The Star Tribune emphasises verification and accuracy over rapid social media reporting. Community responses and legal battles highlight the tensions surrounding the Operation Metro Surge. The newsroom’s careful approach aims to provide fuller, more reliable coverage in a chaotic environment. Amid a saturation of real-time coverage of Operation Metro Surge — the largest federal immigration enforcement deployment in recent memory — the Minnesota Star Tribune is trying to stand apart. Its editors say the paper is deliberately slowing its reporting to verify what is circulating online, even as videos and posts spread rapidly across social platforms. In an environment where…

The Chernin Group takes a minority stake in Goalhanger, marking its first external funding since 2014 The partnership aims to transform Goalhanger’s podcasts into multi-platform global IPs Company plans to expand into TV, film, and live events with new leadership and scale-up initiatives The Chernin Group (TCG), the US investment firm led by veteran media executive Peter Chernin, has acquired a minority stake in Goalhanger, the podcasting powerhouse co-founded by Gary Lineker. The deal, announced this week, marks the first time Goalhanger has accepted external funding since its inception in 2014, signalling a major shift in the company’s scale and…

The New York Times unveils Crossplay, its first multiplayer game, to boost digital engagement. The new game incorporates features like AI analysis and social play, aiming to deepen user loyalty. Times’ focus on curated games like Wordle and crosswords sustains growth in digital subscriptions and revenue. The New York Times launched its first purpose-built multiplayer game this week, a move that highlights how far the publisher’s digital expansion has shifted beyond news. Crossplay is a Scrabble-like word game that allows players to invite friends, compete against an artificial intelligence opponent and play via a dedicated app. It becomes the 11th…

News organisations struggle with AI’s rise and trust issues in a hostile political climate Shift from search engines to answer engines predicts declining referral traffic for publishers Growing creator economy and video focus reshape distribution and content strategies The global news industry is heading into a defining year in 2026, caught between the growing power of agentic artificial intelligence and a creator economy that is reshaping how audiences discover, trust and consume information, according to the latest Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions report, released this week by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Based on a…

Publishers are assessing their AI readiness across strategy, technology, operations and culture A quick, 5-minute diagnostic tool has been developed to collect industry data Results will foster industry-wide insights without ranking individual organisations AI is now firmly on every publishing agenda. Yet many organisations still struggle to answer a basic question: how ready are we, really? That uncertainty is what prompted us to create a simple AI readiness benchmark for publishers. Why this matters The aim is to create a clearer, industry-wide picture of how publishers are approaching AI across strategy, technology, operations and culture. To simplify data collection,…

Goalhanger targets broader media landscape with new senior hires Moves beyond podcasts into written content and global markets Appointments aim to support scalable growth while maintaining company culture Goalhanger has made three senior appointments as it moves to scale beyond podcasts and accelerate international growth following a record year. The hires signal Goalhanger’s shift from a hit-driven podcast network to a broader media business, with new emphasis on operational scale, financial discipline and expansion into written formats. The company, which said it surpassed 750 million streams last year, has appointed Andy Hodgson as chief financial officer, Chloe Straw as director…

Semafor raises $30 million, valuing the company at $330 million post-money Funds to boost international coverage and live journalism events Company reports first profitable year with $40 million revenue in 2025 Semafor has closed a $30 million financing round, valuing the digital media startup at $330 million after recording its first profitable year. The US-based company told investors the funds will be used to accelerate global expansion and to strengthen its live journalism events, as it broadens coverage across Washington, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, politics, global business, finance and economics. Semafor plans to hire in overseas markets including the Arabian…

WAN-IFRA aims to capitalise on recent momentum with a focus on AI and experimentation in 2026 The organisation has expanded through the integration of FIPP, creating a global media alliance Priorities include press freedom, media literacy, and strengthening publisher networks amid industry shifts WAN-IFRA is entering 2026 with an explicit reset: a tighter focus on impact, heavier investment in artificial intelligence and audience development, and a push to convert its expanded scale into tangible value for members as a new chief executive begins his tenure. With publishers facing accelerating technological change and sustained commercial pressure, WAN-IFRA is redefining its role…

Instagram’s Adam Mosseri highlights AI’s impact on content authenticity Platforms developing labels and metadata standards to verify images and videos Creators urged to embrace raw, candid content amidst growing mistrust in polished visuals Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has declared that the era when photographs or video could be taken at face value is over, arguing that advances in artificial intelligence have broken the basic visual trust that once underpinned social media. The warning comes from the executive in charge of one of the world’s most influential image platforms. He believes the problem is not a passing technical glitch but…

Experts predict a divided news industry dominated by global brands and independent creators by 2050 Traditional broadcast and print media face decline, with AI and personalised interfaces reshaping news consumption Preservation of journalistic values and trust deemed crucial for future sustainability By 2050, consuming the news may involve screens that are not really screens, AI briefings delivered through humanlike interfaces or even, as one independent publisher put it, a chip implanted in the brain. Those possibilities emerged from a wide-ranging forecast by Columbia Journalism Review, which convened senior editors, broadcasters and independent publishers to imagine what journalism might look like…