6:33 am - September 1, 2025
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to cease its print edition in new year The move aims to prioritise digital subscriptions and innovation The industry-wide shift reflects changing audience habits and technological advances The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will publish its last print edition on December 31, closing a chapter that began in 1868 as…...
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Jennifer Hicks joins from the Wall Street Journal to oversee Reuters’ digital platforms Tasked with boosting audience engagement and subscription growth Will play a key role in the company’s long-term digital strategy and innovation Reuters has appointed Jennifer Hicks as its new digital director, a senior leadership role that will…
The New York Times introduces a paywall for its Mini Crossword Social media reactions reveal frustration over the monetisation of a beloved daily habit Alternative free puzzles and subscription discounts are emerging as fans adapt to the new pay model The New York Times has moved its popular Mini Crossword…
WAN-IFRA appoints JP/Politiken CEO Stig Ørskov as chief executive from early 2026 Vincent Peyrègne, CEO since 2012, will stay on as senior strategic advisor New leadership expected to push innovation, collaboration and press freedom advocacy WAN-IFRA has appointed Stig Ørskov as its next chief executive, succeeding Vincent Peyrègne, who is stepping down after more than...
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Substack now offers in‑app purchases in its iOS app after a pilot with 30,000 creators, speeding checkout and improving paid sign‑ups App Store rules mean Apple handles billing, takes a commission and pays Substack monthly Creators can disable in‑app payments or override pricing, but external web links are tightly restricted and revenue management becomes more complex Substack has switched on Apple in-app purchases across its iOS app, letting iPhone users subscribe to paid newsletters without leaving the app. The rollout follows tests with about 30,000 creators, and industry reports say more than 30,000 publications now have the option enabled. Substack…
Evidence links heavy media exposure to heightened stress Sensory diets can reduce anxiety and restore focus Practical steps for staff and readers include dimming screens, nature sounds and brief walks When people talk about news avoidance, they usually mean it’s something that readers and viewers are doing. But the producers of news are equally exposed to distressing headlines and imagery — and research shows it takes a measurable toll. Psychology Today recently highlighted the idea of a “sensory diet” as a practical way to manage that exposure, and the concept may be as relevant to newsroom staff as it is…
Marcus Rashford interview amassed 1.4m+ streams and 48.8m short‑form views in 48 hours Goalhanger leverages licensed LaLiga clips and cinematic production to boost reach and commercial value Model raises new monetisation opportunities and questions over access to expensive match and archive rights A special episode of The Rest Is Football featuring the Barcelona and England footballer Marcus Rashford has underlined Goalhanger’s rise as one of the most successful challenger brands in news media, drawing more than 1.4 million streams and almost 49 million social views within 48 hours of release. The 40-minute interview — filmed in Barcelona and hosted by…
Reach says Guten cut breaking‑news publish time from nine minutes to 90 seconds Plans to extend Guten into image selection, SEO optimisation and social orchestration across 120+ brands Company stresses human‑in‑the‑loop review, quotation‑fidelity checks and entity‑mismatch safeguards Reach plc is accelerating the rollout of its in-house AI system, Guten, expanding beyond automated redrafts into content recommendation, image selection for search optimisation and orchestration of social channels. In a blog for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Reach data scientists said the goal is to make Guten a central engine across the group’s 120-plus brands. Built on AWS technologies including Amazon Bedrock, AWS…
Union says two generative‑AI features were deployed without contract‑required notice or human review Management argues product teams built the tools “outside the newsroom” Ruling could set precedent on whether editorial standards and bargaining duties apply to algorithmic products Politico’s management told an arbitrator this summer that experimental AI products built…
51% of adults used a podcast in the past month and 33% in the past week, with 71% having ever tried one Smartphones remain the primary device but smart‑TV listening doubled (4% to 8%); YouTube (20%) now rivals traditional podcast apps while in‑car connectivity is rising Ofcom and industry surveys…
The New York Times added 1.08 million digital-only subscribers over the past year, bringing its total to 11.3 million, according to second-quarter results released this week. Including print, the Times has 11.9 million subscribers. More than 6 million subscribers now fall into the bundle or multi-product category, with another 3.6…
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…...
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Thomson Reuters reported stronger second-quarter earnings, supported by continued investment in artificial intelligence across its core legal, tax and accounting services. The Reuters News division saw 5% organic growth, with gains in both its agency and professionals business, alongside contractual pricing adjustments with the London Stock Exchange. Total revenue rose…
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…...
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SmartNews, the AI-driven news aggregator, has launched a new app that aims to give readers a more thoughtful and less polarised way to follow the news. Called NewsArc, the app uses AI to surface long-form journalism and in-depth reporting on complex topics in a deliberate counter to the fast-paced content…
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…...
