Creator disruption

The degree to which the creator phenomenon is rapidly disrupting traditional media has been on display in recent weeks.

A legacy media executive, former CBS News chief Wendy McMahon, is becoming an advisor to the newsletter platform Beehiiv, The Wrap’s Lucas Manfredi writes. Dave Jorgenson, a former Washington Post short video creator, has created a new company called Local News International, amassing nearly 100,000 YouTube subscribers on its first day, Neel Dhanesha writes for Nieman Lab.

At the recent Online News Association annual conference, there was an undeniable “creator wave,” Project C’s Liz Kelly Nelson writes.

And several news heavyweights have joined together to create a group called the News Creator Corps to support independent creators. “We invest in content creators and community messengers so they can better share facts, debunk misinformation, and empower their audiences with information,” the group says on its website. (API’s Samantha Ragland is one of its advisors).

Meanwhile, legacy media companies are increasingly recognizing the value of, and even embracing, independent creators. The Post, for example, recently hired a former top editor from Axios, Sara Kehaulani Goo, to head up a new creator network and the Philadelphia Inquirer recently introduced its first-ever video host.

API is supporting local newsrooms in their efforts to work with trusted content creators, and in the coming months we will deliver more insights from those experiments. In the meantime, if you’d like to join a conversation about how creator collaborations work — and especially how they can work for local publishers — join us for a presentation we’re hosting next week with the News Revenue Hub on this topic. You can register here.

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> ‘The verdict of history will be merciless’: A new left media rises in the age of Trump (Semafor)

Max Tani writes about Nika Soon-Shiong (daughter of the Los Angeles Times owner) who will become the publisher of a new outlet called Drop Site News, saying there is “intense energy” around media that falls left-of-center on the political spectrum.

>> Trump files $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times (CNN)

The Times said the lawsuit has no merit. The Committee to Protect Journalists said that such suits “send a chilling message and can entangle news media in time-consuming and costly legal processes.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> The Washington Post fired me — but my voice will not be silenced. (The Golden Hour by Karen Attiah)

Attiah, who writes that she was the last remaining Black full-time opinion columnist at The Post, said she was fired after “speaking against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns” after the horrific shootings in Utah and Colorado.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Build staff connections and respect (Trusting News)

Too often, people in newsrooms don’t really know one another, inhibiting internal collaboration, writes Joy Mayer. But newsroom leaders can find ways to build “a safe container” that can facilitate sharing among colleagues.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> The Baltimore Banner, with buzz and a Pulitzer, is readying expansion (The Washington Post) 

The Baltimore Banner is expanding into Maryland’s Montgomery County. It will have about nine journalists in a bureau that will cover communities in the suburban Washington county, Jeremy Barr reports.

>> Richmond Times-Dispatch print subscriptions decline as cost rises to $1,430 annually (The Richmonder) 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch disclosed its subscription numbers in Friday’s edition. Michael Phillips lays out the details.

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What else you need to know

👀 Two arrested after incendiary device found under local Fox TV news van in Utah (CNN)

💸 Alden Global raises bid for DallasNews, topping Hearst (Axios)

🛡️ Attacks on local news stations continue to rise (RTNDA)

💰 Alaska fund raises $3.5M for public media as federal cuts begin (Anchorage Daily News)