Local and regional news publishing in the UK is being squeezed more ferociously than ever – with journalists as collateral damage in a conflict between news and tech.
While the country’s national titles are also suffering because of changed priorities at tech giants Meta and X and an advertising market that has been shrinking as major brands cut back in response to inflation’s impact on consumer spending, they are using their resources to try to overcome the effects by expanding into the far larger US market.
This option is not open to the UK’s three largest regional publishers – Reach, National World (NW) and Newsquest.
Additionally, unlike the nationals, they are trying to fight back against the BBC’s “digital first” initiative, with Corporation executives trying to replace local radio listening with a stronger presence online.
NW boss David Montgomery threatened legal action against the BBC earlier this year over its strategy but his strategy of expanding the company through acquisition at the same time as defiantly resisting any pay increase for its journalists may be his tacit way of trying to protect his business.
With its large stable of regional titles as well as nationals such as the Mirror and Express, Reach is simultaneously facing twice the pressure. Although National World has a “national” news website, Newsquest does not.
In this context, a successful NW bid for the Telegraph group could support its local titles by bringing in cash from any US success or amalgamating its national website with that of the Telegraph. That David Montgomery’s Local TV network last month was rebranded as “Talk” – see page 8 – shows this approach has been on his mind.
Reach’s place as both a national/international and regional title has made it additionally vulnerable to the whims of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, as individuals running tech giants Meta and X respectively.
CEO Jim Mullen blamed Reach’s increasingly dire predicament on changes made by Meta to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp the company’s annual results were published in the summer.
Since then, digital revenue declined by 14 per cent year-on-year during the third quarter between July and September and page views had decreased by more than 20 per cent over the first nine months of 2023.
Coded communication
Algorithm changes on Facebook reduced the prominence of news as Meta ended news content deals across Europe and removed the Facebook News tab – at the same time as continuing inflation and lower consumer spending hit advertising.
News has also become less visible on X, with headlines being stripped to “improve aesthetics”.
Consequently, referral clicks decreased by nearly half in a year.
Meta has also withdrawn financial support for local news reporting, hitting journalists at NW, Reach and Newsquest titles, including serveral in Yorkshire.
A further threat comes from AI, as international copyright laws may not provide sufficient protection against tech giants trying to boost their own news audiences.
National limitations
While Zuckerberg and Musk have made clear their opposition to greater legal control – and spend vast sums on political lobbying – it is encroaching. Media, online safety and digital market laws have been going through the Westminster parliament, although not yet enacted.
Australia now requires compulsory licensing of content from news outlets while strong online safety measures are in place across the EU. Meta hit by by blocking news content in Canada when threatened by legislation requiring payment there.
Size matters – as individual nations and their jurisdictions seem little match for the global tech giants.
To see this as a battle for world domination is probably too melo-dramatic; a struggle between tightly-controlled capital and representative democracy may be more accurate.
Every conflict creates casualties – and those already affected by this clash include journalists, largely unheard and invisible, low on the creative food chain.
While military conflicts currently dominate visual media – with journalists’ unions rightly concerned about safety and editorial independence – this less immediately visible aspect of the digital revolution threatens many livelihoods.
It is a bigger picture we cannot collectively afford to ignore and should now monitor carefully.
Competencies has also stalled because of the overall dire financial situation.