How much referral traffic to publishers do AI chatbots provide? Practically zero.

'AI presents an existential threat to the news and
media industry.' (AI image by AI)

AI chatbots steal and repost news created and paid for by humans while failing to refer any meaningful traffic to the publications, a new report finds. Chatbot click-through rates, or CTRs, to original content, are abysmal.

"Tollbit, an analytics and licensing platform for publishers and AI companies, has released its first AI User Agent Index, a quarterly report that tracks overall trends in the scraping habits of the AI industry," reports News/Media Alliance. "The report details that the click-through rates for AI chatbots are 95.7% lower than traditional Google search, with a referral rate of just 0.37%." According to industry figures, 3% is considered the average CTR from a Google search, and anything above this is good.

For many publishers and writers, AI content theft is not surprising; however, "Tollbit's data confirms what publishers have known for years — generative AI chatbots are not providing anywhere near the amount of traffic as traditional search," News/Media Alliance CEO Danielle Coffey said in a statement. "By illegally scraping our content, repackaging it and giving it to consumers without adequately directing them to our sites, AI companies are using our own content to undermine our businesses."

When chatbots "redeliver" news via the web without a click-through to the original publication, news and media organizations miss out on subscription and advertising income. In essence, bots steal original content, which costs publications what a consumer may have paid to read it, and they remove to possibility of future income when no click-through traffic is provided.

“With AI click-through rates almost 96% lower than traditional search, which we believe is already at inadequate return rates, the shift to AI presents an existential threat to the news and media industry," Coffey said. "Something has to change. But that doesn’t mean we want to stop the growth of AI. . . .We’re just asking for responsible AI. Artificial intelligence companies must compensate publishers for the content they use, for the long-term health of both of our industries.”

National vaccination rates may continue to slump as states relax vaccination mandates

Child vaccination rates continue to decline.
(CDC photo, Unsplash)

Sliding vaccine rates could become a national trend as several states relax vaccine requirements and reduce promotion efforts, reports Shalina Chatlani of States Newsroom. "Vaccination rates are lower than they were before the pandemic."

Even with a growing measles outbreak in Texas, many Americans continue to reject or remain uncertain about vaccination requirements. "Public health experts worry that the confirmation of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could add fuel to such efforts, leading to the resurgence of long-tamed infectious diseases," Chatlani explains. "Kennedy has made numerous baseless or false claims about vaccines."

Before the pandemic, most Americans accepted vaccination mandates as a medical directive based on scientific expertise, but that has changed. Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky, explained the shift, "Public health was once about doctors and nurses, and when it became defined in the public mind as coming from politicians, trust in it eroded quickly."

Without that trust, more parents have sought vaccination exemptions for their children. Chatlani reports, "Changing attitudes have had an impact: Vaccination rates among children born in 2020 and 2021 declined by between 1.3 and 7.8 percentage points for recommended shots, compared with children born in 2018 and 2019, according to a September report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The accepted reasons parents can use to avoid state vaccination requirements are also likely to increase. "Republican officials in more than a dozen states have introduced legislation to loosen vaccine rules or otherwise reduce their use," Chatlani adds. An Idaho Senate panel recently considered a bill "that would ban mRNA vaccines, including Covid-19 vaccines, for a decade. Montana and Mississippi lawmakers considered but defeated similar proposals."

Rural elders are estimated to endure much more abuse than what is reported. Protecting them comes with speaking up.

Rural adults are less likely to report
abuse. (Photo by Danie Franco)

While research on elder abuse in rural areas may be limited, evidence shows that one in 10 elders report being abused. A report from the National Center on Elder Abuse said that for every report of abuse ”there are 24 incidents that may go unreported,” according to Liz Carey in an article for the Daily Yonder.

“Older adults living in rural and remote areas are at greater risk of abuse because of their geographic isolation, lack of support services, and poorer health,” Carey said.

These conditions may work to conceal abuse. Rural elders tend to have less education and fewer financial resources that could, “possibly [create] barriers to leaving abusive situations,” according to a Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) study quoted by Carey.

Alexis Swendener, co-author of the RHRC policy brief, told the Daily Yonder that it was difficult to know the scope of the problem. “Some of the laws are about vulnerable adults or dependent adults. Some of them have age defined in them and some of them don’t.”

The study looked at reports of emotional abuse, financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and self-neglect. Swendener told the Daily Yonder that sexual abuse and self-neglect were the least likely to be “clearly mentioned.”

Nels Holmgren, the director of Aging and Adult Services in Utah, said in an interview with the Daily Yonder that a key element to protecting elders is reporting. However, he also said due to a sense of independence and lack of services in rural areas, people are less likely to ask for help.

