The CMA approves the $3.7 billion acquisition with a sale of Shutterstock’s editorial arm The move aims to prevent market dominance in UK news imagery The deal highlights industry pressures from AI and digital content shifts Britain’s competition regulator has cleared Getty Images’ $3.7 billion takeover of Shutterstock, but only after requiring the companies to jettison Shutterstock’s editorial photography business in order to ease concerns over competition in the UK news imagery market. The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal could go ahead if Shutterstock sells the part of its business that supplies editorial images, including brands such as…

Axios expands local reporting to 35 cities with plans for 100. AI tools like GPT assist in drafting and editing, reducing costs. The company balances automation with journalistic integrity amidst industry scepticism. Axios is betting that artificial intelligence can do something many publishers have struggled to achieve for years: make local journalism economically viable again. In a conversation on The Media Copilot podcast, Axios chief operating officer Allison Murphy said the company is trying to reduce the cost of producing original local news without abandoning the reporting standards that give the work value. The strategy is already being put into…

Newsweek recovered from debt and declining readership through strategic alliances Key partnerships with Google Cloud and Statista drove significant growth in traffic and trust The revival exemplifies a shift towards collaborative models in legacy media success stories Newsweek’s turnaround under chief executive Dev Pragad has been driven less by internal restructuring than by a series of partnerships that helped rebuild the publisher’s audience, technology and commercial business. When Pragad took over, the company was carrying more than $25 million in debt and struggling with declining readership. Rather than rebuild every capability in-house, Newsweek focused on outside partnerships to supply technical…

The Washington Post begins rehiring staff after massive layoffs in February Some employees returned on a temporary basis to fill critical gaps The move raises questions about the paper’s strategic direction and workforce stability The Washington Post is attempting to stabilise its newsroom after February’s sweeping layoffs by quietly bringing back some of the journalists it had just let go, a sign of how quickly the impact of the cuts became apparent. According to reporting by the Columbia Journalism Review, editors began contacting dismissed reporters in March, asking some to return on what the union calls a “delayed layoff” basis.…

Deccan Herald introduces a CMS-integrated AI infographic tool to streamline visual storytelling. The system reduces story summarisation time from 10 minutes to 1 minute. Early adoption shows potential for expanded use in social media and visual journalism. Deccan Herald has turned to artificial intelligence to solve a familiar newsroom problem: how to give readers a quick, visual version of a story without adding a heavy production burden for editors. The Karnataka-based publisher has built a CMS-integrated infographic tool that converts finished articles into structured summaries with a single click. The system, developed as part of the 2025 Newsroom AI Catalyst…

David Hoffmann’s plan to save newspapers centres on hyperlocal journalism and community focus Lee Enterprises tests this approach with an emphasis on city hall, schools, and local businesses Industry faces challenges from debt, digital shifts, and the decline of traditional reporting models David Hoffmann, the billionaire investor now steering US news group Lee Enterprises, says he has a plan to rescue local newspapers: strip the business to its essentials, double down on community reporting and keep the numbers in the black. The approach speaks to a central question for the industry: whether sharper local focus can offset deep structural decline…

Coalition urges California to increase support for local news to $35 million Funding aims to rebuild declining newsrooms and combat misinformation Initiative includes programmes like the California Local News Fellowship and Propel California’s local news crisis has returned to the centre of state budget negotiations, with a coalition of publishers and advocates calling for a significant increase in public funding to stabilise the sector. The proposal frames local journalism as public infrastructure — not simply a struggling industry but a civic resource that underpins access to information, accountability and democratic participation. In a joint appeal, former state senator Steven Glazer…

Ringier CEO warns of critical industry decline and strategic shifts Forecasts only three Swiss media brands will survive purely digitally Emphasises AI as both an operational tool and editorial threat Marc Walder, chief executive of Ringier, has argued that only three Swiss media brands are likely to remain commercially viable in a fully digital market. His remarks, in an extensive interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), come as the company navigates internal tensions and accelerates a shift towards artificial intelligence and platform businesses. The intervention sets out, with unusual clarity, how a major European publisher sees the endgame for legacy…

The Aga Khan Development Network ends a 66-year association with Nation Media Group, selling its controlling stake. Tanzanian businessman Rostam Azizi plans to expand digital and revenue initiatives within the media conglomerate. Market reacts positively, with shares surging over 28% after the announcement. The Aga Khan Development Network is relinquishing its controlling interest in Nation Media Group, formally ending a 66‑year association as the Swiss‑based development investor pivots capital towards sectors it regards as higher growth and more directly measurable in development terms. Under an agreement announced in March, Taarifa Ltd, a vehicle owned by Tanzanian businessman Rostam Azizi, will…

nd moves its daily edition exclusively online from April 2026, while keeping a weekly print issue. The shift responds to falling print sales and rising production costs, emphasizing innovation and reader support. The cooperative ownership model aims to preserve editorial independence amid industry consolidation. The small German newspaper nd will stop printing weekday editions from this month moving its daily journalism online while keeping a weekly paper, a move that underlines the economic strain on print and the growing urgency of digital transition among European publishers. In the wake of Die Tagezeitung’s (taz) decision to end weekday printing last October,…