A Prominent PR Firm Is Running a Fake News Site That’s Plagiarizing Original Journalism at Incredible Scale A PR firm is running a strange AI-fueled plagiarism mill that's ripping off — and mangling — a huge amount of local and national reporting.

NEW: A PR company is operating a bizarre fake news site that's plagiarizing original journalism at a massive scale -- all while spewing misinformation, publishing hallucinated quotes, and replacing real people’s names with “Jane Doe.”

Also: it misquotes the Pope.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Journalists champion Wayback Machine after news publishers limit article archiving In January, Hanaa’ Tameez and I broke the story that The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today Co. had begun limiting the Wayback Machine’s access to their news articles. Our reporting showed th...

I'm quoted in this for signing & sharing a testimonial about an incident in which Vancouver Police edited their press release after I'd published an article about it to make it look like I had lied.

Anyway, long live the Wayback Machine!

www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/jour...

Journalists champion Wayback Machine after news publishers limit article archiving In January, Hanaa’ Tameez and I broke the story that The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today Co. had begun limiting the Wayback Machine’s access to their news articles. Our reporting showed…

Earlier this year, Lab broke the story that The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today Co. had begun limiting the Wayback Machine’s access to their news articles.

Now, journalists are pushing for news publishers to lift the restrictions. www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/jour...

Thanks @knibbs.bsky.social for the shout!

Earlier this year, @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I broke the story that major news publishers were blocking the Wayback Machine. Wired with a follow-up this week on the journalists and digital rights orgs pushing back against the decision.

So glad this story is gaining traction & wanted to highlight that @andrewdeck.bsky.social at @niemanlab.org broke the news that NYT/Guardian/USA Today were blocking IA earlier this year. Encourage all to read: www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...

ProPublica journalists walk off the job in first U.S. newsroom strike over AI On the picket line in New York, union leaders said they expect "more concentrated conflicts" over AI in the news industry.

Yesterday, the ProPublica Guild walked off the job in the first strike by a major U.S. newsroom over, at least in part, AI protections.

I spoke with striking journalists and union leaders on the picket line in New York for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/prop...

Palestinian Journalists Honored for Their Coverage and Courage - Nieman Reports Shrouq Aila and Anas Baba receive Lyons Award, given by the 2026 Nieman Fellows, for reporting from Gaza while enduring the horrors of war

"We are lucky that we are still alive, and we are lucky that we are able to speak with you, while we hope that one day you will all be able to come to Gaza and witness everything with your own eyes, and write about that with your own words and pens."

niemanreports.org/lyons-award-...

I'm honored to be in this company, and deeply appreciative that @newhousesu.bsky.social chose to recognize a story that calls out the uncomfortable truth in our industry.

Excited to say I'm in great company here, along with @hanaatameez.bsky.social!

Meta’s Oversight Board warns that “Community Notes” aren’t a proper substitute for fact-checking globally On Thursday, Meta’s Oversight Board, a quasi-independent body that reviews the social media giant’s moderation practices, ruled that “Community Notes” are not a proper substitute for its…

Today, Meta's Oversight Board warned that the company's planned global expansion of Community Notes “poses significant human rights risks." www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/meta...

ProPublica’s union authorizes the first U.S. newsroom strike over AI protections The Guild has voted to walk off the job if ProPublica doesn’t agree to a ban on AI-related layoffs, as well as “just cause” for firings, seniority provisions during layoffs, and wage increases.

I took a closer look at the ProPublica union’s vote to strike, including their demand for protection from AI-related layoffs.

The vote marks the first time a major U.S. newsroom has authorized a strike, at least in part, over AI protections. www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/prop...

After Mexico’s most-wanted cartel leader was killed, OSINT helped fuel both clarity and confusion online Many OSINT analysts are experts in their fields and take care to verify information before publishing, but even well-intentioned accounts may inject more noise than clarity into an already tense situa...

NEW: I talked to journalists and researchers about how OSINT was both helpful and hurtful in the aftermath coverage of El Mencho's killing in Mexico.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/afte...

AI-powered search is fueling a wave of Epstein Files transparency projects Newsrooms have long used AI to sift through document dumps. Now that same tech is being used to build search tools for readers.

In the vacuum left by the DOJ's faulty Epstein Files search, journalists and engineers have stepped in to build alternatives for readers.

"[When] people feel the government’s not being transparent, it’s even more important for media outlets to provide that service" www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/ai-p...

So proud of Adam and all the work he's done to get this project off the ground! Still so much important work ahead.

