Latest news with #freepress
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
NY Times defends WSJ after White House ban from press pool: ‘simple retribution'
The New York Times is defending the Wall Street Journal after the Trump administration decided to bar the global outlet from the White House press pool following its investigative coverage of ties between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. In the public statement, a Times spokesperson said the White House's actions represented 'simple retribution by a president against a news organization for doing reporting that he doesn't like', warning that 'such actions deprive Americans of information about how their government operates'. 'The White House's refusal to allow one of the nation's leading news organizations to cover the highest office in the country is an attack on core constitutional principles underpinning free speech and a free press,' the spokesperson said. 'Americans regardless of party deserve to know and understand the actions of the president, and reporters play a vital role in advancing that public interest.' The Times' intervention follows the Trump administration's recent exclusion of the Wall Street Journal from accompanying the president on his trip to Scotland as part of the travel press pool following the publication of a story that alleged Trump sent a 'bawdy' birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Their story claims that Trump at the time was part of a collective that sent Epstein birthday wishes in a leather-bound book, with his entry containing suggestive content and drawings of a naked woman. Trump has disputed the allegations and filed a $10bn defamation lawsuit against the publication, and the paper has stood by its reporting. White House Correspondents' Association president, Weijia Jiang, has also denounced the exclusion as 'deeply troubling' and an act of 'government retaliation' that undermines first amendment protections. But the banning represents just the latest version of the tactic in the Trump administration's evidently hostile relationship with the press since taking office earlier this year. In February, the White House blocked the Associated Press from the press pool after the news agency refused to adopt Trump's preferred terminology of 'Gulf of America' instead of the longstanding 'Gulf of Mexico' in its reporting. The administration has also assumed direct control of press pool assignments, a role traditionally managed by the White House Correspondent's Association, which enables a selective inclusion, and exclusion, of media outlets. Trump has also filed lawsuits against several major media companies, including CBS/Paramount, ABC News, and Meta, in addition to the Wall Street Journal action. All companies have settled their cases for millions of dollars.
The Independent
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Media faces existential threat from ‘thieving' AI, ministers warned
Artificial intelligence poses an 'existential threat' to the free press by stealing content and so putting at risk quality news and thousands of reporter jobs, the Government has been warned at Westminster. Urgent reform was demanded in Parliament, as ministers were also tackled over Whitehall striking an agreement with a Canadian tech giant that faces legal action by media firms over accusations of large-scale copyright infringement. The call for swift action follows a bitter stand-off in the House of Lords over attempts to prevent the creative industries, including news outlets, being ripped off by machine-learning developers. The controversy centred on fears of AI companies using copyrighted work without permission, with the Government accused of 'supporting thieves'. Responding to a question on the issue in the upper chamber, media minister Baroness Twycross said: 'Trustworthy journalism plays a vital role in our democracy. 'Rapid recent developments in generative AI pose both significant risks and opportunities for news media. 'We are engaging with press stakeholders on this.' She added: 'The Government will support our news media to capitalise on the huge potential benefits of the technology while mitigating its risk.' But deputy chairman of the Telegraph Group, and Conservative peer, Lord Black of Brentwood said: 'AI poses an existential threat to independent media because of the way it scrapes their high quality content without either attribution or payment to those who create it, which is an act of theft, directly threatening the provision of quality news and the jobs of thousands of reporters. 'Is the minister aware that research by market leader, Cloudflare, shows that, for example, for every 73,000 pages of content scraped by Anthropic's AI crawlers from news providers, there's just one single referral back to publishers' websites? 'Does she realise that without this vital traffic, publishers can't sell advertising or subscriptions, and their businesses become unsustainable? 'The free press can't wait years for copyright reform… we were promised immediate action on this issue when the Data Act went through. When will we get some of it?' Responding, Lady Twycross said: 'We want to get this right and for AI to work for everyone. 'All of our work is around protecting rights that already exist for creatives and press and ensuring AI creates new revenue streams for them. 'We are carefully reviewing all the responses to our consultation to ensure any proposals taken forward properly support both AI and creative sectors, including the media.' Filmmaker Baroness Kidron, who has been a leading critic of the Labour administration on the issue, said: 'During the passage of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, the Government asked repeatedly that Parliament trust that they had the interest of UK copyright holders front and centre. 'So can the minister explain why the UK Government has now signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian AI firm Cohere, when Cohere is facing legal action from 13 news media copyright holders, including The Guardian, Forbes and The Atlantic? 'Does she not agree with me that the Government might better earn Parliament's trust if, instead of rewarding AI companies which infringe copyright with opportunities, that it limited those opportunities and indeed future Government contracts to companies that lawfully license inputs?' Lady Twycross said: 'As I said, we do want to and need to make sure we get this right for everyone. I'm happy to have a conversation with her about the issue she raises.'
