Newsonomics: Eight essentials as California’s “save local news” bill picks up speed

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, May 6, 2024 [Newsonomics: Eight essentials as California’s “save local news” bill picks up speed]( What’s important to watch, in this gnarly legislation filled with acronyms, are two simple things: Money In and Money Out. By Ken Doctor. [Media coverage of campus protests tends to focus on the spectacle rather than the substance]( “There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation — the old journalism adage of ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ still prevails in many newsroom decisions…But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.” By Danielle K. Brown. [Economic sanctions, donor whims, and legalese: Exiled media outlets face challenges in reporting on their home countries]( What We’re Reading New York Magazine / The Columbia Daily Spectator [Inside the encampments and crackdowns that shook American politics. A report by the staff of the Columbia Daily Spectator. →]( “Our reporters, writers, editors, and photographers polled more than 700 Columbians to better understand what happened, took more than 100 portraits of members of the community, and compiled this oral history of the two weeks that forever changed our university.” AP News / Tia Goldenberg and Jon Gambrell [Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment →]( “The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.” TechCrunch / Ivan Mehta [Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo on its Q&A chatbot Poe and why OpenAI isn’t a competitor →]( “Despite stating the importance of human answers, Quora is already experimenting with answers written by Poe. The site surfaces the AI-written answer to some questions with a link that lets you chat with Poe if you have further questions … D’Angelo said that Quora had already deployed systems to rate different human answers. Now, it is applying techniques like asking users through a survey if an AI-generated answer is useful.” The Wall Street Journal / Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti [ABC News President Kim Godwin is stepping down and retiring from broadcast journalism →]( “ABC News President Kim Godwin stepped down Sunday night, months after a corporate restructuring that effectively stripped away much of her management autonomy. … The first Black person to run a major broadcast network news division, Godwin was scrutinized in ways other executives weren’t, her defenders say.” Semafor / Ben Smith [New York Times executive editor, Joe Kahn: “The newsroom is not a safe space” →]( “It’s our job to cover the full range of issues that people have. At the moment, democracy is one of them. But it’s not the top one — immigration happens to be the top [of polls], and the economy and inflation is the second. Should we stop covering those things because they’re favorable to Trump and minimize them?” Los Angeles Times / Wendy Lee [A new music video was created with OpenAI’s video generator. Is it a watershed moment for Sora? →]( “Trillo is one of the creatives who has early access to Sora, which is not yet publicly available. OpenAI unveiled Sora in February and has been testing the system with directors and meeting with Hollywood executives and producers. It’s working out kinks and trying to address intellectual property concerns.” The Hollywood Reporter / Katie Kilkenny [Met Gala strike averted: Condé Nast union agree to tentative deal on first contract →]( “The Condé Union was planning a 48-hour strike that would have started Monday and would have included a red carpet-themed protest outside of Vogue‘s flagship Met Gala event Monday night. Negotiators only just barely avoided that possibility with proposals that were swapped Sunday night.” Rolling Stone / Andrew Perez [Politico misses mark on story about funding for pro-Palestine protests →]( “For one, the story attempts to trace relatively small donations through a massive black box, a group that acts as a pass-through entity, into specific recipients’ coffers — something that dark money reporters generally know to avoid. Making matters worse, the foundations named in the story all disclose online where the donations ultimately ended up. In other words, there’s no reason to guess.” The Washington Post / Taylor Lorenz [Twitch streamers are a go-to news source for campus protest coverage →]( “These streamers make up an alternative media network, not unlike cable news, with round-the-clock coverage of major protest developments, negotiations between students and administrators, and police crackdowns. Their streams provide an unfiltered account of the protests and have become a go-to source for thousands of young people who have lost faith in traditional news.” The Media Mix / Claire Atkinson [Le Monde in English is two years old. Editor-in-chief Elvire Camus on what Americans are reading. →]( “We’ve also found that France is appealing to our readers: French politics, French strikes, French protests are things that people are very curious about.” Nieman Foundation / Javier Lafuente [Peruvian investigative journalist Gustavo Gorriti, a 1986 Nieman Fellow, is under legal threat →]( “A decade ago, [Gustavo Gorriti, a 1986 Nieman Fellow and founder of [IDL-Reporteros]( led IDL-Reporteros’ investigation of the Lava Jato case, considered the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history — and probably in Latin America…Now, the Prosecutor’s Office is [investigating Gorriti]( Sign a letter of support for Gorriti and press freedom [here](. 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