Thomas Baekdal
@baekdal.bsky.social
Author, Professional Writer, Magazine Publisher, and Media Analyst.
Reposted by Thomas Baekdal
The cognitive dissonance between headline ("restore public trust") and 17th paragraph ("The BBC regularly comes out top in UK media trust rankings") is quite something.
Full piece here www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Full piece here www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
November 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The cognitive dissonance between headline ("restore public trust") and 17th paragraph ("The BBC regularly comes out top in UK media trust rankings") is quite something.
Full piece here www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Full piece here www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Are you also annoyed about AIs constantly saying that you are the smartest person in the world? I added this to my settings, and that fixed 90% of it:
"When providing a response, I don't need to be congratulated or told that I'm doing something good or smart. Please provide to the point answers."
"When providing a response, I don't need to be congratulated or told that I'm doing something good or smart. Please provide to the point answers."
November 10, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Are you also annoyed about AIs constantly saying that you are the smartest person in the world? I added this to my settings, and that fixed 90% of it:
"When providing a response, I don't need to be congratulated or told that I'm doing something good or smart. Please provide to the point answers."
"When providing a response, I don't need to be congratulated or told that I'm doing something good or smart. Please provide to the point answers."
I also need to rename my bed to 'todo' ;)
November 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I also need to rename my bed to 'todo' ;)
Cop30 has started, but I already see climate denialism in the press. I Are you kidding me journalists? It's 2025. You are failing at your profession. You should not give climate denialists any press time. And if you think you have to because of 'balance', you are again failing at being a journalist.
a woman is making a funny face with her hands and says `` so frustrating '' .
ALT: a woman is making a funny face with her hands and says `` so frustrating '' .
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Cop30 has started, but I already see climate denialism in the press. I Are you kidding me journalists? It's 2025. You are failing at your profession. You should not give climate denialists any press time. And if you think you have to because of 'balance', you are again failing at being a journalist.
Reposted by Thomas Baekdal
This.
“The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion: The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.”
Via @amywestervelt.bsky.social in @thenation.com
Via @amywestervelt.bsky.social in @thenation.com
The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion
The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.
www.thenation.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:12 PM
This.
It's this time of year... (unless you can work remotely ;))
November 9, 2025 at 12:34 PM
It's this time of year... (unless you can work remotely ;))
I still think it's funny that I can download a 60 GB game is just about 15 minutes. My first internet modem was 56k. Using that, this would have taken 2,953 hours or about 123 days of non-stop downloading ... during which my phone line would have been blocked from being used for anything else ;)
November 8, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I still think it's funny that I can download a 60 GB game is just about 15 minutes. My first internet modem was 56k. Using that, this would have taken 2,953 hours or about 123 days of non-stop downloading ... during which my phone line would have been blocked from being used for anything else ;)
The single tax strikes again. I'm currently ordering groceries, and they have some clementines for sale, except, it's 2.3 kg, which is way too many to eat as just one person before they go bad. But, luckily, they also have a 0.5 kg box. But...
2.3 kg: 28 DKK (12.17 kg)
0.5 kg: 15 DKK (30.00 DKK kg)
2.3 kg: 28 DKK (12.17 kg)
0.5 kg: 15 DKK (30.00 DKK kg)
November 8, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The single tax strikes again. I'm currently ordering groceries, and they have some clementines for sale, except, it's 2.3 kg, which is way too many to eat as just one person before they go bad. But, luckily, they also have a 0.5 kg box. But...
2.3 kg: 28 DKK (12.17 kg)
0.5 kg: 15 DKK (30.00 DKK kg)
2.3 kg: 28 DKK (12.17 kg)
0.5 kg: 15 DKK (30.00 DKK kg)
I mean, good... but it reminded my of how all the heads of state are traveling: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhs...
November 8, 2025 at 4:17 PM
I mean, good... but it reminded my of how all the heads of state are traveling: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhs...
I just published a guide for newsrooms about how to avoid the most common mistakes around using generative AI, why news will always perform poorly with AI, and why generative AI should not be used as a database of information. baekdal.com/newsletter/g...
Guide: What newsrooms can and cannot do with AI
Most of the mistakes newsrooms make around AI is misunderstanding what it actually is.
baekdal.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I just published a guide for newsrooms about how to avoid the most common mistakes around using generative AI, why news will always perform poorly with AI, and why generative AI should not be used as a database of information. baekdal.com/newsletter/g...
Number of identified bot traffic trying to access my site over the past week: 587,830 ...
November 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Number of identified bot traffic trying to access my site over the past week: 587,830 ...
I will never understand when professional builders create sloppy work and then put a video on it on Instagram. And I will also never understand how so many of their followers then comment "looks great".
November 6, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I will never understand when professional builders create sloppy work and then put a video on it on Instagram. And I will also never understand how so many of their followers then comment "looks great".
Reposted by Thomas Baekdal
Bill Gates hasn’t made sense on Climate since he teamed up with Bjorn Lomberg in 2009. This is just a restating of Bjorn’s book from this year about how we have a finite amount of money and we shouldn’t use it for climate. What they get wrong is that climate solutions are now fully profitable.
