Media News Daily: Top Stories for 10/02/2026

Publishers Push Back on DOJ’s AI Fair-Use Argument

The New York Times and other news organizations suing OpenAI are urging a federal judge to give little weight to the Justice Department’s argument that using copyrighted material to train large language models can qualify as fair use. The publishers contend that the government’s position favors AI companies at the expense of journalism and could undermine newsroom economics if developers are allowed to use copyrighted reporting without licensing. The Justice Department previously argued that AI training is transformative because models use source material for a different purpose than the original works and warned that overly broad copyright liability could hinder U.S. AI development. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)

WhatsApp Adds Parental Controls for Teen Accounts

WhatsApp has introduced optional parental controls that let parents oversee aspects of their teenagers’ activity without giving them access to private messages or calls. Parents can receive notifications when teens join or leave groups, manage who can add them to groups, control Channels and Status settings, and restrict some Meta AI features. Changes to protected privacy settings can also require a parent-set PIN. WhatsApp says personal messages and calls remain protected by end-to-end encryption despite the added oversight tools. (Read More) (Social Media Today Rating)

California Enacts Major Local News Tax Credit

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2222, creating refundable employment tax credits intended to encourage local news organizations to retain and hire journalists. The law provides credits of $20,000 per journalist for the first five positions, $15,000 for additional full-time journalists, and added incentives for new hires. Newsom acknowledged concerns that some benefits could flow to hedge fund- or billionaire-owned outlets but said the broader benefits outweighed those drawbacks. The law takes effect in 2027, with credits expected to begin reaching qualifying news organizations in 2028. (Read More) (Nieman Lab Rating)