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Media24’s transformation into a digital-first publisher has gathered pace under the leadership of Jerusha Raath, who returned to the company in late 2024 as publisher of News24. With a background that blends editorial experience and commercial strategy, Raath has quickly become the driving force behind the group’s reinvention. Speaking to Mark Challinor as part of his News Horizons series in The Drum, Raath described 2025 as a pivotal year for Media24. Innovations launched under her tenure include a “Good News desk” designed to counter negative news fatigue. It had already attracted more than 600,000 page views by mid-July. A disinformation…
Martin Lewis, the man behind the UK price comparison website MoneySavingExpert, has accused news publishers of misleading readers and undermining journalism by publishing clickbait articles that twist or fabricate his advice. Speaking to London Centric, Lewis, who regularly tops polls about who the British public would like to see as prime minister, described how his name and opinions is routinely misused by online news sites even when he has said nothing on a topic. “I haven’t spoken about air fryers in two years but I keep reading news reports about ‘urgent warnings’ I’ve given about air fryers,” he said. “It’s…
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The BBC has issued a legal threat to AI startup Perplexity, accusing it of using BBC content without permission to train and power its artificial intelligence tools. The move, first reported by the Financial Times, marks the broadcaster’s first action in defence of its intellectual property against generative AI firms. In a letter to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the BBC demanded the company stop scraping its content, delete any material already collected and proposed a financial settlement. It claims Perplexity’s tools have reproduced BBC content verbatim and serve as direct competitors by diverting users away from its platforms. The broadcaster…
Axel Springer is aiming to double its value within five years, with a bold plan built around artificial intelligence, platform independence and clearly stated political values. The ambition was laid out by CEO Mathias Döpfner at the company’s first major strategy meeting since its transformation back into a private media business. More than 100 top...
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Louis Dreyfus, the ceo of Le Monde, explained that he decided to sign deals with AI companies to allow them use the French newspaper’s content because they were doing it anyway. Speaking at WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media India conference in Chennai last week, Dreyfus said: “You can put a sign on your lawn that says ‘Please don’t walk on the lawn’. But do you think that people don’t walk on your lawn?” He said that this being the case, the business wanted some compensation and secured “very significant revenue” from its deal with OpenAI. It has also proved “a strong source…
News Corp has extended the contract of its chief executive Robert Thomson to June 2030, backing his leadership through a decade of change that has seen the company’s share price rise 140%. Thomson, who has led the publisher since 2013, was previously contracted until 2027. His time in charge has been defined by a rapid shift from legacy businesses to digital operations. By the end of fiscal 2024, digital revenues accounted for half of News Corp’s total, up from just 20% in 2014. That transition has included vocal lobbying for publisher rights, partnerships with tech giants and a major divestment:…
Hearst has introduced a voice-controlled AI assistant on its recipe site Delish, offering home cooks hands-free guidance through recipes. The tool, called Cooking Coach, was originally developed as a weekend experiment by Alexandria Redmon, Hearst’s senior director of AI initiatives, and has since grown into a full-featured product that addresses common kitchen challenges like setting timers, adjusting portions and suggesting ingredient swaps. As first reported by Digiday, Cooking Coach is built using OpenAI’s GPT large language model and trained solely on Delish’s archive of more than 30,000 recipes. The assistant can walk users through step-by-step instructions, respond to questions in…
News publishers in India are asking the same questions and facing the same issues as those in the US and Europe was the conclusion after two days of discussions and presentations at WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media India conference in Chennai this week. They may be only just starting to face falling print circulations – another victim...
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Bay City News, a small local nonprofit, has won plaudits for showing how artificial intelligence can enhance coverage without undermining trust. The publication, which serves the San Francisco Bay Area, recently won the 2024 Local Media Association Digital Innovation Award for the Most Innovative Use of AI in a News Organisation. The recognition came for its AI-driven approach to the 2024 election cycle, a complex logistical challenge involving hundreds of races across 13 counties. Bay City News combines a for-profit regional newswire with a nonprofit newsroom that powers its Local News Matters website. This structure has allowed it to experiment…
Investigative podcasts have become a fast-developing format for modern journalism, combining deep reporting with the immersive storytelling of long-form audio. Though still a niche within the broader podcasting ecosystem, their ability to explore complex subjects in rich detail, free from the time or space constraints of conventional media, has made them increasingly valuable to newsrooms looking to reach younger or underserved audiences. Outlets such as Poland’s Pismo Investigation and Lisbon-based Fumaça are among the European pioneers. Pismo has produced multiple acclaimed seasons, with its fifth series – released in April 2024 – examining harassment and institutional failure through multiple hour-long episodes. Fumaça…
In our keynote talk yesterday at WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media India in Chennai, Michael, my co-founder at HBM Advisory, and I set out a practical framework for managing change in newsrooms. We began by acknowledging the context: print is fading fast – even in South Asia, where it had appeared resilient until the pandemic – at...
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Time Inc is positioning itself as a willing collaborator in the AI era, with CEO Jessica Sibley making the case for negotiation and integration over litigation or inertia. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, Sibley outlined how the 102-year-old publisher is embedding AI across its operations to remain influential and efficient in a fast-changing industry. Sibley said Time had quickly recognised that it faced a choice: to negotiate, litigate or do nothing. It chose to negotiate, aiming to “have a seat at the table” with leading AI developers. That decision has shaped a strategy that…
