Google is testing “Preferred Sources” in Search Labs Users star outlets to boost their presence in the Top Stories carousel Rollout targets English searches in the US and India Google has introduced a “Preferred Sources” feature in Search, allowing users to boost the visibility of news outlets they trust in the Top Stories carousel. The tool, now in Search Labs testing, adds a star icon beside the Top Stories header, enabling users to search for and add any number of outlets they want to see more often. It is being rolled out for English-language searches in the US and India,…

Nearly a decade ago I sat in a hotel meeting room in Bermondsey, a newly revived neighbourhood of south London, with a number of colleagues from all departments of The Times and The Sunday Times. The papers were themselves newly revived, having recently returned to profit on the back of launching digital subscriptions for the first time in forever. Earlier in 2016 they had also relaunched their smartphone app and combined their websites – we had finally convinced everyone that it made sense not to have two websites competing with each other while they were both sold under the…

Dow Jones, led by The Wall Street Journal, reported stellar profits of $588m on annual revenues of $2.33 billion for the year that ended on June 30, cementing its position as the standout performer within News Corporation’s portfolio. While the Journal has been revitalised journalistically under the leadership of editor-in-chief Emma Tucker, rising digital subscriptions and strong demand for the group’s professional information services have turned it into the profit engine of News Corp more widely. Total subscriptions to Dow Jones consumer products – including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and MarketWatch – rose 7% year-on-year to 6.3 million.…

News Corp will launch a new daily newspaper in Los Angeles in early 2026, expanding its New York Post brand to the West Coast for the first time. The move, first reported by Axios, marks a bold bet on print and digital journalism in a region where local newsrooms have been hollowed out by layoffs and financial strain. The California Post will mirror the style and tone of the New York Post, combining celebrity gossip, sports, opinion and punchy front pages with coverage of local issues and national stories tailored to a California audience. It will be available in print…

Amazon will pay The New York Times up to $25 million a year under their recently signed multi-year content licensing agreement, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The deal, which was first announced in May without financial terms, allows Amazon to use short excerpts and summaries of Times journalism, including content from NYT Cooking and The Athletic, across its consumer products, including Alexa. The content will also be used to train Amazon’s proprietary AI models. Industry sources confirmed to the WSJ that the full amount will be paid in cash. At $25 million a year, the deal…

The Daily Mail has announced that all of its digital platforms – including MailOnline – will operate under a single masthead: Daily Mail. The move is designed to eliminate reader confusion and unify its global digital output under one of the most recognised names in media. Alongside the rebrand, the company has set a target of reaching one million digital subscribers by October 2028. It currently has more than 325,000 digital subscribers worldwide, including 20,000 in Australia and 50,000 in the United States. The changes follow the launch of Mail+ last year, which the company says is one of the fastest-growing subscription…

Steven Bartlett, host of The Diary of a CEO, is experimenting with AI to expand the limits of podcast production. His company, FlightStory Studio, has launched 100 CEOs with Steven Bartlett, a series that uses AI voices and animation to deliver scripted episodes telling the stories of prominent business figures including Richard Branson and Elon Musk. While Bartlett still writes the scripts, the hosting and production are done using AI tools from companies such as Runway, ElevenLabs and Wondercraft. The show is available on YouTube and Apple Podcasts and makes clear that it is AI-generated. Georgie Holt, FlightStory’s cofounder, told…

Reach plc, the UK’s largest news publisher, has signalled a decisive shift toward building digital subscriptions, reversing its long-standing aversion to reader payment models. The move follows the Daily Mail successful introduction of a subscription model for Mail Online and The Sun deciding to try again with a reader revenue with the establishment of the Sun Club. In its half-year results to 30 June 2025, Reach reported a 1.8% increase in digital revenue to £61.1 million, but overall revenue fell by 3.4% to £256 million due to a 4.8% decline in print income. Despite its traditional reliance on advertising, new…

Dow Jones Newswires has launched an AI-powered French translation service, expanding its multilingual offering for real-time financial news. The new service delivers between 500 and 1,000 translated stories every day, building on previous launches in Korean and Japanese. The rollout is aimed at professionals who want to follow US market news in French, including investors in France, French-speaking clients in New York and London, and Canadian firms affected by US tariffs. It translates English-language content from Dow Jones wires and The Wall Street Journal, with a focus on speed and fluency. “We’re targeting users who prefer to read in their…

Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US and owner of USA Today, is offering voluntary buyouts to employees as it looks to cut costs and invest more heavily in AI and automation. In a memo to staff, CEO Mike Reed said the company’s revenue had remained “static” in recent years, with sales falling from $3.21 billion in 2021 to $2.51 billion last year. He described the buyouts as part of a broader plan to “support sustainable growth”. Staff have until July 30 to accept the severance offer and must remain in their roles until September 5. Specific terms have…