Free Republic

The Los Angeles Times was the first newspaper to publish a story about an earthquake on Monday - thanks to a robot writer. Journalist and programmer Ken Schwencke created an algorithm that automatically generates a short article when an earthquake occurs. Mr Schwencke told Slate magazine that it took around three minutes for the story to appear online. "Robo-journalism" is increasingly being used in newsrooms worldwide. The LA Times is a pioneer in the technology which draws on trusted sources - such as the US Geological Survey - and places data into a pre-written template. As well as the earthquake...

In a Pew survey of Americans’ attitudes about occupations, journalists suffered the worst fall in the last four years while the military maintained its top position. Also interesting, and worth pondering for those in the national news who constantly harp on the GOP for its outreach to women, journalists seem to have a serious woman problem: Compared with the ratings four years ago, journalists have dropped the most in public esteem. The share of the public saying that journalists contribute a lot to society is down 10 percentage points, from 38% in 2009 to 28% in 2013. The drop is...

Yes, it's buyer's remorse and it will probably be one of the deciding factors in the race this year. Gallup: Eighty-six percent of voters who say they voted for Barack Obama in 2008 are backing Obama again this year, a smaller proportion than 92% of 2008 John McCain voters who are supporting 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Nine percent of 2008 Obama voters have switched to supporting Romney this year, while 5% of McCain voters have switched to Obama. The results are based on July 23-29 Gallup Daily tracking with more than 2,000 registered voters who reported voting in the...

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<p>As high-profile Democrats flock to Nashville early next month for the Tennessee Democratic Party's pep rally for presidential candidates, the Ku Klux Klan will be in town the same day holding a recruitment rally.</p> <p>With national and local news media expected to cover the Democrats' celebration, the timing of the events could send images of robed KKK members marching through Nashville to TV viewers nationwide.</p>

Bush is signing the AIDS bill right now at the State Department. He's also got guests from Africa and the Carribean with him. The cost of the bill is $15 billion.