If you publish seemingly AI-driven gambling slop, you're not a newspaper

 Judd Legum doesn't directly say that, but, at least with the stable of Advance "products," I am ready to make that call myself, based off his story. Gambling slop, prediction markets slop and more.

That's only the tip of the iceberg. A "product affiliate" disclosure, like the ones for, say, outdoor gear websites, that say, "if you buy this product via this link, we may receive a commission," show what's up:

Advance Local’s Executive Director for Communications, Christine deWit, said that the company considered everyone who produced this gambling-related content a journalist. 

DeWit also said that Advance Local disclosed how it was compensated for promoting the promo codes. At the very bottom of these articles, in small print, is a disclosure: “If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.” 

The history of the program reveals more details of how the scheme works. Initially, Advance Local outsourced the production of this content to third parties. A March 2024 news release by Catena Media discloses that the company “published content in collaboration with media partners including Advance Local, owner of NJ.com and other news websites.” Catena Media describes itself as an “affiliate marketing specialist.”

Oy. 

Even worse than the AP partnering with Taboola. 

Judd says that Catena is basically buying Advance newspapers', or ex-newspapers', past history:

Crucially, Catena Media says it attracts players to gambling sites by “leveraging the visibility we gain from… high rankings on popular search engines.” This is why Advance Local is such an attractive partner for this kind of operation. Publications like The Oregonian and The Cleveland Plain Dealer rank very highly in search results because of the authority they have established through decades of producing high-quality journalism. These articles leverage that authority, and high placement in search engines, to attract new bettors.

Sounds about right. 

That said, is Advance the tip of the iceberg in other ways? It was early to "pivot to digital," and to use that to union-bust. USA Yesterday/Craphouse and its ilk surely are eyeballing something like this. 

Once again, WHAT is up with Hearst's hiring process?

 Consider this a second payment on a piece of mine 3.5 years ago about looking at the assistant managing editor's position in Beaumont, Texas. I said then that Hearst's hiring process was worse than Gannett's.

OK, now to the current scenario.

Six weeks ago, while I was on vacation, a Hearst recruiter tagged me on LinkedIn. Position? Managing editor in Midland, Texas. Presumably she had seen that I worked long ago at Midland's twin city, Odessa, for the Odessa American. This was before Freedom's post-Chapter 11 breakup into multiple smaller entities.

I'm not from Odessa. I had never before worked for Freedom. Not enamored of the pre-breakup company. That said, its libertarianism in politics on the editorial page was social, not just government regulatory and fiscal.

Anyway, the disclaimer above is to note that back then, I, along with longer-term staffers, thought the OA was superior to the Midland Reporter Telegram, and with evidence. More than once, the MRT asked for OA editorial bailout on a story that was on Midland's half of the dividing line, though not in Midland itself. Both were seven-day print dailies back then; hold on to that.

(For a totally non-partisan background, the OA, and NOT the MRT, won a Pulitzer for "Baby Jessica" coverage, on photography, even though the well she was trapped in was in Midland.) 

With this background, I decided to agree to start the process anyway. Culturally, politically and sociologically, Midland is definitely not my cup of tea. But, it would have been a big pay raise. And, although not truly "West," would have gotten me enough further west to be worth it that way. I could have toughed it out three years and dealt with the future after that. 

Anyway, I was interviewed for the first round this time by someone directly at Hearst papers, not a person from Local Edge, in 2022 at least, a separate HR division for all Hearst properties, per the link.

OK, the usual questions both ways, and comments both ways. I said I was plenty familiar with Wilks and Dunn, as well as the oil patch. Per the above, I asked if there was any cooperation with the OA.

"We consider them a rival," said person said.

I later checked the annual Texas Press Association yearbook. Fifteen years ago, the OA was ahead in circulation. A decade ago, it was still in hailing distance. Today, it's one-quarter of the MRT. Yikes! (On the print side, MRT is now a five-day daily, while OA is a semiweekly. Yikes!) That said, TPA and Wiki don't 

OK, near the end, I ask about the interview process. I think he said nine or 10 rounds. I know he said at least six or seven, itself too many for a position at this level.

