‣ Plagiarizing independent media is part of corporate media’s business model. Jacob Weindling, writing for Splinter, explains:
Plagiarism is shockingly common in mainstream media, especially at the New York Times. In 2019 Vice wrote a whole article just about the New York Times taking other people’s reporting, making it their own and then not linking to the original report, and even that extensive article wasn’t uncovering a new dynamic. In 2003, Macarena Hernandez wrote about Juanita Anguiano, the mother of a missing soldier from Los Fresnos, Texas in the San Antonio Express-News and that same article found its way to the front page of the New York Times eight days later under Jayson Blair’s byline who had interned with Hernandez at the NYT at the same time. Express-News editor Robert Rivard said, “he stole her story,” and after writing to the Times asking them to look into it, NYT national editor Jim Roberts began calling sources from Blair’s pieces, and executive editor of the NYT Howell Raines said, “in every case…there was an apparent falsification.” As much as Blair should own his plagiarism, this is why editors exist and the fact that his editors did not uncover this until it was brought to their boss’s attention provides a telling window into how the NYT operates.
‣ Writing for the New Yorker, Kyle Chayka explains how artist Cory Archangel revitalized a late artist’s digital legacy years after that artist died in a tragic accident. He writes:
The computer remained with his estate for many years, a relic left untouched. During that time, Majerus’s paintings continued to be shown in galleries and museums, exerting a quiet but persistent influence on a generation of artists who were creating work using and responding to the internet. Then, in 2017, the artist Cory Arcangel, famous for his digital art works, became aware of Majerus’s hard drive and began a quest to access its contents. What prompted Arcangel’s interest was an untitled painting of Majerus’s, from 2000, that an assistant had shown him on Instagram. The background is covered in acid-pastel blocks of color, reminiscent of the Neo-Geo movement of the nineteen-eighties, but the foreground contains evocative phrases in text that looks pulled from Geocities or a “Matrix”-era rave poster: “Newcomer,” “burned out,” “fuck the intention of the artist.” Majerus had intuited that the internet would lead to a great collision of styles and reference points—everything from Super Mario to Jackson Pollock coexisting in pixels. The untitled painting inspired nostalgia for the dial-up millennial generation, but Arcangel, whose own work includes a hacked version of “Super Mario Bros.” with only its clouds remaining, was also struck by how contemporary it seemed. During a recent Google Meet call from an austere apartment that a gallery representing the Majerus Estate maintains in Berlin, Arcangel said, “It just came at me from a hundred different angles, and each one of these little things sent me off into a spiral of associations.”
‣ The Center for an Urban Future finds that New York City’s tech industry could soon rival Silicon Valley in size, and that it is the source of so much economic growth in the city. Greg David reports for The City:
The tech sector is now the single most important source of growth in the city’s economy, argues a new report released Tuesday by the think tank Center for an Urban Future and the industry trade group Tech: NYC. It is adding the most jobs and especially well-paying positions. It is drawing billions in venture capital fueling hundreds of new firms. And it is providing jobs for New Yorkers in tech-related jobs across the city’s businesses.
“Banks now employ more software developers than tellers,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of CUF and the author of the report. “It is amazing how big it has become and how far it has come.”
‣ I can’t stop laughing. Doilie, indeed:
‣ In what appears to be a legal first, an Arizona court played an AI-generated video of a deceased victim to read an impact statement during the trial. Juliana Kim writes for NPR:
Still, using several AI tools, Wales’ husband and Yentzer managed to create a convincing video using about a 4.5-minute-video of Pelkey, his funeral photo and a script that Wales prepared. They digitally removed the sunglasses on top of Pelkey’s hat and trimmed his beard — which had been causing technological issues.
Wales, who was heavily involved in making sure the video felt true to life, said recreating her brother’s laugh was especially tough because most clips of Pelkey were filled with background noise.
And this is the video:
‣ This drag queen wants straight and male communities to know that she sees you:
‣ The Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, sent a letter to Harvard University; the internet graded it, and it’s glorious:
‣ Academics for Peace explain why you shouldn’t trust the Anti-Defamation League’s statistics on antisemitism in the United States:
‣ A fascinating peek at traditional Chinese woodworking:
‣ This might explain why there are not more artists in horror flicks:
‣ Tasteful, indeed:
Required Reading is published every Thursday afternoon, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.
