AI is killing journalism in multiple ways – from inaccurate AI summaries slashing traffic, to newsrooms that think the technology can replace real journalists. That doesn’t just hurt people in the media – it’s bad for democracy.

Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on:

Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites

REFERENCES:

New York Times on accuracy in AI summaries https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html

European Broadcasting Union on AI accuracy https://www.ebu.ch/news/2025/10/ai-s-systemic-distortion-of-news-is-consistent-across-languages-and-territories-international-study-by-public-service-broadcaste

Pew Research on clickthrough rates https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/

The Verge on AI replacing headlines https://www.theverge.com/tech/896490/google-replace-news-headlines-in-search-canary-coal-mine-experiment