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Here’s a dirty little secret of independent journalism: In order to do what we do, we need legacy media outlets — with their massive news-gathering operations — to stay financially viable.
Which is why I root like hell for the Associated Press. And why I like what AP executive editor Julie Pace told me in a Substack Live on Monday about how she sees the future of news:
*Not everybody’s going to make it on this journey. *
And I think what you have to think about a lot as an organization…is what is your unique value proposition right now? Audiences have so many choices. And I think that’s a great thing.
I think you want audiences to have a lot of choices. What are you bringing to the table that they can’t get anywhere else? Or what is the role that you play in the ecosystem that nobody else can?
That’s exactly right. If you aren’t delivering something of value that audiences can’t find in other places, you are doomed — whether you are a big legacy media outlet like the AP or an independent news creator like me.
I continue to believe that it is too expensive for every media outlet to maintain a national and international news-gathering operation — and that the likeliest outcome is that the AP, in five years time, winds up as the de facto news-gathering/content distribution hub for EVERY media outlet.
Julie and I talked about that! We also touched on:
⚖️ The AP’s ongoing First Amendment lawsuit against the Trump administration
📡 How Fox and MS NOW are both AP clients
📰 AP as the last independent legacy media company
🤖 Why AP chose to license its content to OpenAI
🗳️ How the AP counts votes
⭐ My favorite kind AP content
You can check out AP’s news feed here. It’s very much worth a bookmark — especially with the election just 29 days away!
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