Monday, October 9, 2023

True test / Known cure? / Too far

True test. A bipartisan U.S. Senate panel has sponsored a bill to prevent using artificial intelligence to create deceptive campaign materials.
■ Study findings suggest that Americans are receptive to AI-generated news, researchers at the University of Florida announced.
■ Legislative bills requiring age verification to view adult content online could violate the First Amendment, experts said.
■ Elon Musk has been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to try to get him to testify as part of a probe into the $44 billion takeover of Twitter (now X).
■ Black Americans say they are negatively depicted in news coverage, a new study from the Pew Research Center has revealed.

‘Setting new rules.’ NPR reported on a Florida Politics publisher who may be letting politicians pay for news coverage and he makes no apologies for his business model.
■ The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a slain reporter’s personal devices should be protected from an unchecked police inquiry.
■ The Kansas police chief who ordered the raid on a local newspaper office has resigned.
■ New York’s platform-disclosure mandate for social media networks may pose significant threats to a free press.
■ Americans do distinguish between reporting from news media and from social media, according to a RealClear Media study.

Known cure? A free-speech culture is the antidote to the cancel culture that is tearing at the fabric of our society, authors have claimed in a new book, “The Canceling of the American Mind.” 
■ The Walt Disney Co. and Gov. Ron DeSantis continue to flood Florida courts with more legal filings.
■ In its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether state laws to limit social media platforms violate the Constitution.
■ A panel of federal appeals judges will not revive a lawsuit against Tennessee’s vote-by-mail restrictions.

Lordy, lordy. A New Jersey nontheist and congressional hopeful has sued his state over a “so help me God” affirmation on his nominating petition, claiming he cannot sign a religious oath.
■ Supreme Court justices upended the standard of human dignity with its 303 Creative ruling, contend University of Michigan political-science professors in a guest commentary for The Conversation.
■ A University of Wisconsin law professor has written an analysis of just where the U.S. Supreme Court stands on banning books.
■ The city of Murfreesboro, Tenn., has been sued over a potentially discriminatory ordinance that targeted a pride festival.
■ Slain Philadelphia journalist Josh Kruger was “trying to help” the teen suspected in his killing.

Too far. Indiana media outlets have filed a lawsuit against the state over a law that keeps reporters from getting within 25 feet of a police investigation.
■ Rights organizations and media groups have demanded information on why the FBI raided the home newsroom of a Florida journalist.
■ New editor Emma Tucker is quickly remaking The Wall Street Journal, but the speed of change has unnerved many staff members. The Remaking of The Wall Street Journal - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
■ A group of senators have introduced a resolution demanding that Russia free detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.