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McClatchy will help to fill in the gap being left behind by the closure of The Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio’s daily newspaper. The paper is set to stop publishing on Aug. 31. The Compass Experiment, a joint initiative between McClatchy and Google with the aim of developing “essential and sustainable local digital news models,” says it will launch a digital news outlet in Youngstown this fall. The company will have a website as its main product and will experiment with publishing frequency and alternative projects. McClatchy will have full editorial control of the outlet, which it will own. In addition, ProPublica announced that it is opening up a spot in its Local Reporting Network for a local news organization to cover accountability issues in Youngstown. These moves are part of what appears to be a trend of tech companies, donors, regulators and advocacy groups that are working to address the growing number of “news deserts” in the U.S. According to a University of North Carolina study, between 1,300 and 1,400 communities that had newspapers of their own in 2004 now have no dedicated news coverage.
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Gannett and GateHouse Media, the two largest newspaper chains in the U.S. by circulation, are moving ahead with their plans to merge, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The report says that the companies are working to negotiate a cash-and-stock deal in which Fortress Investment Group, GateHouse’s parent company, would likely purchase Gannett, with GateHouse chief executive Mike Reed assuming control of the combined entity. GateHouse, which is known for slashing costs at the papers it acquires, currently owns nearly 700 papers, 156 of them dailies. In addition to USA Today, Gannett owns more than 100 daily papers and 1,000 weekly papers. Gannett recently spurned a takeover attempt by hedge fund-owned MNG Enterprises and is also said to have considered a deal with Tribune Publishing Co.
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Instagram is testing out a program that would keep users from seeing how many likes an individual post racks up. The New York Times says the experiment is currently underway in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. While users will still be able to see who else has liked a post, the tally of the total number of likes will not be available. The only exception: Users can still see like counts and video view counts for their own posts. The policy change is meant to create a less pressurized and competitive platform. “We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people they care about,” head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said at an annual event for Facebook developers held in April.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