Opinion: The strongest argument for openness in government: Facts quell rumors

Jim Pumarlo

As youths we all likely tried to hide bad behavior from our parents. The truth inevitably surfaced, and we bore the brunt of punishment. Lesson: Be up front with circumstances and repercussions typically are minimized.

Newspapers should communicate the same lesson to public officials who try to keep secret what they deem sensitive or unwelcome news: Be forthright. Make it standard procedure to volunteer the news and minimize rumors.

Newsrooms work tirelessly to deliver on the “public’s right to know,” and for good reason. In the words of David Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association: Open government is essential to good government.

The public’s right to know was the thrust behind the SDNA’s support for a bill that passed this year’s Legislature to require all public boards to review the open meetings laws once a year, Bordewyk writes. “Keeping an eye on government and informing readers about public meetings are among the most important jobs for community news media organizations.”

Government transparency often centers on open records and open meetings laws, Bordewyk notes, acknowledging that laws can be confusing and lead to misunderstandings. So why not require an annual refresher course? It’s a great idea, one that should be pursued by other state press associations if it’s not already on the books.

At the same time, newspapers should not wait for the often lengthy and zigzag path of a worthy idea to reach the finish line. Why not initiate meetings with local officials to review and explore the intricacies of open meeting and data practices laws.

Newspapers certainly should stand on the letter of the law when seeking access to public information and meetings. Two other points should be stressed.

First, advance requests based on the spirit of openness – no matter what the law dictates. Challenge public officials to place themselves in the position of friends and neighbors seeking answers from City Hall. Would they be satisfied with “no comment”?

Second, underscore the value of setting benchmarks for community conversation. Meeting in secret or withholding information only fuels rumors. If gossip has reached the newspaper, those affected can rest assured it has circulated broadly, especially fueled by social media. At a minimum, hearsay exaggerates the facts. At worst, the whispers promote blatant falsehoods.

The opportunity to deliver facts straight from the source is one of the strongest arguments editors can present to those otherwise hesitant to share information. Citizens still may dismiss statements as a “company line,” but parameters have been set for community discussion.

The premise of openness should be delivered to the private sector as well. Companies and individuals are not subject to the same laws as public bodies, but they ought to be aware that their news is equally important to the community and often travels more quickly than a city council vote.

Conflicts over the public’s right to know often focus on a specific meeting or particular document. Officials also should be reminded of the value of everyday openness.

I vividly recall the “news” passed along by my photographer when I sat behind the editor’s desk. Word had reached his son’s elementary school that a teacher at the middle school had lost all his fingers in a lab experiment. We promptly tracked a story for that day’s edition. The superintendent set the record straight. The teacher lost a fingertip and all was handled very calmly and professionally.

Our first inquiry, however, went to the school principal. She refused comment, charging us with sensationalism. A few minutes later she called and canceled her subscription without even seeing our report. I’ll stand by our decision to pursue and publish the story. I’m certain we prevented a lot of misinformed table talk at dinners that evening.

I applaud Bordewyk and his association for securing legislation to require all public boards to review the open meetings laws once a year. In tandem, I encourage newspapers to pursue meetings to orient public officials on the laws. Nothing is more important in newspaper missions than to preserve and advance the public’s right to know.

Editors too often find themselves demanding information in confrontation. Seize the opportunity to structure these meetings as an effort to reach a common understanding.

Jim Pumarlo is former editor of the Red Wing Republican Eagle (Minn.). He writes, speaks and provides training on community newsroom success strategies. He is author of “Journalism Primer: A Guide to Community News Coverage,” “Votes and Quotes: A Guide to Outstanding Election Coverage” and “Bad News and Good Judgment: A Guide to Reporting on Sensitive Issues in Small-Town Newspapers.” He can be reached at jim@pumarlo.

Residents and ranchers in Canadian, Texas, are still recovering a year after the Smokehouse Creek Fire

Heavy smoke crossing a road on the Smokehouse Creek Fire on Feb. 27, 2024. (Wikipedia photo)

It has been a year since the Smokehouse Fire burned millions of acres across the Texas Panhandle. The blaze took the lives of three people, killed thousands of cattle and left a trail of scorched earth that was once bucolic lands.

In Canadian, Texas, a town of 2,300 residents in the Panhandle's northeast corner, where the fire decimated thousands of acres, residents are still working through the disaster's trauma and what the town's future might look like, reports Jayme Lozano Carver of The Texas Tribune. "As resilient as Canadians are, they are coping through trauma — and have been for a long time. The latest fire challenged residents to once again find a way to recover — mentally, physically, and financially."

