Latest news with #ChicagoPublicMedia
Axios
6 days ago
- Business
- Axios
From Pulitzer winners to pink slips: Chicago media makes big moves this summer
Chicago Public Media's search for a new leader to run the WBEZ/Sun-Times newsroom is over: Pulitzer Prize-winning Kimbriell Kelly returns to Chicago to take the job. Kelly, who once wrote for the Chicago Reporter and produced radio programming for WBEZ, has national experience as a bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times and a reporter at the Washington Post. What they're saying:"Kimbriell has the deep Chicago roots, journalistic excellence, and forward-looking vision to help shape the future of our integrated newsroom," CPM CEO Melissa Bell said in a statement. Zoom in: Kelly returns to Chicago as the public media organization faces turmoil. The company recently offered buyouts to select staff and laid off others to make ends meet. That was before Congress voted to rescind federal funding, which resulted in a loss of $3 million annually, 6% of the organization's yearly budget. Kelly succeeds Jennifer Kho, who the company says will move to a special project dealing with the future of public media. In other local news: 🍽️ Eater Chicago was impacted by its parent company Vox Media's latest round of layoffs. Longtime award-winning editor and journalist Ashok Selvam was let go. It's unclear who replaces him, but the site is still up with feature stories from other writers. 🏀 Earlier this year, sports fans were shocked by the surprise firing of longtime host Dan Bernstein by 670 "The Score." Bernstein had a run-in with another social media user on X. 📺 WGN-TV is bringing in a new news director. Akemi Harrison will oversee all newsgathering on the WGN TV platforms. She previously was the news director at NBC Chicago. On the WGN Radio side, hosts Bob Sirott and John Landecker will host a three-hour show Friday night reflecting on their careers, most notably their time together at WLS in the 1970s. They are calling it "For Radio Geeks Only." It airs 7-10pm. 📈 Finally, the July radio ratings just came out, and for the first time in recent memory, no station scored more than 5% of the market share.
Axios
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Public media funding cuts hit Chicago: WBEZ, WTTW brace for impact
President Trump and the Republican-majority U.S. House moved one step closer to cutting funding for public media, putting local organizations in limbo. The latest: The House passed a bill Thursday afternoon to cancel over $1 billion in funding for PBS and NPR, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This funding was included in the 2025 fiscal year budget, but this action removes it. Why it matters: Federal funding for public media could vanish — and Chicago stations like WBEZ and WTTW are bracing for the fallout. The big picture: The move breaks decades of bipartisan tradition treating CPB funding as apolitical and throws public media companies into budgetary chaos. What they're saying: "If approved, this cancellation of funding would eliminate critical investments, stripping resources that we use to power independent journalism, educational programming, emergency alerts and the infrastructure that supports the entire network of newsrooms nationwide," Chicago Public Media CEO Melissa Bell wrote to station members. "This could threaten the ability of PBS, and member stations like WTTW, to operate autonomously," a WTTW spokesperson said in a statement. By the numbers: The cuts would amount to about 6 percent of Chicago Public Media's budget, which the organization estimates to be about $3 million annually. That's not factoring in possible syndication costs handed down by National Public Radio, which is also losing funding from this bill. For WTTW, 10% of its 2024 budget came from federal funding. Zoom in: Chicago Public Media and WTTW (which also includes WFMT-FM) are among the largest public media organizations. Chicago Public Media (WBEZ/Sun-Times) reported revenue of $70 million for 2024, while WTTW had a total operating budget of $32.7 million. Both organizations receive significant revenue from member donations. Yes, but: Smaller Illinois radio stations, such as WILL-FM in Urbana, WUIS-FM in Springfield, and WNIJ-FM in DeKalb, have significantly higher federal funding, in some cases accounting for half of their budgets. Those stations are attached to local universities. Zoom out: It's unclear if the organizations will supercharge fundraising to attract more private donors or cut back on programming and staff. Chicago Public Media recently cut staff at both the Sun-Times and WBEZ. The intrigue: The rescission package aims to claw back funding that Congress previously approved for fiscal year 2025. It primarily consists of cuts identified by DOGE, which include funding for foreign aid programs such as USAID. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's funding is usually allocated every two years, so this cuts the second year of funding and puts future allocations in serious doubt. The rescission bill is rare in government. Trump attempted to use it during his first term, but was defeated in the Senate. Between the lines: Republicans have increasingly painted public media as left-leaning and biased, citing PBS programs like "Sesame Street" as "woke propaganda." The other side: Public media offers a variety of independent programming from news, culture, food and children's programs, funded to avoid programming influenced by corporations and commercials.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chicago paper publishes AI-generated 'summer reading list' with books that don't exist
