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Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

boringreport.org

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Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not arguing summarization is not useful, or stripping the various sources of noise you listed. “Debullshitification” reads as de-biasing which is not what you just itemized. My point is rather that Fox News+LLM (as an example) is still biased but would appear/may be incorrectly presented as unbiased to a reader not acutely aware of selection bias which is probably not something an average reader is well informed…

No, you’re applying a specific meaning to an inherently nebulous term, debullshitification. And honestly, I immediately knew what that meant when I read it. My preferred news source, which isn’t horrendously partisan, still has…exactly what I’d call bullshit. If that’s removed, I’ll get more bang for my buck in reading it, and that both provides immense value, and something that I’d call “debullshitification”, whilst…

Since you mentioned nebulous, this is the Oxford definition:

> verb: bullshit; 3rd person present: bullshits; past tense: bullshitted; past participle: bullshitted; gerund or present participle: bullshitting

> talk nonsense to (someone), typically to be misleading or deceptive.

It’s reasonable to interpret debullshitification as removing bias (i.e. what is misleading or deceptive in the news article) in this context rather than the “fluff” listed.

As I stated in the comment you replied to, GP has a different definition and I agreed removing fluff definitely has value.

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#302
If anyone is looking for non-sensationalist news edited by humans, I'd like to offer a shoutout to the newsletter put out by https://join1440.com/. I've been reading it now for a couple of months and, after comparing their choice of stories to cover and the ones covered in the national news (US and Germany), I'm feeling ready to leave the mainstream and let 1440 curate for me. So far they have not missed offering me an interesting and un-opinionated summary of what the mainstream outlets I've been watching consider the most important story of the day. It's a 5 minute read and is published every day except Sunday.

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#303

If anyone is looking for non-sensationalist news edited by humans, I'd like to offer a shoutout to the newsletter put out by https://join1440.com/ . I've been reading it now for a couple of months and, after comparing their choice of stories to cover and the ones covered in the national news (US and Germany), I'm feeling ready to leave the mainstream and let 1440 curate for me. So far they have not missed offering me…

Sounds interesting. Just out of curiosity, how would they cover something like the recent "town hall" that CNN hosted for DJT?

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#304
post #303

If anyone is looking for non-sensationalist news edited by humans, I'd like to offer a shoutout to the newsletter put out by https://join1440.com/ . I've been reading it now for a couple of months and, after comparing their choice of stories to cover and the ones covered in the national news (US and Germany), I'm feeling ready to leave the mainstream and let 1440 curate for me. So far they have not missed offering me…

Sounds interesting. Just out of curiosity, how would they cover something like the recent "town hall" that CNN hosted for DJT?

It was not a top story but listed under Politics and National Affairs with this text:

"Former President Donald Trump appears on CNN town hall forum in what is considered the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign (More) | See all 2024 presidential candidates so far (More)"

(More) is a link to further information.

Top story for that day (today) was Title 42 Ends and second was Santos Charges Unsealed

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#305
post #303

If anyone is looking for non-sensationalist news edited by humans, I'd like to offer a shoutout to the newsletter put out by https://join1440.com/ . I've been reading it now for a couple of months and, after comparing their choice of stories to cover and the ones covered in the national news (US and Germany), I'm feeling ready to leave the mainstream and let 1440 curate for me. So far they have not missed offering me…

Sounds interesting. Just out of curiosity, how would they cover something like the recent "town hall" that CNN hosted for DJT?

You can read today's briefing here: https://join1440.com/newsletter/title-42-ends-george-santos-...

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#306
I wonder how it would "desensationalize" something that probably ought to be framed more urgently than the press typically does, like the threats against democracy by creeping authoritarianism and white nationalists.

Maybe that's an another app idea: remove "both sides" and "horse race" nonsense.

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#308
post #306

I wonder how it would "desensationalize" something that probably ought to be framed more urgently than the press typically does, like the threats against democracy by creeping authoritarianism and white nationalists. Maybe that's an another app idea: remove "both sides" and "horse race" nonsense.

I suspect you might participate in the sensationalism the app was built the prevent. Outside the prison system, white nationalists hold very little influence in the US.

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with the news isn't that it's sensationalized, which of course it is, but that an ever increasing amount of it is completely made up.

Hm, maybe from some news outlets. I think the main issue for big news outlets isn't outright falsehoods, it's the coverage bias. You really can't get a full sense of what's going on if you don't make an effort to get news from divergent sources because each outlet covers the news that fits its preferred narrative.

> I think the main issue for big news outlets isn't outright falsehoods

I'm not entirly sure:

- Fox outright lied about voting machines (and much more)

- NBC lied about Russiagate (and much more)

- CNN lied about Ivermectin and painted Joe Rogan yellow (and much more)

Outright falsehoods are definitely a thing.

Re: Show HN: Boring Report, a news app that uses AI to desensationalize the news

#310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come around to there being legitimate usecases for this type of generative AI, but I don't think producing anything that's supposed to be "True" or "Correct" is one. I think the only useful usecases is for when you want to generate fiction.

I’m to the point where I’d probably put more trust in an AI generated news summary than many of the sites that purport to give me accurate and truth worthy news.

For a lower-tech approach, The Flip Side is pretty good at doing one story each day from 2 different sides. I was a bit annoyed when an excited friend signed up my email address without asking me, but I have never unsubscribed because I find it refreshing in a typical world of frenzied news.

https://www.theflipside.io

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