OnPoynt Report - Poynter

Report Summary
Journalism on the rise
Chapter 1: Audiences
Embracing the realities of audience fragmentation
Chapter 2: Trust
Aim to help customers improve their lives
Chapter 3: Creators
The “creator economy” is a vibrant part of the media landscape
Chapter 4: Local News
New approaches that are taking hold
Chapter 5: Products
Expanding skill sets to add multimedia acumen
Chapter 6: Revenue
Philanthropy is not the business model panacea
Chapter 7: AI & Innovations
Holding the values of accuracy, integrity, and transparency
Conclusion
Potential over pessimism
About Poynter
Contact Poynter‘s Experts
About this report

Intro

Introduction: A wider Poynt of view

The digital news site The Baltimore Banner celebrated its two-year anniversary this spring by announcing it was investing more in education coverage, met its subscription goals and had a newsroom head count of 80 and growing. That makes it larger than its competitor, the legendary metro The Baltimore Sun. Across the country, at the 133-year-old Seattle Times, total paid circulation surpassed the previous record set in 1980.

While many people complain of “news fatigue,” overall consumption remains steady — with eight in 10 Americans getting news on their digital devices daily or sometimes, studies from the Pew Research Center show. Pew research found that more people are following election news more closely than they were at the same time four years ago.

Four small or nonprofit newsrooms — Invisible Institute, Lookout Santa Cruz, Mississippi Today and the Better Government Association — won Pulitzer Prizes for local news coverage in the past three years. Another news site, AL.com in Alabama, converted from a print/digital hybrid to digital-only and itself won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Public radio and TV stations in 74 local markets embarked on a mission to expand their digital audiences and diversify their reach beyond drive time and evening over-the-airways programs. It worked. Now the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is expanding the initiative, in partnership with the Poynter Institute, to 225 markets.

And this summer, social media content creators and influencers were credentialed as press to share stories from the Democratic National Convention. That‘s significant but not surprising — a third of Americans say they get their news from social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.

Neither boom nor doom

Do these examples suggest the state of journalism is comfortably robust and that the news media industry has conquered the existential crisis of audience loyalty, technological disruption and financial sustainability? No.

But doom-and-gloom narratives that cherry pick stories of vulture capitalists, job loss statistics and print closures are incomplete or out of date, painting an inaccurate picture of a news and information ecosystem on life support.

OnPoynt aims to offer a forward-minded look at the state of journalism and the news industry that propels the story by considering trends related to creative product ideas, audience growth strategies and traction around revenue, artificial intelligence and innovation.

For 50 years, the nonprofit Poynter Institute has elevated the craft and ethics of journalism. To those core disciplines, Poynter has now expanded to arenas of news enterprise leadership, digital transformation, the battle against misinformation, and media analysis — all of which inform Poynter’s take on the future and represent our own path toward financial and journalistic sustainability.

OnPoynt is not a naive spin away from marketplace realities. Quite the reverse. Decades ago, market realities explained how newspapers, for example, dominated public access to news and information — allowing owners of papers to both inform and make substantial profits. The profound change is undeniable and financially upending.

But we argue that it's time to stop conflating the flailing response of news and information providers to those fundamental market shifts with a loss of faith in the key role of independent journalism to functioning democracy. Indeed, we should stop scolding audiences as uninterested in democracy just because they may no longer choose to pay for news products that they don’t find relevant to their lives or easy to access.

Journalism on the rise

Those market shifts, along with powerful technology, have provided people more power to choose what information they get and how they get it. The choices remain overwhelming, and the news industry’s struggle to invest in user experience and monetize its content has diminished its standing. But that didn’t alter this essential truth: High quality journalism that informs and helps people make choices for better lives is as crucially important today as ever — and is finding business success. So, that side of the story deserves a greater share of the airtime.

As the industry navigates these complications, it is imperative for news organizations to adapt, innovate and redefine their value. By embracing new formats, fostering community engagement and delivering compelling storytelling that resonates with diverse and distinct audiences, journalism reinvigorates its connection with the people it serves.

Our Poynt of view: More news and information creators than ever before now seek to use facts, know-how and engaging story forms to help audiences make sense of the world. That is happening — much more than you hear about. The examples above are not “glimmers” or hidden gems. Instead, they are part of the call to action in this report to eschew macro-narratives of despair and decline in favor of precise tales of success and deeper review of the lessons from media research and specific market experiments.

Such stories, along with those of the struggles, serve as beacons to those who hope to make a difference through journalism.

Neil Brown
President

The Poynter Institute

Opportunity and obligation for news media: super election year of 2024

Globally, more voters than ever in history — 49% of the world’s population — will go to the polls. Who will inform their decisions?

64

Elections in countries worldwide

6826

Local, state and national elections in the U.S.

Audiences

The best journalism serves many different audiences — not just a “general public.”

“News fatigue” is real. But interest in news remains strong

WE HEAR THIS:

Audiences for journalism and news sites are in decline because people are weary of the news.

Journalists and news executives see it firsthand, and the survey research bears it out: Their audiences suffer from so-called “news fatigue.”

This is not surprising given the relentless and widespread difficulties that journalism covers: too many wars, broad economic precarity, pandemics, climate change, raw-edged partisanship, intolerance and hatred.

