5WH Newsletter: Will ChatGPT trigger a new disruption in the news media In today’s newsletter, will ChatGPT trigger a new disruption in the news media; new onboarding on 5wh, and the impact of the shrinking Chinese population on the world economy. Greetings from 5wh. Universities and academia in the United States are trying to adjust to the new elephant in the room. AI chatbots like ChatGPT have forced institutions and teachers to redesign workflow as students use online tools to write essays, says New York Times. What does ChatGPT augur for news media and journalism? We at 5wh firmly believe that there is no alternative to ground reportage. Because journalism is about telling people’s stories, firsthand and factual. For instance, there can never be an alternative to the Pulitzer Prizewinning series filed by Mark Fritz on the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
“Nobody lives here anymore”; wrote Fritz as he passed by a village where everyone had been killed. His accounts of the ethnic cleansing in the African nation triggered preventive interventions from the international community. That’s journalism at its best. It has been our endeavor at 5wh to work on these principles to build a strong community of journalists who can continually replenish a rich and diverse reservoir of news content from which media houses the world over can draw. As we expand across the continents, we take this opportunity to update our users on the new onboardings on 5wh. Tara Nurin, from New Jersey, is a veteran freelance journalist and former Forbes beer/spirits contributor and TV host have joined our team of reporters. She writes and speaks for entities like the Smithsonian on topics that relate primarily to the beer business and culture. Others who have come on board include Abdulaziz Khattak, a senior journalist from Bahrain, Israr Hussain from Pakistan, Pete Brown from the UK, and Andrea Reiher from the US. Media houses interested in commissioning stories to 5wh journalists can post Assignments on our landing page. Stories of Sale:
Doug Christian is a senior White House correspondent and he has filed an analysis on the impact of China’s population decline. Nava Thakuria has written a story on saving one-horned rhinos from poachers. This ready-to-use content is available on the 5wh Marketplace. Media houses interested in using these stories can preview and download them after making an online purchase. In other developments, Tesla owner Elon Musk’s disruption methods at Twitter have not really gone down well with advertisers. The Q4 revenues for the world’s most popular micro-blogging site have tanked by more than 35%, the Information reports even as referral traffic decreased by a fair margin. Jobs, Fellowships and Awards Hearken, is a consultancy that helps companies identify, understand, and respond to people’s needs. In partnership with Solutions Journalism Network and Trusting News, they have announced 2023 Advancing Democracy Fellowship would soon be open for application. The nine-month fellowship supports reporters and editors advancing democracy through innovative approaches that build civic engagement, equity, and healthy discourse. Details here. Registrations are now open for the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit is scheduled to held between 31st Jan- 1 st Feb. The participants can explore the world of philanthropic support for news organizations, from an overall look at the current state of news philanthropy to specific strategies to optimize fundraising in 2023. Resources The International Journalist Network has published a piece on How to Investigate and Report on Right-wing Extremism written by Zimbabwe-based journalist Lungelo Ndhlovu. The Thompson
Foundation is offering a free online course designed to teach journalists how to write news stories in an effective and engaging way using techniques employed by leading journalists from around the world. In 2023, 339 million people in 69 countries will need humanitarian assistance. Yet many of these crises are largely ignored by most media outlets. Humanitarian Journalist, the solution to the world’s underreported crisis, authored by Martin Scott is slated for release this month end. Scott teaches and does research on media at the University of East Anglia. Johny Cassidy is a fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. He is currently researching how blind news audiences are being left behind in the data visualization revolutions and ways to fix the problem. The Rappler Effect 5wh welcomes the acquittal of Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and Rappler, a news organization she founded, of charges of tax evasion filed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s government. We also express our concern over the arrest of Turkish journalist Sezgin Kartal who covers human rights, corruption, and labor issues for resemblance to a man in a 2004 photograph of members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the immediate release of Kartal. That’s all we have in today’s newsletter. Have a wonderful weekend. Please send your feedback to info@5wh.com For joining, visit www.5wh.com.