Princess Mary and the camel

And if that isn't enough to lure you into a rabbit hole about AI and higher education, I don't know Arkansaw.

Many institutions seem to be tootling the rope on the callyope these days about our "responsibility" to teach AI to students. At mine, the current sermon includes, among "important considerations," some notes about AI output:

• Output should always be checked carefully
• AI hallucinations can create inaccurate results
• Watch out for biases and stereotypes in results

I don't think it's unfair to suggest that, by the time you've learned to check your output, recognize hallucinations and be alert to biases, you're past needing the advice of an LLM -- and if you're not, you really shouldn't be using one. 

I was primed for this before the slides showed up in my email because -- as one does in These Parlous Times -- I was trying to track down some information on the Nazi hierarchy's religious affiliations because of Something Somebody Said Online. Specifically, I was looking for an article about Hermann Goering's US chaplain at Nuremberg. One headline about the Nuremberg executions* -- "How did he learn his hour?" -- stood out in what passes for my memory these days, so I put it into a Google search on the chance it might turn up quickly.

The "AI overview," of course, topped the results. I've found that unimpressive since it told me in February that Fat Tuesday had occurred in March 2025, but its suggestion on Goering was beyond a little time travel:
 

Hermann Goering learned his "hour," meaning his time to be executed, after his suicide attempt failed in the Nuremberg prison. He was condemned for war crimes and crimes against humanity and hanged.

Well, no. The headline writer's question was about whether Goering had been tipped off in time to take his cyanide pill, which worked.

This brought to mind a Great Moment in Editing: T.E. Lawrence's exchange with an editor about spelling. Transliteration systems were fine, Lawrence said, as long as you knew Arabic to begin with. So after the AI For Teachers session came and went (had another meeting, sorry), I thought it might help to track down the exact Lawrence quote. So, again, I asked Google for a line that stuck out: "I spell my names anyhow, to show what rot the systems are."

The results were ... OK. It was the publisher raising the proofreader's concerns, but whatever. And "place names" seemed a bit off; I had thought the quote had to do with a camel, so I added another string: "She was a splendid beast." And in the distance, sirens:

Right, the queries were about all sorts of proper names, not just places, but Princess Mary? His biographer? A splendid beast? But it came from the Columbia Journalism Review (and the source is right there with the summary), so it's got to be true, right? Here's the estimable Merrill Perlman, in CJR, quoting from Seven Pillars: 

Proofreader: Slip 47. Jedha, the she camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40.

Lawrence: She was a splendid beast.

As the kids say, yeah no. Asked about biographies of Lawrence (with the string "Princess Mary" added), AI Overview had this to add: 

His personal life and relationships, including any with figures like "Princess Mary," are not directly documented or discussed in his biography.

I'm not seeing a future for generative AI in journalism, but comedy seems wide open:

You don't get in unless you say the password. I give you a hint. It's the name of a camel

Mary?

Mary? Ha ha. That's no camel.

No, but she drinks like one.

I'll be here all week, folks. Don't forget your server.

* Comparative gloating about death porn is one of those things I write about sometimes. 

BENGHAZI!!1!11!!!: A slight return

Rather impressive, the sheer amount of bullshit that Fox manages to pack into Sunday afternoon's top story. Needless to say, it had professional help:

Ric Grenell, the Trump administration's special presidential envoy for special missions, slammed Obama and Biden-era diplomat Susan Rice for the Democratic Party's years of foreign policies that he said landed the U.S. in two different wars under the Biden administration alone.  

"Your guy couldn’t even talk to Putin. For 3.5 years! Your policies helped usher in a war in Ukraine, Gaza…and Rwanda if you remember," Grenell posted to X on Saturday afternoon.

Fox is putting words into his mouth just a tad bit there, though you'll recognize the party line, even if he stops short of accusing Ukraine of invading Russia. But he's just getting started:

"And then you lied about Libya - it wasn’t caused by a video," he continued, referring to claims in 2012 that an anti-Islam video led to the Benghazi terror attack on U.S. government facilities in the Libyan city. "You made that up…. Donald Trump handed you peace in the Middle East and Europe - you handed us two wars. We see you," he added. 

Grenell was responding to a post from Susan Rice, who served as an Obama administration national security advisor and U.N. ambassador, that claimed conservatives "are up to the same old tired crap" following President Donald Trump's tense meeting with Ukraine President Volodomyr* Zelenskyy on Friday.

