FT wins big at Future of Media Awards
And our key take-homes from yesterday's Future of Media Technology conference
Good morning and welcome to your weekly Future of Media newsletter from Press Gazette on Thursday, 7 September, 2023.
Who would have thought that a title which started life as a news sheet for the City of London, first printed on unbleached paper in 1893 to save money, would light the way to the future of digital media?
But last night the FT was the big winner at the Press Gazette Future of Media Awards with The Times, Sky News and Telegraph also picking up prizes. Insider picked up the B2B website of the year prize for its coverage of the start-ups scene and Tortoise had a hand in the winning data journalism entry. But overall, this was a night for legacy publishers to show of their digital wares.
There has been a shift over the last year as the likes of Buzzfeed and Vice have found the economics of free online content incompatible with investing in high quality journalism in the way they once did. Meanwhile legacy publishers, with more diversified business models, are instead leading the way.
We also have the key take-homes from yesterday’s Press Gazette Future of Media Technology conference, which also took place at the Hilton Bankside yesterday, via our thread on X (Twitter).
Over the day more than 300 delegates convened for a think-in on the big disruptive themes impacting news media in the digital age.
We’ll share some more in-depth reports over the coming days but here are a few snippets that have stayed with me.
Nic Newman of the Reuters Institute on news avoidance: He warned that by tailoring websites for our super-users we may be alienating more casual readers. The answer would seem to be focusing on providing a more personalised experienced tailored to individual interests.
Reach audience director Anna Jeys on the same topic: Gen Z aren’t avoiding news, they are just avoiding the sort of news that many publishers are producing. Maybe we should focus more on giving them what they are interested in.
Matt Monahan of ArcXP on generative AI: The tech will be transformative, he said, but we should also keep in mind its limitations. It’s a natural language processing model, so it does not deal in facts (even if some of its answers can come close to being accurate). It can write, but it can’t report (yet!).
As I said, we’ll have a lot more considered analysis of yesterday’s discussions as the dust clears.
New from Press Gazette:
Future of Media Awards 2023 winners: Best digital journalism products of past year revealed
The FT was the big winner, taking home four awards.
Key take-homes from Press Gazette Future of Media Technology conference (Twitter thread)
Future CEO Jon Steinberg on following a successful predecessor admits he sometimes asks "what would Zillah do?" but most of the time prefers the Shakespeare line "to thine own self be true".
Publisher playbook on how to kickstart your AI strategy (promoted)
“Before you are ready to research solutions, first understand what problem you want to solve. Look for a use case that addresses the bottleneck you want to resolve.”
Future of Media Explained podcast
Our podcast is on a summer break (returning soon!) - but you can catch up on everything from paywall strategies to AI in the newsroom here.
News in brief:
Chair of the commons standards committee Chris Bryant is the new shadow culture minister. He said: "Creativity drives the UK’s potential. It creates jobs. It enlivens our imagination. We need to cherish and celebrate it and make it available to all."The EU has named six US tech giants as gatekeepers who could be subject to competition curbs under the Digital Markets Act: Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Bytedance, Amazon and Microsoft. EU says gatekeepers have six months to offer consumers "choice and freedom". (European Commission)The FT welcomed around 250 attendees to its annual party last night at 180 Studios on the strand. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper attended along with London mayor Sadiq Khan, former PM Theresa May, BBC director general Tim Davie and others.Previously on Press Gazette:
Meta to wind down Facebook News tab and stop funding Community News Project
If the big corporate publishers disappeared so would much local news investment
Ex-Sun editor David Yelland on PR: Lying is ‘far less common than you’d think’
Ranked: Most popular women’s and men’s lifestyle websites in UK in 2023
NationalWorld.com staff say morale at ‘rock bottom’ in letter to HR
Regional ABCs: UK daily local newspaper circulation down 20% in first half of 2023