False and Apparently "AI" Derived News Story about KNX's FM changing Format in LA.

[michael hagerty]

I never go through a drive through. How does anyone get to a wallet while driving?

Okay, so, Chimp---"drive through" is an expression. You actually stop to place the order, and again at the window to pick up the food. During those stops, or while waiting in line, you can gently lift yourself up, reach into your pocket and extract your wallet (assuming you're not wearing a suit coat or blazer, where it would be in an inside breast pocket).

Upon completing the transaction, and while the car is still not moving, you then reverse the procedure, putting the wallet back in your pocket.




(forgive me, Frank, but I had to)

 

[CTListener]

How long have you been in media and how many GMs have you met?

Corporate tells the GM what to do, or the GM is gone and another GM who will do it is there. The paranoia pyramid continues down, with the GM telling the ND what to do, or the ND is gone, and so on.

I guess in Loverofradio's world, anyone who obeys orders from a superior has no self-respect.

 

[michael hagerty]

I guess in Loverofradio's world, anyone who obeys orders from a superior has no self-respect.

And in some cases, that's true. A GM who agrees to something he, she or they believe will damage or destroy the station has no self-respect. But, in my experience, GMs are much more likely to value self-preservation over self-respect.

 

[CTListener]

Okay, so, Chimp---"drive through" is an expression. You actually stop to place the order, and again at the window to pick up the food. During those stops, or while waiting in line, you can gently lift yourself up, reach into your pocket and extract your wallet (assuming you're not wearing a suit coat or blazer, where it would be in an inside breast pocket).

Upon completing the transaction, and while the car is still not moving, you then reverse the procedure, putting the wallet back in your pocket.




(forgive me, Frank, but I had to)

Or do what I do: Keep some bills in your right pocket and your wallet in your left, then take the cash you need to pay at the window out of that right pocket.

(Forgiveness also requested. I think we are providing a valuable service here, offering Chimp useful advice for living in the 20th century. Maybe someday we'll introduce him to the 21st.)

 

[radiofan2023]

News companies (at least in local tv) won’t use AI. There’s too much on the line, let alone legally, to replace reporters with AI. You might see it in smaller tv markets used in some sort of way, but it’s a very bad idea. As I said before, this is one thing, television/journalism outlets needs to just step away from.

I’m sorry, I just can’t see any self-respecting GM or news director signing off of having anything to do with AI into a newsroom. local tv isn’t radio. Stations will rather run lean on staff than to risk any mistakes from AI. The moment my station does this, I’ll send $20 in the mail to you both personally. Plus, I didn’t know there’s a way to see how many journalists there are in the United states

KSHB in Kansas City has run news stories with AI generated voices reading them and marks them as AI generated content onscreen. I don’t know if the station creates the AI generated content for the stories or if it’s created by the station’s owner, Scripps.

 

[michael hagerty]

KSHB in Kansas City has run news stories with AI generated voices reading them and marks them as AI generated content onscreen. I don’t know if the station creates the AI generated content for the stories or if it’s created by the station’s owner, Scripps.

Okay, so add that to whatever it is (probably the same thing) that FTVLive says Scripps is doing in Lansing, Michigan.

Scripps is one of the most respected names in journalism, but I learned first-hand that they are absolutely willing to embrace technology allowing them to cut costs and corners during the three years I worked for them in Phoenix.

When I was hired in 2009, Scripps had launched an initiative called "Newsroom of the Future". Sounds really cool, but what it really meant was that videotape editors were fired, and the positions of "reporter" and "videographer" were eliminated.

A new position, "Multi-Media Journalist", or MMJ was created. That position involved shooting and editing your own stories. The reporters and videographers were invited to apply for the new position, but only the reporters who knew how to shoot and edit and the videographers who could report made the cut. And, to be honest, the reporters who could shoot weren't as good at it as the videographers who couldn't report and the videographers who could report weren't as good at it as the reporters who couldn't shoot.

So many didn't make the cut that they had to then go outside the company, and I happened to know how to shoot, report and edit, so I got the gig. And while I didn't suck as a videographer, I wouldn't have made the top 30 of any of the videographers I've worked with. In fact, if you made a list of all the videographers I had worked with in the 28 years leading up to that job, I'd have been on the bottom of the list.

