Behind the Blog: Being New and Some Numbers

404 Media staff reflected on how a single reporting thread can evolve over time, citing a recent story about a Pennsylvania high school grappling with AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The piece highlighted how those involved are confronting deepfakes for the first time through a traumatic incident. The discussion appeared in the outlet's "Behind the Blog" column, which is available to paid subscribers.

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss going deeper, Google's search changes, and a rogue zine. SAM: Something I’ve been thinking about lately is the way a line of reporting or even an entire beat or set of beats can be in conversation with itself over time. I’m thinking of this more in the last week because I published this story about a high school https://www.404media.co/radnor-high-school-pennsylvania-ai-deepfakes-child-sexual-abuse-material/ that’s dealing with synthetic imagery harassment—AI generated child sexual abuse material to be specific—and a lot of the people involved in that story are learning about deepfakes for the first time through this very traumatizing, difficult situation. This post is for paid members only Become a paid member for unlimited ad-free access to articles, bonus podcast content, and more. Subscribe /membership/ Sign up for free access to this post Free members get access to posts like this one along with an email round-up of our week's stories. Subscribe /signup/ Already have an account?