is face-palming because of shame about the pardon. In truth, Fauci famously face-palmed nearly 5 years earlier, on March 20, 2020, during a live Covid-19 briefing with Donald Trump. As The Independent reported: 

A leading expert assisting Donald Trump’s administration in its response to the coronavirus pandemic appeared to face palm during an extraordinary press briefing at the White House as the president lambasted “the Deep State Department”. 

Video of the moment showed Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, seemingly reacting to Mr Trump’s bizarre rant in real-time, standing just behind the president as he spoke about his administration’s latest efforts to slow the spread of the virus. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-trump-briefing-dr-anthony-fauci-face-palm-a9416111.html

Watch video evidence -- available on many platforms representing diverse political perspectives -- and evaluate the face-palming for yourself.]

[Excerpt]

"A federal website that used to feature information on vaccines, testing and treatment for COVID-19 has been transformed into a page supporting the theory that the pandemic originated with a lab leak.

The covid.gov website shows a photo of President Donald Trump walking between the words “lab” and “leak” under a White House heading. It mentions that Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first began spreading, is home to a research lab with a history of conducting virus research with “inadequate biosafety levels.”

The web page also accuses Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of pushing a “preferred narrative” that COVID-19 originated in nature.

The origins of COVID have never been proven. Scientists are unsure whether the virus jumped from an animal, as many other viruses have, or came from a laboratory accident. A U.S. intelligence analysis released in 2023 said there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory."

Jack Dorsey Says Intellectual Property Law Shouldn't Exist, and Elon Musk Agrees: 'Delete All IP Law'; Entrepreneur, April 14, 2025

 SHERIN SHIBU EDITED BY MELISSA MALAMUT  , Entrepreneur; Jack Dorsey Says Intellectual Property Law Shouldn't Exist, and Elon Musk Agrees: 'Delete All IP Law'

"While Dorsey may want to end intellectual property law, copyright holders are still holding on to their work. Dozens of cases have been filed over the past few years in U.S. federal court against AI companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta, as authors, artists, and news organizations accuse these companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI models without credit or compensation.

AI needs ample training material to keep it sharp. It took about 300 billion words to train ChatGPT, an AI chatbot now used by over 500 million people weekly. AI image generator DALL·E 2 needed "hundreds of millions of captioned images from the internet" to become operational."

Beyond Outreach: How a Bookmobile Supported Maui’s West Coast Community After the Fires | Climate Crisis; April 10, 2025

Lisa Peet , Library Journal; Beyond Outreach: How a Bookmobile Supported Maui’s West Coast Community After the Fires | Climate Crisis

"The Lāhainā Public Library, which served a population of roughly 22,000 across 51 miles, was destroyed in the fire. The Maui Holoholo Bookmobile, however, which has served the island’s six branches since 2016, was spared. Three weeks after the fire was contained, Jessica Gleason, bookmobile librarian at the Wailuku Public Library, and bookmobile driver Michael Tinker, hit the road to support Maui’s West Side community. Together with Lāhainā branch manager Chadde Holbron, the bookmobile team has been providing books, Wi-Fi, goods, story times, and programming in schools, community centers, civic buildings, and parks—needed services in a time of hardship."

ALA Releases State of America’s Libraries 2025 Report; American Libraries, April 8, 2025

 American Libraries ; ALA Releases State of America’s Libraries 2025 Report

Report looks at censorship attempts, artificial intelligence, and sustainability in US libraries

"On April 7, the American Library Association (ALA) released its State of America’s Libraries 2025 report, an annual snapshot of library trends. The report is published during National Library Week, this year taking place April 6–12.

As in recent years, the 2025 report documented censorship in libraries from the previous year. In 2024, ALA recorded 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials across all library types. This is a decrease from the 1,247 attempts that were recorded in 2023 but still the third-highest number since ALA began tracking library censorship in 1990."

From the courtroom to the notepad: Ian Crosby advocates for fair use; The Daily Mississippian, April 16, 2025

 Cameron Larkin , The Daily Mississippian; From the courtroom to the notepad: Ian Crosby advocates for fair use

"How can journalism and artificial intelligence coexist? What are the practical uses of AI in a field like journalism? What does the legal side of all of this look like?

