#media-ethics

#media-ethics

In an announcement, Elon Musk's AI company xAI unveiled a new tool called "Halftime" which "dynamically weaves AI-generated ads into the scenes you're watching." Instead of cutting to an ad break, Halftime manipulates the characters onscreen into deviating from the script and prominently brandishing a product of a marketer's choice. The tool is meant to make ad "breaks feel like part of the story instead of interruptions," the company said.

Future chronicles of the utter debasement of American political journalism will have to devote an entire chapter to the blowjob. The oral sex act was central to the 1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal, and figured prominently in President Bill Clinton's deposition advancing the argument that it didn't actually fall under the rubric of active "sexual relations." An avalanche of forensic scrutiny in the press ensued.

Nick's feature about the strange, sad case of "Victoria Goldiee"-a phantom writer whose spree of bylines, in publications ranging from the Guardian to Architectural Digest, have all the watermarks of chatbot prose-is the must-read piece of this closing year. With 2025 bringing flirty AI companions and lawsuits against AI giants and a looming AI bubble, his tale about the ease with which synthetic voices can now pass for human hits with the force of a horror story.

We will sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably sometime next week. I think I have to do it. They have even admitted that they cheated," Trump told reporters on board Air Force One late on Friday.

Eh, millions of people that follow you. What does that mean? I mean, do they go out and Sieg Heil? I mean, come on. I got two kids in their 20s. They don't have anything to do with this guy. They know who he is. I just don't see it as a social problem. Now, maybe it will develop into one, but I doubt it. The problem is exploiting a guy like Fuentes. Now there you get into, Well, if I put him on the show, I'm gonna get high ratings. Most American broadcasters will not do that. They won't. And it's not that they're so noble, it's just that their corporate masters go, No, you're not putting that guy on. Now, I'm an independent, right? I won't put him on because I don't want to insult my audience.

It's an absolute insult, a despicable insult to the memories and families of the 97. It's purely offensive, I just can't believe they would even consider speaking

Fianna Fáil confirms Yates provided four hours of interview and debate training to Jim Gavin Housing Minister James Browne confirms he has also received media training from Yates Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan says "nothing improper" in Fianna Fáil retaining the services of broadcaster Coimisiún na Meán now wants answers from RTÉ and Newstalk on Yates's on-air activities

The only reason to do it, Colbert said, was to win brownie points from the president. It is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division, Colbert said. So it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual. He also said Paramount's own attorneys said the settlement was completely without merit.

When it comes to the appearance of conflict, I am not an ideal owner of The Post.

While the ambition is admirable, the cost estimates reportedly exceeding $7bn annually rest on optimistic assumptions about eliminating waste and raising revenue through new taxes, De Blasio apparently said of Mamdani's plans to the UK newspaper the Times, in an article published on Tuesday. In my view, the math doesn't hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.

Free access to information is a pillar that upholds the edifice of our societies, and for this reason, we are called to defend and guarantee it,

Last Friday, during an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, CNN commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones claimed that Iran and Qatar are running a disinformation campaign to manipulate young Americans into caring about Gaza. To make his point, he crudely imitated what he said appears on their social media feeds: Dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, Diddy, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby. The audience laughed.

We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bullsh*t. Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters. And if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can't even speak English.

Guardian journalist Nick Davies appears on the Today programme to promote his 2008 book, Flat Earth News. It is an indictment of the contemporary British press; its sloppiness and corruption. The logic of journalism has been overwhelmed by the logic of commercialism, he tells the host and a glowering Stuart Kuttner, the managing editor of the News of the World. Nowadays, says Davies, so-called reporters are simply passive processors of unchecked second-hand material.

There are many, many important questions to ask about ABC's indefinite "suspension" of the late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, which is being celebrated in MAGA-land as an important landmark on the road to a purged and intimidated entertainment industry. It draws attention to the FCC as an instrument for state-sponsored censorship, and the dubious ethics of media moguls eager to curry favor with the Trump administration and avoid trouble.

In the days following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the New York Post's coverage repeatedly cast transgender people as central to the violence, leaning on anonymous sources and unverified leaks from law enforcement, some of which Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and investigators have since contradicted. The effect has been to paint a target on a community already living under intensifying political scrutiny and cultural hostility.

As Jim Gavin stumbles over Gaza, RTÉ was so pleased with its Eurovision ultimatum that it became the lead item on the Six One News RTÉ needed a break. Joe Duffy is gone. Claire Byrne is ­going. So it pulled a rabbit out of the hat last week. On Thursday, it announced, with much fanfare, that if Israel is at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Ireland will pull out.

This week, Amazon announced it was developing a series based on the trial of Karen Read. Elizabeth Banks is set to star, with The Sex Lives of College Girls producer Justin Noble showrunning and David E. Kelly serving as executive producer. The show's logline says it will examine "society's obsession with true crime, the allure of conspiracy, and the deepening crisis of trust in our institutions."

The proportion of children saying they have seen pornography online has risen in the past two years, with most likely stumbling upon it accidentally.

On the occasion of the wrestling star's death this week, the unexpected though not always unintended consequences have never felt more clear, though their enduring and pernicious impact on Kotaku may seem less obvious.