Wednesday 25th January: Local news groups band together for survival

January 25, 2023

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Dozens of journalism groups join coalition to save local news

If successful, the coalition believes it could create thousands of local news jobs across the country.

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/24/local-news-coalition-journalism-groups?utm_source=pocket_saves

In yesterday's newsletter Esther noted that the era of billionaire-based philanthropy hasn't actually served newspapers all that well. That might well be why this new coalition of US local news groups believes that philanthropy is only one part of the mix of new revenue sources, rather than the sole leg on which the plan stands.

Rebuild Local News' plans are ambitious - if reliant on government money, as its president Steve Waldman acknowledges here: "Indeed, government policies of the right sort could help both commercial business models to grow, financing pools to accumulate, and nonprofit local news to expand. We shouldn’t view public policy as being a substitute for the other steps that are essential, but rather as a way of making it more likely that those private efforts will succeed."

There's bound to be reticence, and it's a conversation we had over on this side of the pond in the wake of the Cairncross Review. But even if it's difficult, the conversation is vital, as the total collapse of local news isn't doing anyone any good.

Washington Post begins layoffs | CNN Business

The Washington Post on Tuesday became the latest media company to conduct layoffs, people familiar with the matter said, a move that publisher Fred Ryan had indicated last month the newspaper would take in early 2023.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/24/business/washington-post-begins-layoffs/

On the flipside of the coin, there's more news of media layoffs. Always painful news. First Adweek announced layoffs, and now WaPo has followed suit - and the mood seems to be that many of them are totally unnecessary job cuts. It's just a steady drip-drip-drip of cuts to the news industry and it never stops being depressing.

CNET's AI Journalist Appears to Have Committed Extensive Plagiarism

CNET's AI-generated articles appear to show deep structural similarities, amounting to plagiarism, with previously published work elsewhere.

https://futurism.com/cnet-ai-plagiarism?utm_source=pocket_reader

lol, lmao. This will be totally unsurprising to those AI doubters, and while the reality of the situation is a little more nuanced, it does appear that plagiAIrism has occurred. As we said on this week's episode, a lot of the blame can be laid at the feet of the people actually using the tool, but it does illustrate the dangers of going whole hog on AI for creation, not just augmentation.

“Cautious optimism is peeking through”: Many publishers not looking at using discounts despite recession fears | What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News

A series of surveys conducted by Digiday, of which What’s New in Publishing was a participant, reveal that a significant chunk of publishers are not looking at using discounting as a strategy to spur subscription/ad growth whether it’s the holiday season or the impending recession. Almost two-thirds of publishers get at least some of their …

https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/cautious-optimism-is-peeking-through-many-publishers-not-looking-at-using-discounts-despite-recession-fears/?utm_source=pocket_reader

In line with our prediction that publishers' priority is moving away from user acquisition at any cost, this piece on WNIP suggests that discounting is being reconsidered at many big publishers - probably in the face of cozzie livs. Keep an eye on this; ARPU is going to be the watchword (watchacronym?) across 2023. Relatedly: Press Gazette has rounded up the most expensive news subscriptions in the UK.

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Dexerto CEO Josh Nino on standing out among gaming publishers

Josh Nino tells us about how esports-focused publication Dexerto went about carving a foothold in a competitive market.

https://voices.media/dexerto-ceo-josh-nino-on-standing-out-in-the-crowded-market-of-gaming-publishers/

On this week’s episode, Dexerto CEO Josh Nino tells us about how the esports-focused publication went about carving a foothold in a competitive market that is often unfriendly to newcomers. He also talks about where a publication like Dexerto looks to grow revenue and audience – and whether those opportunities are universal for all digital publications – and what he thinks is the future of sports and esports-related communities online.