Op-Ed Archives - News/Media Alliance

Alliance CEO Q&A: How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism

Staff — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:00:45 +0000

An article featuring a Q&A with News/Media Alliance President & CEO Danielle Coffey titled, “How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism,” ran on January 31, 2024 in AdExchanger, discussing the value of publisher content to AI companies, why news publishers should be compensated for use of their content in training generative AI models, and possible legislative solutions. An excerpt from the article is below

How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism

Danielle Coffey, CEO and president of the News/Media Alliance, believes journalism and generative AI can play nice.

But first, generative AI companies must get real about the value journalism brings to their products.

“This doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game,” Coffey told AdExchanger. “These innovative technologies are very promising, but it doesn’t have to be at the expense of journalism.”

AI companies acknowledge the value of journalism, Coffey said… So, she argued, they should look at working with journalists as part of the cost of doing business – similar to how Netflix or Spotify compensate content creators for their IP.

Click here to read the rest of the Q&A on AdExchanger‘s website.

News/Media Alliance Artificial Intelligence articles

Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Can AI companies and media publishers work together?

AI White Paper: How the Pervasive Copying of Expressive Works to Train and Fuel Generative Artificial Intelligence Systems Is Copyright Infringement And Not a Fair Use

AI Principles

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Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Can AI companies and media publishers work together?

Danielle Coffey — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 14:00:38 +0000

An op-ed by News/Media Alliance President & CEO Danielle Coffey titled, “Can AI companies and media publishers work together?,” ran on January 21, 2024 in The Mercury News, discussing the impact to publishers of AI companies’ use of publisher content to train their generative AI systems, and possible ways forward. An excerpt from the op-ed is below:

Opinion: Can AI companies and media publishers work together?

Licensing agreements and permissions would protect the news industry’s work while delivering higher-quality AI content

Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to reshape the digital economy and alter the online experience for millions of consumers. Systems that rely on large language models have already ushered in rapid changes to the news media landscape, and many journalists today are using these tools. But as these technologies become more prevalent, we must develop appropriate guardrails that protect the intellectual property rights of media publishers.

Every day, publishers in print and digital media invest in the creation of high-quality content that is informative, trustworthy and engaging.

Click here to read the rest of the op-ed on The Mercury News‘s website.

News/Media Alliance Artificial Intelligence articles

AI White Paper: How the Pervasive Copying of Expressive Works to Train and Fuel Generative Artificial Intelligence Systems Is Copyright Infringement And Not a Fair Use

AI Principles

The post Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Can AI companies and media publishers work together? appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Op-Eds and Editorials Supporting the JCPA

Staff — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 14:16:56 +0000

Image credit: lucky-photographer – iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Last updated October 10, 2023

The following articles, op-eds, and editorials have been published in support of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA) and the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA).

Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Media Code is Thoughtful, Brave and Might Save Journalism

Staff — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:53:54 +0000

towfiqu ahamed / iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

An op-ed by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, “Media code is thoughtful, brave and might save journalism,” ran in The Australian today, regarding the proposed bargaining code in Australia to require the big tech platforms to pay news publishers for use of their content. An excerpt from the op-ed is below:

Media code is thoughtful, brave and might save journalism

The proposed bargaining code between news publishers and big tech platforms represents a critical turning point in worldwide efforts to create a sustainable, forward-looking model for professional journalism. While it is often hard to perceive the tides of history while we are in them, many of us believe that Australia is about to make a choice that could change the course of civic societies around the globe. That choice is not only about the future of news publishing but also whether we can build communities based on facts instead of misinformation and hate.

Click here to read the rest of the op-ed on The Australian‘s website.

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Op-Ed for News Publishers: Slow Vaccine Distribution and Disappearing Local News are Crises with a Common Solution

Staff — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 18:49:09 +0000

4FR / E+ via Getty Images

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an op-ed titled, “Slow vaccine distribution and disappearing local news are crises with a common solution,” co-authored by Steven Waldman, president of Report for America and coordinator of the Rebuild Local News coalition, and Susan Coffin, MD, MPH, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Waldman and Coffin suggests that the rise in closures of local news publications, as well as problems with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, can both be improved through government advertising in local news media encouraging vaccination. The authors contrast research showing local news as a more trusted source for many Americans for information such as public health messaging, with the current phenomenon of advertisers using ad technology that funnels ad revenue away from newspapers and toward sites perpetuating disinformation about COVID-19.

