Tag: TALKERS

Industry News

Top News/Talk Media Stories This Past Week (September 15-19, 2025)

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Here are the most talked about stories of the past week (9/15-19) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS:

Stories

1. Kirk Slaying Aftermath / Public Figure Safety Fears
2. ABC Suspends Kimmel / First Amendment Issues
3. The Economy / Fed Rate Cut
4. Trump Visits UK
5. Israel’s Gaza City Takeover
6. Trump Sues NYTimes
7. ICE Raids / Guard to Memphis
8. Russian Incursion into NATO Airspace
9. Lisa Cook Case
10.Robert Redford Dies

People

1. Donald Trump
2. Charlie Kirk
3. Pam Bondi / Stephen Miller / JD Vance
4. Jimmy Kimmel
5. Barack Obama
6. Jerome Powell
7. Benjamin Netanyahu
8. Vladimir Putin
9. Lisa Cook
10. Robert Redford

To see the full TALKERS Stories, Topics, and People Charts, please click HERE.

Industry Views Sarugami

When AI Fools the Host: Mistake, Missed Opportunity, or Legal Minefield?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Matthew B. Harrison
TALKERS, VP/Associate Publisher
Harrison Legal Group, Senior Partner
Goodphone Communications, Executive Producer

imgCharlie Kirk’s tragic assassination shook the talk radio world. Emotions were raw, and broadcasters across the spectrum tried to capture that moment for their audiences. Charles Heller of KVOI in Tucson shared in these pages yesterday (9/16) how he, in that haze of grief, played what he thought were tribute songs by Ed Sheeran and Adele. Only later did he realize they were AI-generated.

Heller deserves credit for admitting his mistake. Many would have quietly moved on, but he turned the incident into a public reflection on accuracy and the challenges of this new AI age. That honesty does not weaken him – it underscores his credibility. Audiences trust the host who owns a mistake more than the one who hides it. In this business, candor is currency.

Still, the programmer in me sees an on-air opportunity. Imagine a segment called “AI or Authentic?” – play generated songs alongside real ones and invite the audience to decide. It could be informative and fun: interactive, funny, and a perfect spotlight on the very problem that fooled him. I’m sure there are folks out there who have already done this.

Here’s where the lawyer in me speaks up. Falling for a convincing fake is a mistake, not malice. For public figures like Adele or Sheeran, defamation requires proof that a host knew something was false or acted recklessly. A one-off error doesn’t reach that bar.

But liability doesn’t end there. Misattribution can raise right-of-publicity concerns. Saying Adele recorded a song she didn’t isn’t defamatory – but it can still be an unauthorized use of her persona. Intent doesn’t always matter. The safer route is clear labeling: “This may be AI.”

For those of us behind the glass, the lesson is simple: mistakes happen. But doubling down without context? That’s how little errors become legal problems. The law is forgiving of a slip in judgment. It is less forgiving if the same content is repackaged as fact without transparency.

Heller’s story isn’t embarrassing – it’s instructive. In the AI era, every broadcaster faces the same challenge: how to verify what feels authentic. The answer isn’t to shy away from the technology. It’s to make sure you control the punchline – not the algorithm.

Matthew B. Harrison is a media and intellectual property attorney who advises radio hosts, content creators, and creative entrepreneurs. He has written extensively on fair use, AI law, and the future of digital rights. Reach him at Matthew@HarrisonLegalGroup.com or read more at staging.talkers.com/.

Industry News

Top News/Talk Media Stories This Past Week (September 8-12, 2025)

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Here are the most talked about stories of the past week (9/8-12) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS:

               Stories

1. Charlie Kirk Assassination
2. ICE Raids / Guard to Chicago Threats
3. SCOTUS ICE Ruling
4. The Epstein Files
5. The Economy
6. Lisa Cook Ruling
7. GA Hyundai Plant Raid / U.S.-South Korea Relations
8. Poland Intercepts Russian Drones
9. Israel Attacks Hamas in Qatar
10.France’s Government Implodes

              People

1. Donald Trump
2. Charlie Kirk
3. JB Pritzker / Brandon Johnson
4. Jeffrey Epstein
5. Scott Bessent
6. Jerome Powell / Lisa Cook
7. Lee Jae Myung
8. Vladimir Putin
9. Benjamin Netanyahu
10.Emmanuel Macron

To see the full TALKERS Stories, Topics, and People Charts, please click HERE.

Industry News

Top News/Talk Media Stories This Past Week (September 1-5, 2025)

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Here are the most talked about stories of the past week (9/1-5) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS:

Stories

1. Trump Challenges Tariff Ruling
2. Judge Backs Harvard in Grants Case
3. Guard Troops in DC / Other Cities Protest
4. Epstein-Maxwell Victims Testify
5. Trump’s Health
6. Florida Ends Kids Vaccine Requirements
7. The Economy / Fed Policy
8. China Military Parade / Russia-China-India Economic Talks
9. RFK Jr Testimony
10.Russia-Ukraine War

People

1. Donald Trump
2. James Comer
3. Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell
4. Muriel Bowser
5. Allison D. Burroughs
6. Karoline Leavitt
7. Gavin Newsom
8. Ron DeSantis
9. Xi Jinping / Vladimir Putin / Narendra Modi
10.RFK Jr.

To see the full TALKERS Stories, Topics, and People Charts, please click HERE.

Industry Views

Fair Use in 2025: The Courts Draw New Lines

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Matthew B. Harrison
TALKERS, VP/Associate Publisher
Harrison Legal Group, Senior Partner
Goodphone Communications, Executive Producer

imgImagine an AI trained on millions of books – and a federal judge saying that’s fair use. That’s exactly what happened this summer in Bartz v. Anthropic, a case now shaping how creators, publishers, and tech giants fight over the limits of copyright.