A year later (2010), Scripps fired its master control people, and created a hub for all its stations in Florida. Six months after that, the graphics people at all the stations were gone. There was a new graphics hub in Florida in the same building as master control. But you only reached out to them for big stuff like animation. MMJs were now responsible for creating the graphics for the stories they reported, shot, edited and...oh, yeah...posted to the web...using a software solution called LUCI.

I went back to radio in 2012, so I don't know first-hand what Scripps has done since, but I understand that it's been more tech, fewer people.

And again, this is a company with one of the best reputations in journalism for decades. AI is a given.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Yeah, except parroting out press releases (and I know it happens with humans, too) isn't journalism, it's stenography.

I think reporting by press release happens almost exclusively here in small market-ville (market 107 or whatever we are this year)

Pulling up my local Gray station's homepage, eight of the first 10 stories are police/fire blotter. The other two are parks department releases.

In one story from yesterday (12th on the website), the reporter got the name of the town she was reporting from wrong -- three times in a 2 minute package. The name of the town was on a sign over her shoulder while she was doing a standup.

If GMs and NDs were really on about accuracy, they'd have hired @CTListener as their copy editor and chief pedant. That way junior reporters wouldn't confuse a real town they were reporting from with the fictional town which provided a setting for "As the World Turns."

 

[michael hagerty]

I think reporting by press release happens almost exclusively here in small market-ville (market 107 or whatever we are this year)

Pulling up my local Gray station's homepage, eight of the first 10 stories are police/fire blotter. The other two are parks department releases.

In one story from yesterday (12th on the website), the reporter got the name of the town she was reporting from wrong -- three times in a 2 minute package. The name of the town was on a sign over her shoulder while she was doing a standup.

If GMs and NDs were really on about accuracy, they'd have hired @CTListener as their copy editor and chief pedant. That way junior reporters wouldn't confuse a real town they were reporting from with the fictional town which provided a setting for "As the World Turns."

It happens in larger markets, too.

And the copy editors were among the first to be let go when newsrooms started shrinking.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Okay, so add that to whatever it is (probably the same thing) that FTVLive says Scripps is doing in Lansing, Michigan.

Scripps is one of the most respected names in journalism, but I learned first-hand that they are absolutely willing to embrace technology allowing them to cut costs and corners during the three years I worked for them in Phoenix.

When I was hired in 2009, Scripps had launched an initiative called "Newsroom of the Future". Sounds really cool, but what it really meant was that videotape editors were fired, and the positions of "reporter" and "videographer" were eliminated.

A new position, "Multi-Media Journalist", or MMJ was created. That position involved shooting and editing your own stories. The reporters and videographers were invited to apply for the new position, but only the reporters who knew how to shoot and edit and the videographers who could report made the cut. And, to be honest, the reporters who could shoot weren't as good at it as the videographers who couldn't report and the videographers who could report weren't as good at it as the reporters who couldn't shoot.

So many didn't make the cut that they had to then go outside the company, and I happened to know how to shoot, report and edit, so I got the gig. And while I didn't suck as a videographer, I wouldn't have made the top 30 of any of the videographers I've worked with.

A year later (2010), Scripps fired its master control people, and created a hub for all its stations in Florida. Six months after that, the graphics people at all the stations were gone. There was a new graphics hub in Florida in the same building as master control. But you only reached out to them for big stuff like animation. MMJs were now responsible for creating the graphics for the stories they reported, shot, edited and...oh, yeah...posted to the web...using a software solution called LUCI.

I went back to radio in 2012, so I don't know first-hand what Scripps has done since, but I understand that it's been more tech, fewer people.

And again, this is a company with one of the best reputations in journalism for decades. AI is a given.

This is somewhat similar to what's happened in radio broadcasting over the years, and there's an entire other discussion thread here on Radio Discussions about computer generated or "cloned" voices being used on-air, displacing jocks, reporters and VO people. Smaller market stations have been struggling financially for years. Equipment is more expensive, quality staff don't come cheap and advertising revenues have shrunk (along with scads of people turning to forms of media other than OTA broadcast). On the other end of the spectrum, large multimedia corporations and broadcast companies want to earn value for their shareholders and operate lean operations as well. Automation allowed them to achieve that, though I'm guessing there was some doubt among station staff at the time they saw the first machines from Sparta or Ampex that it could ever become reality. Once technology made it possible for satellite programing and reasonably priced computer automation systems became available, they were quickly implemented. Once technology further progressed and voice tracking from nearly anywhere with an internet or data collection became possible, that was also quickly adopted. So if AI will allow stations to go even further and implement more and better technologies that allow the stations to sound similar to the way they do today, with even less need to pay humans to be involved, why would anyone think that stations, both large and small, wouldn't be quick to use it?

