Observer staff get warning from CEO | Viz publisher hit by cyberattack
And ChatGPT cranks up the pressure on publishers as it begins summarising current affairs content
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Friday 1 November 2024 brought to you in association with Mather Economics – trusted by leading publishers worldwide for holistic revenue strategies and cutting-edge analytics
Do you ever feel like a frog sitting in a slowly heating pan of water?
In this metaphor publishers are the frog and ChatGPT (plus its competitors) are the water.
The generative AI company yesterday began indexing news websites in real-time to provide summarised answers to current questions based on copyrighted content.
There are links to sources if you hunt for them, but many users will never click through.
As with Google AI Overviews the summaries are often inaccurate. The move means all publishers need to make a decision: block the bots and protect your content (and risk losing visibility) or stay in the pot and hope we don't get boiled.
The 70 hard-working Observer journalists are increasingly feeling like unwanted stepchildren from a former marriage.
Guardian CEO Anna Bateson has said that if the Observer is not sold it will face "difficult decisions" - code for cutbacks or closure.
We still don't know if Tortoise is proposing to pay anything for the title, which makes revenue of more than £16m a year from print alone, or where the promised investment of £25m is coming from.
Observer journalists would keep their NUJ house agreement if they transfer across to Tortoise, which includes a "no compulsory redundancies" clause. But many still fear for their futures joining a publisher which has lost more than £16m since its launch in 2019.
In broadcasting, Ofcom has fined GB News £100,000 for "serious and repeated" impartiality breaches. The regulator has the power to close the channel down altogether. GB News meanwhile is fighting a legal action against Ofcom’s sanctions.
And Viz publisher Metropolis has become the latest media company to be successfully targeted by hackers (Press Gazette reveals). The company, which includes the Emap group of B2B brands, says personal information of employees may have been accessed but the hackers failed to install ransomware on their systems.
Remember to think twice before you click on links in emails and be careful what you do with your your passwords. And however tempting it may be, never put a USB stick into a work PC that someone you don’t know has handed you!
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On Press Gazette
Guardian CEO warns staff Observer faces ‘difficult decisions’ if Tortoise deal fails
“If the deal does not go ahead, the status quo is not an option. Kath [Viner, The Guardian editor], in her email at the beginning of the summer, committed to a strategic audit of the Observer which would involve some difficult choices – and that would need to happen urgently.”
Metropolis employee passport and bank details compromised in cyberattack
The Viz and Nursing Times publisher is latest media company to be targeted by hackers.
Ofcom fines GB News £100,000 after ‘serious and repeated’ impartiality breaches
Ofcom said Rishi Sunak was given a "mostly uncontested platform" on GB News.
News in brief
Hawaii news group Oahu Publications, owner of the state's biggest newsbrand the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, is cutting 13 employees, including a reported six in editorial. (Press Gazette)
In addition sixteen people are being let go from four divisions at GovExec media group in the US, it has been reported.
Print editions are set to close of US newspapers the Star-Ledger, owned by Newark Morning Ledger Co, and Advance Local-owned The Times of Trenton, South Jersey Times and Hunterdon County Democrat. The latter pledged to invest instead in the newsroom. (NJ.com)
Logged in ChatGPT users can now use the site to search websites in real time. The platform summarises stories and includes links to sites. As with Google AI Overviews it takes content without permission from publishers. (Search Engine Land)
Donald Trump has filed a $10bn lawsuit versus CBS News alleging that it edited an interview with Kamala Harris to make her answers more succinct. He accused the network of "malicious voter interference". (Daily Telegraph)
The NUJ has launched a safety tracker, asking journalists to fill it in so it can build a "clear picture" of rates of harassment, abuse, "lawfare" and other targeted incidents to encourage employers and police to do more about it. (NUJ)
The Budget contained an unspecified "increase in funding" to BBC World Service for 2025/26 to protect its "existing foreign language service provision". But the broadcaster warned it is "not immune to the immense pressures facing the rest of the BBC".
Tortoise journalist Paul Caruana Galizia is leaving the news organisation to join the FT as a reporter in its recently-formed computational journalism team led by Chris Cook, in which investigative journalists will work with FT engineers and data scientists on stories.
The family court reporting pilot, which allows accredited journalists to more easily report what they see and hear subject to anonymity rules, has been expanded to cases in front of magistrates (as well as judges) in the 19 current pilot areas from Monday. It follows an expansion of the trial in July allowing journalists to report on private family disputes as well as public ones, as long as anonymity is maintained.
This week on Press Gazette:
The Observer has a half-life of six years: Tortoise deal is best option for brand and staff
How publishers use AI to boost productivity: From audio editions to exploiting archives
How publishers can escape email boxes and embrace automation (promoted)
Guardian endorsement of Harris reaps it near $2m boost after editor’s email
Culture Secretary Nandy promises ‘level playing field for local media online’
Spiked Washington Post election leader leaves CEO Will Lewis in a deep hole
Listen to our latest podcast
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford and reporter Bron Maher provide an insider take on three of the hottest issues in news media: how did the Washington Post handle its election endorsement so badly? Why are Guardian and Observer journalists set to go on strike? And what can publishers do about the onslaught of generative AI bots harvesting their content without permission?