Top News:
Felix M. Simon / Columbia Journalism Review:
A report on the use of AI in news organizations, based on 170 interviews with employees at 35 publishers in the US, UK, and Germany and international experts — Executive Summary — Despite growing interest, the effects of AI on the news industry and our information environment — the public arena — remain poorly understood.
Washington Post:
Some news creators and journalists, who moved from X to Threads, criticize Meta for planning to stop recommending political content on Instagram and Threads — The platform announced it won't recommend “social commentary” or political news. — Meta announced on Friday …
Discussion:
Media Nation, Reclaim The Net, BGR, @Wolven@ourislandgeorgia.net, Instagram, Axios, @ashtonpittman, @hashtagcpt, @carnage4life, Quartz, Political Wire, @taylorlorenz@threads.net, @dead.place, @Laukidh@infosec.exchange, @jonasd@threads.net, @aaronhuertas_de@threads.net, @moskov@threads.net, @taylorlorenz@threads.net, @taylorlorenz@threads.net, @karissabe@threads.net, @goldman@threads.net, The Verge, MediaPost, TechCrunch, Variety, The Hill and Engadget
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Guardian forecasts a £39M deficit in FY 2023/24 as ad revenue was down 16%, or £9M, in the nine months to Dec. 31 and membership revenue was £3M behind budget — Digital reader revenue came in 4% below expectations. — Advertising revenue at Guardian News and Media was down £9m …
Max Tani / Semafor:
Slate says 2023 was the most profitable year in its 27 year history, with revenue up 28% YoY through investments and growth in its podcasts and website — The Scoop — Amid a difficult year for news media last year, at least one legacy digital media company has quietly been moving the other direction.
Discussion:
@rafat, @annasale, @maxwelltani and @katie_rayford
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
How generative AI is transforming the advertising industry; WPP and Publicis plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to embed AI in their businesses — At the start of the year, every single one of the roughly 100,000 people working for advertising giant Publicis received a video message …
Discussion:
James Clive-Matthews on LinkedIn, Mike Betts on LinkedIn, Digiday, @dineshgovender and @textually
Clara Aberneithie / Press Gazette:
An interview with The Times' Paul Morgan-Bentley on going undercover with British Gas debt collectors as part of an investigation into pre-payment energy meters — Getting something “badly wrong” is what keeps head of investigations Morgan-Bentley up at night.
Discussion:
@pressgazette
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
A look at STIRR, launched in 2019 by Sinclair with 100+ FAST channels and sold to Thinking Media in January 2024, as it plans an international expansion — Broadcasting company Sinclair recently sold off its free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service STIRR to Thinking Media …
Discussion:
Cord Cutters News
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
An interview with Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon on changes in the UK's broadcast TV market, cuts to the network's program budget, and a gradual shift to streaming — The network boss believes production companies that underpin Britain's global reputation face being forced out of business
Discussion:
Melissa Carr on LinkedIn, Stephen Arnell on LinkedIn, Alex Mahon on LinkedIn and CityAM
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
A look at the uncertain future of TalkTV as its star presenter Piers Morgan moves to YouTube, saying his daily show had become an “unnecessary straitjacket” — Outspoken presenter is moving his ‘Uncensored’ show from TalkTV to YouTube — Piers Morgan, the outspoken presenter …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Variety and Broadband TV News
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Malaysia sentences British anti-corruption reporter Clare Rewcastle Brown to two years in prison in absentia for criminal defamation over her 1MDB reporting — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Malaysian authorities to reverse the decision to sentence British anti-corruption …
Discussion:
BBC and Malay Mail
Clare Malone / New Yorker:
A look at the state of news media, which faces an “extinction-level event” despite constantly reshaping itself in the first three decades of digital publishing — Ads are scarce, search and social traffic is dying, and readers are burned out. The future will require fundamentally rethinking …
Discussion:
Mark Little on LinkedIn, @dominicmhinde, @jpelzer, @ddayen, @claremalone, @davidsirota, @jeffjarvis, @samaugustdean, Roberta Braga on LinkedIn, @steveyaeger@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @emilyrusselladk, @cyrilsam, @michaelluo, @JustinGerdes@mastodon.green and r/Journalism
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
How entrenched patterns of philanthropic funding leave behind small nonprofit newsrooms, an issue with which BIPOC-led outlets are all too familiar — “All of these are choices that funders make, and they could choose differently if they wanted to.”