But consumption of journalism and news content is up. For example, a Pew study showed more people following coverage of the 2024 election by the summer, than at a comparable point in 2020. Local news sites report strong interest in heatwave and related weather stories and climate issues.

So, feelings of news fatigue don’t directly correlate with whether people value news they consider interesting or relevant to their daily lives.

Audience growth is critical to financial sustainability of news and information companies. Understanding with greater precision the interests of different audiences is essential to serving them.

Oversimplified descriptors such as “news fatigue” can prompt journalists to dilute their offerings or sugarcoat the news out of fear that audiences are weary. That can result in inaccurate coverage or emphasis on irrelevant content that isn’t of value in the marketplace.

Stories that provide context have high value. Information that is credible and helpful is vital to the news ecosystem.

Few if any media surveys ask, “Are you fatigued by information that can help you lead your life better?”

Because of the proliferation of news via social media, challenges related to information overload get conflated with disinterest. News consumers may be fatigued by some of the news, but not necessarily all of it.

Opinion journalism and punditry have confused the understanding of what news is and of audience interest in it. Shouting on cable news networks does not reflect people’s interest in information that is of service or of relevance in their communities.

Embracing the realities of audience fragmentation allows for better, specific service. It’s more effective to serve several smaller loyal audiences than trying to win over a general public with one-size-fits-all content.

Audiences respond to compelling stories, and information that is of service

How news publishers combat news avoidance

Better explanation of complex stories

60

Solutions/constructive journalism

44

Interest in current affairs via social is substantial

Millions get news and information on these platforms from both influencers and journalists

TikTok

0%

Go to influencers for news.

0%

Go to journalists for news.

Instagram

0%

Go to influencers for news.

0%

Go to journalists for news.

YouTube

0%

Go to influencers for news.

0%

Go to journalists for news.

Studies from the Reuters Institute and Pew Research Center note that Gen Z news consumers count on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube for news and information. They rely on news personalities, rather than media companies.

Content influencers offer a range of stories and forms. Says a report at the International Journalism Festival 2024, “While traditional news outlets are losing trust, news influencers are gaining credibility. Despite the buzzword of news avoidance, these content creators manage to go viral with hard news — reaching the young target audience legacy media houses seek to attract.”

Trust

Build relationships, offer diverse and relevant products and embrace ethical journalism

Trust in media organizations is better than you think

WE HEAR THIS:

People don’t trust “the media.”

The word media is too broad and inexact.

The word trust is also too broad and inexact.

Distrust of media tends to refer to the polarized environment of the national discourse. Large segments of communities do trust their local news media.

A large majority of people — 83% — says local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community.

About 7 in 10 U.S. adults (69%) say that local journalists in their area are mostly in touch with their community.

71% say local journalists are reporting news accurately.

Audiences will spend more time and money with sources of information that they “trust.”

Civic participation will grow as trust in media grows.

Accessible local news improves democratic participation.

People are more likely to trust people they know. Journalists and news organizations are more trusted when they develop relationships with customers, donors, business partners and sources. Engage with audiences beyond the transactions.

Lack of trust often reflects a perceived bias. Journalism organizations should market their independence and be transparent about their news gathering process.

Democratic institutions face substantial “trust” issues. Yet people vote, pay taxes, go to public schools. Journalists can facilitate a better understanding of why there are suspicions and can help citizens confront the issues.

News organizations that provide services and independent sources of useful information, gain loyalty. Show that your aim is to help customers improve their lives and participate in their communities. Don‘t just proclaim “Trust us.”

Trust Playbook 2024

Six fundamentals to win the trust of audiences

Make Responsible Reporting your brand rather than clickbait sensationalism

Journalists Dodai Stewart and Samhita Mukhopadhyay have criticized news outlets for prioritizing sensationalism and clickbait over responsible, fact-based reporting, arguing that this can distort public understanding and erode trust in journalism.

The Rebooting’s Brian Morrissey has advocated for a renewed focus on in-depth, contextual reporting that provides audiences with a nuanced understanding of complex issues, rather than relying on attention-grabbing headlines.
Build newsrooms that reflect your community

Democracy requires information and engaged citizens, and news organizations need to reflect the increasingly diverse communities they serve. Revitalizing local news has become a priority for many funders, yet outlets led by people of color have historically received less support than white-led ones.

That’s why Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, and Neil Chase, CEO of CalMatters, partnered to create the JCal high school journalism program. Its goal is to funnel so much young diverse talent into the journalism pipeline that hiring managers will have no excuse not to hire them.
Relationships are essential

People trust who and what they know. So building relationships is vital to building trust. But it takes time and requires diverse strategies. The Reuters Institute reports that newsrooms have mixed success via engagement strategies like seeking reader feedback. Some audiences don’t like to be bothered and prefer distance. Some local news startups are building relationships through events, donor outreach and tailored marketing.

Meanwhile, a recent study by Poynter reflected that journalists need to develop new and better sources — which is key to trustworthy reporting — by increased contact (including face-to-face) with people in their communities and on their beats.
Transparency & accountability

Thought leaders Beth Comstock and Richard Edelman have advocated for increased transparency in journalism, including disclosing potential conflicts of interest, sources, and the reporting process. They’ve highlighted the need for news organizations to have clear policies and procedures to identify financial relationships, personal connections, or political affiliations that create conflicts of interest.