Waldman and Coffin call for at least half of public health advertising around distribution of the vaccine to be run as paid ads in local news, citing an executive order in 2019 by the mayor of the City of New York requiring this same percentage of advertising dollars be spent with local news media. The op-ed outlines the benefits to the local economy, local reporting and effectiveness of public health campaigns of increasing advertising in local news media.

The Inquirer has granted permission for News Media Alliance members to republish the op-ed in your publications.

You can download the op-ed here.

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Op-Ed: Google and Facebook Must Pay for Local Journalism

David Chavern — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 13:47:38 +0000

Much of the news business is being hammered by the decline in advertising because of Covid-19, just when the public most needs reliable information. While digital audiences are way up, the rapid contraction in revenue has so far caused 33,000 news media employees to be furloughed, to be laid off or to suffer reduced pay.

But in the midst of this crisis, something very good just happened for journalism: French antitrust authorities ordered Google to negotiate with publishers to pay for the news content shown in search results. It is the first time that a major digital platform has been required to pay for news anywhere.

You can read the rest of the op-ed in The New York Times.

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Run Our Op-Ed: Tell Google That Publishers Need a Fair Deal

Staff — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 14:22:10 +0000

The News Media Alliance today published findings from a new study that analyzes how Google uses and benefits from news. Among the major findings of the study is that news is a key source on which Google has increasingly relied to drive revenue. The platform received an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue in 2018 from news publishers’ content – without paying the publishers for that use.

The study, containing analysis conducted by experts at strategy and economics consulting firm Keystone Strategy and written by the News Media Alliance, includes a qualitative overview of Google’s usage of news content, an analysis of the amount of news content on Google Search and Google News, and an estimate of revenue Google receives from news.

News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern said, “News publishers need to continue to invest in quality journalism, and they can’t do that if the platforms take what they want without paying for it. Information wants to be free, but reporters need to get paid.”

You can help tell Google — and Congress — that news publishers need a fair deal by running an editorial or op-ed explaining the revenue disparity and the importance of having a thriving news media ecosystem.

You can download a sample op-ed from the Alliance or write your own.

The post Run Our Op-Ed: Tell Google That Publishers Need a Fair Deal appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Want to Stop Fake News? Pay for the Real Thing

David Chavern — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:52:32 +0000

Note: Originally published in The New York Times on Thursday, January 31, 2019 – News Media Alliance members that choose to publish the piece must include a canonical or no indexing tag.

Want to Stop Fake News? Pay for the Real Thing

Google and Facebook should be allies of quality journalism, not its gravest threat.

January 31, 2019

Facebook and Google have been brutal to the news business. But this primarily reflects a failure of imagination. The tech giants are the world’s best distribution platforms and could be an answer for journalism instead of a grave threat.

As readers have shifted to digital sources, the two companies have taken a large majority of online advertising revenue. More important, the platforms now act as “regulators” of the news business — determining what information gets delivered to whom, and when. With the flick of an algorithmic finger, those two companies decide what news you see and whether a publisher lives or dies.

The impact on journalism has been clear. Just within the past week, we have seen over 1,000 planned layoffs at Gannett, BuzzFeed and HuffPost, and no one thinks we are anywhere near the end. Facebook and Google’s answer so far has been to pledge to spend $300 million each over the next three years to help journalism. But that money will be dribbled across a huge news landscape, and much of it will undoubtedly be used to encourage further use of Facebook and Google products.

But such investments amount to charity, and charity will never be the answer. What news publishers really need are active partners who are willing to embrace the idea that quality journalism sustains our civic society and that the answer to bad information is more good information.

We can start with the fact that “free” isn’t a good business model for quality journalism. Facebook and Google flatly refuse to pay for news even though they license many other types of content. Both companies have deals to pay music publishers when copyrighted songs play on their platforms. And the companies also aggressively bid to stream live sports and entertainment content to run on Facebook Watch and YouTube. These deals are varied and often secret, but none of them are based on “free.” Why are the platforms so unwilling to pay news publishers for access to the quality journalism that users need and value?

