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609. ONA Launches AI in Journalism Initiative

The Online News Association recently launched a new AI in Journalism Initiative to provide tools and practical training for journalists looking to incorporate artificial intelligence into their reporting. Meghan Murphy, ONA’s director of programs, and Hanaa Rifaey, ONA’s head of strategic partnerships, share the details with It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell.

306. Facebook, fake news and fact checking

“Should Facebook even be a place we should think about getting news (from) at all? It may not,” suggests Laura Hazard Owen, a deputy editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab.

For the past year, she’s been writing a column about fake news, a column she wasn’t sure would have enough activity or topics to discuss to warrant space every single week. How things have changed.

“I’ve gotten really interested in writing about the research being done into fake news, the academic papers, the studies people are doing about it,” she said. “One of the best things about working for Harvard is I have access to all these libraries in digital form. It’s really cool to see the research and circle back around with the people writing it, to see why they’re studying this stuff, what they want to keep working on.”

With so much discussion in the past year alone about the role of fake news in social media, and Facebook in particular, as it relates to the 2016 presidential election, Hazard Owen is curious what will come of Facebook’s promise to opening some of its data to select researchers for study.

The bulk of research on fake news has, to date, been compiled from Twitter information because its records are much more open and accessible, she said. “Facebook is a black box. We don’t really know what’s happening there,” but the stated agreement to slowly and partially open information to outside review “will give us a really interesting focus on what’s happening there.”

It’s also not enough for an article to be fact-checked for validity, because in some politically conservative circles, it’s not deemed an impartial activity, she said.

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Ted Mellnik and Steven Rich are database editor at The Washington Post.

314. Data reporting fuels Washington Post’s massive homicide project

Washington Post database editor Steven Rich and Ted Mellnik join producer Michael O’Connell to discuss their massive undertaking: requesting and analyzing homicide and case closure rates from 50 cities across the United States. They talk about the disparities that exist in a single city and how data reporting no longer requires looking through filing cabinets but, instead, requires the ability to read and interpret data files.

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325. Wounded Muse author follows career path through China

Robert Delaney, the U.S. bureau chief for the South China Morning Post, tells producer Michael O’Connell about his unusual career path, from kung fu student to futures reporter covering the market in China. He also talks about writing his first novel, The Wounded Muse, which will be released in October.

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