July 7, 2023
Industry news
How to report better on artificial intelligence
Sayash Kapoor, Hilke Schellmann and Ari Sen | CJR

In the past few months we have been deluged with headlines about new AI tools and how much they are going to change society.

Some reporters have done amazing work holding the companies developing AI accountable, but many struggle to report on this new technology in a fair and accurate way.

We — an investigative reporter, a data journalist, and a computer scientist — have firsthand experience investigating AI. We’ve seen the tremendous potential these tools can have — but also their tremendous risks.

As their adoption grows, we believe that, soon enough, many reporters will encounter AI tools on their beat, so we wanted to put together a short guide to what we have learned.
Industry people
Former Lufkin Daily News editor/publisher Joe Murray dies at 82
In a storied career that would eventually lead him to travel the globe, Joe Murray was awarded journalism’s highest honor — and earned The Lufkin Daily News national acclaim — for a series of stories reported without ever setting foot outside his hometown.

The iconic journalist died at his home Sunday, June 25, at the age of 82. Services were held July 5 at First Baptist Church.

While editor of the paper, he and then-cub reporter Ken Herman won the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1977 for a series of articles leading to reforms in military training and recruiting practices.
Laney Griffo steps into new role as editor for Tahoe Daily Tribune, Sierra Sun
With the recent opening for managing editor for the Tahoe Daily Tribune and Sierra Sun, the Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, California) hired Laney Griffo to become the new editor for both publications.
The Sumter Item announces newsroom appointments
Change is inevitable. The staff of any local newspaper knows that much.

As The Sumter Item continues to evolve, it will soon do so minus one familiar face but with the addition and promotion of two more.
South Carolina J-school names new director
Orangeburg native Damion Waymer has been selected as the next director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of South Carolina’s College of Information and Communications.
What we're reading ...
Opinion | Threads is live. Now what happens?

Let the battle begin.

Twitter now has some competition. Well, maybe it does. Threads — the social media app that could end up being competition for the Elon Musk-owned (and some say Musk-ruined) Twitter — is now live. The Meta-owned, Instagram-companion social network is off to a flying start, with more than 30 million users in the first 16 hours after it went live.

In a post on Threads, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote, “This is as good of a start as we could have hoped for!” He later added, “Feels like the beginning of something special.”



Bellingham news venture pivots, aims for profitability

Two years into its bold experiment in local news, Bellingham’s Cascadia Daily News is giving itself a makeover.

The for-profit newspaper launched online in January 2022 and began printing weekly editions that March.

Now, after building a loyal audience with its ambitious and feisty journalism, it’s overhauling infrastructure, changing its cadence and increasing its focus on becoming profitable.
Dow Jones asks U.N. rights official to press Russia for Evan Gershkovich’s release
Lawyers representing the publisher of The Wall Street Journal asked a United Nations human-rights advocate to press Russia to release jailed Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

In a submission timed with the 100th day of Gershkovich's detention, Dow Jones lawyers urged Mariana Katzarova, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, to contact Russian officials and demand the 31-year-old reporter’s immediate release.

“Russia’s arrest of him was a blunt and chilling warning to all those in Russia who would dare to exercise their rights in ways disfavored by the Russian government,” said the lawyers, including Dow Jones general counsel Jason Conti and lawyers for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr in Washington. “Gershkovich’s detention calls for a clear and robust international response.”
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