Zelenskyy's point on Friday -- at least, the one that seemed to spark young JD Vance's tantrum -- was that what Trump handed over only looked like "peace" if you ignored repeated cease-fire violations ("people have been dying on the contact line"), a failure to exchange prisoners as agreed, and so on. (And let's not get started on "peace in the Middle East.") But Grenell's getting back to a favorite old point in the catalog of right-wing resentment: the Benghazi consulate attack of 2012 and the idea that the craven Democrats -- Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rice and more or less everyone else -- invented the pretext of Muslim rage at a YouTube video to cover up their folly in not averting a terrorist attack.

Bit of a problem here, though: Fox News did as much as anyone to spread the supposed lie. Here's the top story from the morning after the attack (Sept. 12):

As early as the previous evening, Fox had gotten "anti-Islam video" into the No. 2 headline on the page. And you have to admit, the Orientalist vibe -- the irrational East driven to a murderous rage by an obscure social media video -- is the sort of batting-practice fastball that any Fox writer would swing at. Yet Fox has never been able to get the data to line up in its favor. Eighteen months later, after a FOIA barrage from Judicial Watch, Fox was able to find that some White House officials had briefed Rice on Sept. 14 for the upcoming Sunday talk shows, but that's about as smoky as the smoking gun ever got -- and well after Fox started spreading the gospel. Not that anything today is going to stop the Benghazi fable one it's rolling:

The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway had posted to X speculating that Rice and other Democrats may have "personally" advised Zelenskyy on acting "hostile and to try to goad Trump into blowing up" during the meeting, sparking Rice to weigh in.

"You clowns are up to the same old tired crap," Rice posted to X. "When your guy screws up and royally embarrasses himself and the U.S., you try to change the subject and lie about a favorite target to distract and deflect. For the record, I have never met Zelenskyy and never spoken to him. Ever. Or advised him or anybody around him. It’s a shame that you contend that it is in the U.S. national interest to sell out Ukraine and suck up to Putin."

Hemingway shot back, "Thank you for your response. Where would we place this denial, compared to your oft-repeated lie that the Benghazi debacle was due to a YouTube video, and your lie that you ‘knew nothing’ about the unmasking of Trump officials before being forced to admit you did it widely?"

As I've written before (sorry to harp on that, but I have students now who were in kindergarten when this happened), calling the consulate attack a fake scandal isn't the same as calling it a fake disaster. But the persistence of this right-wing bedtime story into the second Trump administration is a reminder of the close links between the Trump cult and its media support system -- even the parts that forget their own role.

* Ahem

Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey: How Fox works

Need a nice ripped-from-the-headlines example of how securitization theory interacts with the Rules of Journalism to tilt the public your way? Take it away, Fair 'n' Balanced Network!

As of this writing (around 12:30 p.m. Eastern US on Thursday), Fox's top homepage presence on the (ahem) "Sin City Scare"* was posted at 9:08 p.m.  Wednesday:

... Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press conference on Wednesday that investigators know who rented the Cybertruck, which was acquired in Colorado, though they are not prepared to identify that person without 100% certainty.

McMahill also said investigators were able to trace the truck through Tesla charging stations. License plate readers in Las Vegas first detected the vehicle at about 7:30 a.m., and McMahill said it traveled up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before pulling into the Trump hotel valet area.

Within 15-20 seconds of pulling up to the hotel, the sheriff added, the vehicle exploded.

Which is certainly better than "nearly** 20 seconds after pulling up to the Trump International Hotel," but that's not the timey-wimey issue at stake here. Consider this, posted at 3:32 a.m. from the (hem) corporate stablemate (kaff) New York Post:

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck who was killed when the vehicle blew up outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas has been identified as a Colorado resident and Army veteran.

Law enforcement sources confirmed to The Post that Matthew Livelsberger, 37, rented the electric pickup truck that went up in flames New Year’s Day in the valet area of the hotel.

Livelsberger was behind the wheel of the Tesla truck, which was packed with fireworks-style mortars, camping fuel and canisters, during the explosion, News5 reported early Thursday, citing law enforcement sources.

The AP updated its story at 10:46:

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The person who authorities believe died in the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Two law enforcement officials identified the man inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck as Matthew Livelsberger. The law enforcement officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

I would have gone with "iconic dumpster-like vehicle" for the full Elongated Yellow Fruit effect, but that might be just me. Anyway, here's Dear Leader himself at 9:08 a.m.:

What does all this have to with the Rules of Journalism? From somewhere in the cradle or shortly thereafter, we learn the elements -- conflict, oddity, proximity, timeliness and so forth (the Mizzou acronym was actually A COP TIP) -- that go into moving an event up or down the scale of news. These don't stand in a predictable scalar relationship; they interact with each other, with events themselves and with assorted other news priorities to produce the hierarchy you see on the front page or the homepage.