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Media faces existential threat from ‘thieving' AI, ministers warned
Artificial intelligence poses an 'existential threat' to the free press by stealing content and so putting at risk quality news and thousands of reporter jobs, the Government has been warned at Westminster. Urgent reform was demanded in Parliament, as ministers were also tackled over Whitehall striking an agreement with a Canadian tech giant that faces legal action by media firms over accusations of large-scale copyright infringement. The call for swift action follows a bitter stand-off in the House of Lords over attempts to prevent the creative industries, including news outlets, being ripped off by machine-learning developers. The controversy centred on fears of AI companies using copyrighted work without permission, with the Government accused of 'supporting thieves'. Responding to a question on the issue in the upper chamber, media minister Baroness Twycross said: 'Trustworthy journalism plays a vital role in our democracy. 'Rapid recent developments in generative AI pose both significant risks and opportunities for news media. 'We are engaging with press stakeholders on this.' She added: 'The Government will support our news media to capitalise on the huge potential benefits of the technology while mitigating its risk.' But deputy chairman of the Telegraph Group, and Conservative peer, Lord Black of Brentwood said: 'AI poses an existential threat to independent media because of the way it scrapes their high quality content without either attribution or payment to those who create it, which is an act of theft, directly threatening the provision of quality news and the jobs of thousands of reporters. 'Is the minister aware that research by market leader, Cloudflare, shows that, for example, for every 73,000 pages of content scraped by Anthropic's AI crawlers from news providers, there's just one single referral back to publishers' websites? 'Does she realise that without this vital traffic, publishers can't sell advertising or subscriptions, and their businesses become unsustainable? 'The free press can't wait years for copyright reform… we were promised immediate action on this issue when the Data Act went through. When will we get some of it?' Responding, Lady Twycross said: 'We want to get this right and for AI to work for everyone. 'All of our work is around protecting rights that already exist for creatives and press and ensuring AI creates new revenue streams for them. 'We are carefully reviewing all the responses to our consultation to ensure any proposals taken forward properly support both AI and creative sectors, including the media.' Filmmaker Baroness Kidron, who has been a leading critic of the Labour administration on the issue, said: 'During the passage of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, the Government asked repeatedly that Parliament trust that they had the interest of UK copyright holders front and centre. 'So can the minister explain why the UK Government has now signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian AI firm Cohere, when Cohere is facing legal action from 13 news media copyright holders, including The Guardian, Forbes and The Atlantic? 'Does she not agree with me that the Government might better earn Parliament's trust if, instead of rewarding AI companies which infringe copyright with opportunities, that it limited those opportunities and indeed future Government contracts to companies that lawfully license inputs?' Lady Twycross said: 'As I said, we do want to and need to make sure we get this right for everyone. I'm happy to have a conversation with her about the issue she raises.'
