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Earlier this month, my Poynter colleague Angela Fu published a story that kicked up a hornet’s nest in the journalism and artificial intelligence world: “An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work.”

Fu wrote that an AI company called Nota, whose clients included organizations like The Boston Globe and the Institute for Nonprofit News, scrapped its network of local news sites after learning that they contained dozens of instances of plagiarism.

How did the story come about? How were all the instances of plagiarism discovered? What has been the reaction in the AI community? What is happening with Nota?

And what kind of damage does this do to the relationship between journalism and AI?

All of those questions, and more, are discussed in the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast” out today. I talk with Fu about her story, as well as MediaWise director Alex Mahadevan, a member of Poynter’s faculty who specializes in AI.

Mahadevan told me, “As someone who trains newsrooms and how to use AI responsibly and ethically, it makes my job harder because it rightfully makes journalists even more suspicious of this technology and distrustful of the companies that are employing it within news organizations. So it’s definitely made my job harder. It’s increased the distrust of AI in journalism. I mean, the biggest takeaway for me is that this could have worked.”

How?

Go behind the scenes of this story that has become quite the buzz.

Aside from watching on YouTube, you can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and most places where you find podcasts.

Look who’s coming

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose company is trying to close a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, is throwing an invitation-only party next week. Paramount owns CBS (and, thus, CBS News) and could end up owning CNN, which is part of WBD. As for this party, Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright reported, “you may guess who the CBS News owner is planning on honoring.”

Yep, you guessed it — President Donald Trump.

Ellison ultimately needs Trump’s administration to sign off on his acquisition of WBD. And, anyway, we shouldn’t be surprised by this, considering David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, have always had a good relationship with Trump. That relationship has only tightened in recent months, with both sides wanting something from the other.

The Ellisons need the Trump administration to grant regulatory approval for Paramount to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. And Trump wants to see the Ellisons make changes to CNN and continue to move CBS News to the right.

Variety’s Todd Spangler wrote about the gathering honoring Trump, writing, “The event will take place in Washington, D.C., on April 23, two days before the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, April 25. The Ellison-hosted function will be held at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, which the State Department in December 2025 announced was being renamed ‘The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.’”

Speaking of CBS and the White House Correspondents Association dinner, there are reports that CBS News has invited Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as its special guests.

As I wrote last week: “The whole WHCA dinner has become a performative night when the media and political-types let their hair down, poke a little fun at each other’s expense and generally set aside their differences to acknowledge the importance of a free press in this country. But it’s hard to find any administration in contemporary history that has been more adversarial to the press than Trump’s. And few people inside of Trump’s administration have been more hostile, confrontational and uncooperative than Hegseth.”

You could probably add Miller to that list, too.

The WHCA dinner

So you have the Ellisons and CBS buddying up to the Trump administration in the same week that Trump will actually attend the White House Correspondents Association dinner. Trump has attended the dinner as a private citizen, but this will be his first time as president. Up until now, as president, he has always boycotted.

My Poynter colleague, Kelly McBride, has a new piece out: “The White House Correspondents’ Dinner has always been a cringefest. Trump just makes it obvious.”

McBride writes, “As elite journalists wring their hands over whether it is hypocritical to attend this year’s dinner or mount a quiet protest by wearing First Amendment lapel pins and pocket squares, I would rather they acknowledge that a red-carpet schmoozefest with the powerful sources they cover was never a good idea. The annual rationalizing that it’s just a show of civility to party with the people one covers doesn’t overcome the public’s skepticism about our independence. What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look.”

This is just the beginning of McBride’s smart points. Read her thoughts in full.

Meanwhile, TheWrap’s Michael Calderone writes, “White House Correspondents’ Dilemma: Toasting the First Amendment as Trump Tramples Over It.”

Calderone writes, “Presidents traditionally use the opportunity on stage at the Washington Hilton to take jabs at the news media and perhaps even their critics; former President Barack Obama famously roasted Trump in 2011 amid his birther crusade. But jokes at the press’s expense are typically accompanied by earnest appreciation for the work journalists do. And unlike past years, jabs from this sitting president would be coming alongside an assault on the press. No one knows exactly what Trump will do. He may be affable and conciliatory in person — only to malign the press later on Truth Social. Or do something else entirely. But journalists run the risk of appearing on camera in tuxes and ball gowns and wearing tight smiles as the president unloads on them.”