Read more »

Everybody's a critic

Lest you think the culture war would somehow fade into the scenery of the drone-haunted hellscape that is the presidential transition, here's a cross-media example of how and why it's here for a bit. Amid the thuggery, though, take a moment to enjoy the skill with which the players manage to step on even the most obvious of rakes.

First up is the Daily Signal, now purportedly independent but until recently the daily media arm of the Heritage Foundation, feeling very put-upon indeed:

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the Broadway cast of “& Juliet” in New York City this past Saturday. On the surface, Jackson is having fun and fulfilling what she said was a dream of hers, but the implications of such a stint are much more reprehensible than meets the eye.

“& Juliet” is a woke, jukebox musical reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” with a twist.

Poor kids. Who's going to be the first to tell them about "West Side Story"?

According to the official website, “‘& Juliet’ asks: What would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo?”

Jackson was invited by the “& Juliet” team to perform a brief walk-on role written specifically for her, she told National Public Radio.

The musical also features a new character, “May,” Juliet’s nonbinary best friend who uses he/she/they pronouns. It is fitting for Jackson to join this type of show since she, when asked by Sen. Marsha Blackburn during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing to define the word “woman,” simply replied: “I can’t.”

If you're scoring along at home, the answer is "someone who covers her drink when [cabinet nominee of your choice] walks into the room." But there's a point here:

Jackson’s time on Broadway highlights the stark contrast in the way conservative and liberal justices are allowed to live their lives in the public eye.

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas faced an ethics controversy for vacationing with longtime friend and Republican donor Harlan Crow and not reporting it on financial disclosures. Thomas claimed in a statement he had no reason to report these trips since Crow had no “business before the court.”

Jackson, on the other hand, is given a Broadway debut simply because it’s supposedly her dream, and she is celebrated in the name of “female empowerment.”

Let's work on that one a little, shall we? Take your time.

While Jackson attracts a large audience of excited theatergoers, conservative justices like Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito attract assassination attempts.

There is a demonstrable (and unsurprising) double standard in Broadway’s attitude toward conservatives, too. Brandon Dixon, a former cast member of “Hamilton” on Broadway, read a note to former Vice President Mike Pence from the stage at the conclusion of a performance Pence attended in 2016.

Dixon, speaking on behalf of the cast made up exclusively of racial minorities, lambasted the then-vice president-elect, who was still present, saying, “We are the diverse America who are alarmed that your new administration will not protect us.”

As Jackson takes time away from a still-in-session Supreme Court to grace the Great White Way, the stark contrast in attitude toward conservatives and liberals stares audiences right in the face.

Just a thought -- have you guys heard there's a train that can get you back from a Saturday night on Broadway in time for a Monday start? But the Heritage types aren't done with Justice Jackson, and Fox News is happy to help:

Read more »

What if it isn't a saber-toothed tiger?

There's actually something pertinent to say here about journalism's next few years, but first, enjoy the sourcing and other routines in Monday morning's lead story at the Fox homepage:

A New Jersey drone pilot says his device lost power and was forced to descend from a restricted chunk of airspace while the mystery flier he was trying to investigate managed to stay airborne despite a signal designed to shut down legal drones.

Michael B, a podcaster and paranormal investigator behind the Terror Talk Productions YouTube channel, lives near the Picatinny Arsenal, an Army facility near where dozens of sightings have been reported in recent weeks. He was flying in the area, attempting to get a closer look at a larger, unidentified object he believes is a drone.

"There was a drone just hanging out," he told FOX 5 New York. "I had full battery life. Not 3 minutes into the flight, I lost control of the drone."

Ever wonder why the national Fox operation is always well stocked with tales of episodic crime, Black People Behaving Badly and threats to the very fabric of society? One reason is that local Fox stations provide an endless supply of them.

He said he saw a warning flash across the screen of his controller and the battery died. 

... But while the restricted flight area shut down his drone, the mystery one he was trying to approach continued to fly.

It probably helps that local Fox stations don't seem to ask a lot of questions before they buy the magic beans. But here's how you can tell that Fox Central is doing real journalisms:

B did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from Fox News Digital Monday.

And ... scene.

