Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 5d

Deepfakes of broadcast journalists are spreading across social media. Many of them are ads selling cryptocurrencies, gambling apps, and snake oil medicines.

Meanwhile, social media companies like Meta profit off the ad dollars. My latest @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/scam...

Scammers are using video deepfakes of journalists to peddle products online

Broadcast journalists around the world are being targeted amid an explosion in deepfake scams. Are social media platforms doing enough to counter them?

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 @zeyiyang.bsky.social · 7d

In college, I'd always walk past an unremarkable store in Beijing that sold a variety of trendy, but tacky, toys. That store has turned into Pop Mart, the $45-billion Chinese toy empire behind Labubu, the biggest global fad of 2025.

This is my big story/pilgrimage trip to explain how they got here

A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu

I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Vittoria Elliott @telliotter.bsky.social · 11d

NEW from me for @wired.com's politics issue: I have spent SO much time fascinated by the "network state"--privatized cities in special economic zones (SEZs) where the normal rules and regulations don't apply.

www.wired.com/story/tech-b...

Tech Billionaires Already Captured the White House. They Still Want to Be Kings

From Montenegro to Northern California, the tech elite dream of building cities where they make the rules. Is this, finally, their moment?

www.wired.com

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 12d

"I’ve had people tell me they're afraid to go on the air, and after 40 years on the air, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that."

A new report from @newsisout.bsky.social asks how local LGBTQ+ news outlets are weathering the second Trump administration. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/loca...

Local LGBTQ+ publications are facing a drop in ad dollars and a rise in safety concerns, new report finds

A new report from News is Out, a national collaborative of queer news publishers, has mapped local LGBTQ+ publications across the U.S. The first comprehensive report of its kind, “The LGBTQ+ Media Map...

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 15d

Great to chat with NYU’s Ethics & Journalism Initiative about my reporting!

We talked about AI "bias detectors,” automated fact-checking, and navigating both the hype and fear cycles on my beat. ethicsandjournalism.org/2025/09/18/n...

Nieman Lab’s Andrew Deck Has Been Tracking AI Use in the Journalism Industry for Years. Here’s What He Says We Need to Know. - Ethics and Journalism

Since the public launch of ChatGPT nearly three years ago, the media industry has cycled through many phases of AI adoption and experimentation.

ethicsandjournalism.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 20d

For @thenation.com: I reviewed @karenhao.bsky.social’s Empire of AI and took a closer look at her argument that OpenAI’s "scaling laws" echo the expansionist ideologies of European empires.
www.thenation.com/article/cult...

The True Threat of OpenAI

Karen Hao’s recent book on the company argues that its ambitions are not merely about scale or the market but the creation of a global force that rivals a colonial power of old.

www.thenation.com

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 21d

Scoop: Business Insider informed its staff this week that they are allowed to use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their stories, while also indicating the newsroom will not disclose such A.I. use to readers.

Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...

Business Insider and the Bots

The Axel Springer-owned newsroom is buzzing over new ChatGPT writing guidelines—part of an aggressive A.I. strategy pushed by its German parentco and detailed in a memo obtained by Status.

www.status.news

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 27d

A third of jobs related to race, diversity, and equality that were created in U.S. newsrooms since 2020 are gone as of this summer.  
@hanaatameez.bsky.social with a months-long investigation and new data on American journalism's turn away from DEI initiatives. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 28d

I'm proud to share a new project that @alexreisner.bsky.social and I launched at @theatlantic.com today! It's called AI Watchdog, and it's our new home for all of the investigations into training data sets, such as LibGen, Books3, and OpenSubtitles. www.theatlantic.com/category/ai-...

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Sep 5

In France, reporters are getting a cut of revenue from AI licensing deals. Among others, Le Monde has agreed to redistribute 25% of its deals with OpenAI and Perplexity.

I took a closer look at these union agreements and asked why they haven't crossed the Atlantic. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/in-f...

Some French publishers are giving AI revenue directly to journalists. Could that ever happen in the U.S.?

Le Monde agreed to give journalists 25% of revenue from licensing deals with OpenAI and Perplexity. Now, other French publishers are following suit.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

klaudia jaźwińska @klaudia.bsky.social · Aug 26

NEW in @columjournreview.bsky.social: Why AI models are bad at fact-checking photos www.cjr.org/tow_center/w...

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Aug 26

A new report from @centerforlocalnews.bsky.social asks what it takes for small local newsrooms to build an AI chatbot.

Researchers helped four newsrooms launch experimental chatbots in under a month. But only one has committed to running theirs beyond the program. www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/loca...

