All posts tagged: journalism

Don Lemon Sure Sounds Like He Wants to Run for President

Don Lemon Sure Sounds Like He Wants to Run for President

Published by Sam Flores

This wasn’t the first time Lemon has publicly toyed with the idea of running for president. He first sounded receptive to running when he went on Pod Save America back in March. I headed to the green room after his discussion with Swisher to see how long Lemon would maintain what seemed like little more than his latest bit. There I found Walter Isaacson, New Orleans–born biographer of luminaries living and dead, who was waiting for his turn to take the stage. Lemon, a fellow son of Louisiana, soon arrived. The two men were glad to see each other. It had been a minute. Don was sorry to miss Walter during his most recent visit to New Orleans, where he’d stopped by for the day after returning to his hometown of Baton Rouge following the death of his aunt. Perhaps they could get together this month, Don suggested, in Sag Harbor, where he now lives. The men share more than a home state. Isaacson briefly ran CNN in the early 2000s: the network where Lemon …

The Onion’s Ben Collins Is Still Trying to Get His Hands on Infowars

The Onion’s Ben Collins Is Still Trying to Get His Hands on Infowars

Published by Sam Flores

Nevertheless, Collins and The Onion continued their fight. Most recently, they attempted to enter a leasing situation with the far-right media company, where, for $81,000 a month, they would license the infowars.com domain and brand name, as well as any associated intellectual property. After six months, they would have the option to renew the deal. But unfortunately for The Onion, the Texas court system has once again prevented that plan from coming to fruition. If and when they do finally get their hands on Infowars, The Onion won’t waste any time revamping it. “We intend on flipping it over right away,” said Collins. “We got a bunch of bullshit ready to go. It’s really stupid. Everything that we have planned is very, very dumb. So I hope people get excited for that.” Days before the ruling, Collins’s excitement was palpable. “Frankly, the newspaper is doing so well that we need to give them more space to show that off,” he said. “Not every media merger and acquisition has to be the worst news you’ve ever …

A Prominent PR Firm Is Running a Fake News Site That’s Plagiarizing Original Journalism at Incredible Scale

A Prominent PR Firm Is Running a Fake News Site That’s Plagiarizing Original Journalism at Incredible Scale

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech On Tuesday evening, we published an original interview with a researcher who had recently coauthored an intriguing study about the effects of AI on users’ cognition. A news site called National Today quickly sprang into action: by ten o’clock that night, it had published a piece that was obviously a reworded version of our story, including a direct quote from the interview we’d conducted. But instead of crediting us as the source of the information, as would be conventional, National Today made no mention of Futurism, and didn’t even link to our article. Instead, it presented the reporting as if it were the original source. In other words, the National Today piece — which bears no byline — is blatant plagiarism. And this isn’t the first time this has happened. Last week, for example, National Today ran a story about a controversial GLP-1 marketer called Medvi. It was obvious that National Today ripped us off, because it’d again …

Longtime AP Reporter and Editor Bill Mann Dies at 83

Longtime AP Reporter and Editor Bill Mann Dies at 83

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Mann, a reporter and editor who covered the Philippines, Cairo, India, Scandinavia and Washington, D.C., over a nearly 50-year career at The Associated Press, died Thursday in Reston, Va., his family said. He was 83. Relatives and colleagues remembered Mann as a stickler for details and a deeply kind person who blended his love of journalism with his empathy for everyone he worked with. “Billy Mann was a wonderful representative for The Associated Press in global hot spots from the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos to the turbulent Middle East,” said longtime AP United Nations bureau chief Edith M. Lederer. “He was well-liked for his warm personality and admired for his deft reporting.” A Georgia native who met his wife, Mimi, at the University of Georgia’s journalism school, Mann was a rabid Georgia Bulldogs fan. “Outside of family, it was his biggest passion,” said his daughter Samantha Rudolph. A long journalism career took him many places Upon graduating, Mann went to officer candidate school, became a naval officer and served …

The Indie News Queen Who’s Not Done Pissing Off the Powerful

The Indie News Queen Who’s Not Done Pissing Off the Powerful

Published by skeptic

In the opening scene of the new documentary Steal This Story, Please! reporter Amy Goodman chases down a senior Trump administration adviser. The camera follows as she weaves through a convention hall at a climate conference in Poland, shouting questions at energy expert P. Wells Griffith III right up until he shuts a door in her face. Undaunted, she waits outside. The door opens a crack. It’s some lackey, peeping out and shooing her away; right up until the door closes again, Goodman persists, trying to make contact. She’s out of breath when she finally turns back. Goodman, the indefatigable longtime host and cofounder of the independent journalism stalwart Democracy Now!, has spent the past 30 years asking her subjects tough questions, leading people like former US president Bill Clinton to describe her as “hostile and combative” and intimidating government officials so much that they flee on sight. Steal This Story, Please! traces Democracy Now!’s rise from an upstart airing on a few handfuls of public radio stations to … the exact same thing, just …

Google News Now Prominently Featuring Polymarket Bets Instead of Actual Journalism

Google News Now Prominently Featuring Polymarket Bets Instead of Actual Journalism

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Google News has started showing Polymarket bets alongside actual news articles, often appearing as large blocks that contain links to numerous gambling opportunities on the service. The bets often appear in the “For you” section of Google News, which is tailored to a user’s personal interests. In one instance, it was even the very top result, as with this bet on the price of Bitcoin. In our testing, Polymarket bets are also showing up on the Google News home page. But links from the prediction market can pop up all over Google News, including in searches. In further tests, looking up “will ships transit the strait,” referring to the Strait of Hormuz, returned numerous credible sources like Financial Times, The Guardian, and Reuters. Just below them, however, was a Polymarket bet on the number of ships that would be allowed to pass through the critical oil passageway.

Wall Street Journal video team recentres around ‘journalism that’s worth paying for’

Wall Street Journal video team recentres around ‘journalism that’s worth paying for’

Published by Sam Flores

Maral Usefi, Wall Street Journal head of video. Picture: News Corp The Wall Street Journal has revamped its video strategy around the central aim of making “video journalism that’s worth paying for”. The strategy has six pillars: original/investigative journalism, breaking news, topical explainers and analysis of the news, strategic live video around a major news event, habit-building franchises, and IP-based scripted and unscripted projects via WSJ Studios. The WSJ hired Maral Usefi, former vice president of news and editorial operations at Vice Media, as head of video in September. Since then the video team has grown by a third to 65 people. Usefi was tasked with developing a video strategy that would complement editor-in-chief Emma Tucker’s overall “audience-first” vision that would bring in new subscribers and get them to engage with the brand as much as possible. [Read more: WSJ editor Emma Tucker on how title grew digital subs by a third to 4.3m] Previously the WSJ was mainly focused on off-platform video revenue via the likes of Youtube and Linkedin. “Everything was optimised for …

Who are the UK political editors?

Who are the UK political editors?

Published by Sam Flores

All of the UK’s biggest political stories, both print and broadcast, have been approved by the outlets’ political editors. They are the minds behind every news story and coverage involving politics, and these names climbed the journalism ladder thanks to their innovative and critical thinking. Political editors are some of the best-known names in the industry, bringing in scoops from their overflowing books as well as typically juggling a team of political correspondents and reporters. These are the country’s main political editors across traditional newspaper outlets and broadcasters, from the BBC to The Sunday Times and GB News to the Daily Mail. Who are the UK national newspaper political editors? The Guardian – Pippa Crerar (2022 – present) Pippa Crerar picks up the Politics Journalism award at the British Journalism Awards 2022. Picture: ASV Photography Ltd for Press Gazette Pippa Crerar, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, attended Newcastle University, obtaining a degree in English. She later took a postgraduate course at City, University of London in newspaper journalism. Crerar began her journalistic career in 1999 when …

Meet the Tech Reporters Using AI to Help Write and Edit Their Stories

Meet the Tech Reporters Using AI to Help Write and Edit Their Stories

Published by skeptic

When technology reporter Alex Heath has a scoop, he sits down at his computer and speaks into a microphone. He’s not talking to a human colleague—Heath went independent on Substack last year—he’s talking to Claude. Using the AI-powered voice-to-text service Wispr Flow, Heath transmits his ideas to an AI agent, then lets it write his first draft. Heath sat down with me last week to showcase how he’s integrated Anthropic’s Claude Cowork into his journalistic process. The AI tool is connected to his Gmail, Google Calendar, Granola AI transcription service, and Notion notes. He’s also built a detailed skill—a custom set of instructions—to help Claude write in his style, including the “10 commandments” of writing like Alex Heath. The skill includes previous articles he’s written, instructions on how he likes his newsletters to be structured, and notes on his voice and writing style. Claude Cowork then automates the drafting process that used to take place in Heath’s head. After the agent finishes its first draft, Heath goes back and forth with it for up to …

Journalism still obtainable career for young as 88% with NCTJ qualification get jobs

Journalism still obtainable career for young as 88% with NCTJ qualification get jobs

Published by Sam Flores

Evie Flynn (top), a reporter for Southwark News and Calum Leslie (bottom), a reporter for BBC Radio. Picture: Karla Lizethe Hunter Spend any time in journalism right now and the conversation quickly turns to artificial intelligence. At the NCTJ, alongside our partner news organisations, accredited course providers and student representatives, we are spending a great deal of time thinking about how AI is changing journalism. What skills will journalists need in an AI-assisted or AI-supported newsroom? How should these developments be reflected in training and qualifications? What ethical frameworks must underpin its use? These are important questions for the industry. But while we debate how technology will reshape journalism, there is another issue that may prove even more fundamental: whether enough talented young people choose to become journalists in the first place. Ultimately, the future of journalism depends on whether the next generation chooses to join the profession. At a time when misinformation spreads rapidly and trust in information is fragile, society needs skilled, ethical journalists more than ever. Yet too many young people simply …