Bill Gates has a new memo out calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change, downplaying “doomsday” talk to focus on filling enormous post-USAID budget gaps in global health and vaccine funding. I got an early glimpse of his thinking last week:
7 New Takes From Bill Gates on Climate ‘Doomsday’ Talk and Global Health
“I mean, God bless the Europeans for caring about climate.”
heatmap.news
October 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Bill Gates hasn’t made sense on Climate since he teamed up with Bjorn Lomberg in 2009. This is just a restating of Bjorn’s book from this year about how we have a finite amount of money and we shouldn’t use it for climate. What they get wrong is that climate solutions are now fully profitable.
This is fundamentally not true. Yes, I do agree that China will beat the US, but it's absolutely not because of looser regulations. China has much stricter regulations around AI than the US, and China requires a far higher level of public and social responsibility from AI tools.
FT Exclusive: Jensen Huang has warned that China will beat the US in the artificial intelligence race, thanks to lower energy costs and looser regulations.
Read more from his interview with the Financial Times: on.ft.com/4oQbYuP
Read more from his interview with the Financial Times: on.ft.com/4oQbYuP
November 6, 2025 at 3:49 AM
This is fundamentally not true. Yes, I do agree that China will beat the US, but it's absolutely not because of looser regulations. China has much stricter regulations around AI than the US, and China requires a far higher level of public and social responsibility from AI tools.
So... it's 4:05 am, and I'm up writing my next newsletter? Why, you ask? Well, because I can't sleep ... I rather, I can sleep, but just not during the night. For the past three weeks, I have been completely and utterly unable to have a normal sleep cycle.
a cartoon drawing of a person laying on a bed with the name porucz on the bottom
ALT: a cartoon drawing of a person laying on a bed with the name porucz on the bottom
media.tenor.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:08 AM
So... it's 4:05 am, and I'm up writing my next newsletter? Why, you ask? Well, because I can't sleep ... I rather, I can sleep, but just not during the night. For the past three weeks, I have been completely and utterly unable to have a normal sleep cycle.
Reposted by Thomas Baekdal
The new UNEP Emissions Gap Report points out that "no NDCs set targets to reduce oil and gas production or trim inefficient fossil fuel subsidies".
That countries are not addressing fossil fuels - at the heart of the climate crisis - is deeply worrying.
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...
That countries are not addressing fossil fuels - at the heart of the climate crisis - is deeply worrying.
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...
wedocs.unep.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The new UNEP Emissions Gap Report points out that "no NDCs set targets to reduce oil and gas production or trim inefficient fossil fuel subsidies".
That countries are not addressing fossil fuels - at the heart of the climate crisis - is deeply worrying.
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...
That countries are not addressing fossil fuels - at the heart of the climate crisis - is deeply worrying.
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...
I decided to take trip to Norway today... ;)
November 5, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I decided to take trip to Norway today... ;)
Reposted by Thomas Baekdal
I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.
November 4, 2025 at 9:56 AM
I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.
According to the ads on Instagram, it's now official Christmas... I mean, at last half the ads are Christmas ads ;)
November 4, 2025 at 2:24 AM
According to the ads on Instagram, it's now official Christmas... I mean, at last half the ads are Christmas ads ;)
Either my anti-bot detection is getting better, or the bots are getting better at disguising themselves. But three months ago, there were a lot more bot traffic coming to my site. Now 'only' 70% of it is bots ... I say 'only' because it used to be around 92%.
November 3, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Either my anti-bot detection is getting better, or the bots are getting better at disguising themselves. But three months ago, there were a lot more bot traffic coming to my site. Now 'only' 70% of it is bots ... I say 'only' because it used to be around 92%.
I may or may not have spent my entire day hiding under a blanket reading a book ... well, that's not entirely true. At one point, I did get up to get a bag of chips and a glass of water ;)
a cartoon of a cat reading a book with the words i live life on the edge of my couch below it
ALT: a cartoon of a cat reading a book with the words i live life on the edge of my couch below it
media.tenor.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I may or may not have spent my entire day hiding under a blanket reading a book ... well, that's not entirely true. At one point, I did get up to get a bag of chips and a glass of water ;)
One of the things that I think AI can be used for in newsroom is article analysis. In my last newsletter, I talk about my news article relevancy analyzer. But, here is another one that I just made. It's a "statement checker".
Here is an example of an output.
claude.ai/share/7a1f51...
Here is an example of an output.
claude.ai/share/7a1f51...
File review request
Shared via Claude, an AI assistant from Anthropic
claude.ai
November 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM
One of the things that I think AI can be used for in newsroom is article analysis. In my last newsletter, I talk about my news article relevancy analyzer. But, here is another one that I just made. It's a "statement checker".
Here is an example of an output.
claude.ai/share/7a1f51...
Here is an example of an output.
claude.ai/share/7a1f51...
What kind of pricing nonsense is this?
October 31, 2025 at 4:20 PM
What kind of pricing nonsense is this?