(sorry for the slight derailment of the thread, as I know it's supposed to be about AI generated/derived stories and content).

 

[Loverofradio]

It happens in larger markets, too.

And the copy editors were among the first to be let go when newsrooms started shrinking.

Huh? We’ve got a digital content manager (modern day copy editor)

 

[michael hagerty]

In one story from yesterday (12th on the website), the reporter got the name of the town she was reporting from wrong -- three times in a 2 minute package. The name of the town was on a sign over her shoulder while she was doing a standup.

This, by the way, tells me the reporter is an MMJ, shooting her own stuff.

We all can have brain cramps. I've had some doozies. But if there's a videographer shooting that standup, looking in the viewfinder and seeing the sign over her shoulder, he, she or they are gonna stop her and tell her she got the name wrong and to do it over again.

 

[michael hagerty]

Huh? We’ve got a digital content manager (modern day copy editor)

I have to ask a question in order to ask the right question---is your company purely digital or is there a broadcast component?

 

[Kelly A]

A new position, "Multi-Media Journalist", or MMJ was created. That position involved shooting and editing your own stories. The reporters and videographers were invited to apply for the new position, but only the reporters who knew how to shoot and edit and the videographers who could report made the cut. And, to be honest, the reporters who could shoot weren't as good at it as the videographers who couldn't report and the videographers who could report weren't as good at it as the reporters who couldn't shoot.

Not that any of this has to do with AI, but MMJ's have been around since smaller market stations couldn't afford to pay for photogs and reporters. Since then MMJ's are hired to cover both linear TV stories and file for the web.

A year later (2010), Scripps fired its master control people, and created a hub for all its stations in Florida. Six months after that, the graphics people at all the stations were gone.

You can blame me for most of that. But just my work developing Centralcasting as a model, made the company I worked for $300M at the end of the day, and they were able to plow the savings from MC and graphics back into the news content side.

There was a new graphics hub in Florida in the same building as master control. But you only reached out to them for big stuff like animation.

Most, if not all station groups have run under this model for years.

MMJs were now responsible for creating the graphics for the stories they reported, shot, edited and...oh, yeah...posted to the web...using a software solution called LUCI.

Actually for those stations still using production automation like GVG Ignite! Ross Overdrive, or Sony, the producers just fill in the details of what goes into the script via the rundown. The rundown populates the correct graphics with that text in accordance with that particular story. In other words; EP's/Producers/Reporters don't create their own graphics.

 

[michael hagerty]

Not that any of this has to do with AI, but MMJ's have been around since smaller market stations couldn't afford to pay for photogs and reporters. Since then MMJ's are hired to cover both linear TV stories and file for the web.

You can blame me for most of that. But just my work developing Centralcasting as a model, made the company I worked for $300M at the end of the day, and they were able to plow the savings from MC and graphics back into the news content side.

Most, if not all station groups have run under this model for years.

Actually for those stations still using production automation like GVG Ignite! Ross Overdrive, or Sony, the producers just fill in the details of what goes into the script via the rundown. The rundown populates the correct graphics with that text in accordance with that particular story. In other words; EP's/Producers/Reporters don't create their own graphics.

I must not have been clear---the point was that Scripps, which has had a well-deserved reputation for journalism over the years, made moves enabled by technology that diluted the quality of the content and the focus of the journalists.

Pair that with at least two Scripps stations using AI in some form today and we're on topic.

 

[davideduardo]

And this is where touchscreen order kiosks with multiple language options come in.

Then you find the issue of the fact that the average male from Mexico and northern Central America has just a 6th grade education and the average woman even less. Reading skills are very basic.

Example: what is “Sanbali?” Of course, it is Sun Valley. Like that there are dozens.

