Chris Ballantine on Wednesday has been named CEO and publisher of Ballantine Communications, which owns and operates three newspapers in Southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico — including The Durango Herald. more

This study looked at several ways Americans engage (or don’t) with the world around them, using a large, one-time national survey. The survey was conducted in late 2025 and was designed to capture the opinions of Americans who engage at different levels. more

AP Fund for Journalism (APFJ) announced funding from Microsoft to strengthen the local news ecosystem in Washington state ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. more

The 2026-27 class of the America’s Newspapers Executive Development Program kicked off this week in New Orleans.  Now in its fifth year, Cohort V brought together 17 industry executives from across numerous newspaper departments for their initial in-person leadership sessions. more

PopMount turns recognition into opportunity. For more than 25 years, we've been helping publications and media companies extend the excitement beyond the winners’ announcement with premium awards, branded products and fully managed ecommerce stores — and helping you generate additional revenue with minimal effort. more

The Center Square has launched a new website designed to make it easier for donors, publishers and the public to understand and support its work as an open-access nonprofit newswire focused on government accountability from the taxpayer’s perspective. The new website can be found at thecentersquare.org. more

DataDesk is a new AI-powered newsroom service designed to help local journalists uncover stories and useful information hidden in public data. By monitoring sources such as government decisions, building permits, court filings and restaurant inspections, DataDesk aims to alert newsrooms to noteworthy developments, freeing journalists to spend more time reporting, talking with sources and producing unique local journalism. more

As AI search reshapes the value of news content, local publishers have a powerful asset hiding in plain sight: decades of unique, deeply contextualized journalism. By transforming fragmented, unstructured archives into accessible, organized data, newspapers can make their content more valuable to AI platforms and unlock new revenue opportunities through licensing, syndication and B2B partnerships. more

Every news media executive should be asking themselves one defining question right now: When I finally scale my video operation, how will I choose the right technology partner to power success? This is not a decision to take lightly — yet it’s one even the biggest news media publishers struggle with. more

Most loyal readers will never become subscribers, leaving publishers with a significant monetization gap. Traditional strategies — serving more ads or repeatedly pushing subscription offers — deliver diminishing returns and can hurt the user experience. The challenge is finding new ways to generate revenue from highly engaged audiences who value the content but have chosen not to pay for it. more

Atex has announced a new partnership with Stacker, a U.S.-based content distribution platform known for delivering high-quality, journalist-vetted stories from trusted newsrooms and brands. Through this collaboration, Atex customers gain complimentary access to a library of over 10,000 ready-to-publish articles — all fact-checked, professionally sourced and free of AI-generated content. more

Newspapers must stop relying almost exclusively on advertising revenue and instead expand into a broader range of business services. By leveraging their trusted local relationships, sales expertise and new AI-powered capabilities, publishers can help small businesses with challenges such as sales, finance, HR and operations — opening far larger revenue opportunities. more

Time-to-creative — the gap between an advertiser's commitment and seeing a proof — is an overlooked revenue metric. Publishers that shrink this window from days to minutes with AI and human expertise close more deals, strengthen advertiser confidence and gain a competitive edge. more

Americans generally understand that losing local newspapers is bad for democracy and their communities. They may have taken solace, though, in the thought that people could still get traditional news from national outlets. But that’s not really happening, according to a distressing new study published June 29 in Communication Research. more

The state politics team in Austin is expanding with the addition of three reporters: Lawrence Mower, Casey Murray and Haajrah Gilani. more

The Houston Chronicle has named Mike Morris as its new local government editor, a role in which he will lead coverage of the institutions, policies and elected officials that shape daily life across Houston and Harris County. more

The Houston Chronicle has named Alan Fossler assistant breaking news editor. In his new role, he will lead a team of reporters delivering fast, accurate coverage of Houston's biggest breaking stories as they unfold, ensuring readers have the comprehensive information they need in critical moments. more

The nine newspapers owned by Cookson Hills Publishers in Oklahoma are the first in the country to launch a new innovative way for readers to access online content without a subscription. more

Reuters announced the launch of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, a new AI-native integration designed to power agentic workflows for Reuters News Agency customers. The Reuters MCP server enables organizations to programmatically access and integrate Reuters trusted news within their existing platforms. more

The multi-phase project is designed to modernize Northstar’s commercial operations by improving visibility, automating key workflows and giving teams a more connected, intuitive platform to manage customer relationships and revenue opportunities. more