Citing 'Crisis' in Local Reporting, Associated Press Creates Sister Organization to Seek Grants (apnews.com) 25
Founded in 1846, the not-for-profit Associated Press distributes its news stories to other news outlets. But are free online sites putting those outlets at risk?
This week the Associated Press wrote that a "crisis" in local and state news reporting "shows little signs of abating" — and that it's now setting up "a sister organization that will seek to raise money" for those outlets. The organization, which will have a board of directors independent of the AP, will solicit philanthropic spending to boost this news coverage, both within the AP and through outside organizations, the news outlet said Tuesday. "We feel we have to lean in at this point, not pull back," said Daisy Veerasingham, the AP's president and CEO. "But the supporting mechanism — the local newspaper market that used to support this — can't afford to do that anymore." Veerasingham said she's been encouraged by preliminary talks with some funders who have expressed concern about the state of local journalism...
The local news industry has collapsed over the past two decades, with the number of journalists working in newspapers dropping from 75,000 to 31,000 in 2022, according to Northwestern University. More than half of the nation's counties have no local news outlets or only one.
The AP's CEO offered this succinct summary of their goal. "We want to add new products and services to help the industry."
This week the Associated Press wrote that a "crisis" in local and state news reporting "shows little signs of abating" — and that it's now setting up "a sister organization that will seek to raise money" for those outlets. The organization, which will have a board of directors independent of the AP, will solicit philanthropic spending to boost this news coverage, both within the AP and through outside organizations, the news outlet said Tuesday. "We feel we have to lean in at this point, not pull back," said Daisy Veerasingham, the AP's president and CEO. "But the supporting mechanism — the local newspaper market that used to support this — can't afford to do that anymore." Veerasingham said she's been encouraged by preliminary talks with some funders who have expressed concern about the state of local journalism...
The local news industry has collapsed over the past two decades, with the number of journalists working in newspapers dropping from 75,000 to 31,000 in 2022, according to Northwestern University. More than half of the nation's counties have no local news outlets or only one.
The AP's CEO offered this succinct summary of their goal. "We want to add new products and services to help the industry."
Trying giving people jobs. (Score:4, Insightful)
When local news organizations are closing up shop because their corporate overlords would rather source the news from other corporate overlords, why are you surprised when suddenly there is a lack in local reporting? You have to be willing to pay someone in the area to do the job if you want the coverage.
On the flipside, why are the local news organizations failing? If people are not willing to financially support them and find the mediocre coverage of the other organizations "good enough" then maybe they are getting what they (wont) pay for.
Re:Trying giving people jobs. (Score:5, Interesting)
f people are not willing to financially support them and find the mediocre coverage of the other organizations "good enough" then maybe they are getting what they (wont) pay for.
I think this is exactly it and as with many things we can levy a good chunk of blame onto the internet.
I personally would not have an issue with putting some Federal dollars towards these grants if it is done in a blind fashion sufficent to ensure the government is not involved in the reporting. I think the structure and reputation of the AP is enough to let them define who you hire and what their journalistic conduct would be.
I think it's important for local cmmunities to have things like a reasonably disinterested party sitting in on city council meetings, talking to officials, looking into local concerns and reporting them even if the people have signalled they don't care. It's important enoughthat they always have the option to care.
Re: (Score:2)
On the flipside, why are the local news organizations failing? If people are not willing to financially support them and find the mediocre coverage of the other organizations "good enough" then maybe they are getting what they (wont) pay for.
The free market alone does not build strong societies.
When megacorps spam these things completely for "free" (ad supported) it's basically impossible to compete. Journalism is an essential pillar of democracy, if the solution is "adapt or die", it's society that suffers
Up the chain job cuts comming (Score:3)
Speculation:
1. AP wants local news outlets to keep buying AP news articles
2. So many local reporting jobs have been cut that expect significantly sized large cities to cease having a daily paper
3. Boomers, the last generation to subscribe to and read a daily print paper, are exiting their newspaper subscriptions in large numbers.
4. Maybe the most significant, the upper management of major news organizations are aged/elderly boomers and when they retire, the entire staff below them is set to be laid off.