The Chicago Sun-Times admitted on Tuesday that it published an AI-generated list of books that don't exist for its summer reading list. On Sunday, the publication released a special 64-page section titled "Heat Index: Your Guide to the Best of Summer" which featured a list of 15 recommended books for summer. However, upon further look, it was found that 10 of the 15 books on the list were not real. One example included a book called "Nightshade Market" by Min Jin Lee, which was described as a "riveting tale set in Seoul's underground economy" and follows "three women whose paths intersect in an illegal night market" exploring "class, gender and the shadow economies beneath prosperous societies." Lee herself confirmed on her X account on Tuesday that the book was not real. 'Heart Wrenching': Ai Expert Details Dangers Of Deepfakes And Tools To Detect Manipulated Content "I have not written and will not be writing a novel called 'Nightshade Market.' Thank you," Lee wrote. Read On The Fox News App Chicago Public Media CEO Melissa Bell remarked on the situation in an article on Tuesday, revealing that the mistake came from a freelance writer from one of their partner companies, King Features. Bell acknowledged that the list was published without review from the editorial team. "We are in a moment of great transformation in journalism and technology, and at the same time, our industry continues to be besieged by business challenges," Bell wrote. "This should be a learning moment for all journalism organizations: Our work is valued — and valuable — because of the humanity behind it." Moving forward, Bell announced that the paper will be reviewing its relationship with content partners like King Features, updating its policies for third-party content and explicitly identifying third-party content in its publications. The Chicago Sun-Times also removed the section from its e-paper version and confirmed that it would not charge subscribers who bought the premium edition. "We are committed to making sure this never happens again. We know that there is work to be done to provide more answers and transparency around the production and publication of this section, and will share additional updates in the coming days," Bell said. In another report for the Chicago Sun-Times, the freelance writer was identified as Marco Buscaglia, who confirmed that he used AI for this and other stories without disclosing it to supervisors or fully vetting the results. Ai Could Be 'Nail In The Coffin' For The Internet, Warns Neil Degrasse Tyson King Features later added that it was "terminating" its relationship with Buscaglia, saying that he had violated strict policy regarding the use of AI. In an additional statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Chicago Public Media marketing director Victor Lim said, "Regarding Chicago Public Media's usage of generative AI, we are committed to producing journalism that is accurate, ethical, and deeply human. While GAI may assist with certain tasks—like summarizing documents or analyzing data—our editorial content will always be created and shaped by journalists."Original article source: Chicago paper publishes AI-generated 'summer reading list' with books that don't exist
Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Major newspapers ran a summer reading list. AI made up its book titles.
Advertisement Many pointed out quotes attributed to experts and professors who don't seem to exist, or at least don't have a significant online presence. Similarly, some pieces in the package featured quotes that social media sleuths said could not be found online — such as one from Brianna Madia, the author of a van-life book called 'Nowhere for Very Long,' talking about hammock culture to Outside Magazine in 2023. Interviews she did with the magazine in 2019 and 2017 did not feature any discussion on hammocks, and she does not appear in any of the magazine's 2023 stories online. The section's 'Summer reading list for 2025' recommended not only fake books such as 'Tidewater Dreams' by Isabel Allende and 'The Last Algorithm' by Andy Weir, but also imaginary titles from authors Brit Bennett, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Min Jin Lee, and Rebecca Makkai. (The list does feature some real books, including Françoise Sagan's 'Bonjour Tristesse' and André Aciman's 'Call Me by Your Name.') Advertisement 'It is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers' trust in our reporting and take this very seriously,' Victor Lim, senior director of audience development for Chicago Public Media, said in a statement. 'We've historically relied on content partners for this information, but given recent developments, it's clear we must actively evaluate new processes and partnerships to ensure we continue meeting the full range of our readers' needs,' he added. Lisa Hughes, the publisher and CEO of the Philadelphia Inquirer, said the special section was removed from the e-edition after the discovery was made. 'Using artificial intelligence to produce content, as was apparently the case with some of the Heat Index material, is a violation of our own internal policies and a serious breach,' she said in a statement to The Washington Post. Much of the content for the section was written by Marco Buscaglia, a Chicago-based freelance writer who used AI chatbots during the writing process, he told The Post in an interview Tuesday. Buscaglia said the insert, which he began writing in February with a March deadline, wasn't written with any specific cities in mind, and he didn't know which newspapers would run it. Buscaglia said there was 'no excuse' for not double-checking his work. When he started writing the recommended books list, Buscaglia said, he considered looking at Goodreads or calling local bookstores for recommendations. But instead, he asked AI chatbots for help. (Buscaglia said he was unsure which chatbot he used, though he said it was either ChatGPT or Claude.) Advertisement 'I'm very responsible about it. I do check things out, but in this case, I mean, I totally missed it,' he said about using AI in his reporting. 