☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here!
In today’s email:
- Featured story: Chinese company DeepSeek bursts onto the AI scene
- In other news: Historic New Hampshire newspaper starts journalism fund to direct donations to their newsroom
- Looking ahead: White House briefings to open to influencers, content creators
- Chart of the week: Most Americans who get news from news influencers see the content as helpful, unique
🔥 Featured story
DeepSeek, a Chinese technology company, recently introduced a new AI chatbot system with similar capabilities to major U.S. models like ChatGPT. But DeepSeek built its model with much less investment and computing power than its American competitors, leading to disruptions in the U.S. market (such as the plunging stock of computer chip maker Nvidia).
This could add a new frontier to tensions about information and technology between U.S. and China, even as the future of TikTok in the U.S. remains unclear. While Americans mostly have unfavorable views toward China in general, about two-thirds (66%) said in a 2023 survey that China’s technological achievements were the best or above average when compared with other wealthy nations – higher than the share who said this about their own country (56%).
Across 24 countries surveyed around the world, China and the U.S. are both widely seen as technological powerhouses.
📬 You’re invited!
Do you get news from influencers on social media? You’re not alone. About one-in-five Americans say they regularly get news from news influencers – including 37% of young adults.
Join our virtual panel discussion about influencers as a source of information on current events and civic issues in the U.S. on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, from 12 to 1 p.m. EST.
- Read our report on America’s news influencers
- Register now to secure your spot
📌 In other news
- Historic New Hampshire newspaper starts journalism fund to direct donations to their newsroom
- Inside the legal feud between Elon Musk and Don Lemon
- RNC, former Trump campaign co-manager preparing defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast over claim about pay
- ABC News’ unionized workers secure new protections against generative AI
- CBS News transitions to new ‘Evening News’ format with fewer stories, more depth
- Jim Acosta to leave CNN after nearly 20 years
- A look at a network of AI newsletters focused on local news
📅 Looking ahead
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced this week that the press briefing room will now hold seats for “new media” journalists. The briefings will open to “independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators” who can apply for credentials to cover the Trump administration.
Many Americans are now getting news from these types of sources. About one-in-five U.S. adults say they regularly get news from news influencers on social media, defined in our recent study as individuals who have a large following on social media and regularly post about current events and civic issues. The study also shows that most news influencers (77%) have no affiliation or background with a news organization, and most (63%) are men.
📊 Chart of the week
Following the White House’s decision to reserve front-row seats in the press briefing room for social media influencers and other “new media” journalists, this week’s chart from the Center’s 2024 study on news influencers looks at how Americans who get news from news influencers feel about it.
Most U.S. adults who regularly get news from news influencers say content from news influencers has helped them better understand current events and civic issues (65%). And seven-in-ten say this news is at least somewhat different from the news they get from other sources – including roughly a quarter who say it is extremely or very different (23%).
👋 That’s all for this week.
The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by David Kent.
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