Brutal layoffs

In what is looking like one of the most devastating layoff cycles in media, the BBC is expected to cut 2,000 jobs over the next two years.

You read that right: TWO THOUSAND. That’s about 10% of the BBC’s workforce.

Deadline’s Jake Kanter wrote that ​​Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s interim director general, announced to staff that between 1,800 and 2,000 roles will be axed. Kanter added that more details will come in September, “meaning staff face an anxious wait to find out where the axe will fall.”

Reports are that the BBC is trying to find about $675 million in savings over the next two years.

All this comes at a tumultuous time at the BBC. Davies is filling in until Matt Brittin, the former head of Google in Europe, takes over as director general next month. Brittin is succeeding Tim Davie, who resigned last November after blowback over a BBC documentary about President Donald Trump and comments that Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021.

Philippa Childs — the head of Bectu, a union representing workers in the media and entertainment industries — said in a statement, “At a time of fake news and an industry that is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few multinational corporations, the UK needs a confident, ambitious and sustainably-funded BBC more than ever. The Government must ensure that Charter Renewal puts the BBC’s funding on a more secure, long-term pathway and prevent our national broadcaster facing death by a thousand cuts.”

He said what?

Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Turning Point USA event in Georgia on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)

You all know that there’s a spat going on these days between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. Actually, it’s Trump doing most of the personal trashing. Leo has been critical of the war in Iran, particularly the administration involving the name of Jesus and calling it a “holy war.”

Trump lashed out at the pope in a stunning social media post, calling Leo “weak on crime” and then later doubling down to reporters by saying he is not a fan of the pope.

Leo responded by saying, “I have no fear of the Trump administration. I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems.”

Sort of caught in the middle is Vice President JD Vance, obviously an ardent supporter of Trump, but also someone who has been quite outspoken about his Catholic faith.

Yet, Vance said this earlier this week: “In the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

Wait, the vice president actually said that the pope — one of the holiest people on the planet who is as studied on theology as anyone alive — needs to “be careful” when it comes to talking about theology?

Leo has said Jesus “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

But Vance argued this week, “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those, those innocent people, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes.”

Vance’s remarks earned strong pushback.

As The Daily Beast’s Erkki Forster wrote, “JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism at age 35, has taken it upon himself to school the Vicar of Christ on Catholic theology.”

Meanwhile, Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the Republican from South Dakota, stuck up for the pope, saying, “Isn’t that his job?” Thune then clapped back at Vance, saying, “I’d stay focused on … the economic issues, pocketbook issues that most Americans care about. And let the church be the church.”

Media tidbits

• Ari Shapiro, the former longtime co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” is joining CNN as a contributor. Shapiro left NPR last year after 25 years at the network. He was co-host of “All Things Considered” for 10 years. Shapiro will appear on CNN and will co-host a new video podcast titled “Engagement Party” with CNN anchor and analyst Audie Cornish, who worked with Shapiro at NPR. Here’s more from Deadline’s Ted Johnson.
• The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin with “Snap Laying Off 1,000 Employees as CEO Evan Spiegel Says Company Faces ‘Crucible Moment.’”
• CNN’s Brian Stelter with “Journalist detained in Kuwait after posting Iran war video, advocates say.”
• Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy with “What’s Next for Dianna Russini? Sports Media Insiders Debate Her Future.”
• CNN’s Kara Scannell with “Jury finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly and overcharged fans.”
• For Poynter, Tracey Compton with “ICE detainees’ deaths raise questions about news coverage of Asian communities.”

Hot type

• For The New York Times Magazine, Oliver Whang with “We Don’t Really Know How A.I. Works. That’s a Problem.”

More resources for journalists

• Reporters and editors with ambition to do investigative journalism: Get guidance from ProPublica’s Alexandra Zayas in this five-week, hands-on seminar starting April 23. Enroll today.
• Learn how to cover ICE enforcement and its impact on children and families. Webinar: April 28 – Enroll now
• Master trauma-informed reporting to cover mental health with accuracy, empathy and impact. Webinar: June 9 – Enroll now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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