'I feel like, if given the opportunity, I would approach these things differently and have a lot, you know, obviously better set of filters.' 'I do feel that it also misrepresents the Sun-Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer,' he said, adding: 'I feel bad about that, too - that the papers somehow [get] associated with that.' The misstep comes as the media industry wrestles with the advent of AI. Large language models and AI chatbots don't always search the web for information, relying on preinstalled knowledge, which can lead them to spit out incorrect or misleading information. Critics have said that newspapers that use AI tools risk exposing readers to low-quality reporting and misinformation, contributing to a rising mistrust of journalism.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chicago Sun-Times features non-existent books, people: How it happened
CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago Public Media on Tuesday was quick to distance itself from content generated by Artificial Intelligence that cited books and experts who don't exist that made it into Sunday's edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. The AI hallucinations were included in a 60-page 'Best of Summer' guide that featured a summer reading list, summer food trends and a section on 'America's growing hammock culture.' 'This is licensed content that was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom, but it is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate,' spokesman Victor Lim told WGN via email. 'We value our readers' trust in our reporting and take this very seriously.' Speaking to 404 Media, Lim said the content was licensed from a company called King Features Syndicate, a subsidiary of Hearst Magazines. In a public statement, the Chicago Sun-Times said its partner confirmed 'a freelancer used an AI agent to write the article.' 'It is unacceptable that this content was inaccurate, and it is equally unacceptable that we did not make it clear to readers that the section was produced outside the Sun-Times newsroom,' the statement said, in part. Chicago Public Media owns the Sun-Times and local NPR station WBEZ. The content also reportedly appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among the authors mentioned in the summer reading list is Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende. The guide suggests reading Tidewater Dreams, 'Allende's first climate fiction novel.' The book doesn't exist. Nor does 'Nightshade Market' by real author Min Jin Lee. An analysis by the technology website Gizmodo indicates that of the 15 works mentioned, all but five are fake. Readers looking to get a feel of 'what's hot on plates this season' were informed of social media's role in food trends, but the feature includes a quote from Dr. Catherine Furst, purportedly a food anthropologist. WGN and journalists at other organizations can find no confirmation she is a real person. Author Marco Buscaglia's byline appears on a feature story about hammock culture in America, but it appears to quote people and other publications that cannot be verified. Mentioned is Dr. Jennifer Campos, billed as a professor of leisure studies at the University of Colorado. She does not appear to be real. Author Brianna Madia is real, but a quote she purportedly gave to Outdoor Magazine two years ago appears to be made up. A review of Outdoor's archives turns up no content of Madia speaking about hammocks. WGN has reached out to Madia for confirmation. WGN has also tried to contact Buscaglia, whose name appears on some but not all of the features in the guide. The request has so far gone unanswered. The Chicago Sun-Times Guild, the union that covers the organization's journalists, said in a statement that it was 'deeply disturbed' by the inclusion of syndicated section that was 'produced externally without the knowledge of the members of our newsroom.' 'We take great pride in the union-produced journalism that goes into the respected pages of our newspaper and on our website. We're deeply disturbed that AI-generated content was printed alongside our work. The fact that it was sixty-plus pages of this 'content' is very concerning — primarily for our relationship with our audience but also for our union's jurisdiction,' the guild's statement said. 'Our members go to great lengths to build trust with our sources and communities and are horrified by this slop syndication. Our readers signed up for work that has been vigorously reported and fact-checked, and we hate the idea that our own paper could spread computer- or third-party-generated misinformation. We call on Chicago Public Media management to do everything it can to prevent repeating this disaster in the future.' 'We are committed to making sure this never happens again.' In its statement, the Sun-Times listed five actions it was immediately taken. In addition to not charging subscribers for Sunday's edition, the organization said it was removing the section from the e-paper version of Sunday's edition. The Sun-Times said it was updating policies to ensure third-party content meets the same editorial standards as in-house produced content. In the future, the Sun-Times said it will be more transparent and 'explicitly identify' third-party licensed editorial content. Finally, the organization said it was reviewing its relationship with its partner. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
