For the third consecutive year, Northwestern University's Medill School has tracked how Americans' local news habits are changing. The latest survey confirms that audience demand for local journalism remains remarkably resilient, but it also reveals widening cracks in the industry's business model, growing skepticism about AI and an accelerating shift away from traditional broadcast platforms. During this episode of E&P Reports, researchers Tim Franklin and Dr. Stephanie Edgerly explained what every news leader should take away from the findings. more

Sara Chodosh, who has produced outstanding work for Opinion, will join the Investigations desk as a graphics editor. more

Anna Simpson has joined Newsroom Operations as D.C. senior operations manager. more

The AI behind AlaskaNews.com cracks jokes and acknowledges a “trust burden.” more

Newly unsealed court documents showed concern within Microsoft and OpenAI over the use of millions of news articles to develop A.I. systems. more

Publisher Paul Curran calls the overhaul a “first step” toward a simplified operating model for 2027. more

A newsroom can win a lawsuit and still be destroyed by it. Years of legal bills, missed deadlines and relentless anxiety can accomplish what an unfavorable verdict never could: silencing journalists and frightening others away from the story. For a small publisher without in-house counsel or deep financial reserves, one legal threat can place the entire organization at risk. International media-freedom attorney Flutura Kusari warns that waiting until a demand letter arrives to build a defense may already be too late. more

“Father Time always wins,” the 96-year-old, who turned Berkshire Hathaway into an investing powerhouse, said in a letter to shareholders. He will remain on the board as chairman emeritus. more

Gray Media announced the promotion of Tim Maloney to general manager and director of sales of WBKO, the ABC, FOX, and CW affiliates serving Bowling Green and the surrounding South Central Kentucky region. The promotion takes effect Sept. 21. more

A Friday deadline is now at the center of the political advertising rate fight, with four Democratic candidates making a final push for a federal appeals court to force the Federal Communications Commission to decide their challenge to its expanded lowest unit charge policy by today (Sept. 18). more

PBS Western Reserve and Ideastream Public Media have announced plans to merge, creating a combined public media organization serving more than 4 million people across Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. more

AccuWeather says it will begin referring to Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” following the federal government’s adoption of the new name and a similar change underway at the National Weather Service — but will also follow its clients’ preferences for the label. more

The Canadian media company’s partnership with the Knight Foundation seeks to bring a new, scalable model to the U.S. more

“We have a policy on our team that every new project must start with a proposal. The proposal involves six simple prompts.” — Eric Athas, a deputy editor on the newsroom development and support team at The New York Times more

For the second time this year, a federal appeals court has paused a court order requiring Nielsen to sell its Nationwide ratings product to Cumulus Media on terms and at a price set by a judge, now backed by a $50,000-a-day fine for noncompliance. more

What separates a trusted sales adviser from someone simply selling advertising? In her September “Ad Sales Life” opinion column, Shannon Kinney argues that the best media sales professionals look beyond a client’s marketing needs to uncover the business challenges driving them. She explores how curiosity, business acumen and even AI can help sales teams deepen client relationships — and ultimately build more sustainable revenue. more

An interested advertiser shouldn’t become a lost sale while your team waits for creative. Mediaferry combines AI-powered ad production with human expertise to help publishers create better ads faster across print, digital and video. In this E&P webinar, Robert Berkeley and Tariq Husain explain how that approach reduces repetitive work and keeps campaigns moving from concept to completion. Watch to learn how faster creative can strengthen sales conversations and help turn advertiser interest into signed business. more

The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the Missouri School of Journalism has named Associate Professor Joy Jenkins as its research director, intensifying RJI’s pursuit of impactful, solutions-based research for journalism nationwide. Jenkins officially steps into the role on Jan. 1, 2027. more

The artificial intelligence company also released a framework for reporting when its systems go wrong. more