Searchers rest for a minute under a bridge in Hunt, Texas, while searching for missing persons from the July 4 th Texas floods in Kerrville, Texas. --  Mike Felix for The Kerrville Daily … more

Jeffrey Sleete likes to say that great sales careers — and long, fulfilling ones — are built on mindset as much as skill. In a recent column, he drew inspiration from the 1945 hit “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” reminding sellers that eliminating the negative isn’t just a catchy lyric — it’s a survival skill in a high-pressure profession. Borrowing wisdom from gerontologist Dr. John Dunlop, Sleete suggests that waking up with a plan and ending the day knowing you’ve helped someone aren’t just good rules for aging well; they’re the foundation for staying sharp, productive and fulfilled in sales, no matter your stage in the game. more

With threats against journalists escalating in the tense post-election climate, five of the nation’s leading press freedom organizations have joined forces to launch the Journalist Assistance Network — a coordinated hub offering legal, safety and security resources to reporters under pressure. Announced in May, the alliance unites the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom of the Press Foundation, International Women’s Media Foundation, PEN America and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, formalizing years of informal cooperation into a one-call system that connects journalists with the help they need — fast. more

The gap between journalists and the funders who can sustain their work has long been wide — sometimes a chasm. This spring, two back-to-back conferences in Philadelphia set out to narrow it, bringing hundreds of newsroom leaders and philanthropists face-to-face to trade ideas, share hard truths and explore ways to keep local journalism alive. From practical fundraising bootcamps to frank conversations about power, equity and trust, the Lenfest Philanthropy Summit and the Media Impact Funders Forum offered a rare space where those who produce the news and those who finance it could meet as equals, united by a shared belief: a free and thriving press is worth investing in. more

One of the newspaper industry’s top design firms has a rare opportunity for an assistant designer to help produce newspapers and magazines, redesign publications and design web sites and web software products for local media outlets. more

The Knight Center for the Future of News at ASU’s Cronkite School isn’t tinkering at the edges of journalism — it’s ripping up the blueprint and starting fresh. Dean Battinto Batts calls this moment “an inflection point,” where trust is eroding and technology is racing ahead faster than most newsrooms can follow. Julia Wallace insists transformation must be rooted in community, warning that too many audiences have been “left alone” without information they can rely on. Together, they’re pushing for flatter newsrooms, bold experiments with AI and business models that do more than keep the lights on — they rebuild confidence in what news is for. more

At Long Lead, stories aren’t churned out for clicks — they’re commissioned, curated and crafted to endure. Co-founded by hedge fund manager and media patron Bill Perkins and led editorially by veteran journalist John Patrick Pullen, Long Lead is a journalism studio that treats deep reporting as an art form. In a media landscape dominated by speed, scale and algorithms, Long Lead is rejecting the race and building a body of work meant to be preserved, not just published. more

Local media is no longer just fighting to survive—it’s finding bold new ways to thrive. This fall, the Business of Local Conference (Oct. 19–21, 2025 in Salt Lake City) brings together the sharpest minds in journalism and media business to share the strategies reshaping our industry—from AI-driven efficiency and innovative ad models to membership growth, live events, and first-party data. With powerhouse speakers from the New York Post, Boston Globe, City Cast, and beyond, plus hands-on workshops and exclusive networking, this is where inspiration meets execution—and where the future of profitable local news is being written. more

Guy Tasaka has a blunt question for media executives: You’re still using free ChatGPT for everything, aren’t you? He sees it all the time — leaders treating AI like a novelty instead of the business transformation tool it is. “They’ll spend $500 on a dinner,” he says, “but won’t invest $20 a month in technology that could revolutionize their content creation, proposal building and marketing operations.” For Tasaka, that reluctance isn’t just short-sighted — it’s money left on the table every single day. more

When Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication welcomed 300 students back this fall, Dean Battinto Batts and professor Julia Wallace were also ushering in a new era for the school — and for the industry. Backed by $14.5 million in combined funding from the Knight Foundation and ASU, the Knight Center for the Future of News officially opened July 1 with a mission “to transform and strengthen the American news ecosystem.” The Center will serve as an information hub for industry collaboration and launch three specialized labs focused on trust in news, revenue sustainability and innovation in reporting and storytelling — including the strategic use of artificial intelligence. more

E&P Magazine is conducting a short survey to better understand how news organizations are adopting, governing and experimenting with artificial intelligence — from newsroom tools and policy decisions to audience trust and future planning. Your insights will help inform our coverage and provide valuable benchmarks for the industry. We welcome responses from editorial, business and technology leaders alike. Responses may be shared in aggregate or quoted anonymously in upcoming E&P coverage. If you’re open to a follow-up interview, you’ll have the chance to indicate that at the end of the survey. more

In the past two decades, local journalism in the United States has seen its reporting ranks decimated — dropping from an average of 40 journalists per 100,000 residents in 2002 to just 8.2 today, according to the new “Local Journalist Index 2025.” While other nations have responded to similar crises by forcing tech platforms to pay for the news content that fuels their businesses, U.S. publishers are still fighting for their share — and finding both bipartisan allies and formidable opposition along the way. more

For more than a century, the deal was simple: publishers produced fact-checked journalism, and in return, they monetized it through advertising and subscriptions. News Media Canada’s CEO, Paul Deegan, warns that this social contract is now being rewritten — not by lawmakers or industry leaders, but by artificial intelligence systems that harvest, summarize and monetize the very work they don’t pay for. The result? A slow bleed of audience, revenue and trust that threatens the economic foundation of a free press. more

When Ken Tingley retired after more than two decades leading The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York, he thought he was closing the book on his newsroom career. Instead, he wrote one. Then he took it a step further—turning his memoir, The Last American Newspaper, into a stage play that sold out four nights in a row at the Adirondack Theatre Festival. The production didn’t just entertain. It pulled audiences to their feet, stirred tears, and forced a community to reckon with what happens when a local newsroom fades away. more

As The Philadelphia Inquirer’s sole obituary writer since 2020, Gary Miles has chronicled the lives of nearly 1,000 people, from community leaders to his own newsroom colleagues. His work requires navigating grief, gathering memories and distilling entire lives into just a few hundred words — all while finding the humanity and hope that survive loss. And in one extraordinary case, it meant collaborating with a subject who knew her obituary would be written — and wanted to help tell it — before she died. more

What if saving the planet was pitched like saving money? That’s the question driving The Cool Down, a fast-growing lifestyle platform that skips the doom and gloom of traditional climate coverage in favor of everyday advice people actually want. Launched in July 2022 by the team behind Bleacher Report and a former ABC News executive, TCD now reaches 45 million monthly visitors and outranks major players like Reuters, HuffPost and POLITICO. Its secret? Data-driven storytelling that meets mainstream audiences where they are — with clear benefits for their wallets, well-being and the world. more

Nominations for the 2025 E&P EPPY Awards close this Friday at midnight ET — your final chance to showcase your newsroom’s best work. For nearly 30 years, the EPPYs have honored digital excellence across the industry — from CNN, NBC News, and The Boston Globe to small-but-mighty local outlets, nonprofit startups, and standout student publications. From websites and podcasts to data visualizations, video, and newsletters, the EPPYs celebrate innovation across every platform. Winning isn’t just a trophy — it’s recognition that sets your newsroom apart. But remember: if you don’t enter, you can’t win. more

Journalism has long weathered disruption, but today’s digital currents are more chaotic than ever. Artificial intelligence, platform deprioritization of news, declining referral traffic and a growing lack of attribution are pushing publishers into unfamiliar waters — demanding not just adaptation, but a full-on re-set of how they engage with audiences on social media. more

Social media is now, according to this year’s Reuters Digital News Report, the top source for news — especially for the younger consumer. It was for this reason that E&P believed it was important to look at social media and what it means for news outlets today — how it’s changed and what news outlets need to consider. more