5. E
Some stats + bonus editoralizing (Score:3)
https://theweek.com/briefing/1... [theweek.com]
January 2023
- US lost 25% of newspapers since 2005 and it will be 33% by 2025
- 60% of newsroom jobs cut since 2005
- Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, New Orleans do not have a daily paper
- Newspaper revenue down 72% from 2006 to 2018. Online advertisements taking place of print ones with ad revenue now going to google/facebook
- 50% of daily newspapers owned by hedge funds - Cut costs, sell assets, borrow money, pay management dividends back to the hedge fund, leave the resultant n
Re: (Score:1)
The crisis in local reporting (Score:4, Insightful)
Wendy post, time and New York times broke the Watergate scandal you can bet your ass that's sold a lot of newspapers. But a stupid fucking article telling Joe Biden to resign because he had a bad night isn't going to make anyone do anything but roll their eyes and walk away. It's that kind of pro-corporate bullshit everybody can smell a mile away and they steer clear of.
Re: (Score:2)
But a stupid fucking article telling Joe Biden to resign because he had a bad night isn't going to make anyone do anything but roll their eyes and walk away.
That's national news, not local. Considering how many people are talking about Biden's poor debate performance, I'd say it certainly was a story that got noticed.
Not sure what it's like in other states, but the local news here in Florida really isn't even worth paying attention to. If something is really newsworthy, it ends up making national news anyway. Florida Man makes sure of it.
Re: (Score:2)
But a stupid fucking article telling Joe Biden to resign because he had a bad night isn't going to make anyone do anything but roll their eyes and walk away.
That's national news, not local. Considering how many people are talking about Biden's poor debate performance, I'd say it certainly was a story that got noticed.
Not sure what it's like in other states, but the local news here in Florida really isn't even worth paying attention to. If something is really newsworthy, it ends up making national news anyway. Florida Man makes sure of it.
What he's talking about is that one company, Sinclair Media, owns most of the local media and will simply parrot national stories masquerading as local news.
So you've got the same story that was published in Idaho being published in South Carolina having been written in a corporate office in Maryland with a copy/pasta job swapping Asshart SC for Bumfuck ID.
Re: (Score:2)
Dunno about newspapers, but there is of course Sinclair [wikipedia.org] (no, not Sir Clive...)
Who brought us this viral meme of a video [youtube.com]...
AP is Useless (Score:2, Troll)
Re:AP is Useless (Score:4, Informative)
A crisis in local reporting (Score:2)
Local, Mexicans were right its loco
Television covers the local news (Score:2)
If you really want to find out about car crashes, fires, bad weather, and who got arrested today, that's what the local TV news is for. Can't say I really see it as a "crisis" if less people are working in the field of airing out some dirty laundry. [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
You also have local politicians who's policies directly effect how many cars crash, how effectively fires get fought, what crimes get committed and many other things besides. Reporting on their decisions and the real-word effects they have is hardly dirty laundry if you care at all about how you are governed.
Billionaires don't want journalism to be a career (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, look, free money... (Score:2)
Oh, you have to be a local to receive it...lets open some local outlets, no one will ever suspect.
Thank Social Media, Now The Main News Source (Score:2)
Any effort to save the media on both local and national level is an almost doomed to failure. Social media echo chambers and like buttons have become the rewarding if not outright addicting behavior most users prefer and that's where they go to get their news, in the form of post, links and video that inform their particular groups opinions and emboldens their sense of being informed to the point many are willing to shout down others for disagreeing with them without the forethought there might be something
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that the recommendation algorithm turns it into social cancer instead because it intrinsically rewards bad actors.
Nazi posts shit and you don't hit back? Congratulations, you're letting Nazis go unopposed. Nazi posts shit and you hit back? "Oh wow, this post by killthejews1488 is getting lots of engagement, I'll recommend it to more people." Congratulations, you're actively helping the Nazi get attention. It actively r
AP = No/Low Credibility (Score:2)
AP, like all other current "news" sources, has an agenda.
What the casues isn't (Score:1)
We can speculate all day long about what the cause of this so called crisis IS and will never get broad agreement, but I can tell you what the cause IS NOT...The crisis in the media is not that people will not pay for a valued resource.
Re: (Score:2)
They're also no good at evaluating whether we're at local extrema (and to be fair, this is in most cases a very difficult problem!). Example: The artificial depression of the price of fossil fuel energy because the negative externalities (rendering significant parts of the globe essentially uninhabitable due to g
Re: (Score:1)
I see your point, and agree to a degree, but the tragedy of the commons has been shown to be simplistically devoid of the realistic feedback that would be expected to mitigate against over consumption, e.g., in the biological realm way doesn't the fly that consumes mushrooms increase in populations until all the mushrooms are consumed. Also, the theory was conceived by a known racist partially to justify his tortured views on over populations and race based eugenics, and you can take it from there.