New tariff hitting local print publishers in the US

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

→ Podcast: Unlocking Local Media 3.0 with Guy Tasaka

→ ONA, Joyce Foundation to offer AI training for local newsrooms

→ News/Media Alliance urges ITC to reject tariff that could affect news publishers in the US

→ Can local news fight off news fatigue for this election cycle?

→ Tampa Bay Times to cut 60 jobs

→ McClatchy announces merger with magazine giant

🎧 Podcast: Unlocking Local Media 3.0 with Guy Tasaka

This week on the Small Press, Big Ideas podcast I had an amazing conversation with Guy Tasaka, managing partner at Tasaka Digital and technology columnist for Editor & Publisher Magazine.

We talked about Guy’s vision for “local media 3.0”, a concept that has local news publishers using lessons learned from online companies to engage their audiences and strengthen their businesses.

This was a great conversation, Guy has an amazing insights and experiences and brings a ton of value!

Listen here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📰 ONA, Joyce Foundation to offer AI training for local newsrooms

The Online News Association (ONA), with support from the Joyce Foundation, have announced a new AI training pilot for local newsrooms.

The in-depth, in-person workshop will take place in Chicago on August 28th-29th and offer interactive training with access to follow up support for local newsrooms from the ONA’s Great Lakes Region.

The pilot is an expansion of the ONA’s AI in Journalism Initiative, which is an existing program that offers online training, collaboration, partnerships and more for local newsrooms to incorporate AI into their organizations.

📰 News/Media Alliance urges ITC to reject tariff that could affect news publishers in the US

The News/Media Alliance has put out a message urging the International Trade Commission to reject new tariffs imposed by the US government that could negatively impact local print publishers across the country.

The new antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duties on imports of aluminum lithographic printing plates from Japan and China make newspaper, magazine, and book printing drastically more expensive.

The plates, which are not produced in the US, are needed for most print publishing. The new tariffs are already hitting local news publishers who are already facing a challenging economic environment. Read more here.

📰 Can local news fight off news fatigue for this election cycle?

According to a new survey by Medill, about half of adults are already sick of hearing about the 2024 presidential election.

The trend is highest with older adults, with 54.3% of readers over 60 reporting that they’re already fed up with coverage. On the political spectrum, moderates scored highest on the chart for news fatigue (53.6%), followed by liberals (49.5%), with conservatives being the least annoyed (41.7%).

Could this be a potential win for local news publishers? University of Maryland professor Tim Rosenstiel thinks maybe, saying “it’s the national news that people are trying to avoid. It’s making people feel negative and sad. It’s not local news that’s doing that, so that is potentially an opportunity”.

📰 Tampa Bay Times to cut 60 jobs

The Tampa Bay Times has announced that it will eliminate 60 jobs, a fifth of its work force. The move is due to weaker than expected print sales.

CEO and president Conan Gallaty said that the digital side of the company is growing at 20%, but that is not enough to stop the cuts in the short term.

📰 McClatchy announces merger with magazine giant

Local media publisher McClatchy and a magazine giant accelerate360 have announced that they plan to merge. Both companies are owned by New Jersey based hedge fund Chatham Asset Management.

McClatchy, a newspaper company with more than 50 Pulitzer Prizes to its name and accelerate360, a publisher of glossy culture and celebrity magazines, make for a strange marriage in the media world with some pointing out ethical and cultural challenges. Read more here.