News in Review: Friday, February 10, 2023
Introducing new AI-generated content
This newsletter debuts a new section called “What is happening in the top stories?”. It gives the recent developments in the top three news stories of the day. It is generated by GPT-3, then edited by a human (me) to ensure accuracy.
Over the coming weeks, I plan to experiment with weaving this AI-generated content with the data itself. I’m curious about the following questions:
How well does GPT-3 handle interpreting data?
Can using AI spice up this newsletter from a reader’s standpoint, with intelligent commentary on the data that is presented?
Are readers just as interested in reading commentary from AI as they would be from a human they trust and like? Does the use case matter? Are readers fine with AI content that summarizes and interprets stories and data (as is intended here), and less fine with AI content that expresses opinions?
I greatly appreciate feedback, so please reply directly to this newsletter with thoughts on using AI to generate content or this newsletter as a whole.
What does the news landscape look like?
The State of the Union address has fallen from the top spot, replaced by the Chinese spy balloon story. The new House panel on the weaponization of government has entered the news cycle.
This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:
China / balloons (19% more on the right)
Trump / DeSantis / GOP (66% more on the left)
House weaponization panel (35% more on the right)
Media bias ratings are from AllSides.
This is how articles from liberal and conservative outlets were distributed over the past five days amongst the top stories.
Liberal outlets used these words more than conservative outlets:
day (1.6x)
capitol (1.4x)
santos (1.3x)
Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:
fbi (2x)
hunter (1.7x)
disney (1.4x)
What is happening in the top stories?
Now for a deep dive into our top three stories, starting with…
China / balloons
President Joe Biden said the Chinese spy balloon that transited the United States before it was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean was not a major security breach.
The U.S. declared that the balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries.
The U.S. Coast Guard imposed a temporary security zone in waters off South Carolina during the military’s search for debris from the balloon.
President Biden said the balloon was a violation of international law and that the U.S. had the right to do what it wanted with it.
Trump / DeSantis / GOP
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) holds a 9-point lead over former President Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up in the 2024 Republican primary.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has restored former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Trump’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts currently have 34 million and 23 million followers respectively.
Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to former President Trump, is joining the Trump campaign as the former president assembles a team for his 2024 White House bid.
House weaponization panel
House Republicans launched an investigation into the alleged use of the federal government to target conservatives.
The GOP formed the committee as a way to counter alleged abuse of a government they say is abusing its power to target conservatives.
The first hearing included testimony from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and former FBI special agent Nicole Parker.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) replaced Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on the new House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.