So just imagine we let one man, and his company, buy most of the papers in our regional cities and small towns.
And that man was named Rupert Murdoch.
And that man decided to shut down the print editions, and instead put those papers behind the paywalls of his big right-wing metropolitan tabloids.
Want to read the local newspaper in Lismore? It’s now behind the Daily Telegraph paywall.
And then that man gutted the editorial team for each online newspaper to just one person.
And then used generative AI to centrally churn out 3000 local news articles per week across all his local publications, overseen by four human journalists.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/aug/01/news-corp-ai-chat-gpt-stories
#auspol #NewsCorp #murdoch #vicpol #nswpol #qldpol #sapol #wapol @australia
@ajsadauskas @australia bastards. How do we fight this? How do we bring back local news, by locals and for locals?
I had no idea they were doing this. I read the local News Corp papers all the time for research at work.
It’s cluttered as it is, but the stories that stand out are the ones where it’s clear the reporter has picked up on a community issue and gets it on the record. These examples seem to be info that people can get themselves as they need it - the fuel check app, livetraffic, etc.
Not sure who is going to check their local paper for this info… it will just clog up search results and social media feeds.
@ajsadauskas @australia
The front office.
@fixatedpersonsunit @ajsadauskas @australia My local Murdoch rag has sacked most of their photographers so many local stories are ‘illustrated’ with whatever Google Street View provides given whatever location info they have for the story
@Lats @australia According to the article, something like 55% of subscriptions to Murdoch’s big metro tabloids come from people who want to read the local paper.
So Murdoch’s running all these local paper country papers into the ground (just one reporter, with 3000 articles per week churned out by four nationwide reporters using AI) to prop up the likes of Andrew Bolt.
Those local papers used to be an important part of the community. What the mayor and the local shire council up to. Local issues the national media won’t touch. How the local footy and netball teams win on the weekend. Who was at the local Magistrate’s Court this week. The obituary for Anne, who was a pillar of the local community and ran the local CWA branch for 30 years. Praise for young Hannah who raised over $1000 for Make-A-Wish.
They were also an important training ground for young journalists.
And, rather than being returned to community ownership, they instead got bought out by Murdoch, who gutted them to line his pockets.
