Top News:
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
A look at the LA Times' AI “Insights”: much of the sourcing cited for counterpoints wouldn't pass scrutiny in a newsroom, and political labels can be confusing — The hope: The L.A. Times will appear more “objective” if it presents both sides of an issue, even if one side's written …
Discussion:
Futurism, The Guardian, @theredterra.bsky.social, @maxwelltani, The Wrap, @joshuafoust.com, @katebevan.com, @dfeds.bsky.social, @jacobclifton.com, @racebannon.bsky.social, SFGATE, @mrreeezinable.bsky.social, @dabeard.bsky.social, @marissarothkopf.bsky.social, @michaelhobbes.bsky.social, @cmonstah.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @laurahazardowen.bsky.social, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:
The Los Angeles Times removes its AI-powered “Insights” feature from a column after the tool tried to defend the Ku Klux Klan, just a day after its debut — An AI-generated summary tried to offer “different views” on the hate group.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Patch CEO Warren St. John says its AI-curated newsletters, with 400K subscribers, have grown Patch's reach from 1.1K to 30K US communities in just a few months — - Of Patch's 3 million newsletter subscribers nationally, 400,000 subscribe to its new AI newsletter products, per St. John.
Discussion:
Mike Carraggi on LinkedIn
Emma Roth / The Verge:
YouTube will tighten gambling content rules, including prohibiting creators from verbally referring to gambling services not approved by Google, from March 19 — It may also restrict online gambling content for users under 18. … YouTube is tightening its policies on gambling content.
Discussion:
Barrett Media and CNN, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Svetkey / The Hollywood Reporter:
Streaming has been a major setback for classic movies, largely due to platforms that ignore or bury old films; the oldest film on Netflix is from 1973 — The oldest title available on Netflix last month was 1973's ‘The Sting.’ Where does that leave the next generation of film lovers?
Discussion:
Screen Rant
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: Kari Lake, special adviser to the US Agency for Global Media, says Victor Morales, who started working at USAGM in 2016, has been named acting USAGM CEO — - Sources inside the VOA worry the new Trump administration will try to turn the broadcaster into a vehicle for its agenda.
Discussion:
@davidfolkenflik, Arizona Republic, New Republic and New York Post
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A US district court judge stops discovery requests against the NYT in Justin Baldoni's defamation lawsuit and signals the NYT might get dismissed from the case — A judge on Tuesday signaled he may dismiss the New York Times (NYT.N) as a defendant in a $400 million defamation lawsuit …
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney to cut nearly 6% staff, or ~200 jobs, across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks; ABC is also eliminating 538, which had ~15 employees — The layoffs are being announced to employees as early as Wednesday — About 200 employees are being let go at Disney's ABC News Group …
Discussion:
Reuters, Bloomberg, @oliverdarcy@threads.net and @walthickey
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Memo: WSJ Editor Emma Tucker announces the layoffs of some reporters and editors, and the creation of new jobs, amid a consolidation of tech and media coverage — Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Tuesday:
Discussion:
@katie_robertson, @jessicalessin and @annkspencer.bsky.social
Bloomberg:
Filing: AP renews its request for a judge to order the White House to resume access for AP reporters at Trump's events and says a ban harms AP financially — The Associated Press renewed its request for a judge to order the White House to allow the wire service's reporters to resume covering President Donald Trump's events.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Deadline and TVNewsCheck
Kerry Flynn / Axios:
Firsthand, whose tools let marketers and publishers engage consumers through AI agents on their own sites or other sites as paid media, raised a $26M Series A — - The New York-based startup previously raised $6.6 million in seed funding, led by Radical Ventures.
Discussion:
Kerry Flynn on LinkedIn
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
David Zaslav says WBD is both looking at how much content it's producing and bringing HBO content to TNT and TBS that it doesn't plan on licensing to rivals — The chief executive also said the media giant is changing how it programs its cable channels, including looking at bringing HBO content to TNT and TBS
Discussion:
@jbflint, Media Play News, @jbflint, @jbflint and @jbflint
