What kind of content are news organisations planning to focus on in an AI-driven ecosystem where consumers can easily find information in answer engines? I came across some interesting pieces in recent weeks that show what publishers are thinking.

The first is a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, which points out that publishers expect traffic from search engines to decline by more than 40% over the next three years.

Aggregate traffic to hundreds of news sites from Google search has already started to drop, with publishers that rely on lifestyle content saying they have been particularly affected by the roll out of Google’s AI overviews. This follows substantial falls in referral traffic from Facebook and X over the last three years.

How does a news organisation combat this?

According to this survey of 280 digital leaders in 51 different countries, publishers say it will be important to focus on distinctiveness — more original investigations and on-the-ground reporting, contextual analysis and explanation, and human stories.

They also plan to scale back service journalism, evergreen content, and general news, which many expect to become commoditised by AI chatbots.

An interesting shift — is everything old new again? 

I think many of us are old enough to remember when leaders of news organisations first started realising that audiences came to our sites for more than just hard news, and so we started investing in service journalism and promoting it prominently on our Web pages and apps. We also started giving importance to evergreen content, to capitalise on “the long tail of search” (RIP). 

So much for being the one-stop shop for news and trying to be all things to everyone.

Yet, this shift makes sense in the current environment. Most news executives believe future success lies in being unique, even if that means losing some reach. As Martin Schori, head of AI at Aftonbladet, said, the solution “is probably to focus on journalism that can’t easily be summarised in the three bullet points.”

Jim Van deHei, co-founder of Axios and Politico, believes this as well. 

“Super Journalists will dominate media in the AI era. These are journalists with true domain expertise, top-notch sourcing and historical depth to tell people things they don’t know. … They’re not your average journalist doing a dutiful job chronicling unfolding events,” he wrote recently. “The distinctiveness of true Super Journalists’ work will stand out amid the sameness of commodity news spit out by AI machines.” 

Another key differentiator will be the connections our audiences develop with the humans behind our news — something AI engines do not provide.

“As technology floods the world with infinite content, the most meaningful impact will come from outlets that understand their communities deeply and engage them personally — through intimate events, thoughtfully crafted newsletters, and stories made for and with their audiences,” said Patricia Torres-Burd, managing director at Media Development Investment Fund, which funds independent news and information businesses.

“Success won’t be measured by how many people you reach but by how deeply you resonate with those who choose to listen.”

Case studies

We already see this trend playing out at news organisations. For example: 

• Conde Nast’s Wired, for example, has set out a strategy to create celebrities out of its writers — from vertical video on TikTok and Instagram to live events to plastering their faces on billboards. Its Instagram views are up 800% since they switched to a personality-based strategy.

• The New York Times has been putting the faces of its correspondents on its homepage and in its newsletters.  

• The Economist, which for years famously didn’t even byline its articles, has started showcasing its internal talent’s names and faces through videos, podcasts, and newsletters. 

As Der Spiegel’s director of AI Ole Reissmann says: “When machines can generate stories faster, cheaper, and slicker, the only real counter is connection. It’s about eye‑level communication. Videos, podcasts, events. More community. More intent. The opposite of chatbot energy.”

Banner art by Adobe Stock Tierney.

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .