Jeff Bezos defends Washington Post decision to not endorse in 2024 Presidential race, says "No quid pro quo of any kind is at work here." — 28 October 2024 (LINK)

— He acknowledged that "inadequate planning" and not some "intentional strategy" was to blame for creating a backlash. "I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here," Bezos wrote in an op ed in the Post. "Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision." Bezos instead said that the decision was motivated by a desire to "increase our credibility," pointing to low trust in the media in a recent Gallup poll. "What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one."

Over 200,000 subscribers flee 'Washington Post' after Bezos blocks Harris endorsement. — 28 October 2024 (LINK)

Right-wing media defend racist anti-Puerto Rico remarks at Trump rally — 28 October 2024 (LINK)

Polish radio station abandons use of AI 'presenters' following outcry. — 28 October 2024 (LINK)

Senior Editor resigns, subscribers cancel as Washington Post non-endorsement for President sprompts crisis on Bezos decision. — 25 October 2024 (LINK)

MSNBC opinion: The rich owners of The Washington Post and L.A. Times just capitulated to Trump. — (LINK)

EU fines LinkedIn $334 million for violating the General Data Protection Regulation — 24 October 2024 (LINK)

— The decision stems from a 2018 complaint by the French non-profit organisation, La Quadrature Du Net, and an initial inquiry examining whether LinkedIn processed the personal data of its users lawfully, fairly and transparently. The matter was originally raised with the French Data Protection Authority and then transferred to the DPC as LinkedIn's European base is Ireland.

— The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) determined it had improperly conducted behavioral analyses of its members' personal data for targeted advertising. This decision argues that LinkedIn violated the GDPR by not obtaining proper consent, demonstrating legitimate interest or showing a contractual necessity to process the data it and third-parties collected.

Polish radio station replaces journalists with AI 'presenters' to attract younger listeners. — 23 October 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 23 media reports (LINK)

— Boss insisted that no journalists were fired because of AI but because its listenership "was close to zero".

X Suspends journalist Ken Klippenstein over publication of private "Iranian-hacked" JD Vance Dossier — 26 September 2024 (LINK)

A Hong Kong court convicts 2 journalists in a landmark sedition case — 29 August 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 93 media reports (LINK)

— Stand News former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were arrested in December 2021. They pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications. Their trial was Hong Kong's first involving media since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Stand News was one of the city's last media outlets that openly criticized the government amid a crackdown on dissent that followed massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Ex-politician found guilty of 2022 murder in Vegas reporter's stabbing death sentenced to life in prison — 28 August 2024 (LINK)

— Robert Telles, a 47-year-old former Clark County public administrator, was convicted in the September 2022 death of Jeff German, a longtime Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter in a trial that highlighted concerns around press safety. The jury found the murder was "willful, deliberate and premeditated" and it was carried out by "lying in wait." Telles wore a disguise — including a large sun hat — and hid outside the reporter's home before fatally stabbing him, prosecutors said.

— Jeff German,69, had written about allegations of wrongdoing in the Clark County Public Administrator's office, reporting that Robert Telles, 47, created a hostile work environment and carried on an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. In part because of those articles, Telles lost his bid for reelection in a Democratic primary in June 2022.

— The prosecutionused video and physical evidence to tie Telles to the suspect's disguise, a maroon vehicle at the scene and DNA from under German's fingernails.

— In contrast, the defense said Telles had been framed for the death because he was trying to make changes in his political office that upset the "Old Guard." Telles testified in his own defence during the trial and denied wrongdoing, offering up a conspiracy that a real estate company had hired an assassin to kill the reporter and then frame him. "I want to say, unequivocally, I am innocent. I didn't kill Mr. German," Telles testified.

— There have been 14 journalists killed in the US since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Nieman Lab: Readers prefer to click on a clear, simple headline — like this one — 26 August 2024 (LINK)

Nepal lifts its ban on TikTok imposed last November for disrupting social harmony — 22 August 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 27 media reports (LINK)

Axios laying off more than 4 dozen staffers: 10% of workforce: "necessary to adapt to change in the media business" — 6 August 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: media reports (LINK)

— In 2022, it was sold to Cox Enterprises for $525 million. Axios plans to increase its focus on U.S. news coverage and expand its city-specific newsletters to new locations, the New York Times reported. The company will also build out its paid subscription product, Axios Pro, aimed at business professionals, the Times reported.