Journalists Fredricka Whitfield and Rachael Healy have highlighted the importance of news organizations promptly issuing corrections and clarifications when errors occur, as a means of upholding journalistic integrity and maintaining trust with their audiences.

Journalist Meredith Talusan has criticized media outlets for lacking transparency, particularly in their coverage of marginalized communities. She argues that true transparency requires actively involving diverse voices in the reporting and editorial.

Journalists Robert Woodward and Danielle Belton have underscored the critical role that source protection plays in enabling investigative journalism and exposing wrongdoing. They argue that journalists must uphold ethical standards to safeguard the confidentiality of their sources.

Talusan has cautioned that the increasing digital surveillance and data collection can make it more challenging for journalists to protect the identity of their sources, requiring new strategies and technological safeguards.
Ethical use of technology

Every newsroom needs to adopt an ethics policy to guide the use of generative artificial intelligence. Why? Because the only way to create ethical standards in an unlicensed profession is to do it shop by shop. A lack of written standards holds back innovation.

Poynter created a policy template with specific guidelines for newsroom generative AI that roots experimentation in the principles of accuracy, transparency and audience confidence.
Facts are not censorship

Fact-check journalism seeks to provide audiences with additional information and offer evidence to allow people to decide for themselves if something is misleading or out of context. Fact-checkers don’t seek to erase false messages, they aim to give consumers power to make their own judgments. It’s a form of real-time accountability journalism.

Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network has authored a Code of Principles — a sort of certification — to judge whether fact-checkers are abiding by principles of accuracy, independence and transparency. Such programs need to expand.

Creators

Social media personalities bolster the journalism ecosystem with lively stories and legions of loyal followers.

High-quality creators energize the news industry

WE HEAR THIS:

Thousands of newsroom jobs lost in the last 15 years have meant less coverage and eroded interest in news.

The loss of journalism jobs in local news has absolutely reduced community beat coverage.

But there has been an explosion of content creators — many of whom are telling the stories once told only by journalists.

Whether they are local newsletter writers or social platform creators, many tell stories in new and interesting ways. The marketplace suggests the volume of news and stories is growing.

That’s a double-edged sword — plenty of great stuff, plenty of garbage and a potential saturation that makes it more difficult for audiences who seek high quality content on which they can rely.

Journalism will continue to lose relevance if it embraces a narrative of loss.

Consumers – citizens – are seeking value from storytellers. They don’t want to be forced to pay attention to stories merely to “eat their peas” because it's good for them.

The marketplace is voting by gravitating to a wider range and definition of content.

Meanwhile, creators will find their popularity (and revenue) fleeting if they don’t embrace standards for the integrity and safety of their creative efforts.

We need to think of news and story producers as more than the existing pool of journalists. It’s journalists AND high-quality creators. Each group will improve their reach and relevance by embracing the strengths of the other. The view of the marketplace should not be oversimplified.

New platforms like Substack, Patreon and TikTok are empowering creators to publish directly to their audiences and get paid for it.

The “creator economy” is a vibrant part of the media landscape. Journalists and creators should work together to embrace a set of shared values around independence, transparency, accuracy and creative storytelling that puts the audiences’ interests first.

The number of creators has grown exponentially

The Creator Economy By The Numbers

The creator economy is huge — but how huge is it? If you've ever wondered just how many content creators are out there and how much they actually earn, you're in the right place.

There are 207 million content creators in the world

Here's a breakdown of the 207 million by follower count:

23 million have less than 1,000 followers.
139 million have between 1,000 and 10K followers.
41 million have between 10K and 100K followers.
2 million have between 100K and 1M followers.
2 million have more than 1M followers.

1 in 10 influencers earn upwards of $100K per year (Influencer Marketing Hub)

Only 10% of influencers earn $100K or more per year

10

What percentage of influencers actually make a decent living through content creation? Influencer Marketing Hub broke it down in their latest benchmark report:

26% make $1,000 or less.
26% make between $1,000 and $10K.
27% make between $10K and $50K.
11% make between $50K and $100K.
7% make between $100K and $500K.
3% make $500K or more.

51% of full-time content creators earn enough to support at least one person (The Tilt)

32% of full-time content creators are solopreneurs — earning enough income to support themselves. 19% are entrepreneurs earning enough to support multiple people. On the other hand, 36% earn money, but not enough to cover their expenses. 11% of full-time creators don't earn any money at all.

The average Patreon user makes 41% of their income on Patreon.

There are over 250,000 creators currently on Patreon. 56% of those creators consider themselves seasoned veterans. For most Patreon creators, revenue from Patreon itself makes up the largest portion of their income by far — more than commissions, ad revenue, coaching, and brand sponsorships combined.

There are over 7.5 million active sellers on Etsy.

Independent creators who make and sell physical goods are part of the creator economy too, and Etsy is their top platform. Etsy's top seller is jewelry maker CaitlynMinimalist, which gets more than 30,000 sales per month.

Substack has over 1 million paid subscribers.

The creator economy is known for its visual aspects. But there's plenty of demand for written content, too. Substack lets creators publish newsletters and serialized novels through a paid subscription model. The platform hit 1 million paid subscribers in November 2021.

Over 25 million creators have a Linktree account.

Aside from hashtags, "link in bio" is likely the most common phrase used by content creators in their captions. More often than not, that link directs to their Linktree bio, which acts as a central hub for multi-channel creators.

