In France, a public discussion around media independence has ensued in recent weeks as staff of prominent newspaper Journal du Dimanche (JDD) have embarked on the longest strike for French media in decades.

JDD journalists are protesting the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, a journalist with links to far-right groups, as the editor-in-chief. Lejeune’s appointment was announced by the outlet’s new owner, media company Vivendi controlled by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

The strike has gone on for over a month now, with the publication having missed five consecutive Sunday issues. JDD staff are demanding guarantees of editorial independence and have not been able to come to an agreement with management yet.

Reporters without Borders (RSF) has expressed their support for striking journalists. French MPs from multiple political groups have offered a bill that would “guarantee journalists’ independence from media shareholders”, Euractiv reports, part of the broader debate on right to information in the country.

Google is testing a product that relies on artificial intelligence to produce news stories. The New York Times rep o rts that “the tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate news content”. It was pitched privately to major US news organisations like The New York Times, The Washington Post and News Corp.

The growth in generative AI consumer projects in recent months has sparked a wide discussion of how AI can impact journalism. Some media organisations like CNET have experimented with publishing AI-generated stories, becoming a subject to controversy in the journalism world.

There’s a broad consensus for now that current AI tools are mostly not reliable and capable enough to generate most journalistic stories (apart from simple formats like stock market updates). The development of products geared specifically for news organisations might potentially change that in the future – but it’s still early days.

Bonus — Three more stories you might want to check out:

Press Gazette: Guardian grows revenue but reports £21m cash deficit
Guardian Media Group: The Guardian announces new roles in the Caribbean, South America and Africa, and expands its reporting on race in the UK and US
Reporters Without Borders: New proof of life of Ukrainian journalist who is Russian state hostage

Media independence in France, Google’s AI tool to write news articles – weekly news digest

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