Bloomberg News dismisses reporter, disciplines other staffers after breaking embargo on US-Russia prisoner swap — 5 August 2024 (LINK)

Journalists covering Nigeria protests dodge bullets as police arrest nearly 700 people — 3 August 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 11 media reports (LINK)

Three freed Americans back on US soil after historic prisoner swap with Russia: biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War — 1 August 2024 (LINK)

— Their release was orchestrated as part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the US and other Western nations involving 24 detainees in total. Sixteen people were released from Russian custody on Thursday, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Moscow in return got former high-ranking FSB colonel Vadim Krasikov, as well as several individuals accused of spying or cybercrime.

— In a statement earlier, President Biden hailed the agreement as a "feat of diplomacy," in collaboration with US allies, including Germany, Poland, Norway, Turkey and Slovenia.

Who was freed in major prisoner swap between Russia and the West? — (LINK)

Israel's IDF confirms killing Al Jazeera journalist, says he was Hamas operative. The broadcaster denies it — 1 August 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 14 media reports (LINK)

Morocco releases 3 imprisoned journalists after pardons from King Mohamed VI: part of 2,278 pardoned individuals — 29 July 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 54 media reports (LINK)

Alsu Kurmasheva is another American Journalist Detained in Russia: Why has her case not received the attention as it deserves? — 22 July 2024 (LINK)

— She was sentenced to six years in a Russian jail on the spurious charge of "spreading false information about the Russian military."

— Alsu Kurmasheva is a Russian-born naturalized American citizen who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She mostly covers cultural stories for the Tatar language service of RFE/RL. Last year, she traveled to Russia to visit her elderly mother. On her way home, she was detained at the airport and had her passport confiscated. She was later sent to prison, denied consular access, and held more or less incommunicado.

— It bears resemblance to the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Unlike Gershkovich, the United States government does not (yet) consider Alsu Kurmasheva to be "wrongfully detained." This designation is significant. In 2020, Congress passed the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act which empowered a special office in the White House devoted exclusively to securing the release of Americans held hostage by foreign governments. The thing is, before this White House office can take up a case the State Department must first determine that someone is indeed "wrongfully detained" under the criteria set forth in the law. Alsu's case certainly fits all the criteria, but the State Department has not yet made this determination. Thus, her case has not been referred to the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger D. Carstens.

Russia sentences US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in maximum security prison — 19 July 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 11 media reports (LINK)

— Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. Gershkovich was the first U.S. journalist taken into custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986, at the height of the Cold War.

Catchup: America's most trustworthy news organizations in 2024 — 17 July 2024 (LINK)

— local tv (62%), local newspapers (58%), abc, BBC, CBS (52%), New York Times (50%), MSNBC, Wall Street Journal (49%), CNN (48%), NPR, USA Today (47%), Washington Post (46%), Fox News (43%), yahoo news (40%), Huffpost (39%)

— Among this sample of companies, HuffPost is the least trusted news brand. The company is owned by Buzzfeed Inc. Fox News is the most polarizing brand listed, with an equal 43% share for "trust" and "don't trust"

Over 60 media and civil society organizations are urging Israeli authorities to allow independent access to the besieged Gaza Strip, in open letter organized by the Committee to Protect Journalists — 11 July 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 7 media reports — (LINK)

MakeUseOf: 'I Tried These 7 News Aggregators, and This Is My Favorite: Ground News' — 10 July 2024 (LINK)

— But see Global Geneva: How AI dumbifies journalism: Ground.news, in addition to using AI to summarize its stories, seemed to be using the same formula that offered a repetition of the same elements from various publications, with little search for variations. So, at the beginning of July 2024, I stopped putting its links and just featured the most interesting piece I found.

Heather Cox Richardson: Media and the U.S. elections: once more — substack — 9 July 2024 (LINK)

Heather Cox Richardson: Biden vs Trump in the media: of 92 NYTimes pieces coving Trump, none mentioned Trump's mental fitness. — substack — 5 July 2024 (LINK)

Panama court acquits 28 implicated in Panama Papers and Operation Car Wash scandals — CNN — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— A court statement said that evidence collected in the case did not meet due process, casting doubt over its 'authenticity and integrity'. Judge Baloísa Marquínez ordered the lifting all the precautionary measures made against the defendants, who have not been named. She said one of the group had died during the process. The documents allegedly revealed a clandestine network involving associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and business ties between a member of FIFA's ethics committee and men whom the United States had indicted for corruption.

