The Arenblog - Tom Arenberg

The seemingly legitimate news article, which several people sent to me and was shared on social media by many more, carried a stunning headline: “The Ghost Paper That Ate Alabama: How a Media Startup Killed 47 Weekly Newspapers and No One Noticed.”Too bad this must-read story turned out to be the most inaccurate AI-generated reporting of all time.The untrue June 25 article about a (non-existent) Alabama media company that bought and closed 47 weekly newspapers in the state two years ago was…

USA soccer fans show their allegiance prior to the u.s. win over australia in seattle on june 19. The first clue to my cluelessness about the current popularity of professional international soccer among Americans was the grandkid wearing a Lionel Messi shirt. He’s 9.That popularity is abundantly obvious right now as media coverage of the World Cup is everywhere, maybe bumping your favorite sport and team to a smaller headline. Fox Sports is showing all 104 matches live on one of its TV…

photo illustration created using chatgpt You’ve read here previously about the growing use of artificial intelligence to produce print/online news stories, but we need to also talk about its use in producing sports stories because, whoa, it’s so much more widespread in that area.This is happening for both valid and absurd reasons:Valid: Every geographic coverage area has teams in so many sports on so many levels (high school, college, minor/major professional) that staff writers can’t possibly…

PHOTO BY MARKUS WINKLER “College journalism programs are failing to prepare students for the workforce.”“Journalism programs are decades behind.”“If you’re a student considering journalism, I’d skip that degree.”Well, ouch.In a written commentary that spurred a lot of debate in journalism circles a few months ago, the top editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com leveled these slams because, he said, journalism schools are not teaching students how to use artificial intelligence to…

screenshot from cnn’s april 10 investigative story into then U.S. Rep. eric Swalwell. it got results. Many press haters who like to point to errors and bias have added an even more cutting criticism in recent years: irrelevancy.It’s a fair question, as readership, viewership and staff size at newspapers, TV and radio stations, and magazines have plummeted. Recent national political campaigns have gravitated to podcasters and social media influencers, few of whom practice conventional journalism.

the excellence in broadcasting network was the name of the NATIONAL radio network created IN 1988 by rush limbaugh, a HIGHLY POPULAR conservative talk show host who LIKED TO B...

image by gerd altmann I hate to see reality ruin a key subplot in Hulu’s hit show The Bear.The fictional Chicag...