Latest Exclusive Tech Reporting from E&P
As we barrel towards the midpoint of the 2020s, the local media landscape is poised for seismic changes that will redefine the industry as we know it. From the shedding of unprofitable properties to the rise of AI-powered autonomous media companies, here are five interrelated trends that E&P columnist Guy Tasaka believes will shape the future of local publishing in 2025 and beyond.
Remember when we said FAST channels would disrupt local TV? The same revolution is happening in audio, and publishers can’t afford to ignore it. With 83% of adults tuning into AM/FM radio (Nielsen) but over half of spoken-word listening now on digital devices (NPR), local media can leverage this shift to disrupt audio markets using their brand strength, audience trust, and advertiser relationships—no FCC license required.
There is evidence that the news industry and all local legacy media are reinventing themselves to be better positioned to battle for their share of digital ad dollars. E&P recently spoke with three industry executives who talked about the need for local media to catch up to make a digital transformation and help their advertisers do the same, as well as the importance of changing the sales culture at local media companies.
X, a platform once beloved by journalists, has become borderline unusable for a group that had been among its most devoted addicts. Since no one platform seems ready to replace X for journalists, E&P columnist Rob Tornoe offers a handful of suggestions that might improve your experience.
Though technological innovation moves at lightning speed, Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains in a fledgling phase. News organizations are understandably grappling with what AI means to both operations and long-term sustainability. Nicholas Diakopoulos, Ph.D., is dedicated to discovering those answers. He’s a communication studies and computer science professor at Northwestern University and the director of the Computational Journalism Lab (CJL). E&P asked Dr. Diakopoulos about his work in AI, automation and algorithms for news production, and some of the most often-asked AI questions we hear from readers.
AI is a moving target. It’s overwhelming. It’s moving faster than any technology we’ve ever had in the modern era. Many people don’t even know what they don’t know, but more importantly, they don’t know where to start. Here are five things publishers need to do TODAY!
Tasaka's Tech Talk
In today’s media landscape, video consumption is exploding. The Paris Olympics, the most-streamed in history at 82% higher than the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, proves that digital video is the present, not the future. This shift presents a unique opportunity for local newspaper publishers: FAST channels.
Over the past few months, news organizations have grappled with changes at Google that have led to a dramatic drop in organic search traffic. Publishers have been forced to navigate what appears to be seismic shifts in how Google doles out traffic, with the integration of artificial intelligence (which remains unintelligent and error-prone) causing panic attacks across the industry.
Randall Lane, the chief content officer at Forbes Media and editor at Forbes magazine, penned a June 11, 2024 column — “Why Perplexity’s Cynical Theft Represents Everything That Could Go Wrong With AI” — citing a dispute with major AI developer, Perplexity. E&P followed up with Lane to better understand what happened and to seek his advice to other news media publishers grappling with the copyright-AI conflict.
In the generative AI space, primarily dominated by tech developers like OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, Perplexity.ai seeks distinction. E&P spoke with the company’s chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, in late July, a day after the company revealed its new Perplexity Publishers Program.
There is growing angst in the news media community about how their products — the journalism they create, at no small expense — are being used to train the Generative AI Large Language Models (LLMs). They wonder whether copyright law will protect them, whether they should sue over copyright violations or agree to license and compensation terms offered by AI developers. E&P sought to understand these dilemmas better, so we asked news media publishers and advocates how they think these relationships will come to pass.
Remember when we said more people use VR headsets in the U.S. than subscribe to a newspaper? That number will continue to grow in 2024 and beyond. It’s time to dive deeper into what that means for local media publishers.
If we were to tell you that more people have VR headsets in the U.S. than those who subscribe to a newspaper — print and digital subscriptions combined — would you consider it a viable new frontier? The reality is extended reality (XR) — the catch-all term encompassing virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality — has slowly grown under the radar.
In recent months, the amount of organic search traffic Google has been sending to publishers has fallen off a cliff. Newsrooms nationwide — from Boston to Seattle, from the Jersey Shore to Southern California — have watched their formerly reliable search traffic numbers and page rankings plummet. The big question is — why? Well, it’s complicated.