To me, that bespoke two things, which aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. You either have bureaucracy trying to justify itself, or you else have people scared of making bad hires, which in turn means they've likely made recent bad hires.

I am told the second interview will be in a couple of days. Before it happens, said recruiter sends me one of these "Predictive Index" bullshit items, which, when I get them, I've taken to deliberately Poe-ing them on answers. I didn't do it until after the second interview, a few days after.

Then comes "an invitation to officially apply." Did not address that immediately, either. I figured I'd wait until after not just the second, but the third interview if there were going to be six or seven, let alone nine or more.

There has been no third interview, not even after I completed the predictive index.

Let's get back to the first and second interviews.

In the second, especially, I asked more about workflow between ME and reporters, and it's "interesting." They lean into AI a fair amount. It doesn't write stories, but it does kind of frame them, especially on things like government reporting. Now, the ME can override its guesses as to what goes at the top of AP's inverted pyramid, and presumably staffers can, too.

I'm still old-school enough that that doesn't totally enamor me. Anyway, this is loaded into a system. The ME makes changes. Presumably they tell the staffer to look at the changes, and the "why" is explained, or else the staffer is flagged. But at that point, it's pretty much nonlocal. The pagination hub right then gets the edited version of the story. Eventually, they get the budget for A1 and inside, B1 and inside, etc.

Sports? It's Midland, home of Midland Lee, archrival (or they were at one time) of Odessa Permian. Friday night lights. Etc.

Second interviewer said sports interest is not high.

Figured out why.

They currently print IN MEXICO.

Used to print with Gannett — I thought he said the Valley, but teh Google said Lubbock — but when that printing plant closed, they hopped the Rio Grande. 

I'll tackle this part more in a separate piece, as that's still Gannett printing, in Juarez.

Anyway, there's basically a three-day time lag between when news and sports are sent to the pagination hub, then the printing press, and a print product comes to Midland.

SO, Friday night lights is Tuesday or Wednesday in print.

Given Max Preps, especially if they aggressively market themselves on the photo side, or even more if there's a third party "Basin Sports" website or something (hold on to that thought and a related one), well, no shit Sherlock, you're not going to have high interest.  

OK, pick up the thought.

First interviewer said there's no sports editor, just two reporters. AND, he indicated that he thought the new ME needed to justify having two sports reporters, even.

Well, definitely no shit Sherlock on second guy and why nobody is interested in Midland Lee coverage. It's late, outdated, maybe even in web version, it's outdated, with limited art.

OK, pick the thought up again. Everybody shoots their own on photos, both sports and news, and there's no photo editor to even help out, or to edit product.

So, if it's not one of the Midland public high schools? Submitting info and photos is the only way you get in the MRT, print or online. Back to Max. If they have good and aggressive local reporters, let alone if there's a "Basin Sports," nobody in Crane is reading your ass. Ditto for news; you're not sending a reporter there and if the city of Crane or Crane ISD doesn't have a live video stream, you're not writing.

Anyway, I'm good, Hearst. I semi-fooled myself the second time around. I'll do my best to avoid that happening again. 

Wrong move by NOTUS on trying to be the new WaPost

The New York Times reports that NOTUS, the political news site, kind of like a junior Politico, and in fact started by Politico's founder, plans to add more general news, and also sports, in June under an expansion.

From what I found before the paywall dropped:

NOTUS, a Washington political news website with ambitious plans to fill a void it says was left by deep cuts at The Washington Post, will be renamed The Star and relaunch in the first week of June, the editor in chief, Tim Grieve, said on Thursday. 

NOTUS started in 2023 as a publication tied to the Allbritton Journalism Institute, a nonprofit that trains young political journalists. Its name stands for News of the United States, a play on the nickname for the President of the United States. It was created with a $20 million grant from Robert Allbritton, the billionaire co-founder of Politico.

Yes, the Post had some kewl sportswriters, but sports is a mug's game. Newspapers of any size have ditched high school and even college sports reporting long ago. The nearest newspaper to me of any size, the Denton Wrecked Chronic, does basically nothing on University of North Texas coverage, and did fairly little pre-COVID. In a high school football preview, with Denton itself having two large high schools and the county several smaller ones, they had a 12-page broadsheet one post-COVID year, in which ads must have been sold as a package. Some car dealer had a 6x2 or something like that, bottom strip ad on every page but the cover.