Journalists as influencers, influencers as journalists

Local News

New business strategies that focus on relevant content and service are growing audiences.

Local media is not dying, it is transforming

WE HEAR THIS:

Independent and locally owned news is evaporating because only big corporations have the wherewithal to support them.
Consolidation of news company ownership has left control disproportionately in the hands of a few debt-ridden, profit-driven companies.
Thousands of local news journalism and newsprint printing jobs have been lost to new consumer behaviors, technological change or cost-cutting.

The local news ecosystem is complex. The loss of traditional local news journalism jobs should not be minimized, but the battle cry of “saving local news” is oversimplified.

Hundreds of news or niche information sites have started in recent years. Many are independent, many represent new offerings from existing companies.

TV licenses continue to hold value, and viewership of local TV news is strong in many markets. Public radio audiences have held steady, particularly with the diversification of content, including podcasts.

News sites that focus on relevant content and service are growing audiences.

Philanthropy is helping expand the local news ecosystem.

There are news deserts, but not as many as you think. A map showing the unitied states mostly shades of green indicating at least one local outlet per county.

Growth — in audiences, advertisers and donors — hinges on a vibrant marketplace. Narratives that local news is not a sustainable business could undermine that potential.

There is certainly consensus that there is a direct correlation between the health of local news organizations and civic participation.

The constant lament of the need to find new business approaches often fails to explore specific product and distribution failures. More time needs to be spent on sharing lessons on new or modified approaches that are taking hold.

Without soft-soaping the challenges, the news industry should better market the value to its customers of its products — not just the value to democracy, which is vague.

It’s not spin to tell stories of success and share best practices for the wider marketplace to know and replicate, including new revenue streams through philanthropy, membership, events and more.

Community-oriented news sites emerge regularly

News and topic-oriented startups are launching at a rate of about 3 a month in the United States. Here’s a sampling:

Arkadelphian — Local daily coverage for Southwest Arkansas.
Asheville Free Press — Movement journalism in Asheville, NC.
The Assembly — In-depth reporting in North Carolina.
Atlanta Civic Circle — Civic engagement news in Atlanta, GA.
Austonia — Local news in Austin, TX.
Baldwin2k News — Hyperlocal news in Milledgeville, GA.
Bloomfield Information Project — Community news in Bloomfield, NJ.
Border Belt Independent — News in southeastern North Carolina.
Boulder Reporting Lab — Local reporting in Boulder, CO.
Broken Arrow Sentinel — Independent news in Broken Arrow, OK.
Canopy Atlanta — Community-led journalism in Atlanta, GA.
Cardinal News — In-depth reporting in Southwest and Southside VA.
Fort Worth Report — Local news for Fort Worth, TX.
Harpswell Anchor — Local Maine residents restarted a newspaper that closed in 2000.
Highway 58 Herald — Local coverage of Oregon’s Highway 58 corridor.
La Periodista de Iowa – Spanish language news, Denison, IA.
The Land — Local news startup that reports on Cleveland’s neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs.
Mississippi Free Press — Deep public-interest reporting into structural challenges facing all Mississippians.
Oregon Capital Chronicle — Deep and useful reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.
San Jose Spotlight — Local news in San Jose, CA.
Shasta Scout — Investigative journalism in Redding, CA.
Southerly — Environmental and social justice news in the South.
Tucson Sentinel — Local news in Tucson, AZ.
Verde Independent — Local news in Verde Valley, AZ.
Wausau Pilot & Review — News in Wausau, WI.
WyoFile — Public interest journalism in Wyoming.

These organizations have been pivotal in addressing gaps left by traditional media, focusing on local, underrepresented and specific community issues (Poynter).

The ultimate in local: build community through news

In neighborhoods and communities underserved by traditional media, news outlets that reach audiences through common interests and experiences broaden the local journalism environment.

Black By God — Black voices in West Virginia.
Austin Vida — Latinx community news in Austin, TX.
Buckeye Flame — LGBTQ+ news in Ohio.
Conecta Arizona — Spanish-language news in Phoenix, AZ.
Capital B — News organization that centers on Black voices, with local outlets in Atlanta and Gary, IN.
Factchequeado — An initiative created to counter mis and disinformation within the Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States.
URL Media — A multi-platform network that includes high-performing Black and Brown news media organizations.
Outlier Media — A nonprofit newsroom designed to center and respond to Detroiters’ needs.
PW Perspective — News, opinions, and stories relating to the Black, Latinx, Muslim, and immigrant communities in Prince William County VA.
MiWisconsin Media — Hispanic/Latino digital media outlet in Wisconsin.

Reliable local news coverage boosts civic participation

Citizens engaged in the news participate more, vote more.

Local community attachment and regular voting connect strongly to local news habits

News Interest

Percent who follow local news closely

Community attachment

Those highly attached

59

Unattached

27

Local Voting Habits

Those who always vote

52

Don't always vote

31

News Intake

Percent who regularly use 3+ source types for community news

Community attachment

Those highly attached

44

Unattached

17

Local Voting Habits

Those who always vote

38

Don't always vote

12

News Attitudes

Percent who think their local media are doing a good job

Community attachment

Those highly attached

35

Unattached

13

Local Voting Habits

Those who always vote

27

Don't always vote

18

Products

Redefining journalism to embrace new formats

Podcasts and newsletters: time to monetize popular forms

WE HEAR THIS:

News organizations are eager to ramp up production of video, podcasts and newsletters in 2024-25.

