Latest Exclusive Tech Reporting from E&P
In this month's column, E&P columnist Guy Tasaka shares some thoughts on what the future local media website looks like and how local media publishers can thrive in the new environment. As you read his thoughts, consider that any local presence that has the legacy trust can take this playbook and run with it. It could be the two largest television stations in the market, the public media company, the big university or the local chamber of commerce. There are no swimlanes anymore, and local media 3.0 will be a winner-take-all race.
AI is now powering an upheaval of the search economy that could devastate news publishers desperately needing good news. For the first time since it became the world’s largest search engine in 2000, Google’s dominance in the search market is facing a serious threat. One of the challengers, Perplexity, shoots back short, AI-generated responses to direct questions. Is it perfect? No. Is it pretty useful? Of course. But it comes at a terrible cost to publishers.
Tech Talk
Your website is where all your focus needs to be in 2024 and beyond. It is the connection to your local audiences — both consumer and business. It won’t go away, so how do we make it the best and most profitable it can be?
News Media Today
Are AI-powered chatbots covered under fair use laws, or are they stealing copyrighted content at the expense of the newsrooms that paid to produce it? Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, has been partnering with Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal on legislation that would help news organizations grapple with quick-moving changes in the tech world.
Tasaka’s Tech Talk
Guy Tasaka, founder and managing partner of Tasaka Digital, suggests that newspapers have spent the past 15-plus years solving the wrong problem because "we didn’t understand our business model. The bad news was we were improving at solving the wrong problem and accelerating ourselves out of business."
Tasaka’s Tech Talk
In celebrating the first anniversary of ChatGPT on Nov. 30, it’s remarkable to consider how this “modern” artificial intelligence, better known as ChatGPT, has evolved from a niche tool into a global phenomenon. It's the most transformative technology since the introduction of the internet, but it's evolving 100 times faster.
Tasaka Tech Talk
By now, you’ve likely heard incessantly about ChatGPT. With OpenAI’s revolutionary tool nearing its eight-month mark, there’s no doubt that generative AI is here to stay.
But why should you, as a media executive, also invest time to comprehend JAMstack and No-Code/Low-Code (NC/LC) technologies?
These essential components, for building a solid infrastructure, may just be what you need to propel your business forward.
Tech Talk
Local Media 3.0 has been in the making for the past decade, but it's now ready to disrupt the industry with new rules, parameters and tools. And, the media landscape is vastly different. There are no barriers to entry in local media, meaning newspapers, television and radio are no longer protected by their capital investment moats or FCC licenses.
E&P welcomes our new technology columnist Guy Tasaka, with this 1st monthly: "Tech Talk."
Cover Story
For anyone in the business of news, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of those topics that elicits emotions of equal parts exhilaration and despair. AI shows groundbreaking promise in scientific fields and medicine, and Big Tech is keenly focused on how to further develop its powers. E&P's April cover story centers on the upsides & downsides of AI's inescapable entrance into our newsrooms.
ShopTalk
Journalists who know their audience’s interests can serve them better. In determining who reads their education reporting, journalists interviewed for this article say they place more faith in their gut instincts — talking to people in the community — over digital tools. This mirrors an earlier study of education reporters in New York.
News Media Today
Working remotely in the COVID era has led to a host of unexpected benefits for journalists. But one of the major downsides has been spending less time with colleagues talking shop. Here are a handful of fun apps and tools that Rob Tornoe uses in his reporting. He hopes you find them useful, possibly even making an assignment or two that much easier.
Newspapers are experimenting with text-to-audio software that allows readers to listen to stories and articles instead of reading them. Neighbor-to-Neighbor News is one such newspaper publisher. This group of newspapers focuses on hyperlocal coverage and has about 4,000 subscribers. Grant Hamilton, the publisher, says it’s a budget-friendly step to enter the audio space.
Cybercrime is a universal threat for anyone digitally exposed to the internet today. But news media organizations and journalists, in particular, are increasingly the target of cybercriminals, including state-sponsored ones. A report authored by cybersecurity technology company Proofpoint Inc. looks at threats that members of the U.S. media face.
News Publishing
One great thing about covering the media for a living is getting to nerd out with fellow journalists about interesting tools they use in their reporting. Here are a handful of apps and gadgets (along with one hack and a fun game) I hope can make some part of your job a tad bit easier.