Lead counsel for the New York Times v. OpenAI copyright lawsuit, Ian Crosby, answered these questions and many more at the “Addressing the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Democracy” symposium hosted April 1-2 by the University of Mississippi’s brand-new Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation...

Knowing this, Crosby said that AI does not have to be viewed as the enemy many people make it out to be; rather, when used and operated in the right way, AI can be a tool for journalists.

“Just to be clear, I don’t think that any of my clients feel that AI is bad (or) that AI shouldn’t exist,” Crosby said. “AI has amazing uses, and those uses should persist.”

One practical use Crosby suggested for AI in journalism is for the “needle in the haystack problem.” Crosby said that AI is useful for delving into large data sets, such as government documents, to quickly sift through and pick out key information much quicker than a human could."

Commonwealth Games official's 'uncomfortable behaviour' with volunteer; BBC, April 17, 2025

Dan Roan , BBC; Commonwealth Games official's 'uncomfortable behaviour' with volunteer

"The chair added: "The appearance of unethical conduct by a Commonwealth Games Federation official, which raised concerns by others who were present is like the proverb, 'Caesar's wife must be above suspicion'. Not only do Commonwealth Games Federation officials need to have integrity; they need to be examples of integrity and ethical conduct and avoid negative scrutiny or attention.""

Appeals court won’t lift order to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s return in blistering opinion; The Hill, April 17, 2025

ZACH SCHONFELD  , The Hill; Appeals court won’t lift order to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s return in blistering opinion

"The 4th Circuit declined to put Xinis’s ruling on hold just one day after the administration filed the appeal, a swift order that came without waiting for Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to file their response.

“The relief the government is requesting is both extraordinary and premature. While we fully respect the Executive’s robust assertion of its Article II powers, we shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel... 

The Trump administration has acknowledged he was mistakenly deported due to an “administrative error” but contends the courts are powerless to intervene because the man is no longer in U.S. custody...

“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all,” Wilkinson wrote.

“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” he continued. “Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” 

Wilkinson, an appointee of former President Reagan, was joined on the panel by U.S. Circuit Judge Robert King, who is an appointee of former President Clinton, and U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, who is an appointee of former President Obama."

US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks; The Guardian, April 16, 2025

Maya Yang, The Guardian; US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks

"Faculty members from US universities – including public ones which do not receive endowments – are banding together in attempts to resist the Donald Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedoms.

This month, Indiana University’s Bloomington faculty council followed in the footsteps of Rutgers University in passing a resolution to establish a pact with all 18 universities under the Big 10 academic alliance to defend academic freedoms.

The resolution comes as a result of “recent and escalating politically motivated actions by governmental bodies [which] pose a significant threat to the foundational principles of American higher education including the autonomy of university governance, the integrity of scientific research, and the protection of free speech”.

The 18 universities part of the Big 10 academic alliance include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The resolution says the “preservation of one institution’s integrity is the concern of all and an infringement against one member university of the Big Ten shall be considered an infringement against all”."

The Emergency Is Here; The New York Times, April 17, 2025

 Ezra Klein, The New York Times; The Emergency Is Here

"The emergency is here.

The crisis is now. It is not six months away. It is not another Supreme Court ruling away from happening. It’s happening now.

Perhaps not to you, not yet. But to others. Real people. We know their names. We know their stories.

The president of the United States is disappearing people to a Salvadoran prison for terrorists. A prison known by its initials — CECOT. A prison built for disappearance. A prison where there is no education or remediation or recreation, because it is a prison that does not intend to release its inhabitants back out into the world. It is a prison where the only way out, in the words of El Salvador’s so-called justice minister, is a coffin...

The Trump administration holds the view that anyone they send to El Salvador is beyond the reach of American law — they have been disappeared not only from our country but from our system — and from any protection or process that system affords.

In our prisons, prisoners can be reached by our lawyers, by our courts, by our mercy. In El Salvador, they cannot.

Names. Stories. Let me tell you one of their names, one of their stories, as best we know it."

