Andrea Hickerson

Wired and 404 Media make FOIA reporting free. Other news outlets should too We spoke to Katie Drummond of Wired, Joseph Cox of 404 Media, and Lauren Harper of Freedom of the Press Foundation about the case for unpaywalling public records-based reporting

When @wired.com made FOIA-based stories free, subscriptions went up.

When @404media.co published public records reporting without a paywall, new sources came forward.

We spoke to both about why dropping paywalls like this is good for journalism — and for business.

More testing of LLMs for journalism, this time on identifying image location, date, and source.
By @aisvarya17.bsky.social and @klaudia.bsky.social with some of my own commentary.
www.cjr.org/tow_center/w... @columjournreview.bsky.social

Jordan Center Statement on Bluesky Cutting Off Mississippi An important social media platform is blocking access in the state of Mississippi following enactment of a new state law mandating age-verification for users.

Jordan Center Statement on Bluesky Cutting Off Mississippi newsguy.substack.com/p/jordan-cen...

Still working for me right now.

Where Congress’s Cuts Threaten Access to PBS and NPR The loss of federal funding threatens scores of public TV and radio stations across the United States.

New: I teamed up with @elenashao.bsky.social
and nytgraphics to map more than 100 public TV and radio stations that are at risk of closing as a result of tonight's vote:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is a time bomb that will go off in the fall, when the last federal grants run out.

Welcome Steve Herman to the Univ. of Mississippi!
"We're talking about issues of constitutional matters and democracy," he said. "That requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.
olemiss.edu/news/2025/5/...

Hotty Toddy!

A journalism bright spot: We are hosting over 500 student journalists from the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association on campus today.

OpenAI’s Sora Is Plagued by Sexist, Racist, and Ableist Biases WIRED tested the popular AI video generator from OpenAI and found that it amplifies sexist stereotypes and ableist tropes, perpetuating the same biases already present in AI image tools.

WIRED tested the popular AI video generator from OpenAI and found that it amplifies sexist stereotypes and ableist tropes, perpetuating the same biases already present in AI image tools.

We 💙 links!

Starting this week, we've made it even easier for newsrooms and more to track how much traffic Bluesky is sending to their sites.

For those setting up analytics, Bluesky's referrer is go.bsky.app.

Researchers Propose a Better Way to Report Dangerous AI Flaws After identifying major flaws in popular AI models, researchers are pushing for a new system to identify and report bugs.

After identifying major flaws in popular AI models, researchers are pushing for a new system to identify and report bugs.

A study of eight AI search engines found they provided incorrect citations of news articles in 60%+ of queries; Grok 3 answered 94% of the queries incorrectly (Columbia Journalism Review)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Whew! We have a full draft of our deepfakes and journalism handbook!

Individuals without a graduate degree can apply through this link: lnkd.in/gQSbgB_Z

Individuals with a graduate degree that would like a faculty appointment can apply through this link: lnkd.in/gEU9tj6t

For full consideration, please apply by March 17.

Want to advocate for journalism? The newly established Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi seeks a dynamic and visionary leader to champion the future of journalism in society and oversee the Center’s initiatives. olemiss.edu/departments/...

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.

📖 AI-generated newsletters are flooding small-town America, raising questions about misinformation, transparency, and local journalism.

Check out Rodney Gibbs' (@rodneygibbs.com) (Executive ‘23, AI Journalism Lab ‘24) insights + more in @niemanlab.org.

Read more ↓
www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/insi...

Thank you. Now a paid subscriber. Appreciate the work.

AI Companies Threaten Independent Social Media Research | TechPolicy.Press UMass Amherst researchers argue that researcher access to social media data should be one of the rare things all political factions in the US can agree on.

Researchers Ryan McGrady, Ethan Zuckerman, and Kevin Zheng argue that if we want responsible policy about social media, it begins with making it possible for American researchers to answer fundamental questions about how social media is shaping our public discourse.

game theory, maybe?

Good thing I hadn’t finished my chapter on deepfakes and fact-checking…

Re-reading Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” before the holidays really has me rethinking the photos I’m taking.

2 Kurdish journalists killed in suspected Turkish drone attack in northern Syria - Committee to Protect Journalists Sulaymaniyah, December 20, 2024 —The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the killing of journalists Jihan Belkin and Nazim Dashdan in northern Syria in a suspected Turkish drone attack on t...

2 Kurdish journalists killed in suspected Turkish drone attack in northern Syria cpj.org?p=440906 via @CPJMENA

Revealed: bias found in AI system used to detect UK benefits fraud Exclusive: Age, disability, marital status and nationality influence decisions to investigate claims, prompting fears of ‘hurt first, fix later’ approach

Another AI used to deny people public benefits: An AI system used by the UK government to "detect welfare fraud" is showing bias according to people’s age, disability, marital status and nationality. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

YouTube video by Red TV Ja hopped on a sales call with a fan for season tickets 🤣 #NBA #Funny #jamorant #basketball

Still giddy about my call with Ja Morant. My friend found a recording of his side of the call: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7q4...

Here I am, grinding through a Friday and JA MORANT called me! That is a serious follow-up call about a basic ticket package. Go Grizzlies! (And of course I was dumbstruck and said almost nothing...)

Excited to share some early data from this project with the Institute for Data Science and the National Center for Population Studies at UM’s GIS day!

Ole Miss bringing the hype video genre to research! Super fun to play a small part. (My son is mortified 😂) vimeo.com/879962684

Gripping program on Uvalde at Ole Miss tonight. Harrowing to hear the details again.

Visited the Tupelo Kiwanas club today and they had fantastic questions and examples involving AI! A judge found a lawyer with false citations and fined the lawyer $10k. Another man said his wife was a ghostwriter for a blind man. The man tried AI to help him write and went back to the writer.

‘A.I. Obama’ and Fake Newscasters: How A.I. Audio Is Swarming TikTok TikTok accounts are spreading falsehoods with the help from A.I.-generated voices.

TikTok accounts are using AI-generated voices to spread false information. Here's how audio fakes have rapidly become a new weapon on the online misinformation battlefield, threatening to turbocharge political disinformation ahead of the 2024 election.