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Podcast: Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation

Podcast: Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation

We’ve talked a lot on this show about the problems that news deserts, misinformation, and information silos present to democracy. Our guest this week says these things are all downstream from a much more fundamental disconnect between the need for a free press in a democracy and the models the United States has set up to make it happen.

Victor Pickard is the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Democracy Without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society." We discuss the history of market failures and policy choices that led to the decline of local journalism and the spread of misinformation.


Victor walks us through his vision for what a re-imagined public media ecosystem in the United States might look like and what it will take to get there. Examples like WBEZ’s recent acquisition of the Chicago Sun-Times provide examples of what’s possible. Candis and Chris discuss how Victor’s arguments about the assault on public media are similar to what we heard from Derek W. Black about public education last year.

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Warning: Trump’s Tariffs Pose Obstacles for AI Development

Humans are using laptops and computers to interact with AI, helping them create, code, train AI, or analyze big data with fast, cutting-edge technology.

Getty Images/Wanan Yossingkum

Warning: Trump’s Tariffs Pose Obstacles for AI Development

Huiyan Li

WASHINGTON – During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on April 9, Democratic representatives repeatedly raised concerns that President Trump’s new tariffs and attempts to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act would harm U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI).

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An AI Spark Worth Spreading

People working with AI technology.

Getty Images, Maskot

An AI Spark Worth Spreading

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, policymakers face a delicate balancing act: fostering innovation while addressing legitimate concerns about AI's potential impacts. Representative Michael Keaton’s proposed HB 1833, also known as the Spark Act, represents a refreshing approach to this challenge—one that Washington legislators would be right to pass and other states would be wise to consider.

As the AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, I find the Spark Act particularly promising. By establishing a grant program through the Department of Commerce to promote innovative uses of AI, Washington's legislators have a chance to act on a fundamental truth: technological diffusion is essential to a dynamic economy, widespread access to opportunity, and the inspiration of future innovation.

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Trump’s Gambit: Trade Tariff Relief For a TikTok Sale

TikTok icon on a phone.

Getty Images, 5./15 WEST

Trump’s Gambit: Trade Tariff Relief For a TikTok Sale

You know things aren’t going well in the negotiations for the U.S. operations of TikTok when President Trump has to bribe the Chinese government with billions in tariff relief.

But that’s exactly what was reported out of the White House. President Trump is willing to give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) billions in tariff relief if they pressured TikTok to sell its U.S. operations before the April 5th deadline.

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Who gets to ask questions at the White House?

WASHINGTON, DC, USA –– White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt answers questions from journalists on Jan. 28, 2025.

(Joshua Sukoff/Medill News Service)

Who gets to ask questions at the White House?

WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration increasingly welcomes vloggers and social media influencers into press briefings and the Oval Office, established outlets like the Associated Press find themselves excluded from the century-old press pool, sparking controversy about what "transparency" truly means.

Watch the video report here:

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