The “second wave” of digital growth has been touted for some time. But converting video, audio and newsletters remains aspirational.

Podcasts are a great journalistic storytelling tool.

Newsrooms tout their newsletter open rates, but advertising dollars remain small.

The resources and investment to support the ramp up of video or podcasts are not commensurate with meaningful expansion of those forms.

Experiments linking revenue from readers, ads, events, and other sources to specific podcasts, newsletters, and texting services strengthen the relationship between journalism and sustainable economics.

Without a shift in culture or resources, efforts to reach audiences in new and sustainable ways will fail.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Podcasts:

Media organizations that can adeptly blend compelling narratives with captivating audio and visual elements will emerge as industry leaders, shaping news consumption, generating new revenue and redefining the boundaries of journalism.

This will require expanding skill sets through new hiring and training to add multi-media production and business/marketing acumen.

News companies must embrace this strategy as a marketplace imperative rather than an experiment.

Trends in news forms: publishers

What 314 news publishers plan to produce more of (net score)

Video

64

Newsletters

52

Podcasts

47

Articles

0

Data from a survey of 314 media leaders in 56 countries for ‘Journalism, media and technology trends and productions 2024.’

Trends in news forms: local niche revenue

Forum Communications, based in Fargo, ND, began experimenting with charging for livestreams of high-school sports in 2022.

Two years later, Forum has generated thousands of paying subscribers to WDAY+ who are paying $19.99 a month.

90% of these subscribers were new subscribers and were not print or digital news subscribers, but rather truly incremental subscribers.

Trends in news forms: 3 leading storytelling approaches

Vertical video

At Poynter, we recognize the critical importance of engaging younger audiences with news and information. We anticipate a concerted effort by publishers to connect with this demographic through the platforms they frequent, such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. While these initiatives will primarily focus on fostering relationships rather than generating immediate revenue, we expect to see a growing trend of incorporating these short-form, engaging storytelling techniques into publishers' own websites and apps.

From a talent perspective, skilled video journalists and mobile-first creators adept at crafting compelling short-form video content will be in high demand throughout the industry in the coming year. Their ability to captivate audiences with concise, visually appealing narratives will be pivotal in bridging the gap between traditional journalism and the evolving media consumption habits of younger generations.
Podcasts expand to video, and offer premium & mixed models

Political podcasting has emerged as a powerful medium, catering to the most engaged news consumers while affording politicians a platform to articulate their views in a less adversarial format than some cable news outlets. At the Poynter Institute, we've observed how many of these podcasts are now being filmed, enabling them to reach even wider audiences through video platforms like YouTube. Notably, producers are increasingly creating bite-sized highlight clips tailored for distribution across social media channels such as TikTok and X. This trend exemplifies the industry's adaptation to modern content consumption habits, ensuring that political discourse remains accessible and engaging for diverse audiences across multiple platforms.

The Poynter Institute has also tracked that while podcasts have been free, historically, some are moving to a paid or mixed model. We anticipate podcasters, including many in the news sphere facing advertising revenue challenges, will increasingly embrace premium subscription and mixed monetization models in 2024, with platforms like Substack supporting this transition by bundling podcasts with newsletters.

According to Reuters Digital News Report 2024, “With most big advertisers focused on the top 100 podcasts, those with smaller reach, including many news ones, are finding it harder to pick up revenue. Partly as a response, Substack, which is best known for helping monetise newsletters, is supporting more podcasters into subscription, often in combination with a newsletter. The Economist has gone one stage further and launched an audio subscription that sees the majority of its shows sitting behind a paywall. Only its daily news podcast, The Intelligence, has remained free... This move will likely to encourage others to follow suit this year. The Economist’s podcasts are made by a team of around 30 people, now about 10% of its total editorial headcount.”
Specialist paid newsletters

Some bigger publishers such as the Financial Times are experimenting with new ways of charging for popular newsletters without having to pay for a full-price subscription. Unhedged, which covers markets and companies, and Inside Politics are on sale for $7.99 and $4.99 a month respectively. In early 2024, the FT will be experimenting with a “limited run” paid newsletter series called Sort Your Financial Life Out, with Claer Barrett potentially opening up a revenue stream for more educational newsletter products.

More widely, subscription-based decision-maker briefings, also delivered mostly by newsletters, are gaining traction in Europe. Süddeutsche Zeitung recently launched a series of newsletter “dossiers” that aim to unpack complex issues around politics and technology for specialist audiences. Table Media and Pioneer Media are other examples of thriving specialist newsletter (and podcasts) aimed at professionals.

Trends in news forms: investment levels

Monetization of news media formats

News organizations monetize these formats through various strategies. The following chart illustrates the primary monetization methods.

Format	Method	Investment Required ($)
Livestreaming	Ad Revenue, Sponsorships, Paid Subscriptions	$$$$
Podcasting	Ad Revenue, Sponsorships, Premium Content	$$
Digital Articles	Subscription Models, Paywalls, Ad Revenue	$
Social Media Updates	Sponsored Posts, Ad Revenue	$
Video News	Pre-roll Ads, Sponsored Content	$$$
Newsletters	Sponsored Content, Subscription Models	$

Revenue

Philanthropy is a vital component in funding journalism. But it is not a panacea.

