Nieman Lab daily news digest

The Daily Digest: October 05, 2026 ChatGPT is adding real cartoonists’ signatures to fake New Yorker cartoons OpenAI’s chatbot isn’t just imitating the magazine’s style. It’s also falsely attributing AI-generated images to real artists. By Andrew Deck. How a plan to turn the Spokane Spokesman-Review into “The People’s Paper” ended in a newsroom revolt Newsroom staffers say that concerns about Rob Curley’s leadership festered until his August suspension — weeks before the paper was set to transfer to his nonprofit. By Wilson Criscione, InvestigateWest and Daisy Zavala Magaña, RANGE. What we’re reading Semafor / Max Tani The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism will spend $10 million by the end of 2027 → “The organization, which is backed by groups including the deep-pocketed nonprofit Coefficient Giving, said it plans to fund investigative teams, AI verticals at national outlets, and other large-scale initiatives in new and legacy media.” International Federation of Journalists New global IFJ report urges stronger regulation of surveillance → “Based on a thorough analysis of existing legislation and regulatory frameworks, the study shows how journalists around the world are being spied on at unprecedented scale, and how each silent hack and intercepted data strikes at the heart of democracy.” The Washington Sun / Thuy Lan Nguyen The Washington Sun is launching a monthly print magazine with ex-Posties → “The magazine, which will run for six editions, is being edited by Richard Just, who is also the editor of The Washington Sun’s Perspectives section and is the former editor of The Washington Post Magazine. The magazine’s deputy editor is Alexa McMahon, formerly of the Post Magazine, and the assistant editor is Anusha Mathur.” Deadline / Ted Johnson The DOJ says CNN, Politico, and MS NOW can be banned from the White House because they don’t meet “minimum requirements of professionalism” → “…bona fide journalists would identify sources instead of relying on anonymous sources, commit to factual accuracy, and provide the White House an opportunity to comment, rather than ‘perform their duties in a way that…interfere[s] with the White House’s daily operations’…At a bare minimum, it is a significant violation of decorum to publish classified and sensitive national security information.'” Now They Tell Us / Bryan Curtis The Ringer is launching a media newsletter written by editor-at-large Bryan Curtis → “Why write about the media? Because I don’t have to ‘pick a lane.’ That’s the biggest misconception about the beat: that it’s a companywide email, ‘this circle jerk’ — as Nora Ephron put it — ‘of media interviewing media.’” BleepingComputer / Mayank Parmar OpenAI will show banner ads in ChatGPT while you generate images → “According to OpenAI, these ads could use images to show product inspiration, how a product is used, or experiences associated with a service, which gives advertisers a more visual way to promote themselves inside ChatGPT.” Digiday / Sara Guaglione A coalition of news publishers has released a new standard for tracking how AI tools use their content → “The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights initiative, or SPUR, released the content telemetry standard today and has invited OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft to help shape how the standard is implemented, said Alex Springer, SPUR’s technical lead.” NPR / David Folkenflik She died covering war for Fox News. Her parents blame the network — and a star reporter → “Two high-risk security advisers who worked for Fox News in Ukraine bolster the family’s claims. In separate interviews with NPR about what happened, they say Fox News and its star correspondent ignored repeated and urgent warnings to stay away from the danger zone outside the city limits of Kyiv.” The Philadelphia Inquirer / Ariana Perez-Castells Philadelphia Inquirer staffers have a new union contract with raises and AI protections → “Under the new deal, The Inquirer may not us