🤖 Trusted news may benefit from AI slop

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

» Trusted news may benefit from AI slop

» Google ruling fails to deliver

» A blueprint for sprawling rural areas

» The tech CEO trying to stop “AI oligarchs”

» How the decline of local news influences our politics

» A Connecticut nonprofit using AI to cover more areas

🤖 Trusted news may benefit from AI slop

When readers took a tricky quiz featuring AI generated images, they lost trust across the board, but still gravitated toward a reputable outlet (Süddeutsche Zeitung), boosting its daily visits and reducing subscriber churn. This may suggest that in an online world flooded with AI fakes, trusted news brands become more valuable because they offer clarity amid the chaos. Read more

🔍 Google ruling fails to deliver

Google dodged a breakup of Chrome and Android in an antitrust trial ruling Tuesday, but must boost transparency and limit data use. The ruling has left the ad industry angry, disappointed, and mostly unsurprised. Critics say the ruling barely dents Google’s power, calling it a soft slap instead of real change.

📻 A blueprint for sprawling rural areas

High Plains Public Radio is using a $750,000 Press Forward grant to build a rural news contributors network to boost local coverage across an area with just nine people per square mile. The goal is to multiply its digital output to 15 to 20 pieces daily, sustain public radio amid deep cuts, and set a scalable model for sprawling regions.

🕸️ The tech CEO trying to stop “AI oligarchs”

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who recently announced a “pay per crawl” system that lets publishers block AI crawlers and force large AI platforms to pay for content access, recently granted this interview on his plan. That plan banks on Cloudflare’s massive reach and regulatory pressure to push AI "oligarchs" into negotiating, or risk being blocked.

🏛️ How the decline of local news influences our politics

The collapse of local news, says former Senator Jon Tester, has weakened political accountability: “if you did something stupid and the press reported on it, it could be politically devastating,” but now, without that coverage, “they don’t have to [do interviews]… it isn’t that big of a deal anymore.” Read more from the LNI

📰 A Connecticut nonprofit using AI to cover more areas

CT Mirror is experimenting with AI to help local reporters cover 169 towns using the technology to parse records and sift through documents, not to replace journalists but to boost their capacity. It’s a great example of a small nonprofit testing whether AI can ease tedious tasks and strengthen coverage in news deserts.

Local Stories

⏩ Is The Atlanta Journal-Constitution leaving print readers behind? Not necessarily, says its publisher

⏩ Under Pressure: Defending Local Journalism

⏩ NPF selects 35 for local business journalism fellowship

⏩ Talking to the media; New podcast episode brings in local media leaders

⏩ Thank you for applying to the Local News Accelerator 2025

⏩ Too many Americans are losing faith in the role of journalists

⏩ How women in 2 small towns keep their hometown newspapers thriving

⏩ WV News Executive Editor John Miller leaves deep legacy of community journalism

⏩ Natalya Dreszer joins LION as our new Data and Evaluation Program Associate

⏩ LMA Hires Newsroom Innovator Frank Mungeam

⏩ Brookings, Huron, Redfield, Flandreau Newspapers Dead; McQuillen Model to Reclaim News Desert?

⏩ Tribal radio stations wait on $9M pledged in congressional handshake deal

⏩ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will stop printing at the end of 2025, going all-in on digital

⏩ The 19th’s first-ever strategic plan is an attempt to “play it safe” in a precarious media age

⏩ Local media and its founders put community first in Seattle and around the U.S.

⏩ Can alternative papers revive journalism?

⏩ Can a print journalist become a TV reporter? Some face significant challenges. Others find success.