Wendie Cook, a Canadian council member, told Carver, "It feels as if there’s a shadow. We all know it’s coming. Some days it’s just harder to take in than others.” Carver adds, "It’s difficult to focus on the future when you’re haunted by the past. Black scorch marks cover the splintered trees for miles. . . .Bundles of melted chairs and broken glass are scattered outside what was a community center."

Most of the time when communities are hit by natural disasters, they can begin clean-up and recovery processes immediately. That's not an option for Canadians. Carver explains, "Visitors can't go to Lake Marvin Lodge, a community center that once sat in the Black Kettle National Grasslands Park. The damage from the fire hasn’t been cleaned up. . . . It’s federal property, and local officials are not allowed to rehabilitate it."

Even as life goes on, it isn't the same Canadian. It was "business as usual two weeks ahead of the one-year anniversary of the wildfires," Carver writes. "Ranchers in the Panhandle were getting ready for the annual bull sale. . . There were about 217 people there, but a big portion of the usual customers were absent. James Henderson, a Memphis rancher told Carver, "Our customers lost a lot. So they weren’t here to buy bulls. They don’t need bulls, they don’t have any fences.”

Quick hits: AI gets an 'F' in language; more on eggs; barndominium battles; gift economies; dam removal benefits

AI earns an "F" in language. "AI flunks language tests that take grammar out of the equation," writes Rutvik Desai for The Conversation. "I’m a researcher who studies language and meaning. My research group developed a novel benchmark that can help people understand the limitations of large language models [that are used by AI] in understanding meaning." Word pairings are oddly challenging for AI to grasp. Read why here.

The incredible edible egg also busts budgets. (Adobe Stock photo)

Eggs are a cooking and baking staple, but at their current prices, using eggless recipes is a way American shoppers can save some cash. From chicken meatballs to shrimp in purgatory to peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, these recipes don't have eggs. Don't feel like learning a new recipe to avoid eggs? Here's a list of egg substitutes.

There's a lot to learn about raising
chickens. (Unsplash photo)

Some Americans love eggs so much, they aren't ready to avoid them or try to replace them. Instead, they've decided to take a crack at raising their own chickens. "After living through a pandemic and struggling with ongoing high grocery prices (particularly rising costs for poultry and eggs), many people are ready to make a change for themselves," reports Patrick Kuklinski for Modern Farmer. "Starting a journey in keeping poultry can be overwhelming – there’s a lot to learn, and some breeds have easier requirements than others." To find out what you need to know to raise your own flock, click here.

The barndominium battle being waged in this small lakeside town is becoming more common in rural places. "In Victoria, Minn., dozens of neighbors "signed a petition to reverse city approval for a plan for a five-bedroom house with a 6,000-square-foot garage — big enough to hold at least 20 cars and maybe a pickleball court," reports Joe Barrett of The Wall Street Journal. "But sometimes one homeowner’s dream garage is another’s backyard nightmare, sparking lawsuits, zoning battles and moratoria on mammoth man caves."

The book opens with the author, Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, "picking ripe serviceberries from laden bushes, surrounded by songbirds who also are filling up on the fruit. . . .The plant supports many species wherever it grows," writes Jennifer Weeks in her review of Kimmerer's newest book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. . . . "From this abundance, Kimmerer launches into her central point: Gift economies, centered on giving and re-giving, are all around us, and are a powerful counterpoint to market economies."

Small dam removal can make a big difference for freshwater plants and wildlife that once thrived along the East Coast. "More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland," reports Lela Nargi for Yale Environment360. "New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reopening thousands of river miles to migratory fish, from shad to American eels."

Slashing Medicaid may no longer be an option for some GOP lawmakers. Where will tax-cut funding come from?

Millions of Americans rely on Medicaid for health
care coverage. (Photo by S. Andrews, Unsplash)

Republican lawmakers from districts with large numbers of Medicaid enrollees spent part of last week lobbying against slashing Medicaid funding, reports Amanda Seitz of The Associated Press. "Republicans, who already have ruled out massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare, are turning their attention to siphoning as much as $880 billion from Medicaid over the next decade to help finance $4.5 trillion in tax cuts."

Unlike years ago when Medicaid was considered health care coverage for only the poorest Americans, the popular program now covers more than 70 million Americans who rely on it for everything from nursing home care to emergency room visits. Seitz writes, "GOP pressure over Medicaid is mounting, with some state party leaders joining the calls to preserve the program."