— Operation Car Wash was a money laundering investigation into Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company.Those acquitted from the Operation Car Wash case were discharged because the income of money from illicit sources could not be demonstrated, the statement said.

News non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting sues OpenAI and Microsoft for using its content without permission, alleging copyright violations and exploitation of journalism — Al Jazeera /agencies — 27 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 57 media reports — (LINK)

Scientists find that a tiny proportion of people spread almost all the fake news, and they turn out to be exactly who you’d expect: "They are literally sitting at their computer pressing retweet" — futurism.com — 4 June 2024 (LINK)

How the UN got away with wildly inflating the casualty numbers in Gaza — and the media bought it — newsweek — 3 June 2024 (LINK)

How JournalismAI has shaped the state of AI in news since 2019: 2023-4 impact report — journalismai.info — 28 May 2024 (LINK)

Former Swiss TV presenter Susanne Wille, 50, Head of Culture, becomes the new SRG Director General — ground.news: 6 media reports — 25 May 2024 (LINK)

Media Matters layoffs follow 'thermonuclear' attack by Elon Musk — see_link — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S. — AP — 6 May 2024 (LINK)

— The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that "pierced the thick wall of secrecy" around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel.

— The Post's David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a "compelling and well-researched" series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.

Student journalists praised for coverage on campus Gaza war protests — axios — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

What's really happening on U.S. college campuses, according to student journalists: pver 50 schools. Nearly 2,000 arrests. One canceled graduation ceremony — so far: the most widespread campus unrest since the 1960s — politico — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

— "The protests mostly consist of chanting, praying and singing. There have been instances of counterprotests from those in support of Israel, including at Thursday evening's demonstration. The only time I have seen conflict arise firsthand is when police officers have gotten involved by yelling out warnings and initiating arrests."

— "The NYPD came on campus to clear the encampment. In speaking to some people who were actually arrested, they said there was excessive use of force. I heard people were being just grabbed and thrown on the ground. Outside of the encampment on the public street, which hadn't been fenced in, people were being thrown away from the protests and arrested, and it wasn't really clear what they were being arrested for."

— "Folks were sprayed with pepper spray, there was pushing, shoving between police and demonstrators. And through it all, there were also pretty significant numbers of counterprotesters."

— "UCLA's campus was met with extreme violence. After counterprotesters attempted to seize the encampment in our main plaza, there were a lot of injuries. One of our reporters was also injured and classes were canceled on Wednesday."

Two Russian journalists jailed on 'extremism' charges for alleged work for Navalny group — AP — 28 April 2024 (LINK)

Uri Berliner, a National Public Radio senior editor who wrote a scathing online essay accusing the public radio network of harboring a liberal bias, said Wednesday he had resigned — CNN — 17 April 2024 (LINK)

US 'considering' dropping Julian Assange prosecution, Joe Biden says — ground.news main source: AP, 112 media reports — 10 April 2024 (LINK)

20 links about journalism and AI from POLIS LSE — lse.ac.uk — 10 April 2024 (LINK)

Julian Assange wins temporary reprieve from extradition until 20 May as U.K. court asks U.S. for assurances — ground.news: 107 media reports — 26 March 2024 (LINK)

US investigating Meta for role in illicit drug sales: NY Post Report — theblaze.com — 16 March 2024 (LINK)
— ground.news: 40 media reports — (LINK)

A prominent psychologist advising Meta on suicide prevention and self-harm has stepped down from her position after accusing the tech giant of disregarding expert advice and neglecting the removal of harmful content from Instagram. — wionews — (LINK)

Top editors and media execs discuss how magazines could thrive in the digital age — see_link — 8 March 2024 (LINK)

• "We've had to be humble to figure out new ways to tell stories and to find readers and audiences."
• "Brand strength and building trust with consumers is a large part of what has kept publications and audiences strong."
• It's still important for magazines to use social platforms as a "modern day newsstand," but just as a "funnel" to engage people in magazine brands.

Majority of top UK news websites are blocking AI crawlers: but more than four in ten allow all AI web crawlers to scrape their content without any hindrance and not Politico or Daily Beast — cryptopolitan — 28 February 2024 (LINK)

— Mirror, Express, Manchester Evening News, Ladbible, Unilad, and publications under the Lebedev-owned Independent and Evening Standard umbrella allow unrestricted access to AI crawlers. Similarly, Politico, Axel Springer's subsidiary, permits access to AI crawlers due to a content-sharing agreement with OpenAI. In a surprising move, the Daily Beast, owned by IAC, refrains from blocking any AI bots despite the company's chairman advocating for compensation to publishers by AI companies.