Philanthropy: a welcome boost to pay for journalism

WE HEAR THIS:

Philanthropy will provide enough money to save local journalism.

Philanthropic support from large and small donors for news (particularly in the U.S.) has grown dramatically over the past decade.

Revenue from advertisers and subscribers remains substantial.

Generating dollars from donors or foundations isn’t cheap. It requires marketing and fundraising initiatives and specific expertise.

The marketplace will decide on product value, no matter how it is paid for.

Too much, though, has been made of the distinction between for-profit and not-for-profit legal status. For example, the emergence/development of treating consumers as members has value for both nonprofit as well as for-profit news groups.

Diversification of revenue sources is essential. An industry that undergoes constant change can’t put too many eggs in one basket.

Donors may not want to be guided by the ethical rules around journalism.

Different products with different audiences will be supported in different ways.

Charitable donations can make an important difference to both nonprofit and for-profit news groups.

A legal status (nonprofit) is not a magic potion.

Meanwhile, the wide range of revenue possibilities — such as sponsorship, advertising, events and more — is crucial to the sustainability of news enterprises.

If the journalism product doesn’t provide value to its customers, they won’t support it no matter through donations, subscriptions or advertisements. Philanthropy is not the business model panacea.

Philanthropists and other funders may be unfamiliar with the ethics and transparency practices that are fundamental to the journalism they are now supporting. It is important to sort out the rules of the road before grants are made.

Value of local news attracts philanthropists

“We are very optimistic about the future of philanthropy and local news,” said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project, a venture philanthropist supporting 22 civic news organizations. “We are seeing more and more philanthropists — especially local philanthropy — stepping off the sidelines to build a future for local news. The rapid decline of commercial local reporting in our country combined with an unprecedented year that magnified the essential role local news plays in our day-to-day lives is driving more philanthropists to rise to the moment and ensure the public has the information they need.”

Donations (in millions of dollars)

2015

50

2016

60

2017

68

2018

82

2019

100

2020

120

2021

140

2022

160

2023

180

There has been a significant increase in foundation grants for journalism from major philanthropic organizations like the Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Gates Foundation. For instance, the Knight Foundation alone has committed over $300 million to journalism initiatives over the past decade. — Media Impact Funders

Funding spotlight: Press Forward

$500 million to strengthen local newsrooms

Over a decade of investment in journalism experimentation and transformation has produced new models and solutions that are ready to scale, and a new generation of leaders prepared to reinvent and revitalize the field.

22 initial local chapters, lead funder

Alaska — Atwood Foundation
Central Appalachia — Appalachia Funders Network Central
Pennsylvania — The Steinman Foundation
Central Valley, CA — James B. McClatchy Foundation
Chicago — John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust
Colorado — Gates Family Foundation and the Colorado Health Foundation
Inland Empire, CA — Inland Empire Community Foundation
Lexington, KY — Blue Grass Community Foundation
Minnesota — McKnight Foundation
Mississippi — CREATE Foundation
New Jersey — New Jersey Civic Information Consortium and Community Foundation of New Jersey
New Mexico — Thornburg Foundation and the New Mexico Local News Fund
North Carolina — North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
Northeast Iowa — Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
Northern Michigan — Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation
Philadelphia — The Lenfest Institute for Journalism
Pittsburgh — The Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University; Benter Foundation; The Heinz Endowments; Henry L. Hillman Foundation; and The Pittsburgh Foundation
San Antonio — San Antonio Area Foundation
South Florida — The Miami Foundation
Southern Arizona — Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
Springfield, IL — Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln
Tampa Bay — Community Foundation of Tampa Bay
Vermont — Vermont Community Foundation Wichita — Wichita Foundation
Wyoming — Wyoming Community Foundation

“For local news to be sustainable over the long term, communities will need to stand up and support their local news providers — whoever that may be in any given area. Americans will need to support local news the same way that they invest in arts and culture, hospitals, or alma maters. They will need to add it to their list of philanthropic commitments — or at least to their list of subscriptions, alongside Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix.”

John Palfrey
President

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

“Philanthropy is not a business model — it’s a revenue stream. ‘Nonprofit’ is not a business model — it’s a tax status. And, by the way, billionaire ownership is not a business model.”

Maribel Pérez Wadsworth
CEO,

Knight Foundation

AI & Innovation

Journalism can use new technologies to grow content, serve audiences and make credibility a differentiator.

AI & the news: an opportunity for innovation

WE HEAR THIS:

Artificial Intelligence is a threat to journalism. It undermines audience trust and reduces news labor force.

Generative AI is expanding at a stunning pace, and in an age of misinformation and political mischief, the opportunity for trouble is very real.

Technology advances are rarely slow moving. Journalism and media companies are finding ways to balance anxiety with possibility.

Awareness of the need for ethics guardrails is high.

Many news companies are starting thoughtful experimentation.

Resisting change has undermined journalism in the past.

Establishing rules and policies is urgent. This is also a chance to use AI responsibly — and display why journalism matters.

Cost-savings creates opportunity to improve financial sturdiness and invest in new journalistic pursuits.

“AI” is often an overstated descriptor for all kinds of new technology. It’s important to be specific about what is being created and how it’s being used.