You can support now by donating or signing up for when grant applications open down the line. necessary.foundation

Opinion | The Trump White House Needs a Refresher on Basic Math

Trump's outlandish numerical claims — like reducing drug prices by 600% — are a good reminder of the importance of math education as a civic virtue.
I wrote about it in the NYT
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/o...

Right? There were too many things to choose from!

Compass Vermont Raises Questions About AI and the News Evidence shows that the online news outlet’s stories are produced, at least in part, with undisclosed artificial intelligence.

I spoke to @sevendaysvt.bsky.social for their story on a local Vermont pub's undisclosed AI usage. Great details in this one, including this gem: "a supposed link to 'regional reporting' on the topic sent readers to an adults-only porn site." www.sevendaysvt.com/news/media-n...

Read the original reporting by me and @andrewdeck.bsky.social here:

www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...

Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows "We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."

The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...

How The New York Times uses a custom AI tool to track the “manosphere” The daily podcast round-up is just one way the Times is adopting in-house AI transcription and summarization tools.

The New York Times is using LLMs to transcribe and summarize episodes of more than 80 podcasts that are part of the "manosphere." The resulting email digest lands in journalists' inboxes every morning.

I spoke with @zachseward.com about the tool for @niemanlab.org www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-...

A new bill in New York would require disclaimers on AI-generated news content A new bill in the New York state legislature would require news organizations to label AI-generated material and mandate that humans review any such content before publication. On Monday, Senator Patr...

A new bill in the NY state legislature would require news orgs to label any content “substantially composed, authored, or created" with generative AI. It would also require that humans review that content before publication. More details @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/a-ne...

“Something I will be most proud of when I’m 90”: How Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post, and what’s changed Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post with real curiosity, and the things he said were interesting and specific. Over time, that changed.

from curiousity at acquisiton to the "democracy dies in darkness" days to "a complexifier for me" to mandates for the opinion section. @laurahazardowen.bsky.social made a timeline of Bezos statements about @washingtonpost.com. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/some...

I do not make this comparison lightly.

Journalism at an AI Inflection Point - Nieman Reports As artificial intelligence moves into newsrooms, four Nieman Fellows weigh in on the technology’s promise, limits, and risks.

The folks at @niemanreports.org wrote up a panel I was fortunate to moderate on AI and journalism with @niemanfoundation.bsky.social alums @jaemark.co, Uli Köppen and Ron Stodghill. niemanreports.org/ai-research-...

Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one? "If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."

Journalism coops give me — and most of the journalists I know — a lot of hope for the industry. But I've been curious: What's it like to actually work at one? I spent the last few months talking to a bunch of brilliant worker-owners to find out.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...

News publishers limit Internet Archive access due to AI scraping concerns Outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times are scrutinizing digital archives as potential backdoors for AI crawlers.

NEW: News publishers are limiting Internet Archive access to prevent AI crawlers from using the digital library as a backdoor to their content.

@hanaatameez.bsky.social and I confirmed The Guardian and The New York Times have put in place new restrictions. www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...

Discover isn’t the only place Google is experimenting with AI-generated snippets On Friday, The Verge’s Sean Hollister reported that Google is now calling AI-generated headlines in Discover a “feature,” not just an experiment. For several months now, Google has been rewriting hea...

With "Web Guide," Google is testing AI rewrites of meta-descriptions in search. It's just the latest example of Google chipping away at publisher real estate. www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/disc...

News media is “becoming part of AI systems”: Notes from the JournalismAI Festival 2025 The London conference tackled topics like AI-assisted reporting, article personalization, and deepfake detection.

I was in London last month for the first in-person JournalismAI Festival hosted by @polislse.bsky.social and the Google News Initiative. I wrote up a few of the highlights for @niemanlab.org.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/news...

Politico management violated key AI adoption safeguards, arbitrator finds The ruling marks one of the first major tests of an AI clause in a newsroom union contract.

NEW: Last week an arbitrator ruled that Politico management violated key AI terms in its union contract.

The decision is a landmark win for the Politico union, which is one of the first to legally challenge the rollout of AI technology in its newsroom. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/poli...

Florida nonprofit news reporters ask board to investigate their editor’s AI use Suncoast Searchlight’s four reporters told the board their editor-in-chief was using AI editing tools and inserting hallucinations into drafts. The next day, one of the reporters was fired.

Last week, Suncoast Searchlight's four reporters wrote a letter to their board. Their editor-in-chief had secretly been using ChatGPT and inserting hallucinated quotes into their drafts.

The next day, one of those reporters was fired. My latest for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...