Local newsrooms are building AI chatbots fast and cheap

A new report tracked four small newsrooms as they launched custom chatbots built in just one month.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Jonathan Groves @grovesprof.bsky.social · Aug 13

Quite the line in this excellent @niemanlab.org piece: "These stations are not just media outlets; they are cultural infrastructure." www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/how-...

How tribal radio stations are preparing for a future without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

“These stations are not just media outlets, they are cultural infrastructure.”

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Aug 13

Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper by circulation, has sued Perplexity for copyright infringement.

The filing claims that Perplexity accessed 119,467 articles on Yomiuri’s site between February and June of this year.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/japa...

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations

The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper by circulation, has sued the generative AI startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in Tokyo District Court on August 7, marks t...

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Aug 12

In a July arbitration hearing, Politico's top editors testified that two recent AI experiments don't need to meet journalistic editorial standards.

Union members alleged those experiments violated AI guidelines in their contract. My latest @niemanlab.org.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/poli...

Politico’s recent AI experiments shouldn’t be subject to newsroom editorial standards, its editors testify

In a July arbitration hearing, Politico faced allegations that two generative AI tools violated its union contract.

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Jul 25

A new study by Muck Rack recorded over 1 million citations output by major generative AI models.

Journalistic content was cited in 27% of responses, a number that jumped to 49% when those responses required "a level of recency." www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/gene...

Generative AI models love to cite Reuters and Axios, study finds

Muck Rack found that major models cite journalism in nearly half of responses that require "recency."

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Jul 24

Here's our original story on Good Daily: www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/insi...

And a database I compiled earlier this year, which lists 337 of its local newsletters: www.niemanlab.org/2025/02/the-...

Inside a network of AI-generated newsletters targeting “small town America”

Good Daily, which operates in 47 states and 355 towns and cities across the U.S., is run by one person.

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Jul 24

In January, I uncovered a network of AI-generated newsletters, called Good Daily, that was targeting hundreds of small towns and cities across the U.S.

This week, the newsletter company 6AM City announced it had bought Good Daily and brought its founder on board. www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/good...

6AM City acquires Good Daily’s network of more than 350 AI-generated local newsletters

6AM City will continue to operate its "core" newsletters with human editors, but will treat Good Daily’s AI-generated newsletters as "seed markets."

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Sophie Culpepper @speppered.bsky.social · Jul 18

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

What went wrong at the Houston Landing?

“We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Jul 17

Today, Dow Jones launched a French version of its newswire using custom-built machine translation.

It's part of a larger push to bring "real-time," AI-powered translations to the newswire, including services in Korean and Japanese. My latest for @niemanlab.org.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/a-pr...

A pressure test for AI: Dow Jones makes a translation push for real-time financial news

Dow Jones Newswires launches an AI-powered French language service, following the rollout of Korean and Japanese last year.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Corey Hutchins @coreyhutchins.bsky.social · Jul 10

A New report maps a “severe” shortage of local journalists in the U.S.: www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/new-... I looked at the details for @niemanlab.org The report "finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist."

New report maps a “severe” shortage of local journalists in the U.S.

The report from Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist.

www.niemanlab.org

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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · Jul 2

Law360 is requiring all stories pass through an AI "bias indicator" before publication.

The new policy came weeks after an executive from its parent company, LexisNexis, accused the newsroom of liberal bias in its Trump admin coverage. My latest for @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/law3...

Law360 mandates reporters use AI “bias” detection on all stories

The policy was announced after an executive accused the newsroom of bias in its Trump administration coverage.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · Jul 1

A new policy at Law360, the legal news service owned by LexisNexis, requires that every story pass through an AI-powered “bias” detection tool before publication.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/law3...

Law360 mandates reporters use AI “bias” detection on all stories

The policy was announced after an executive accused the newsroom of bias in its Trump administration coverage.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · Jul 1

On Tuesday, Cloudflare became the first major internet infrastructure company to block AI scraping by default.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/clou...

Cloudflare will block AI scraping by default and launches new “Pay Per Crawl” marketplace

Today, Cloudflare became the first major internet infrastructure company to block AI scraping by default. Every new domain registered with Cloudflare will be asked upfront if they want AI crawlers to ...

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Andrew Deck

Ann Marie Lipinski @amlwhere.bsky.social · Jun 26

A woman who grew up in the US & China knew firsthand that journalism and narratives helped “readers in both cultures to better understand one another.” She now honors her mother and great grandfather with a fellowship for journalists from China,Taiwan and Hong Kong nieman.harvard.edu/liang-zhou-n...

Liang-Zhou Nieman Fellowship established at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism - Nieman Foundation

A gift from the Endeavor Foundation will support journalists who work in or are from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

nieman.harvard.edu

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