News companies can lead rather than lament. They can give “AI” actual meaning — starting with distinctions between common sense uses of software versus speculative and dangerous ones.

AI has potential to increase interactivity and relevance with audiences. New content that is of service to communities can be created or enhanced by AI.

Journalists need not fear the possibilities. They have the credibility to dive into the uses while holding to fundamental values of accuracy, integrity and transparency. That would make journalism use a point of positive differentiation.

While there’s been a good degree of fear-mongering around AI and Generative AI, and while ethical concerns (around IP protection and bias) still persist, modern news organizations must employ AI tools and strategies to remain competitive — and to combat misinformation and disinformation effectively. Here are several approaches:

Expanding news content

While there are concerns about reputational damage and accuracy, generative AI — supervised and edited — can increase newsrooms’ output, develop new products and reach more readers. Chatbots powered by large language models are writing SEO headlines, summaries and newsletters.

Claude is among the most popular free chatbots powered by the Claude 3 LLM. Can analyze and write immense amounts of text.

Lede AI automates news reports and publishes them to websites automatically. The algorithm varies the content so that no two stories look the same.
Make any reporter a data journalist

Used for years in the world of data journalism, generative AI is powering new ways to analyze statistics — and empowering anyone to do it. In the world of investigative journalism, documents are gold and data is oil, and AI tools will allow anyone in the newsroom to extract stories from them.

Allows journalists to analyze and explore digital documents that would have traditionally required coding.

A tool for exploring and publishing data. It helps people take data of any shape or size and publish that as an interactive website and API.
Expanding coverage and accuracy

Journalists are using AI tools to translate interviews and speeches. Paired with text generators, transcription products are making reporters and fact-checkers more accurate — and more efficient.

An AI meeting assistant to transcribe meetings in real time, record audio, capture slides and extract action items.

AI powered software quickly transcribes video & audio files to text.
Reaching underserved audiences

New generative AI software can take video of anyone speaking English and translate it into another language — and make it look like they’re speaking that language. Deepfake technology for good can help scale newsroom content for new audiences.

A tool that helps you generate or repurpose videos using AI technologies include digital avatars, text-to-video, and video translations.

ETX Studio allows you to create multi-format content (written, audio, video) in several languages and accents thanks to neural synthetic voices.
Fact-checking and misinformation resilience

Generative AI may be a threat to the information ecosystem, but it's also a powerful tool for fact-checkers fighting disinformation. They can use AI tools to surface claims from online trends or individual accounts and identify deep fakes.

Full Fact developed a tool for identifying and matching checkable claims.

Hive deepfake detection API and Chrome plug-in is among the more trustworthy tools for spotting generative AI.
Audience engagement and accessibility

By training an LLM on news archives, publishers are able to create chatbots to direct readers to relevant content, or personalize content based on reader preferences, Generative AI can also offer audience engagement editors new tools to increase accessibility, like alt text generation.

Hugging Face centralizes popular, open-source LLMs newsroomscan leverage for its archives.

With ChatGPT Plus, audience engagement editors can generate alt text and captions for any image.
Automation and building products

Generative AI tools can turn any journalist, editor or newsroom leader into a developer. LLMs can write thousands of lines of code with a few simple instructions, allowing news organizations to automate rote task and, create new digital products and web pages.

GitHub Copilot suggests code completions as developers type and turns natural language prompts into coding suggestions based on the project's context and style.

Amazon CodeWhisperer is an AI-powered productivity tool for the IDE and command line that generates code suggestions based on comments and existing code.
Visualization and graphics

Visualization software is rolling out AI capabilities to improve data visualization capabilities of any journalist. And many newsrooms are using generative AI for graphics and illustrations.

Adobe Firefly was trained on licensed images, and is capable of generating hyper-realistic photos and graphics.

Tableau has integrated generative AI into its visualization and business intelligence software. Useful for editorial or advertising teams.

It's important to note that while AI tools offer significant potential in strengthening journalism, they are inherently biased and prone to factual errors. Any AI products and output should be heavily supervised and edited.

“Facts are the only anchor in our shared reality.”

Maria Ressa
Fact-checker and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,

remarks at Poynter-IFCN Global Fact on June 26, 2024

Conclusion

Conclusion: potential over pessimism — 5 takeaways

When telling its own story, the news industry has a long history of brutal honesty. We recognize that calling out bragging or spin is essential to the journalistic mission, and so we dare not engage in such behavior, particularly in recent times of media strain. What’s more: We’re in the skepticism business.

This report from The Poynter Institute aims to respect that — but it is also rooted in the belief that an incomplete story is, well, incomplete. The news and journalism landscape remains complicated and fast-changing. OnPoynt attempts to take stock of the conversation about media today and frame it with a nod to a growing catalog of successes. And we suggest this call to action: Lead more, lament less.

Our outlook relies on information that is prevalent in the marketplace and from those who are aligned in the belief that useful, accurate journalism has genuine value to society. That’s the ultimate key to sustainability: value.

