AI in the news

Though AI cannot replace the close connections local journalists build through in-person relationships, it can help synthesise information from local government, courts and public institutions and help hard pressed local news sources survive on lower budgets as advertising revenue – and therefore journalist jobs – continue to dwindle.

All the slop that’s fit to print

An ever greater percentage of the news that people consume is generated by AI, rather than people.

Local news for local people

The provision of local news is critical to healthy and engaged regional communities, but a collapse in advertising revenues in the age of the internet and social media has seen long-standing newspapers disappear or gut their staff and coverage.

Compassion fatigue

There’s so much bad news that people are avoiding news sites, programmes and newspapers, as there’s a limit to how much war, violence, famine and hatred they can take, so appealing to people’s sense of compassion may hold the key to keeping them informed and even taking action to fix our troubled world.

International round-up

Trump’s defeat may have dominated the headlines over the last seven days, but several other stories – including China’s attempts to bully Australia through import restrictions and a series of brutal Islamic terror attacks in Europe – are worthy of careful review.

Journalism is in crisis but public funding could help

The recent ACCC report argues that journalism is a public good in crisis, and so there is ample justification for government action.

There’s no saving traditional news

Understanding the forces that drive the online economy is crucial for Australia’s policy makers and citizens.  Economic reality means that while we can put a leash on Google and Facebook, there’s no saving the traditional news model.

Fake news and weaponised media

Media shams and shonky shamans are nothing new; going digital merely speeds the effect and widens their reach.