“I assumed our business was in worse shape than it was”

The Weekly Wrap: September 06, 2024

“I assumed our business was in worse shape than it was”

When Andy Larsen, a sports reporter and data columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, delved into the paper’s finances, he was…pleasantly surprised! His findings became the Tribune’s first annual report, which Sarah wrote about this week. The Tribune was the first legacy paper in the U.S. to become a nonprofit.

“A firewall between business and editorial is essential for the integrity of the product, IMO,” Larsen told us. “On the other hand, that firewall can also be limiting when it comes to belief between the two groups — frankly, I think some of our own writers, including myself, had just assumed that our business was in worse shape than it was, just based on us operating in the newspaper biz in 2024. One way to get the information out to staff without breaking that firewall was just publishing everything to everyone.”

The Tribune anticipates that digital subscription revenue will exceed print revenue for the first time this year.

— Laura Hazard Owen

From the week

Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela In recent weeks, Venezuelan journalists have found innovative ways to keep independent journalism alive; here are some of their efforts. By Hanaa' Tameez.

The Salt Lake Tribune, profitable and growing, seeks to rid itself of that “necessary evil” — the paywall The first daily newspaper in the U.S. to become a nonprofit has published a refreshingly readable and transparent annual report. By Sarah Scire.

Want to fight misinformation? Teach people how algorithms work In the four countries studied, each with its own unique technological, political, and social environment, understanding of algorithms varied across different sociodemographic groups. By Myojung Chung.

Newsonomics: California’s local news agreement with Google is a win Here’s my perspective on what sense we can now make of a settlement, one that may act as a template for other states. By Ken Doctor.

Would a tech tax be a fair way to make Google and Meta pay for the news they distribute and profit from? “Every country needs to address the theft of intellectual property that diminishes both the incentives and ability to produce the news on which we all — including the platforms — depend. The bargaining codes were a start.” By Anya Schiffrin.

The Institute for Nonprofit News rejected more than half of newsrooms that applied for membership in 2023Most Americans consume at least some local crime news — but TV news watchers probably see the most Highlights from elsewhereMother Jones / Anna MerlanTenet Media shutters after being accused of taking $10 million in covert Kremlin funding →YouTube says it deleted Tenet Media’s account to fight “coordinated influence operations.”Columbia Journalism Review / Jake LahutThe decline of local news has become a campaign problem →“Sometimes I’ve had to employ the strategy of getting the national press to cover something just so the local press will pick it up.”CNN / Hadas GoldThe Murdoch family is secretly battling over succession. News outlets are asking a court to make it public →“A coalition of media organizations, including CNN, has petitioned a Nevada court to open up the secret proceedings surrounding a legal battle over the future of billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. The New York Times, Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, Reuters and CNN filed a motion Wednesday in the Second Judicial District Court in Nevada to make public the proceedings, objecting to the case being so extensively sealed that it doesn’t even appear on any court schedule or docket.”Wired / Kate KnibbsThe Internet Archive loses its appeal of a major copyright case →“The new verdict arrives at an especially tumultuous time for copyright law. In the past two years there have been dozens of copyright infringement cases filed against major AI companies that offer generative AI tools, and many of the defendants in these cases argue that the fair use doctrine shields their usage of copyrighted data in AI training. Any major lawsuit in which judges refute fair use claims are thus closely watched.”Washington Post / A.G. SulzbergerA.G. Sulzberger on how the quiet war against press freedom could come to America →“As that list makes clear, these leaders have realized that crackdowns on the press are most effective when they’re at their least dramatic — not the stuff of thrillers but a movie so plodding and complicated that no one wants to watch it.”

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