Deals and defiance
The news industry’s fraught relationship with AI was on display this week in three developments highlighting the fight ‘em or join ‘em conundrum publishers face with the technology.
The New York Times and other news organizations were in federal court this week for a hearing in their lawsuit against ChatGPT developer OpenAI, NPR’s Bobby Allyn reports. The publishers argued that the use of their intellectual property has been “extremely lucrative” for OpenAI, Allyn writes.
The Associated Press, meanwhile, said it has signed an agreement with Google in which the news organization will deliver real-time information to Google’s Gemini chatbot.
And Axios said it had inked a deal in which OpenAI will underwrite the local expansion of Axios to four cities: Pittsburgh; Kansas City, Mo.; Boulder, Colo.; and Huntsville, Ala. For NiemanLab, Laura Hazard Owen interviewed Axios CEO Jim VandeHei on what the deal means and his vision for “juicing local news.”
If you’re having a hard time keeping track of who stands where, Charlotte Tobitt is providing regular updates in a “who’s suing and who’s signing” status report in Press Gazette.
- Related: That sports news story you clicked on could be AI slop (Wired)
News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.
Civic Discourse & Democracy
>> New from API: Local media can leverage local identity and history to stand apart from the crowd — and create new value
Helping news organizations tap into their communities’ identities and history will be a central focus of API’s work in 2025. Research shows that “community attachment” plays a key role in motivating people to pay for local news, and those bonds can be formed in a number of ways, among them reporting, in-person events, newsletters or podcasts. In the coming year, we plan to encourage and enable experiments in this area — and help news organizations strengthen civic bonds in the process.
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Culture & Inclusion
>> The Washington Post’s new mission: Reach ‘All of America’ (The New York Times)
The Washington Post is trying out a new mission: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America,” a statement designed to rally staffers internally, reports Benjamin Mullin. But Mullin also points to owner Jeff Bezos’ expressed desire to make The Post appeal to Americans outside the coasts, and to expand its audience among conservatives.
- Related: Will Lewis’ first year at ‘Washington Post’: Cancellations, red ink and an exodus (NPR)
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Community Engagement & Trust
>> Social media platforms are not built for this (The Verge)
“Platform decay,” as Mia Sato describes it, means the social media feeds that many people use are actually not useful in crises like the Los Angeles wildfires. People affected by these crises can’t share a link to mutual aid resources or news stories that include relevant and timely information, like whether people need to evacuate and the locations of shelters.
- Related: INN to provide grants to local newsrooms reporting on California wildfires (INN)
>> Source tracking fosters responsive engagement and improves your journalism (ONA)
What can you do to bridge gaps with communities that your news organization hasn’t served well? Register for this Online News Association session on Jan. 30 at 12:30 p.m. ET, where journalists and API team members will share how to improve your community journalism using our tool for responsive engagement, Source Matters.
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Revenue & Resilience
>> The Conversation is trying to make its academia-fueled model work for local news (Nieman Lab)
The Conversation is trying to extend its brand — connecting academia to a general audience — to local news, writes Joshua Benton. The program has started in four markets and is helped by a three-year, $1.27 million grant from the Knight Foundation. One example of what they’ve produced: a piece from a Jacksonville law professor explaining how Florida’s insurance market has so quickly become dysfunctional.
>> Join our webinar: Diversifying Revenue Series: Strategies for retaining paid subscribers
Table Stakes alumni are invited to join us Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. for a conversation with Table Stakes coach Anthony Basilio about how news organizations can improve their retention of print and digital subscribers. Reserve your spot.
>> Two events to watch
The Branded Content Project will hold a call on Jan. 22 to discuss how the Maine Trust for Local News grew their branded content by three-fold. And for Indiegraf, news consultant Adriana Lacy talks about strategies for engaging Gen Z audiences in a webinar that can be viewed any time.
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What else you need to know
🤔The New York Times rethinks political endorsements (Semafor)
📺 Outgoing FCC chair rejects high-profile TV petitions as attempt to ‘weaponize’ government (CNN)
✂️Dotdash Meredith to lay off 143 people (Axios)
✋Google tells EU fact checking ‘simply isn’t appropriate’ (The Wrap)
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Weekend reads
+ Does fact-checking work? What the science says (Nature)
+ Opinion: We need a Freedom of Information Act for Big Tech (The Washington Post)
+ Q&A: Susan Chira on criminal justice reporting and leaving the Marshall Project (CJR)
+ Media defense lawyers on their biggest fears during a Trump term, how journalists can defend themselves and why they still have hope (PEN America)