Wall Street Journal
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Trump's Lawfare Against the Free Press
President Trump has taunted the media for years, and some of his jibes are deserved given the groupthink in most newsrooms. What's happening now, though, is different: The President is using government to intimidate news outlets that publish stories he doesn't like. It's a low move in a free country with a free press. On Tuesday Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested CNN might be prosecuted for publishing a report about an app called ICEBlock, which lets users flag locations where they've spotted operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Bob Costas calls out legacy press for paying ‘ransom' to Trump and pivoting to ‘MAGA media'
Veteran sportscaster Bob Costas declared this week that the 'free press is under attack' while assailing mainstream media outlets for kowtowing to Donald Trump and paying the president a 'ransom,' claiming that 'these are ongoing assaults' to the First Amendment. During his speech at Monday night's Mirror Awards in New York City, where he received the Fred Dressler Leadership Award for making 'distinct, consistent and unique contributions to the public's understanding of the media,' Costas took the opportunity to call out ABC News for capitulating to the president. Shortly after Trump won the 2024 election, ABC's parent company Disney decided to settle the president's defamation lawsuit against the news network and anchor George Stephanopoulos for $15 million. Trump claimed that he was defamed when Stephanopoulos said in an interview that the president had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll, when a jury instead found Trump liable for sexually abusing her. 'All they should've said was, 'George misspoke. The president, that paragon of virtue, was only found guilty of sexual assault, not rape. So we stand corrected.' They didn't have to pay a $15 million ransom,' the 12-time Olympic host declared. He also took issue with Shari Redstone, the chief shareholder of CBS News' parent company Paramount Global. With Redstone standing to make billions of dollars in a merger with Skydance Media, she has pushed the company to agree to settle Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which legal experts have deemed frivolous and the news channel has said is 'completely without merit.' In recent months, 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens and CBS News chief Wendy McMahon – who both said they would not apologize for the interview – have resigned amid internal tensions over the pending settlement. The conglomerate's board has already offered Trump a $15 million settlement, which the president has rejected as he's reportedly demanding at least $25 million (plus $25 million in free airtime) along with an apology. 'And did Shari Redstone, because she wants to affect a merger that Trump's FCC can stand in the way of, did she have to besmirch and undercut the gold standard in our lifetime of broadcast journalism – 60 Minutes? Paying $20 million in ransom to Trump is just the cost of doing business when there are billions of dollars at stake,' Costas sighed. 'These are ongoing assaults on the basic idea of a free press.' Throughout the rest of his speech, which was captured on video by journalist Rachel Sklar, Costas bemoaned that the Trump administration was engaging in a full-fledged war against the media. 'The free press is under attack. Democracy as we know it is under attack,' he noted. At the same time, he scolded news organizations for seemingly bending the knee to the president and presenting 'both-sides' coverage in an effort to appease Trump and his supporters. 'But if the answer to that is MAGA media, if the answer to that is Donald Trump's view of the world, which is only through a prism of what benefits him, there are no higher ideals,' he stated. 'There are no principles at work other than what benefits him. I'll stay with where we are without correction if the correction is what Donald Trump represents.' Costas added that due to Trump having 'been normalized,' everything the president does or says forces 'responsible journalists' to 'have to pretend that there's always two sides to this,' prompting him to criticize CNN, a network he joined as a contributor in 2020. 'There really isn't two sides to much of what Donald Trump represents,' he said. 'And the idea that you have to find somebody who will not just defend Donald Trump but valorize it, even on CNN or wherever else, just in the name of being balanced – look, if someone is contending that the Earth is flat in order to appear objective, you are not required to say 'well, maybe it might be oblong.' No, it's not!' After observing that the president 'has absolutely no regard' for 'basic American principles and basic common decency', the legendary play-by-play announcer ended his remarks by relaying how fans of his have turned on him over his recent outspokenness on politics. 'And of course, when I did that, every good thing I did for 40 years was washed away,' he concluded. 'Now I suck. You know what? If that's what you think, and that's how you think, and you think it in defense of that guy, I wear that as a badge of honor.'
