Hello! Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:

» An actionable guide to AI for publishers

» New AI news app launched to help publishers instead of stealing their work

» Rebuilding local news infrastructure

» Study shows information habits of people in news deserts

» French newspapers sue X over nonpayment

🤖 An actionable guide to AI for publishers

Guy Tasaka’s piece in Editor & Publisher dives into what he’s learned speaking with publishers and presenting at conferences in regard to everyone’s favorite topic: AI. This is a must read for local news publishers overwhelmed by the barrage of information on the topic.

PS - check out my interview with Guy on the Small Press, Big Ideas podcast earlier this year.

📲 New AI news app launched to help publishers instead of stealing their work

A new AI newsreader app called Particle has launched with the goal of helping readers understand the news, while also compensating publishers and linking back to their sites. Initial reports show that readers are clicking through to original sources at an elevated rate. The startup, led by former Twitter and Tesla engineers, have plans to expand partnerships with publishers going forward.

Read more here.

🏗 Rebuilding local news infrastructure

This piece from Jim Brady at the Knight Foundation examines the great work that innovators have done over the past decade to create tools, services, and technology to support local news orgs. It also touches on the work that still needs to be done to create a robust ecosystem.

🎓 Study shows information habits of people in news deserts

A new report from the academic journal Nature evaluates the information acquisition habits of people in US news deserts. The results show that there’s “little evidence that those in news deserts consume more low-quality sites or are more likely to be referred to low-quality sites from search engines or social media”.

The study also revealed that there’s “some evidence that those in news deserts do consume more national news than locations with local media outlets”.

⚖ French newspapers sue X over nonpayment

Several newspapers in France are taking legal action against X for using their content without paying, which is required under French law. The initial hearings are set for May 2025, representatives from X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Small Press, Big Ideas

A podcast about the business of local news

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | RSS

Local News Goes Viral

This week on the podcast I was joined by Graham Colligan, founder of Towns Of: a social media app for local news and events.

We spoke about the importance of social media and how Towns Of aims to centralize local news and events for communities. Graham shares insights on the business model and competition in the local news aggregator space, emphasizing the need for innovation and community engagement, and a lot more.

Read more and listen to the full episode here.

Local Stories

⏩ A Colorado newspaper publisher 'got obliterated' on Election Night

⏩ Facebook still works for this UK outlet

⏩ The future of local journalism, Part III