Conservative news outlets are already thriving ahead of the next administration — but other outlets aren’t 

The media is beginning to feel the first impacts of the upcoming Trump administration. As Sara Guaglione wrote in Digiday last week, it’s unclear whether media outlets will get the same “Trump bump” as they did in 2016. Early indications suggest that they won’t; viewership at MSNBC has dropped since last month, The New York Times reports. But Trump’s preferred cable network Fox News has seen a bump, and he’s even nominated Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth as his next secretary of defense, reports The Washington Post. 

And Trump’s time in the White House is predicted to favor news outlets that favor him. Sara Fischer and Sophia Cai report for Axios that MAGA-aligned news outlets are expected to be granted access to the White House press room and briefings, although whether they are allotted one of the coveted 49 seats in the room will be decided by the White House Correspondents’ Association rather than the administration. 

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> With surge in new users, Bluesky emerges as X alternative (The New York Times)

Turned off by Elon Musk’s enthusiastic support of President-elect Trump has pushed many users away from X and towards alternatives like Bluesky. 

+ Dig Deeper: Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X (The Guardian); X’s Community Notes had a marginal, if any, impact on the election (Poynter) 

>> LA Times owner says Harris’ stance on Gaza war contributed to non-endorsement, plans editorial board revamp (CNN) 

Patrick Soon-Shiong said in an interview that he plans to add more centrist and conservative voices to the paper’s editorial board. 

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Elections prove we are better, stronger together (Appen Media)

In an opinion piece, Carl Appen writes that this election day showed how collaboration — both cross-newsroom, as in the The Election Urgent Care Slack channel — and within newsrooms help “help facilitate the spread of good information.”

>> I’m a journalist and I’m changing the way I read news. This is how. (Nieman Lab) 

Laura Hazard Owen writes that she’s rethinking her media diet by focusing on reading the news, rather than other people’s reactions to the news, particularly by reading print publications. She’s also cutting back on her news consumption, both by decreasing the total quantity and restricting it to work hours. 

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Does public service media crowd out private news publishers? New research says it doesn’t (Reuters Institute)

A new Swiss study has found that public media does not discourage consumption of — or the willingness to pay for — news from private corporations. One theory is that public media increases interest in and demand for news, which independent publications can meet in diverse ways. 

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Forbes, CNN, and more lose millions as new Google policy tanks affiliate businesses (Ad Week)

Changes to Google’s policies have meant that publishers who use third-party companies to run their affiliate businesses have seen dramatic declines in search visibility and cumulatively lost at least $7.5 million, according to an SEO firm. 

>> Telegraph is launching an AI-driven newsroom tool every month (Press Gazette)

The Telegraph will launch 12 AI tools in the next year, some consumer-facing and some internal. The paper’s director of technology says the goal is to “learn through doing.” 

+ Dig Deeper: The Wall Street Journal is testing AI article summaries (The Verge) 

>> Join us: Diversifying Revenue Series: Connecting fundraising asks to news coverage

Join us for a conversation with Gillian White, chief revenue officer for Capital B, about how a small team can develop fundraising appeals that speak to a news organization’s mission and audience, tying fundraising asks to key events and news coverage, and focusing your efforts for end-of-year fundraising campaigns. Join us on Thursday, November 21 from 12 to 1pm CT. 

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What else you need to know

🇪🇺 Google is testing the ‘impact’ of removing EU news from search results (The Verge)

🕺 Trump expected to try to halt TikTok ban, allies say (The Washington Post) 

📺 Craig Melvin is named Hoda Kotb’s replacement on ‘Today’ (The New York Times) 

🎭 The Onion buys Infowars, Alex Jones’s site, out of bankruptcy (The New York Times) 

💰 Press Forward announces open call on infrastructure (Press Forward) 

💸 Report for America pilot program aims to boost local newsroom sustainability (Report for America) 

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Weekend reads

+ The Wall Street Journal’s campaign to free Evan Gershkovich (Columbia Journalism Review)

+ What should journalists do when the facts don’t matter? (Nieman Lab) 

+ Now that that’s over, how about covering public health? (Substack, Second Rough Draft)