There’s no reason those who produce the news shouldn’t enjoy the same intellectual property protections as songwriters and producers (regulators in Europe are looking at replicating some of these safeguards for journalism).

The tech giants are also run as “walled gardens” that minimize brands and separate publishers from their readers — even while hoarding information about those same readers. Imagine trying to build a trusted relationship with an audience when you can’t even know who they are. Publishers need new economic terms that include more revenue and more information about our readers. Any minor costs to these companies would pay huge dividends not only for our society but also for their credibility with Congress and policymakers around the world.

Facebook and Google also need to be willing to acknowledge investments in quality journalism through their algorithms. They are constantly on the defensive about spreading false and misleading “news” that hurts people. They could start to address the problem by simply recognizing that The Miami Herald is a much better news source than Russian bots or Macedonian teenagers — and highlighting original, quality content accordingly. Recognizing and promoting publishers that have consistently delivered quality news content can’t be that difficult for sophisticated tech companies. And there are a range of qualified independent ratings organizations, such as NewsGuard, that could help them separate the wheat from the chaff.

Whether they like to admit it or not, Facebook and Google are at real risk when it comes to the news business. Under the adage “You break it, you buy it,” the platforms now own what happens when quality journalism goes away. A study by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism found that more than 1,300 American communities have completely lost sources of local news.

David Simon, a former newspaper journalist who became a TV writer, lamented the loss of local coverage and said in an interview with The Guardian: “Oh, to be a state or local official in America over the next 10 to 15 years, before somebody figures out the business model. To gambol freely across the wastelands of an American city, as a local politician! It’s got to be one of the great dreams in the history of American corruption.”

Facebook and Google could address these risks by embracing responsibilities and becoming partners, rather than minor benefactors, for journalism. They need to come to the table with a real deal on revenue, data and algorithms.

Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed has talked about digital publishers merging to gain more negotiating leverage over the tech platforms on these issues. Legislation sponsored by Representative David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with the two companies without violating antitrust rules.

Facebook and Google talk incessantly about how they are improving the world. Why not do something genuinely good for all of us and support journalism instead of destroying it? And it wouldn’t even have to be that hard. There is plenty of money and quality content to go around. All it would take is a little enlightened self-interest and a real commitment to the continued existence of quality news.

David Chavern is president and C.E.O. of the News Media Alliance, a trade association representing some 2,000 news publishers in the United States and Canada, including The New York Times. Follow him on Twitter: @NewsCEO

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CEO: Facebook Needs to Learn Difference Between Journalism, ‘Political Advertising’ and Garbage

David Chavern — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 19:14:21 +0000

Published on USA TODAY – Click here for full opinion piece from News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern

Facebook presents many risks to the future of journalism. While the platform offers incredible access to billions of people, it is also a powerful delivery vehicle for garbage. We saw in the last election just how easy it was for bad actors to create false news and then pay Facebook to deliver it alongside professionally created content.
Read more

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Op-Ed Archives - News/Media Alliance

Alliance CEO Q&A: How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism

How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism

Related:

Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Can AI companies and media publishers work together?

Opinion: Can AI companies and media publishers work together?

Licensing agreements and permissions would protect the news industry’s work while delivering higher-quality AI content

Related:

Op-Eds and Editorials Supporting the JCPA

Alliance CEO Op-Ed: Media Code is Thoughtful, Brave and Might Save Journalism

Op-Ed for News Publishers: Slow Vaccine Distribution and Disappearing Local News are Crises with a Common Solution

The Inquirer has granted permission for News Media Alliance members to republish the op-ed in your publications.

Op-Ed: Google and Facebook Must Pay for Local Journalism

Run Our Op-Ed: Tell Google That Publishers Need a Fair Deal

Want to Stop Fake News? Pay for the Real Thing

Note: Originally published in The New York Times on Thursday, January 31, 2019 – News Media Alliance members that choose to publish the piece must include a canonical or no indexing tag.

Want to Stop Fake News? Pay for the Real Thing

Google and Facebook should be allies of quality journalism, not its gravest threat.

CEO: Facebook Needs to Learn Difference Between Journalism, ‘Political Advertising’ and Garbage