With the 2026 midterms fast approaching, newsrooms are preparing for an election shaped by national politics, questions about election security and voters hungry for trustworthy information. For E&P’s October cover story, Editor-in-Chief Gretchen A. Peck spoke with reporters and editors at Votebeat, The Associated Press, The Daily Beast and The Salt Lake Tribune about how they’re planning coverage before, during and after Election Day. more

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Thomson Reuters’ copyright victory against Ross Intelligence, Reuters reports. The Third Circuit rejected the former legal-research competitor’s fair-use defense over Westlaw material used to train an AI-powered search engine. more

What do the 2026 midterms and the explosive growth of data centers have in common? Both present local newsrooms with an opportunity to demonstrate their value, by answering the questions that matter most to their communities. In her October 2026 editorial, E&P Editor-in-Chief Gretchen A. Peck considers how audience-first journalism can turn consequential, complex stories into indispensable local reporting. more

Max D. Lederer, Jr. is Editor & Publisher’s 2026 News Executive of the Year. Lederer is the longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, where he spent more than three decades in leadership roles, including general counsel, general manager and chief operating officer. He became acting publisher in 2007 and was formally named publisher in 2009. more

NewsMatch is preparing to expand from its annual year-end fundraising campaign to a year-round approach, Nieman Lab reports. more

Public Citizen has asked broadcasters and federal regulators to halt government-funded television advertisements promoting President Donald Trump. In complaints announced Tuesday, the advocacy organization alleged that the spots violate restrictions on taxpayer-funded propaganda and political activity. more

Charles Pittman received the Inland Foundation Distinguished Service Award, and Inez Russell Gomez, Bridget Grumet and Dick Yarbrough earned top honors in the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition during America’s Newspapers’ Senior Leadership Conference awards luncheon in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29. more

Monday, the New York Times and other publishers filed their response to the Department of Justice’s Statement of Interest (SOI) in support of Microsoft and OpenAI, in which the administration urged the judge to hold that copying any content to train AI models is “fair use.” more

Pat Dorsey, publisher of The Santa Fe New Mexican, was elected Tuesday to a full-term as chair of  America's Newspapers.  Dorsey was named chair earlier this year after Matt McMillan accepted a role outside the newspaper industry.  He now will serve a full term as chair.  more

NPR is expanding its use of video and outside creator partnerships as it seeks stronger digital relationships with audiences, Nieman Lab reports. In a new interview, chief content officer Nadine Zylstra describes the organization’s partnership with technology journalists Casey Newton and Kevin Roose for their independently owned show Machine Gods. more

News publishers suing OpenAI and Microsoft are asking a federal court to give no weight to the Justice Department’s intervention supporting the AI companies. more

BLOX Digital is proud to announce a strategic partnership with SCS, bringing the SCS Automated News Production (ANP) platform to BLOX publishers. The partnership combines BLOX Digital’s industry-leading AI-powered CMS with SCS’ proven automated pagination technology, helping publishers reduce production time while allowing editorial teams to focus on journalism instead of page assembly. more

BlueLena announced the newest expansion of BlueLena Advisory, its strategy consulting division for independent and nonprofit news organizations, with the addition of Phillip Smith as Principal Consultant and the launch of a dedicated top-of-funnel audience growth practice. more

Guy Raz is acquiring full ownership of How I Built This from NPR and partnering with Vox Media to expand the entrepreneurship podcast, according to a joint announcement Tuesday. more

Mel Meléndez will retire as editor in chief of the South Florida Business Journal after ten years in the role, Talking Biz News reports. His final day is December 4. more

The Associated Press has named Paul Byrne news director for Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. He will oversee reporting in English and Spanish across formats in a region covering more than 30 countries, according to an AP staff announcement. more

Technology journalist Kevin Roose is joining The Atlantic as a contributing writer, according to an editorial memo reported by Talking Biz News. Roose comes from The New York Times, where he wrote about technology. more

Bobbi Atwood carries her dog, Luna, after their home on West Euclid Road burned Saturday, August 1, 2026, in Spokane, Washington. Luna’s paws suffered burns. Atwood lost several pets that day. Photo credit: Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review more