FOI audits reveal flaws: Daniel Bevarly reports government FOI audits in Florida, Illinois and Tennessee find poor open records compliance.
“The independent findings from state FOI coalitions and a university disclose an ongoing challenge to government agencies to comply with their state’s open government laws and demonstrate consistent policy practices,” he writes.
Papua New Guinea faces a month without Facebook, following the example of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and North Korea.
Benny Geteng reports that the PNG communications minister wants time to investigate abuses and the possibility of creating a national social network site.
Using the “L” word: Daniel Dale explains that a lie is a false statement made intentionally.
“If we journalists are going to present ourselves as arbiters of truth, we have to stick to what we know is true,” he writes. “And that means not calling something a lie when we don’t have a reasonable certainty that Trump’s intention is deception.”
Defining free speech for robots: Jared Schroeder reports that free expression rights for artificial intelligence communicators may push the Supreme Court to define a journalist.
“Courts will soon have to explore whether AI communicators have rights as publishers — and whether a bot can be entitled to journalist protections,” he writes. This requires us to identify what is human about journalism and what is fundamental about it.
Spanish digital era ethics manual: Paola Nalvarte writes that the International Center For Journalists published a guide on ethical principles.
“The document highlights credibility as a fundamental value of journalism in the twenty-first century.”
Hate groups manipulate media: Whitney Phillips warns that journalists covering hate groups unwittingly spread their hateful ideology and other false and misleading narratives “with news coverage itself harnessed to fuel hate, confusion and discord.”
Ethics of talking machines: Drew Harwell writes that Google’s artificial intelligence assistant sounds almost exactly like a human.
It’s a convenience for phone-shy people, “but it is also raising thorny questions about the ethics of using a machine to copy a person’s voice, carry out commands — and potentially deceive the unsuspecting listener on the other side.”
Guarding against deepfakes: Nicholas Diakopoulos writes that a media synthesis algorithm generates convincing but fake video.
“Dire as the case may be, it could offer a great comeback opportunity for mainstream media,” writes Diakopoulos. Trained journalists can act as validators and assessors of mediated reality the public can trust.
Regaining reader trust: Philip Eil says don’t assume people understand journalism, explain it. Five steps to regain trust.
“One of the many lessons of the Trump era is that press freedom and audience trust aren’t limitless natural resources,” he writes.
Making transparency clear: Andrew Seaman explains how “transparency” grew as a recognized concept in journalism.
Journalism was largely opaque until the invention and widespread use of the internet, he writes.
“News organizations can no longer stubbornly refuse to issue corrections or other clarifications without pushback,” he writes. “Journalists and news organizations are — in many ways — completely exposed to the public.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 