Judges in California have sent a strong signal: training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted works can qualify as fair use if the material is lawfully obtained. In Bartz, Judge William Alsup compared Anthropic’s use of purchased books to an author learning from past works. That kind of transformation, he said, doesn’t substitute for the original.

But Alsup drew a hard line against piracy. If a dataset includes books from unauthorized “shadow libraries,” the fair use defense disappears. Those claims are still heading to trial in December, underscoring that source matters just as much as purpose.

Two days later, Judge Vince Chhabria reached a similar conclusion in Kadrey v. Meta. He called Meta’s training “highly transformative,” but dismissed the lawsuit because the authors failed to show real market harm. Together, the rulings show that transformation is a strong shield, but it isn’t absolute. Market evidence and lawful acquisition remain decisive.

AI training fights aren’t limited to novelists. The New York Times v. OpenAI case is pressing forward after a judge refused to dismiss claims that OpenAI and Microsoft undermined the paper’s market by absorbing its reporting into AI products. And in Hollywood, Disney and Universal are suing Midjourney, alleging its system lets users generate characters like Spider-Man or Shrek – raising the unsettled question of whether AI outputs themselves can infringe.

The lesson is straightforward: fair use is evolving, but not limitless. Courts are leaning toward protecting transformative uses of content—particularly when it’s lawfully sourced – but remain wary of piracy and economic harm.

That means media professionals can’t assume that sharing content online makes it free for training. Courts consistently recognize that free journalism, interviews, and broadcasts still carry market value through advertising, sponsorship, and brand equity. If AI systems cut into those markets, the fair use defense weakens.

For now, creators should watch the December Anthropic trial and the Midjourney litigation closely. The courts have blessed AI’s right to learn – but they haven’t yet decided how far those lessons can travel once the outputs begin to look and feel like the originals.

Matthew B. Harrison is a media and intellectual property attorney who advises radio hosts, content creators, and creative entrepreneurs. He has written extensively on fair use, AI law, and the future of digital rights. Reach him at Matthew@HarrisonLegalGroup.com

Industry News

Top News/Talk Media Stories This Past Week (August 25 – 29, 2025)

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Here are the most talked about stories of the past week (8/25-29) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS:

Stories

1. The Economy / Fed Policy / Trump-Cook Battle
2. Tariffs on India
3. Troops in DC / Union Station Takeover
4. Deadly Minneapolis School Shooting
5. Redistricting
6. CDC Director Firing / COVID Shots
7. ICE Raids / Abrego Garcia Case
8. Bolton Raid
9. Russia-Ukraine War / Israel’s Gaza Attacks
10.Kelce-Swift Engagement

People

1. Donald Trump
2. Jerome Powell / Lisa Cook
3. Muriel Bowser
4. Stephen Miller
5. Pam Bondi
6. Greg Abbott / Gavin Newsom
7. Susan Monarez
8. Kilmar Abrego Garcia
9. John Bolton
10. Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift

To see the full TALKERS Stories, Topics, and People Charts, please click HERE.

Industry Views

When “Sharing” Becomes Stealing: TALKERS’ 90-Second Lesson in Fair Use

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Matthew B. Harrison

TALKERS, VP/Associate Publisher
Harrison Legal Group, Senior Partner
Goodphone Communications, Executive Producer

imgNinety seconds. That’s all it took. One of the interviews on the TALKERS Media Channel – shot, edited, and published by us – appeared elsewhere online, chopped into jumpy cuts, overlaid with AI-generated video game clips, and slapped with a clickbait title. The credit? A link. The essence of the interview? Repurposed for someone else’s traffic.

TALKERS owns the copyright. Taking 90 seconds of continuous audio and re-editing it is infringement.

Could they argue fair use? Maybe, but the factors cut against them:

  • Purpose: Clickbait, not commentary or parody.
  • Nature: Original journalism leans protective.
  • Amount: Ninety seconds may be the “heart” of the work.
  • Market Effect: If reposts draw views, ad revenue, or SEO, that’s harm.

And here’s the key point: posting free content doesn’t erase its market value. Free journalism still generates reputation, sponsorships, and ad dollars. Courts consistently reject the idea that “free” means “up for grabs.”

Enforcement options exist. A DMCA notice can clear a repost quickly. Repeat offenders risk bans. On-screen branding makes copying obvious, and licenses can set terms like “share with credit, no remix.”

But here’s the hard truth: a takedown won’t stop the AI problem. Once a clip circulates, it’s scraped into datasets training text-to-video and voice models. Deleting the repost doesn’t erase cached or mirrored copies. Think of it like pouring a glass of water into the ocean – you can’t get it back. And to make matters worse, enforcement doesn’t stop at U.S. borders. Different countries have different copyright rules, making “justice” slow, uneven, and rarely satisfying.

That TALKERS interview may now live inside billions of fragments teaching machines how people speak. You can win the takedown battle and still lose the training war. Courts are only starting to address whether scraping is infringement. For now, once it’s ingested, it’s permanent.

Creators face a constant tension: content must spread to grow, but unchecked sharing erodes control. The challenge in 2025 is drawing that line before your work becomes someone else’s “content.”

The law is still on your side – but vigilance matters. Use takedowns when necessary. Brand so the source is clear. Define sharing terms up front. And remember: free doesn’t mean worthless.

The real question isn’t just “Is it fair use?” It’s “Who controls the story?”

Matthew B. Harrison is a media and intellectual property attorney who advises radio hosts, content creators, and creative entrepreneurs. He has written extensively on fair use, AI law, and the future of digital rights. Reach him at Matthew@HarrisonLegalGroup.com