Conversely, some politically conservative websites, including GB News, Newsmax, Zero Hedge, Breitbart, and Fox News, choose not to block AI crawlers, diverging from other publications under the Murdoch-owned umbrella.

Vice Media to close flagship site, slash hundreds of staff: Vice filed for bankruptcy in May before being sold to New York-based Fortress Investment Group for $350m — Al Jazeera — 23 February 2024 (LINK)

WikiLeaks founder Assange may be near the end of his long fight to stay out of the US — ground.news main source: AP, 22 media reports — 19 February 2024 (LINK)

Media ignores big news at Biden press conference: Biden yesterday issued an important memorandum that lays out the standards countries that receive U.S. weapons must adhere to and, for the first time, requires the administration to submit an annual report to Congress about whether countries are meeting the requirements — crooksandliars.com — 8 February 2024 (LINK)

Chinese firm behind 'news' websites pushes pro-Beijing content globally, researchers find — ground.news: 15 media reports — 7 February 2024 (LINK)

CNN staff say network's pro-Israel slant amounts to 'journalistic malpractice': Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives — The Guardian UK ● — 4 February 2024 (LINK)

UN urges Philippines to curb killings of journalists — dw — 2 February 2024 (LINK)

CNN Philippines to close due to financial losses — ground.news: 11 media reports — 29 January 2024 (LINK)

TIME Magazine lays off 15% of unionized editorial staff, becoming latest news outlet to slash workforce: Among those laid off Tuesday was a majority of the staff at TIME for Kids, a news publication for school-age children, the union said — CNN — 23 January 2024 (LINK)

U.S. News Literacy Week 2024: 22-24 January 2024, National Press Club, Washington D.C.: livestream — newslit.org — 20 January 2024 (LINK)

• How to solve the local news crisis? (LINK)

— To the Baltimore Sun "came all manner of misfortune — a series of bad owners, the stunning downturn in newspaper economics and — just this week — the paper's purchase by David D Smith, who runs Sinclair Inc, a Maryland-based media company that made itself infamous a few years ago when it ordered its local journalists in dozens of markets to repeat, word for word, the same rightwing 'editorial' about fake news. The identical segments had a hostage-video vibe."

• News Literacy Project's Peter Adams and Hannah Covington share tips on what TV newsrooms can do every day to help better equip their viewers with critical skills while building trust. (LINK)
• John Silva: In 2024 let's not repeat the same news literacy mistakes (LINK)

Sports Illustrated lays off most of its staff, threatening iconic brand's future — ground.news: 6 media reports — 19 January 2024 (LINK)

Billionaires Wanted to Save the News Industry. They're Losing a Fortune: Time magazine, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times — owned by Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong — are still losing money. — nytimes — 18 January 2024 (LINK)

Young people are giving up on BBC News. A new podcast is helping try to get them back: "It's quite lazy to say that young people don't care about news." — niemanlab — 17 January 2024 (LINK) Ugh!

— The proportion of 18-to 24-year-olds in the U.K. who access online news directly through a news website or app is 24%, down from 52% in 2018. (The same statistic for over-35s has stayed about the same, at just over 50%.) More than three quarters of 18-to 24-year-olds who watch news-related videos find them on social media. Turning to the BBC specifically, only 36% of 18-to 24-year-olds said the corporation was "important to me" in 2023, compared with 51% of over-55s. (2023 was the first year RISJ started collecting BBC-specific data.)

ABC staff shelve plans for immediate industrial action over sacking of journalist Antoinette Lattouf allegedly over reposting Human Rights Watch report criticizing Israel in December about the Israel-Gaza war: about 200 union members across Australia call for managing director David Anderson to cut short his leave and address concerns — The Guardian UK ● — 16 January 2024 (LINK)

An Al Jazeera journalist is fifth member of his family killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza — ground.news: 180 media reports — 7 January 2024 (LINK)

How AI will reshape journalism's narrative in 2024 — poynter — 5 January 2024 (LINK)

— "Newsrooms that commit to AI-driven storytelling as a way to cut costs while increasing output will be lost in a sea of similarly bland content and spammy marketing."

2023 media headlines