 

[davideduardo]

Okay, so, Chimp---"drive through" is an expression. You actually stop to place the order, and again at the window to pick up the food. During those stops, or while waiting in line, you can gently lift yourself up, reach into your pocket and extract your wallet (assuming you're not wearing a suit coat or blazer, where it would be in an inside breast pocket).

Upon completing the transaction, and while the car is still not moving, you then reverse the procedure, putting the wallet back in your pocket.




(forgive me, Frank, but I had to)

Hey, we learn something new everyday!

 

[Kelly A]

I must not have been clear---the point was that Scripps, which has had a well-deserved reputation for journalism over the years, made moves enabled by technology that diluted the quality of the content and the focus of the journalists.

So, are you saying that hiring MMJ's or using news production automation is diluting the quality of the content? Or is it that you believe if they start using some form of AI, that's what will be diluting the quality or accuracy of journalism?

Pair that with at least two Scripps stations using AI in some form today and we're on topic.

In my mind that depends on what form AI takes. For example; let's say stories that come into the newsroom via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter (X), Threads, Instagram, Reddit, whatever, are scanned first by some form of AI scan to see what else on the Internet matches the story. Something like this would save time from having some reporter or PA sit there for an hour or more looking to see if the story can be validated, and through what sources. The EP or Producer would then follow-up to verify the story and AI lines up as being an actual story worth covering.

 

[michael hagerty]

So, are you saying that hiring MMJ's or using news production automation is diluting the quality of the content?

I'll only do the "I must not have been clear" courtesy once, because, c'mon. I wrote about my being at a Scripps station in 2009, when it launched its first real tech-driven changes:

The reporters and videographers were invited to apply for the new position, but only the reporters who knew how to shoot and edit and the videographers who could report made the cut. And, to be honest, the reporters who could shoot weren't as good at it as the videographers who couldn't report and the videographers who could report weren't as good at it as the reporters who couldn't shoot.

So yes. The words and the pictures both suffered.

Today, no...because the dilution happened 14 years ago.

Or is it that you believe if they start using some form of AI, that's what will be diluting the quality or accuracy of journalism?

I think that's an entirely reasonable concern, with documented precedent.

In my mind that depends on what form AI takes. For example; let's say stories that come into the newsroom via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter (X), Threads, Instagram, Reddit, whatever, are scanned first by some form of AI scan to see what else on the Internet matches the story.

There's your first weak link. "Confirmation" in this case is two online sources saying the same thing, without regard to whether one is copying the other, the reputation of both, etc.

Something like this would save time from having some reporter or PA sit there for an hour or more looking to see if the story can be validated, and through what sources. The EP or Producer would then follow-up to verify the story and AI lines up as being an actual story worth covering.

Or it could put material in the workflow that a human journalist could have rejected out of hand or debunked with a couple of phone calls or e-mails. That's a reporter's job. And the EP and producer have other work to do. There's a newscast to put together.

 

[michael hagerty]

Huh? We’ve got a digital content manager (modern day copy editor)

And now it's coming back to me---you're at a TV station.

Okay. So you have a digital content manager. You kinda have to.

For broadcast, how many sets of eyes looks at a reporter's copy before he, she or they record the narration or go live from the field?

 

[CTListener]

And now it's coming back to me---you're at a TV station.

Okay. So you have a digital content manager. You kinda have to.

For broadcast, how many sets of eyes looks at a reporter's copy before he, she or they record the narration or go live from the field?

At a typical newspaper, before the demise of the copy desk, a minimum of three sets of eyes saw every story before it went to press: the editor who assigned the story, a copy editor on the copy desk "rim," and the copy desk chief, or "slot." And a copy editor was waiting to grab copies of the paper as soon as the first ones started rolling off the presses, bringing them back to the copy desk for a quick once-over to see if anything had made it into print that would require the presses be stopped for a correction to be made.

And this was the way things were done in the '80s and early '90s at a 30,000-circulation daily in a city of 55,000, not a major metropolitan paper. And despite all those people reading everything the reporters wrote, errors still managed to creep into the paper. But the number of errors that get in now dwarf those figures. But no one cares, because the print subscribers don't matter anymore and a story can always be fixed online leaving no trace of the error that prompted the fix. An error in print is there forever.