My pair of weeklies, in conjunction with one other? Still does a 48-page, tab, so 24-page broadsheet equivalent, football preview every year that runs about 40 percent ads. 

That said, the Slimes is a month behind the curve. Semafor covered this in mid-March. So, too, did Nieman Lab, which noted that Albritton backed the flop TBD, which tried to cover DC suburbs several years ago. Nieman also reminds us that dad Joe

Albritton himself is a media mogul with a less-than-saintly earlier life history. Expanding NOTUS, even more than the founding of Politico, may be a move at greenwashing. Open Secrets has no campaign donation information on him; it does note his dad, Joe, gave money to Texas ConservaDem Ken Bentsen, GOP Congresscritter Mike Schneider, who doesn't even have a Wiki page, and twice to the RNC.

No more Las Vegas Sun

At least not in print. 

A federal court last week officially killed the decades-old JOA it has with the Review-Journal, the paper of Adelson Zionism, John Ralston's often-bullshitting political takes and more.

Why?

Because a US District Attorney forgot to officially sign the JOA. No, really.

Here's the details:

The now-rare joint operating agreement required the Sun to be printed as a daily insert in the Review-Journal, the state’s largest newspaper. Both companies remained editorially independent with separate newsrooms and websites. 

A lower court found the agreement was unenforceable because a 2005 update was never signed by the U.S. attorney general, and in February the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Sun’s appeal.

Several thoughts.

First, was that "forget" or was that, "nah, not signing"?

Second, how did the Sun not notice that at the time?

Third, will the Sun maybe actually be better off?

Fourth, without the Sun inside, will the Review-Journal maybe be worse off? Their between-the-lines cackling may not hold up. 

Mutually passing on Community Impact

 I got told last week I didn't make the cut for an editor position at a new outpost.

They claim that I didn't have quite the specific experience they wanted in some ways. Yeah, it's been several years since I've managed one or more staff writers.

But I have.

The initial interview was called a Google Phone screen. I took that as meaning a telephone interview.

I was surprised to see a link, that was supposed to be video. I pleaded tech difficulties (true, as my office computer doesn't have a video camera built in the monitor, and my Microslob-backbone laptop doesn't want to fire up its video half the time, and don't get me started on the Mac laptop I bought on eBay), and they interviewed me anyway.

Made the cut. They sent me a writing and editing test. Did fine.

Then, second interview, which was video and I was ready.

Maybe the lighting at home was too diminished for them. Maybe they thought that was part of me trying to mellow out being older, too, which might have surprised them. Nothing I can prove, but ....

That said, I'd forgotten about CI's "pay to play" angle and other things, until Googling after the first interview. How they're doing in places like Plano, where Local Profile may be better in some ways? I don't know? How either one of those does vs "traditional" media when they don't cover crime, or in-depth politics, I don't know.

There's also the issue of no opinion items. No editorials, no op-eds, etc. I didn't realize that; I had forgotten the pay-to-play, or buy a bigger ad, get a bigger story, angle, but teh Google refreshed me.

But, I didn't know at all about the no opinion angle. 

Anyway, per the above? Age discrimination is still the most insidious major version of employment discrimination in the US, and abroad in the modern world, too. It may not be the worst, as in, versus racial discrimination for sure, but it's the most insidious. 

Bild, Die Welt, Politico owner to buy British Telegraph

 Axel Springer, the German publishing giant, is buying the semi-carcass of one of Britain's top publishers. And, yes, it bought Politico a year or two ago and is a behemoth in German journalism.

The Telegraph has often been called the "Torygraph" and is considered "Eurosceptic," but it's not populist wingnut trash like the Daily Mail, which had been attempting to buy the paper itself.

Axel Springer head Mathias Döpfner says he wants to expand its reach into the US. Of course, the Daily Mail and its populist wingnut trash have long had a presence here. Building off ownership of Politico, he has an entree to challenge The Guardian's presence here.

Why are you "holding" the print version of your weekly newspaper?

 I am writing from Texas. A nearby newspaper, owned by a friend, who's also a journalism/mass communications prof.

