Will distinctive journalism save us?

There it is again, that word “distinctive” in describing how news organizations might transcend the AI wave by doing nuanced and authentic journalism. The latest appearance came in an Aspen Digital report, which summarizes insights from a March gathering where top news executives in Europe discussed AI and the news industry.

To mitigate AI’s threats to news discovery, “publishers are focusing on the kind of distinctive journalism that AI cannot easily replicate, including investigative and enterprise reporting, and nuanced analysis,” wrote the report’s author, Felix Simon.

The media observer and former news executive Dick Tofel made a related point in a recent Substack, saying that the sites suffering most from decline in search traffic due to AI are often those driven by clickbait.

“If there is one overriding lesson of publishing in the digital age, it remains that distinctive content remains the most unassailable, the least vulnerable,” he wrote.

And earlier this year, in his 2025 Nieman Lab prediction, the news design expert and consultant Mario García also hit on this theme: “The distinct human writer becomes more essential.”

Now it is up to individual newsrooms to figure out their own special sauce to make “distinctive” more than an industry buzzword.

Simon’s report did, after all, inject a note of caution: “It also needs to be stressed here that there is no conclusive evidence to date that the majority of audiences will generally prefer ‘artisanal and hand-crafted’ news over content partially or wholly produced with AI; and be willing to depart with both their attention, time, and money to support the same.”

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Paramount settles Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit with $16 million payout and no apology (CNN) 

CBS News parent Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over its “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris last fall. Corporate priorities, write Brian Stelter and Liam Reilly, “trumped journalistic principles,” as Paramount has been seeking government approval for its proposed merger with Skydance Media. Legal experts, they write, saw the suit as frivolous, and outside analysts said the public should “see past the official statements and recognize the alarming nature of Paramount’s payoff to Trump.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> ‘We better create our own damn table’: Why Francesca Donner left traditional media behind (Journalism.co.uk)

When she worked at big-name media companies, journalist Francesca Donner tried to change how stories about women were told, but often found that the effort was “like a rubber band,” always snapping back to the “male lens.” She is now running The Persistent, a media startup that, she tells Marcela Kunova, is an attempt to get away from those old editorial practices. The Persistent, Kunova writes, is “part of a larger reckoning with whose voices get heard and whose stories get told.”

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: Collective wisdom: Breaking down generational barriers

At API we have been working on ways that news organizations can help bridge divides in their communities, including across generations, with the idea that communities work best when people share their diverse perspectives with one another. To that end, we have asked five people outside of journalism who have experience working with people of all ages how they approach their work. You’ll find common themes in their answers — one is that it is a mistake to think that young people will not engage on civic issues or that they are uncurious about them.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> New from API: 4 strategies to startup success from the Nashville Banner (Better News) 

Gannett closed the Nashville Banner in 1998. Now a former Banner reporter, Steve Cavendish, has revived the Banner as a nonprofit digital organization. “The thing we care about most is local news,” Cavendish shared in a Q&A session hosted by API and the News Revenue Hub. Leveraging the legacy name was one of the deliberate moves Cavendish has made in driving the Banner’s success. He shared four strategies that could inform others trying newsroom startups or working to build revenue in support of local editorial initiatives, writes API’s Liz Worthington.

>> Also from API: Revenue ideas to inspire, from alumni of the Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program (Better News) 

Last month, API hosted a call for alumni of the Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program to share recent revenue successes and answer questions from local news organizations interested in trying similar approaches. Here are 10 success stories.

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What else you need to know

📰 How public policy makes a difference for newsrooms and communities (Substack, News @ Knight)

🌉 How SFGATE is making local news pay and filling California’s news gaps (Press Gazette)

💸 He made billions on Google and PayPal. Now, he’s betting on news. (The New York Times)

👀 Trump drops federal lawsuit against Iowa pollster, refiles in state court (The Washington Post)

Reads for the long weekend: 

+ What happens after AI destroys college writing? (The New Yorker)

+ Three archetypes define American politics. Reading this article suggests which one might apply to you (CNN)

+ The hurricane forecast cone is changing, and journalists are part of the overhaul (Poynter)

+  Digital isn’t enough: Publishers face a youth disconnect (What’s New in Publishing)