The philosopher’s machine: my conversation with Peter Singer’s AI chatbot; The Guardian, April 17, 2025

Stephanie Convery , The Guardian; The philosopher’s machine: my conversation with Peter Singer’s AI chatbot

"Singer has had a long and high-profile career in philosophy. He has only recently retired from Princeton University, where he was professor of bioethics. His CV is extensive (it runs to a full 102 pages). He has a Substack, a podcast, a Bluesky account, a journal he co-edits, and a polished online presence. As I’m scrolling through the storied septuagenarian philosopher’s blog, the chatbot pops up in the corner of the page. I can’t help but feeling like I am being sold something.

In launching his chatbot, Singer described the tool as “employing the Socratic method” – that is, dialogue – to “[guide] users through a process of critical thinking and self-examination”. But I have questions about that.

Me: Do you think it is philosophically justifiable to outsource the discussion of ethics to a chatbot?

Peter Singer AI: Outsourcing ethical discussions to a chatbot can be philosophically justifiable if viewed as a tool to enhance and facilitate ethical reflection. Chatbots can provide insights, pose questions, and offer perspectives that might help individuals think more deeply about ethical issues.

However, it’s crucial to remember that chatbots lack human experience, empathy, and the ability to understand context fully. They should be used as a complement to human judgment and conversation, not a replacement.

Engaging with a chatbot can stimulate thinking and provide a starting point for deeper exploration, but ultimately, ethical decision-making involves personal reflection and discussion with others...

My most memorable and exciting philosophy lessons were the ones in which, as a class, we hotly debated ideas in which we were all materially and emotionally invested. The AI floats loftily above the emotional fray, coolly dispensing pre-programmed wisdom from the cloud, while we grapple with the contradictions and complications of actually living. Between the chatbot and me, there is only one of us for whom the dialogue elicits an emotional response, because for only one of us does the conversation actually matter."

Creators Are Losing the AI Copyright Battle. We Have to Keep Fighting (Guest Column); The Hollywood Reporter, April 16, 2025

 Ed Newton-Rex ; Creators Are Losing the AI Copyright Battle. We Have to Keep Fighting (Guest Column)

"The struggle between AI companies and creatives around “training data” — or what you and I would refer to as people’s life’s work — may be the defining struggle of this generation for the media industries. AI companies want to exploit creators’ work without paying them, using it to train AI models that compete with those creators; creators and rights holders are doing everything they can to stop them."

When was the last time AI made you laugh? Scenes from the 2025 Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism; Poynter, April 11, 2025

TyLisa Johnson, Poynter ; When was the last time AI made you laugh? Scenes from the 2025 Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism

"This year’s Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism, led by Poynter and The Associated Press, unfolded over two days in New York City’s financial district at the AP’s headquarters.

Here’s a brief summit recap through images:"

The real argument artists should be making against AI; Vox, April 16, 2025

Sigal Samuel, Vox; The real argument artists should be making against AI

[Paywall to access]

One Third of Americans Believe Russian Disinformation, NewsGuard-YouGov Survey Finds; NewsGuard's Reality Check, April 16, 2025

Matt Skibinski , NewsGuard's Reality Check; One Third of Americans Believe Russian Disinformation, NewsGuard-YouGov Survey Finds

"In the ongoing battle between fiction and reality, fiction — much of it created by Russia’s robust disinformation machine — appears to be winning.

A national YouGov survey commissioned by NewsGuard found that one third of Americans believe at least one false claim now being spread by Russian media outlets.

The survey, conducted on a representative sample of 1,000 Americans, presented respondents with 10 false claims that have spread widely online, including three that originated from or were primarily spread by Russian media outlets. Respondents were asked to identify whether each claim was true, false, or whether they were unsure about its veracity.

The false claims were selected from NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprints, a continuously updated data stream of provably false claims spreading online.

In addition, the survey found that one in three Americans believe false claims spread by the Kremlin to be true, and three quarters are unable to consistently identify Russian disinformation narratives as false.

The results also show that Americans are widely vulnerable to believing falsehoods spread online across a range of topics including health and medicine, elections, and international conflicts: Of the 10 claims presented, 78 percent of respondents believed at least one claim, and less than 1 percent of respondents correctly identified all 10 claims as false."