This last Tuesday was Texas primary election day. Tuesday is his press day, and mine as well. 

Our press normally likes our newspapers at 5 p.m. or so.

The only statewide race in real doubt was the Democratic Senate primary. I think we were pretty sure the Republican Senate primary was going to a runoff, AG, Comptroller and RRC were going to runoffs, Gov and Lite Gov were blowouts, and that Dems would likely have a runoff for AG as well. 

There was one closely contested county commissioner race in his county. A district judge and the county clerk were also contested, but not closely. 

And, you do have a website. 

Plus, we all know that in a county of any size, county elections officials will post the results quickly on the county's website. 

I would have printed at normal time. 

David Hoffmann gets his wish with Lee Enterprises

 Hoffmann, about whom I wrote in late 2024, has taken at least half a step forward in his dream of creating the nation's largest newspaper company. He had indicated then that Lee was among his acquisition possibilities, having increased his ownership stake, although Lee had adopted a poison pill earlier that year.

Per a Lee news release a month ago, Hoffmann has taken a $50 million equity stake, which will make him majority owner.

Poynter has much more. It notes Hoffmann is personally contributing $35 million with other investors taking care of the rest. Lee's current CEO, Kevin Mowbray, is stepping down and a replacement search is on, indicating Hoffmann is not looking for that spot.

The two stories note that Lee can greatly reduce its interest rate on its debt, much of it spent to acquire Warren Buffett's newspaper stable, which included Waco and Bryan-College Station. Poynter has the basics of that, and how it led Lee to agree to the acquisition:

Lee’s lender, BH Finance, offered last year to reduce its annual interest rate to 5% for the next five years if the company could raise $50 million. The deal with Hoffmann will thus allow Lee to save more than $18 million a year in debt payments.

There you go. BH being Berkshire-Hathaway of Buffett of course.

Poynter notes that Lee lost $36M in its last fiscal year, so that cuts the bleeding in half right there. Hoffmann said in 2025 that he'd not made cuts at papers he already owns; we'll see if that stands up.

Of course, 2020 was a bad year to be buying newspapers, with COVID.  

Poytner also notes that billionaires owning papers has become problematic in recent years, with the Bezos Post, Doctor Daddy Patrick Soon-Shiong's LA Times and the Baltimore Sun shifting right to curry Trump favor.

Back to the main story, though.

First, this means that the likes of an Alden, which made a 2021 run at Lee, are probably gone for "good," or "good" of the next half-dozen years. Never say never with vulture capitalists trying to acquire newspapers, but I assume Lee will be dezombified enough to block that.

Second, per an AP story, I wouldn't be surprised if Hoffmann, also per his previous background, focuses on smaller newspapers in Lee's stable. Waco and BCS would be OK under this, but, something like the flagship St. Louis Post-Dispatch? I could see it getting spun off, maybe after getting dressed up first. Per another story linked in that, the 2020 deal included Lee entering into a 10-year lease for BH media real estate. We're more than halfway through that, and I am sure it won't be renewed. Hoffmann may even look at buying his way out of that early.

 

Supreme Court: USPS can't be sued?

 Really? Beyond the AP story about this inanity, I had already read the NNA's reaction shortly after it was announced.

The ruling clearly contradicts the federal law that said "Yes it can." And, given that the majoritarian 5 all agreed to the "Trump gets out of jail for free" rulings of a couple of years ago, invites a variety of further snarking at these 5 as well as snarking about Gorsuch not getting a memo.

Beyond its potential effect on the newspaper business, there's the fact that:

1. SCOTUS apparently simply ignored the racial background claims of the plaintiff, and

2. That this surely has some spillover chance of further cratering postal service. 

Hmm, I think I'll pass on Verde Valley

 Nice location, Sedona, Arizona, area. Summer-leaning four-season climate.

The job of editor? Pays OK per cost of living there?

The job of editor? Was advertised four months ago. 

That's why I think I'll pass. Whether you hired somebody who spit the bit on you in 90 days, or else are re-advertising for something you never filled? Pass. 

Their online application, which they say they want in addition to a resume, tries to engage in age screening, too. I stopped when I got to that point, as discussed here. 

Quick thoughts on the Bezos Post layoffs and two possible options

 Here's the Guardian story; I'm sure many people have read it or others.

