Generative AI newsroom tips for 2024 | GB News tops 1m viewers
And the latest UK top 50 website ranking reveals some big fallers and a few winners
Good morning and welcome to your daily helping of news about the world of news from Press Gazette on Wednesday, 3 January - brought to you today in association with Bauer Academy. Delivered by Head of Journalism Andrew Greaves, Bauer Academy has launched a series of day courses aimed at those in the industry looking to upskill and take on new challenges in their role.
Did you know that you can create an AI newsroom assistant in seconds? Or how, in just a little more time, you can train it to largely automate the drafting and sending of FOI requests?
These were a couple of the tips and tactics gleaned from an event our reporter Bron Maher attended just before Christmas where experts from the BBC, Newsquest, Reuters and elsewhere shared some practical tips on AI deployment in the newsroom.
Unlike most AI events, this one went beyond the rhetoric and included some nuts and bolts advice, all of which Bron has included in his report.
This morning we also have the latest on the march of GB News up the UK audience ratings. Curiously, Barb data suggests it reached its peak all-time audience at 12.11am on New Year’s Day. Looking at the monthly picture, it is still a fair way behind Sky News and the BBC - but it is closing the gap fast.
And our latest top-50 UK news websites ranking for November has GB News racing up the chart into 20th place growing 30% in just a month under chief digital officer Geoff Marsh.
Meanwhile, some other sites appear to have taken a heavy hit from recent Google algorithm updates with the Manchester Evening News down 39% year on year and Geoff’s former parish the Daily Express down 24%.
Promoted course
It’s clear that AI – and more specifically generative AI is here to stay and that media companies the world over are trying to get to grips with what it means for them, their staff and – most importantly – how they engage with their audiences. To learn more, why not sign up for our Bauer Academy and Press Gazette AI in the Newsroom one-day course on January 23rd?
This course will explore the latest trends and thinking around AI.
We will look at examples of how journalists can use it to their advantage when it comes to content creation.
On this course you will learn:
What steps the media industry is taking to protect itself – and benefit from – the rise of AI
Examples of good practice for using AI in the newsroom
What the future holds for journalists in the era of AI.
New from Press Gazette
Generative AI in the newsroom: Tips and tactics for 2024 from Reuters, Newsquest and BBC
“We fully foresee a time when there will be some stories that can go out without a human overseeing every single story. But at that stage, we must make it very, very, very clear that this story has been done by AI.”
GB News celebrates one million viewer breakthrough on first moments of 2024
“We have: the nation’s fastest-growing television news channel, fastest-growing news website, fastest-growing commercial news radio station, and fastest-growing news app. Our Youtube channel is the fastest growing in the industry.”
Top 50 UK news websites: Money Saving Expert re-enters top ten as The Telegraph falls to eleventh
The Independent and Money Saving Expert were the only top ten newsbrands in the UK to buck the trend by growing year-on-year in November, according to Press Gazette’s latest monthly ranking.
How can news media bounce back in 2024? 18 leaders share their insights
Five chief executives, four editorial leaders, four digital bosses and three revenue leaders were among those to answer Press Gazette’s call for predictions for the coming year.
Podcast 62: How publishers can sell online advertising in an awful market
The Guardian‘s senior vice president of advertising for North America, Luis Romero, spoke to Press Gazette about what he says is the toughest advertising market for news publishers since 2008.
Asked how the newspaper’s US operation going about surviving the downturn, Romero said conversations with advertisers are key – but explained times may well stay difficult for a while longer.
News in brief
Daily Telegraph editor Chris Evans has been named the new chairman of the Editors' Code of Practice Committee, whose job it is to review and keep the code relevant. He succeeds Neil Benson, a former Trinity Mirror editorial boss, who was chair from 2017. (Editors’ Code Committee)
US news start-up The Messenger is expected to lay off about two dozen employees this week as it seeks second-round fundraising. (New York Times).
The news came shortly after The Messenger president Richard Beckman announced he is leaving and "retiring from the corporate world". He plans to return to his native England this year after high-profile jobs at the likes of The Hill, Vice and Conde Nast. (Linkedin)
According to RSF, 779 journalists were jailed last year and 547 are currently being detained. Four countries account for half the total: China, Myanmar, Belarus and Vietnam. China currently has 121 journalists behind bars. (RSF)
A journalist covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Manhattan for the New York Daily News was arrested and detained overnight on New Year's Eve. The charges were ultimately dropped. The paper said it plans on "following up with the NYPD". (US Press Freedom Tracker)
US financial news network Cheddar suddenly put some staff on unpaid leave yesterday soon after its sale to the Archetype media company. Staff were told it was “necessitated by unforeseen internal and external factors that required rapid adjustments in our business strategy”. (New York Times)
The Daily Mail in the US has launched a new wellness section, with health and wellness editor Eve Simmons saying: "There has never been so much interest in what's good and bad for us" but the Mail can be a counter to unreliable information on social media. (Daily Mail)
In case you missed it:
Why New York Times lawsuit seeks destruction of OpenAI and Microsoft LLMs
Seven charts which explain the news industry in 2023 from declining ad spend to the growth of AI
Covid-19 origins: A media conspiracy of silence