Last week, President Donald Trump promised to leave Medicaid untouched; however, the problem of funding Trump's promised tax cuts remains. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he's targeting "fraudulent or wasteful" Medicaid spending "although it’s unlikely to deliver the savings Republicans seek," Seitz reports. Additional cost-saving could come through work requirements.

Even without axing program funding, Republicans could save money by reducing coverage benefits, but those limitations could spark voter backlash. "Democrats warn that reductions are inevitable and could be dire," Seitz reports. "Starting Monday, TV ads will caution people across 20 congressional districts that hospitals are at risk of closing and millions of people could lose coverage if Republicans cut Medicaid 'to fund massive tax cuts for Elon Musk and billionaires.'"

Nationally, Medicaid has wide-ranging support. Seitz reports, "Fifty-five percent of Americans said the government spends too little on Medicaid." Drew Altman, president of the health care research firm KFF, told Seitz, “It’s now a very popular program that touches a very broad cross-section of American society. Roughly half of the American people say that they or a family member have at one time been served by the program.”

To see where Medicaid enrollees live, click here.

Despite the death of an unvaccinated child from measles, many community members continue to resist vaccinations

Measles can spread with 'extraordinary efficiency, hanging in the air for hours even after a carrier leaves a room.' (NPR graphic from The Lancet created by Alice Design from The Noun Project)

Despite a measles outbreak, including the death of an unvaccinated child in Gaines County, Texas, anti-vaccination proponents in Seminole, Texas, a small town just 80 miles from Lubbock, resist the measles vaccine for adults or children.

"The life-threatening measles outbreak in West Texas starkly illustrates the stakes of slipping immunization rates and the ascension of vaccine skeptics," report Fenit Nirappil and Elana Gordon of The Washington Post. "And it has revealed how fear and the scientifically false claims of the anti-vaccine movement have seeped into communities. . .hardening attitudes about vaccines. . . in the face of a dangerous, preventable disease."

The measles outbreak in Texas is the state's "worst measles eruption in three decades, which has surged to 146 known cases, with the true toll likely much higher, exposing how under-vaccinated communities are unnecessarily vulnerable to one of the world’s most contagious diseases," the Post reports. The child that died was "6 years old and otherwise healthy."

The initial outbreak began in West Texas and rapidly spread from there. Nirappil and Gordon explain, "It spread across nine West Texas counties and crossed the border into New Mexico. . . . The outbreak spurred hundreds in the region to vaccinate themselves and their children as the threat of the virus became immediate. But it has made others dig in their heels, arguing that measles is no worse than chicken pox or the flu."

Even though science does not support the belief, anti-vaccination advocates believe immunization reactions are more dangerous than the diseases the shots prevent. The Post reports, "Medical experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say harm from vaccines is rare and is vastly outweighed by the risk of preventable disease. Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97% effective against the virus."

And while many children readily recover from a case of measles, it can have dire outcomes. "As many as 1 in 20 develop pneumonia, according to the CDC. One in 1,000 experience swelling of the brain, which can leave a child deaf or with an intellectual disability," Nirappil and Gordon add. "For every 1,000 children with measles, one or two die."

Measles can spread with "extraordinary efficiency, hanging in the air for hours even after a carrier leaves a room," the Post reports. "If it infiltrates a community with pockets of unvaccinated people, it’s like throwing a torch into a parched forest and igniting a wildfire."  

U.S. is suffering from a chronic disease endemic, but its prevalence and challenges are more extreme for rural folks

Chronic illness are prevalent across the U.S.
(Adobe Stock photo)

A lack of health care access, poverty and limited fresh food options means many rural Americans face a more intense battle combating chronic illnesses, many of which have become alarmingly common in the U.S. Eli Saslow of The New York Times reports, "Americans now spend more years living with chronic disease than people in 183 other countries in the World Health Organization — a reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. framed as a 'national crisis' in his first weeks as health secretary."

The daily work life of Sam Runyon, a traveling home health nurse in West Virginia, highlights how prevalent chronic health issues are in some rural communities. "All 31 patients in her caseload were under 65 years old, and yet each had at least one of the chronic diseases that had become endemic in the United States," Saslow writes. Runyon treats patients throughout Mingo County, "where the average life expectancy has been dropping steadily for a decade to 67 years old."

The prevalence of chronic disease deaths isn't unique to rural residents. "Death rates are up 25% nationally from diabetes, 40% from liver disease, 60% from kidney disease, 80% from hypertension and more than 95% from obesity," Saslow explains. However, rural residents can lack treatment options and financial resources that help counter chronic disease progression.

