Google Discover prioritising Youtube and X | Britons value human journalism over AI
Plus the most popular news apps in the UK ranked and top 50 most-visited news sites in the US in December
Hello from the team at Press Gazette on Thursday, 15 January. Here’s our daily round-up of media news.
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😨Dead, AI-written prose appears to be creeping in everywhere this year.
I’ve seen a new sports news website, a new publishing news Substack and a major news industry CEO all publish posts that come up as 100% AI-written when checked just in the last week.
I’m not alone in being troubled by this.
It also reveals a surprisingly widespread acceptance of the vital role real human-created journalism plays in society.
📉Google is not helping things by downgrading news on Google Discover (which is likely the world’s biggest news aggregation platform).
Discover acts like a news platform but is in fact an extension of search. It has begun prioritising X posts and Youtube videos in a move which looks set to hasten the decline of publisher referral traffic.
The promotion of Google-owned Youtube on Discover is particularly worrying for a company that is already accused of smothering competition with unfair, monopolistic practices.
😬Our latest top 50 ranking of traffic to US news websites underlines again the impact Google changes are wreaking on the news industry.
Just 12 sites out of the 50 in our ranking grew overall traffic year on year. Half of them saw traffic falls of 15% or more year on year.
Discover does not feature because it is not a standalone app, but part of the Google package embedded in most mobile devices.
Looking at news publishers, the Daily Mail and The Times should take a bow for producing the apps that command the most attention from their readers.
🤏News In Brief
Channel 4 News presenter and investigations editor Cathy Newman is leaving the programme after 20 years to “return to Westminster” for Sky News. (Press Gazette)
The Washington Post said the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of one of its reporters and seized her phone and laptops, although she is not under investigation. The case involves allegations that a government contractor illegally retained classified materials. (The Washington Post)
Telegraph Media Group deputy chairman Lord Black is now chairman of the News Media Association, succeeding Tindle CEO Danny Cammiade after two years. Baylis CEO Jeremy Spooner is now NMA vice chairman. (News Media UK)
The Atlantic has sued Google and parent company Alphabet, alleging it has "unlawfully acquired and maintain monopolies for the advertising technology... tools that publishers and advertisers use to buy and sell online ad space". (The Wrap)
The magazine has also soft launched a friends and family subscription called Premium Plus that costs $199 per year and allows up to four accounts within one paid subscription. (Axios)
Wales Online has become the third Reach website to launch a premium subscription model after the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo. Editor David James told readers: "Premium will give our storytelling, reporting and analysis a sustainable future." (Wales Online)
Australian men’s lifestyle publisher Man of Many has appointed former Apple News editor Rob Stott as its new editor-in-chief. Stott will lead a strategic push on original video and audio content across socials.
📈Top five on Press Gazette this week:
1) Google IP boss: We shouldn’t pay for AI training on ‘freely available’ content
Roxanne Carter declines to answer about publishers’ ability to opt out of AI Overviews.
2) Top 50 English-language news sites in the world: Substack leads YoY growth for six months running
Newsletter platform Substack has recorded the highest year-on-year growth for six consecutive months.
3) SEO has changed: The new metrics publishers should focus on
Keyword positions are no longer the best way to measure SEO success.
4) Channel 4 News poaches Times head of investigations Paul Morgan-Bentley
Morgan-Bentley named head of forensic journalism leading investigations.
5) Kerrang U-turns on freelance pay policy as 16 contributors take action
Kerrang sought change in payment terms from 30 to 60 days.
📻Latest podcast
Prince Harry versus tabloids: The final showdown
Prince Harry is facing the publisher of the Daily Mail in what is set to be one Britain’s biggest ever privacy trials.
Costs for both sides could top £40m.
Harry has accused the Mail of commissioning burglary, phone tapping and voicemail interception. The Mail denies everything and accuses Prince Harry’s legal team of using cash payments to witnesses to bolster their case.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford looks back to the News of the World front pages in 2008 that started the war on UK tabloids, which has raged on since then.
He also discusses the questionable evidence-gathering tactics which the Daily Mail believes undermine Prince Harry’s case and explains why the backing of co-claimant Elton John means this final legal battle is set to go the distance.