Thread by @queeratkent

This is legitimately harrowing news to me if I'm being honest. Local journalism as a whole has seen a drastic hit with online media becoming so prevalent, but what people forget is that a lot of major outlets get their information from a few key sources.

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1961070106416390299

Wire agencies like the Associated Press, Reuters, etc, make up a lot of the reporting, but they don't always have on the ground coverage. Stories from local journalists at papers and broadcast stations often times are fed into wire agencies to provide information.

The cut of print papers from the AJC isn't just a sign of it shifting to a growing demographic of online readers, it's a sign of local news taking hits rapidly. While growth of online subscribers has been consistent as the NYT article states, a lot of people rely on print media.

With journalism having to constantly evolve to match the ways people communicate and get information, a lot of independent sources are closing shop, or in the case of the AJC, cutting what they offer to their communities. This isn't at the fault of the AJC or any other paper-

it's just a change in the times but the ramifications can be pretty consequential. There are core demographics that rely on printed newspapers like rural areas w/ limited internet or low-income communities who might only catch core news when reading the papers at a restaurant.

Plus, the AJC was/is sold all around north and central GA, it covers more than just Atlanta as a city and it's influence is vital in a highly contested political state. Cutting the access to this information while Generative AI models become more prevalent is deeply concerning.

The NYT & the AJC even mentions it explicitly in this article, stating that "Our organic traffic from Google has dropped 40 percent in the last year. [...]" attributing it to the rise of GenAI. It's an unstable market for journalism, which is horrifying in this political world.

Independent and local news outlets like the papers and the local broadcasters make up a significant portion of the news consumed in a vast majority of our country, and as these cuts keep hitting, we're going to see media blackouts of serious topics.

I tried to keep this apolitical where possible, focusing strictly on the access and information impacts but politically this is a major impact too.

I mentioned GA as a political battleground state, but that's different, it was about access so people could make informed choices.

But beyond the "informed voters" side of things, this is major politically as well. Major outlets & wires are being shut out from briefings by the current administration and shift their reporting to be more favorable to current leaders so as to avoid being shut out.

In the past, local journalism has provided a more neutral perspective. Yes, all journalism is prone to implicit and inherit biases, but local media has been more reliable and has been viewed by readers and community members as being more trustworthy.

These types of changes and the decline in readership for local reporting starts to open them up to more bias and political favoring to retain readers and favor with administrations in order to maintain their market share.

Not to mention the fact that the AJC is owned by Cox Enterprises. If they sound familiar, that's because they run Cox Communications (now merging with Charter/Spectrum), Cox Automotive (Kelly Blue Book, Autotrader, & more), & Cox Media Group operating local radio & TV outlets

its* possessive not it's* contraction. mb mb

As major corporations begin to enter local media markets, or grow their share, their political values take hold.

Sinclair Broadcast Group for instance buys up local media outlets all the time, and you can notice a shift in political reporting from those stations.

Sinclair has "must-run" programming that all stations must run, these have included right-wing talk shows, a prime-time segment about "the deep state", and these segments consistently and knowingly go against all standards of journalistic integrity in the what's said and shown.

Local journalism is suffering and losing reputability, independent journalism has been trying to intervene and provide what's being lost, but they're shut out due to lack of credentialing with major agencies.

I wish I had a positive spin to end this with, honestly I can keep listing reasons this is terrible and what's happening in journalism & in media is a harrowing sign of the times, but I can't really positively spin this.

If you don't like what's happening in journalism & media, please, support independent journalists. People like @taliaotg or @IwriteOK, and so many more. Also, support your public broadcast outlets like NPR, but also their local stations like @WGBH, @Ideastream, or those near you

@taliaotg @IwriteOK @WGBH @Ideastream a lesson learned, tag the right account, WGBH has moved to @GBH.

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