First, yes, DC is still a one-industry town, but pivoting to politics when Politico is already there, let alone the likes of Punchbowl for deep insiders? How will you make that work?

Second, how will you make pivoting to politics work while slicing foreign affairs? Trump's tariffs, Greenland noises, Russia-Ukraine, etc., all have domestic political angles. And, within the politics world, probably not so covered by Politico.

Per Semafor, exec editor Matt Murray says politics will remain the biggest beat, even with foreign desk cuts. 

Folkenflik at NPR notes that two people were axed in Ukraine and the ENTIRE Middle East desk closed. 

Instead of what it's actually done, Bezos had two options.

One was to "lean in" (I actually hate that phrase) to the foreign affairs angle, but expanding your voices. Maybe you don't become a Quincy Institute, but you take at least a baby step or two beyond the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ world. Given Bezos himself being some sort of "libertarian," I don't know why he didn't think of that, to the degree he still wants the paper to be his playtoy as well as a money-maker.

The other option would have been to pivot out of national politics altogether, other than how they affect DC politics. Run the Post like the Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, etc. But, with its metro desk cut from 40 to 12, per Folkenflik, that's not an option, eiter.

Either would have been a better option, IMO, than the above. Of course, when Will Lewis was hired, I think many media insiders expected an eventual cock-up. And, other than a "Chainsaw Al" angle, it's clear there was little to no forethought in doing a smart pivot, especially if they claim they can still compete with a Politico.

Not thinking of either option shows that bazillionaires from other industries who parachute into the media world usually don't know shit and don't try to learn. 

That said, listening to the crying and hand-wringing blather of duopolists like Marty Baron is funny.  

Update: Sites like The Ringer bemoaning the closure of their sports desk? It was overextended, and in non-investigative sports journalism, Red Satan in Connecticut has been just a "little bit" of a factor. That's why the NYT bought the Athletic. Get a clue. 

GACK on Suzanne Bellsnyder

 Per communication I've seen, she's peddling an op-ed by Hawk Dunlap for other newspapers to use.

Problem? Oh, just one.

He's a currently active candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission.

So, you're offering free advertising to a political candidate, assuming you're doing this in your own newspapers. That means you're managing them as badly as the farm and ranch, which if it's like the rest of your county in the Panhandle, is overdrawing water from the Ogalalla Aquifer. 

As for Dunlap the candidate? He's almost certainly better than GOP incumbent James Wright. Doesn't matter. 

To me, this is cardinal rule No. 1 of newspapers — not giving away free advertising in general and certainly not to state-level political candidates. 

As for the election? Dems have a candidate for the general. Greens? Nobody. Alfred Molison, who ran in 2024, move over to the Ag commissioner race. 

(I am guessing that for Bellsnyder, the primary IS the general election. That's fine as a personal decision, but, beyond giving away free advertising to a political candidate, as an editor, or unofficially an editor/general manager, I would never do that for readers, unless it was a Q-and-A, which many papers do, of ALL primary candidates, or in the general, ALL candidates there.) 

Another voice of semi-concern about Hearst's growing semi-monopoly in Texas

 At the Texas Observer, Justin Miller has a fair amount of skepticism about the long-term fallout from its acquisition of the Morning Snooze, more than did Dick Tofel, whom he references. It wasn't quite as skeptical as my take here, in part from not mentioning Hearst's private ownership.

Miller was also, in his brief reference to the Texas Tribune, not at all skeptical of it, though its various "sponsors" likely have influenced the Trib's lackadaisical at best coverage of environmental issues. 

Someone at the Observer should know better. 

Ballantine Communications is not THAT nice

 It's a good newspaper company, but having a single reporter split between Cortez, Colorado and Farmington, New Mexico? Or so I understand the advertisement? If you want reporters for each city separately, shouldn't you advertise them separately?

Actually, I think they are separate, as Ballantine's original first newspaper's town, Durango, Colorado, is almost squarely between the two. And, if you are doing partnered reporters, why wouldn't it be Cortez and Durango, in the same state?

And, also, if these are for separate papers? Yes, I am sure Journalism Jobs charges for listings. But, do they charge that much?