Springer Nature

Antenne Bayern Delays Chillout; Deutschlandfunk Reveals Reform

A DWDL audio update reports several programming changes across German radio and podcast publishers. Antenne Bayern Group postponed the DAB+ launch of its new Chillout Antenne Bayern station by a few days to complete music testing and playlist fine-tuning. RTL Radio dropped the claim 'Deutschlands Hit-Radio' in favour of a 'Feel Good Music' positioning and plans a full relaunch with moderated shows (including a new morning show hosted by Simon Kober) on 3 August 2026. Deutschlandfunk has finalized a broad programme reform taking effect 30 November 2026, altering news timing (hourly ten-minute news, morning info moved to 6–10, evening info starting at 17:00), adding three daily half-hour background features, and introducing a weekday dialogue format 'Im Dialog'. Several publishers also launched or continued podcast productions.

Study: AI Writes as Convincingly as Journalists

A University of Zurich study found that, without knowing the origin, readers rated AI-assisted or fully AI-generated news excerpts about Swiss politics essentially the same as journalist-written versions on credibility, readability and professional quality. The experiment (May 2024) had 599 participants from German-speaking Switzerland and compared SRF article excerpts with variants produced with AI (including ChatGPT). Results were published in Scientific Reports on 2026-07-01. Disclosure that AI was involved increased short-term curiosity to re-read but did not raise long-term willingness to consume AI-generated news. The authors note limitations: the study measured intentions not actual behaviour and disclosure occurred after initial evaluation. Other Swiss and Reuters Institute surveys still report substantial public scepticism toward AI-written texts.

Algorithmic Error Retracts Two Max Planck Papers

Springer Nature removed two historical articles by Max Planck from the digital archive of the journal The Science of Nature, replacing them with empty documents. The publisher cited alleged copyright violations, but two science historians (Yves Gingras and Mahdi Khelfaoui) — after a detailed review published on arXiv — conclude a faulty automated plagiarism/self-plagiarism detection algorithm likely misclassified the century-old publications. The items (from 1940 and 1942) were originally published under historical norms that allowed repeated dissemination of identical material and are now largely in the public domain. The journal’s editor-in-chief, Suzanne Scarlata, said she was surprised and suspects the deletions occurred without human editorial review. Critics warn the case reveals structural risks when large publishers delegate archival and rights decisions to automated systems.