5 takeaways

Audiences' appetites and needs for news and information that makes a difference to their lives are as large today (if not larger) than ever.
High-quality news and information efforts — produced by journalists as well as creators — are succeeding in serving audiences. Out-of-date and stale content efforts die in deserts.
Facts are back. Even in a polarized society, audiences are vocal about wanting fact-based reporting. From wars to debates to school board coverage, independent accountability journalism is in demand.
We live in a topsy-turvy time of experimentation that generates a cornucopia of creative ways to engage with audiences. Journalism can embrace options without abandoning principles.
Trust erodes all around us — yet, trust is an unreliable guide. Journalists and creators succeed (and fail) based on the quality and durability of relationships they build with those they serve.

About Poynter

Poynter’s mission & vision

The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that strengthens democracy by improving the relevance, ethical practice and value of journalism. Through teaching, publishing, convening, fact-checking and media literacy, Poynter creates a crossroads where communities come together to use journalism to confront society’s complex problems.

For the last 50 years, Poynter has worked to bolster local news infrastructure and sustainability. In the last year, we’ve trained thousands of local journalists and their newsrooms in craft, digital audience and revenue growth, innovation, diversity, equity and inclusion, and effective management. Our work with local newsrooms has led to millions of dollars in new revenue, millions in new digital audience, and stronger, more ethical leadership.

Poynter works to foster trust and empower citizens through our fact-checking and media literacy enterprises: the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Fact-Checking Network, and the digital media literacy initiative MediaWise. Poynter is also the home of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, which is dedicated to improving the reliability of journalism and transparency between newsmakers and news consumers.

You can find our news coverage, as well as thought-leadership from our faculty and other experts on our website, poynter.org.

Poynter’s portfolio

Developing journalism’s leaders

Advancing newsroom diversity

Ethics, fact-checking and media literacy

Strengthening local news companies

Reporting and storytelling

Contact Poynter's Experts

Contact Poynter’s experts

Neil Brown
Poynter President, former Pulitzer Prize Board Chair.

Topics: General news, local news economics and sustainability, leadership.
nbrown@poynter.org
Kelly McBride
Chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership; NPR’s public editor.

Topics: Ethics, AI ethics, audience attitudes.
kmcbride@poynter.org
Sitara Nieves
VP of Teaching and Organizational Strategy.

Topics: Digital audience growth, news audiences, audio/podcast, leadership.
snieves@poynter.org
Aaron Sharockman
Executive Director, PolitiFact.

Topics: Online Creators, mis- and disinformation, revenue models.
asharockman@poynter.org
Jennifer Orsi
VP for Publishing and Local News Initiatives.

Topics: Local newsrooms, local news finances, reporting and editing practice.
jorsi@poynter.org
Alex Mahadevan
Director, MediaWise.

Topics: Media literacy, AI tools and strategy, online content creators.
amahadevan@poynter.org
Rick Edmonds
Senior Media Business Analyst.

Topics: News audience trends, news avoidance, business models.
redmonds@poynter.org
Fernanda Camarena
Poynter faculty, former NBC News standards editor.

Topics: Ethics, Spanish-language media.
fcamarena@poynter.org
Katie Sanders
Editor in chief, PolitiFact.

Topics: Fact-checking expert, mis- and disinformation, checking online claims, U.S. politics and policy.
ksanders@poynter.org
Tom Jones
Senior media critic for poynter.org.

Topics: Journalists and creators and their current contributions.
tjones@poynter.org
Kristen Hare
Poynter faculty.

Topics: Early career journalists, local newsroom challenges and innovations, non-profit news.
khare@poynter.org
Ren LaForme
managing editor, poynter.org.

Topics: Technology and journalist tools.
rlaforme@poynter.org
Angie Drobnic Holan
Director of the International Fact-Checking Network.

Topics: Fact-checking expert, mis- and disinformation, global journalism and fact-checking issues.
aholan@poynter.org
Kerwin Speight
Poynter faculty.

Topics: TV, broadcast journalism.
kspeight@poynter.org
Tony Elkins
Poynter faculty.

Topics: Product design and design-thinking, AI.
telkins@poynter.org

Table of Contents

Introduction: A wider Poynt of view

Neither boom nor doom

Journalism on the rise

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

TikTok

Instagram

YouTube

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

Make Responsible Reporting your brand rather than clickbait sensationalism

Build newsrooms that reflect your community

Relationships are essential

Transparency & accountability

Ethical use of technology

Facts are not censorship

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

The Creator Economy By The Numbers

1 in 10 influencers earn upwards of $100K per year (Influencer Marketing Hub)

51% of full-time content creators earn enough to support at least one person (The Tilt)

The average Patreon user makes 41% of their income on Patreon.

There are over 7.5 million active sellers on Etsy.

Substack has over 1 million paid subscribers.

Over 25 million creators have a Linktree account.

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

POYNT OF VIEW

Vertical video

Podcasts expand to video, and offer premium & mixed models

Specialist paid newsletters

Monetization of news media formats

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

$500 million to strengthen local newsrooms

22 initial local chapters, lead funder

“Philanthropy is not a business model — it’s a revenue stream. ‘Nonprofit’ is not a business model — it’s a tax status. And, by the way, billionaire ownership is not a business model.”

LET’S FILL OUT THE STORY

WHY IT MATTERS

POYNT OF VIEW

Expanding news content

Make any reporter a data journalist

Expanding coverage and accuracy

Reaching underserved audiences

Fact-checking and misinformation resilience

Audience engagement and accessibility

Automation and building products

Visualization and graphics

“Facts are the only anchor in our shared reality.”

5 takeaways