The Drone Mystery has led the Fox homepage at least once a day for the past six days (reminder, this is a set of four screen grabs a day of the top 10 stories). Since it first swam into our ken on Dec. 6, tensions have reached the boiling point, mysteries have swirled and Trump has Spoken Out. We've passed through the Five Stages of Fox: Americans On Edge, Republicans Demand Action, Biden Befuddled, Iranian Mothership and Grab Your Shotguns. Evidently, this has gone from being a mere story to a full-blown Issue.

Now, in the good old days, newsrooms had small cadres of people whose job -- in addition to fixing your spelling, reminding you that the Mississippi is on the other side of the state, and stopping the press for those late-breaking coups and earthquakes -- was pointing that It Isn't That Exciting. When the lead political reporter decided to proclaim that Inflation Remained at Record High, someone along the safety net would politely ask what the previous record was and how much it was broken by. Much as it is with the dreaded Reviewer 2 of the publication cycle, part of the job was asking if the data might add up to something other than the neat package handed over by officialdom. That way, should you insist on sourcing your stories to social media posts from angry Republican ex-officials:

"Last night, beginning at around 9:45 pm, I personally witnessed (and videoed) what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidsonville, Maryland (25 miles from our nation’s capital)," Hogan wrote on X Friday. "I observed the activity for approximately 45 minutes."

The former governor said he does not know if these drone sightings are evidence of a threat to public safety or national security, but he called out the federal government for a "complete lack of transparency" in the face of Americans' concerns.

... you reduce the risk of having to point out later that Sagittarius is usually considered a constellation, not a national security threat.

It's a safe bet that Fox has already gotten the effect it wanted from today's story and the others in the Great Drone Saga. The coverage hasn't changed what people think, but it has changed the balance of what they know. Small bits of learning can add up over time as long as they all go into the same containers: You deserve an answer. Something's going on, and you can't trust the government to tell you about it -- but you can trust Donald Trump.

The grownup media can't fix that, but they can counterflood: address the imbalance by adding to the containers on the other side. So a little less "DRONE REPORTS CONTINUE TO GO VIRAL" and a little more boredom might be in order:

Read more »

The construction of Fox reality

Now that Fox seems to have settled -- OK, sorry, air quotes, "settled" -- on a primary identity for the Alleged Ivy League Radical Leftist Accused Killer Suspect, let's look a bit further at the construction of Fox reality. Of particular interest in Wednesday morning's top three stories (captured around 7:30 Eastern US) are the issues that Fox manages to loop the seemingly isolated events into.

First off, congratulations. Some lucky Fox employee gets to use Lachlan Murdoch's parking space tomorrow for working OBAMA!!!! into the headline on the morning's top story. And we can point to authority for the idea: "former FBI Agent." How clearly might the text make the connection?

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's alleged killer, once a private school valedictorian and an Ivy League graduate, may have been triggered by his age and an ObamaCare provision, according to a former investigator.

... "He's 26 years old, which is the year you get kicked off your family's insurance claim," retired FBI agent Scott Duffey told Fox News Digital. "Was he well insured or was he not? Those are the things that I would be asking as an investigator."

ObamaCare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, requires health plans that offer dependent child coverage to make the coverage available until the adult child reaches the age of 26, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

"I'm not so sure he has remorse," Duffey added. "I feel like whatever took place in his life relatively soon… he made a conscious decision to go down this road."

I suppose it's some consolation that someone, somewhere, is training a large language model on this stuff. Anyway, even if our expert hasn't said the O-word yet. at least we know that the nonretired cops have thought some of the same things:

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione may have sustained a back injury on July 4, 2023.

"He was posting an X-ray on his social media. Some of the writings that he had, he was discussing the difficulty of sustaining that injury," Kenny told Fox News on Tuesday. "So we're looking into whether or not the insurance industry either denied a claim from him or didn't help him out to the fullest extent."

But back to the magic 8-ball investigator:

Duffey said he wonders when Mangione made the "turn" that led to his downfall, adding, "was it when he got into some sort of physical ailment and then perhaps medication … realized just how people are suffering and then got this guilt trip that… 'I've got to change the world?' Or did he suffer some sort of mental break?"

He could go on (and, indeed, he does). But if you're wondering why this particular fount of wisdom was chosen to illuminate this particular shooting, you might ask how often he's provided a similar service for Fox in the past six months:

Read more »

Schrödinger's apple

 

The lead story at the Fox News homepage, around 1 p.m. and 2:30 pm.. Monday.

I'm not at all sure Fox appreciates the gravity of the situation. Thanks, I'll be here all week.