Joe Miller, 48, is one of Runyon's patients fighting chronic illness, poverty and a poor lifestyle history that can be common in many rural communities. Saslow writes, "Joe was lying shirtless on his bed, immobilized from hip pain as his pit bull chewed his socks. On his night stand was a bowl of macaroni and cheese, a box of salt. . . . [His wife] was dead of a heart attack in her 40s, and he was struggling with depression and closing in on 300 pounds with dangerously high cholesterol. . ."

Like many small towns, there is only one grocery store in Mingo County and produce is expensive, but ultra-processed foods such as soda and frozen pizza are plentiful. Health problems like Joe's have become more common among working-class Americans who are "dying at higher rates than they were 20 years earlier," Saslow adds. "People in the country’s poorest places were now almost twice as likely to develop chronic disease as those who lived in wealthy, urban centers on the coasts. . ."

The national broadband buildout is running behind schedule; much of the program is still in the planning stages

Broadband builds in remote places are lagging behind
schedule. (Adobe Stock photo)

Many rural communities still lacking reliable, fast internet have plans to address the need through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, known as BEAD. But the "massive federal program meant to expand broadband access to underserved areas across the country is falling behind schedule, state broadband officials and experts say, even as Trump administration actions create further uncertainty about its funding and rules," reports Madyson Fitzgerald of Stateline. 

The BEAD program is in its third year, but much of it remains in the planning stages. The 1,200-resident community of Alpine County, California, "is still waiting to see how BEAD funds will help residents, who most rely on phone lines to connect to the internet and can’t afford high-speed connections," Fitzgerald explains. "They lack internet speed for tele-medicine, banking and tax filing."

When U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was confirmed in February, "he supported the goals of BEAD but wanted to make sure it was done efficiently and effectively' and sidestepped questions asking him to commit to sending money out to states," Fitzgerald reports. "Griffith said he’s hopeful the money will still flow, noting that most of BEAD’s funds will go to rural areas, many of which tend to elect and support Republicans."

The program still has a bank of glitches to work through. "Officials in some states have run into snags with challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map," Fitzgerald explains. "Through the map challenge process, local governments, internet service providers, nonprofits and other groups can help determine whether a particular location actually has internet service."

Affordability also is an issue. "The BEAD program also mandates state broadband officials include a low-cost service option for low-income households," Fitzgerald reports. "But industry groups have pushed back, calling the rule 'completely unmoored from the economic realities of deploying and operating networks in the highest cost, hardest-to-reach areas.'"

Individual states are helping to expand broadband with their own laws. "As of Feb. 24, lawmakers in 43 states had filed a total of 300 bills regarding broadband access, infrastructure, affordability and more, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures broadband legislation database," Fitzgerald adds. "Lawmakers in 10 states have filed legislation to expand broadband access to rural areas."

High school shop classes are back and in high demand. The training offers students hands-on exploration.

Many high school shop classes now offer
welding. (Photo by J. Thomas, Unsplash)

High schools around the United States are ramping up their shop classes to help students explore professional trade careers. The hands-on shop class offerings can range from wood to metals to machinery and are designed to let high school students learn what manual work has to offer.

The shift has school districts from big cities to small towns finding innovative ways to "revamp high-school shop classes for the 21st century," reports Te-Ping Chen of The Wall Street Journal. "They are betting on the future of manual skills overlooked in the digital age, offering vocational-education classes that school officials say give students a broader view of career prospects with or without college."

For decades, high schools cut classes and staffing for trade-based learning, which left many trade businesses hurting for skilled labor. To address the shortfall, "local governments, school districts, businesses and voters are investing in shop classes," Chen explains. "Ohio and other states offer schools financial incentives for classes that lead to industry certifications in such high-demand jobs as pharmaceutical technician and pipe fitter."

In Sutherlin, Ore., a small town of 8,524, almost half of its high school students are enrolled in Josh Gary’s woodworking class. "When Gary took over the shop class in 2014, he had 30 students and little equipment," Chen reports. "He bought used tools on Craigslist with his own money and raised funds selling picnic tables he made with students."

With the renewed interest in trade professions, Gary's shop classes "feature laser cutters and computer-assisted routers that enable high-level detail work," Chen writes. "Last year, Sutherlin High opened a $750,000 metal shop. A $375,000 state grant paid for new tools, and $50,000 from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, a program launched by the tool-retailer’s founder, bought a pickup truck for use by the classes."

Expanded shop classes can let students try out a trade without paying for an expensive vocational program. The classes also give students who don't want to attend college a path for career development. Staci Sievert, a teacher at Seymour Community High School in Seymour, Wis., told Chen, "I just felt like we were shortchanging our kids, our community and our families if we weren’t raising the bar in tech ed." More than 20% of jobs around Seymour are in manufacturing.