Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Wednesday, July 10, 2024 [Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end]( The cable news network plans to launch a new subscription product — details TBD — by the end of 2024. Will Mark Thompson repeat his New York Times success, or is CNN too different a brand to get people spending? By Joshua Benton. [Errol Morris on whether you should be afraid of generative AI in documentaries]( “Our task is to get back to the real world, to the extent that it is recoverable.” By Andrew Deck. [The New York Times is “constantly thinking about the hierarchy of the stories that we’re promoting,” Joe Kahn says]( What We’re Reading 404 Media / Jason Koebler [A beloved tech blog is now publishing AI articles under the names of its old human staff →]( “In the case of TUAW, the actual identities of real journalists are being stolen and are being tied to articles that they had nothing to do with. This not only serves to devalue the work that they once did on TUAW, but also pollutes web searches for their work and puts their name on work that is AI generated and of extremely low quality.” Poynter / Rick Edmonds [The National Trust for Local News makes a sharp turn after just two years →]( “The philanthropy-supported nonprofit sector ‘doesn’t need more coaches,’ [Trust co-founder and CEO Elizabeth] Hansen Shapiro said in an interview. ‘There are plenty of those.’ Moving beyond encouragement and skill-building into breakthrough improvements with measurable goals is much more urgent. ‘We have (shifted) to 25% making direct investments and 75% execution,’ she said. Originally, the split between the two was the reverse.” Associated Press [Russia declares newspaper The Moscow Times “undesirable” amid crackdown on criticism →]( “The designation comes amid [a crackdown]( on critical [news media]( and the opposition. It means the newspaper must stop any work in Russia and it subjects any Russian who cooperates with the paper to up to five years in prison. It is a more severe measure than the [‘foreign agent’ designation]( applied to the news outlet in November, which subjects individuals and organizations to increased financial scrutiny and requires any of their public material to prominently include notice of being declared a foreign agent.” Bloomberg / Ashley Carman [“This American Life” shifts podcast ad sales to National Public Media →]( “The Times entered its ad sales arrangement with the show in 2020, a period when many producers were changing hands and looking for better deals. As the podcast ad market constricted over the past 18 months, the two organizations decided not to renew their agreement. The Times will still make the program’s archive and most recent episodes available to subscribers through its audio app.” Axios / Sara Fischer [Chalkbeat expands to public health, hires media veterans to run new parent organization →]( “[Elizabeth] Green believes one tactic that’s been overlooked is the focus on topic-specific coverage rather than broader community news that newspapers used to own, like crime, weather and local sports.” The Guardian / Alexandra Topping [Radio 2 “golden oldies” spin-off station on hold amid rivals’ complaints →]( “Matt Payton, chief executive of Radiocentre, the industry body for commercial radio, said the move was an ‘encouraging first step,’ a ‘significant shift by Ofcom’ and the first time the regulator had accepted that an online-only BBC radio service could impact competition. ‘This stands to reason considering the rapid growth in online radio listening and the importance of online revenues,’ he said.” The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr [CBS News president Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews resigns →]( “Her departure comes days after word that the network’s parent company, Paramount, would merge with Skydance Media.” Semafor / Max Tani [Instagram removes Gaza posts from lefty news org Democracy Now →]( “Shortly after the clip was posted to Instagram, the videos were removed and Democracy Now received a takedown notice saying that it had shared ‘symbols, praise, or support of people and organizations we define as dangerous.’ According to one person familiar with the takedown notice, the posts went ‘against the community guidelines on dangerous individuals and organizations.'” The Verge / Jay Peters [Spotify now lets you leave comments on podcast episodes →]( “Comments will be private by default (similar to [Q&A responses]( so creators will have to approve each comment they want to appear. Creators can choose to have comments available for their whole show or just for specific episodes, and, if they don’t want to allow comments at all, they can opt out of the feature.” The Wall Street Journal / Katherine Hamilton [The hard lessons of lifetime subscriptions →]( “Jason Walker bought a lifetime subscription to Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 for $99, when he was 18…In May, Rolling Stone said it was switching lifetime subscriptions from print to digital-only.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](