Wednesday 10th January: Nic Newman's journalism, media and tech trends & predictions for 2024

Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2024

Nic Newman’s annual journalism, media and tech trends report for The Reuters Institute came out yesterday.

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/journalism-media-and-technology-trends-and-predictions-2024

Nic Newman’s annual journalism, media and tech trends report for The Reuters Institute came out yesterday. Considering everything from search and platform referral traffic to news avoidance, the impact of AI and Generative AI on newsrooms, business models and trust looms large over this year’s look forward.

The mood among the 300-plus digital news executives surveyed for the report is not particularly cheery; less than half said they were confident about journalism in the year ahead. Nic tweeted, “Existential threats from AI are a big factor along with declining advertising revenue, and a slowing of subscription growth.”

Interestingly, use of AI is focused on back-end news automation; 56% of responding publishers said that would be the most important use of the technology. Publishers are cautious about using AI in content creation, where the reputational risk is considered high. That won’t stop the tsunami of crap though and with a bumper crop of elections worldwide, get ready for a wild ‘synthetic content’ fueled ride in 2024.

Media Moments 2023

Attention to Post Office Horizon IT scandal follows 14 years of dogged journalism

How journalists exposed the Horizon IT scandal behind ITV drama Mr Bates vs Post Office: 14 years of dogged reporting.

pressgazette.co.uk/news/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-journalists

A long-running IT scandal that saw hundreds of innocent people wrongly convicted of fraud against the postal service has been getting a lot of attention here in the UK. A TV drama has sparked a huge public outcry around the case, leading to a fresh police investigation. But as Charlotte Tobitt points out here for Press Gazette, the original story was broken by trade magazine Computer Weekly almost 15 years ago.

Coalition of 10 Black publishers incorporate as public benefit company

After initially funding the creation of Word in Black, LMF sold the startup's assets back to Word in Black as a public benefit corporation on Jan. 1.

www.axios.com/2024/01/09/exclusive-coalition-10-black-publishers-public-benefit-company

Axios is reporting that Word in Black, a media startup incubated within the Local Media Foundation, has officially incorporated as a public benefit company. Why does that matter? Axios says it could serve as a blueprint for nonprofit media organisations that are looking to scale other local media collaboratives. You can find out more about Word in Black’s mission in Esther’s interview with COO Andrew Ramsammy from February last year.

The demise of the third-party cookie is well underway - but what does that actually mean for publishers and audiences? Chat about it with us in our Community forum here!

‘The Grub Street Journal’ on Monocle’s The Stack

On the first episode of ‘The Stack’ in 2024, we speak with the team behind ‘The Grub Street Journal’, a magazine for magazine people.

monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/594

Is it OK to shout about appearing on Monocle’s magazine podcast, The Stack? Hell yes it is! Joanna and I are on the show’s first episode of 2024 talking about Grub Street. Outside of getting to sit in the radio studio at Monocle’s Midori House (so cool), listening back to our interview has made me appreciate all over again how much difference a super-tight edit can make to a podcast.

More from Media Voices

Integrating AI into newsrooms: experiment, report, measure

In the second episode of this two-part series from Mx3 AI, we look at why, how and when publishers are integrating AI into their newsrooms.

voices.media/integrating-ai-into-newsrooms

AI in the newsroom: Opportunities, regulation and risk

We set the scene for AI and its use in publishing, as experts tell us how to prepare for internal and external changes to media businesses.

voices.media/ai-in-the-newsroom-opportunities-regulation-and-risk

Info: The Publisher Newsletter Summit and Publisher Podcast Summit

Find out more about the Publisher Newsletter Summit and Publisher Podcast Summit from the Media Voices team, and register your interest for speaking, sponsoring or attending.

voices.media/summits