The Media Leader Podcast

Are news outlets too dependent on social media? With NMA CEO Owen Meredith

Sep 23, 2024

40:07

News titles across the UK are changing hands and senior leaders amid what has been a downturn in the digital advertising market. Meanwhile, challenges relating to referral traffic, anticompetitive practices by tech giants, and the continuing decline in print revenues are dogging publishers.

Owen Meredith, the CEO of the News Media Association, sat down with Jack Benjamin to discuss.

The pair spoke about the numerous headwinds facing both local and national news organisations, whether it be from adapting their business models to the digital age or addressing developments in AI and publishers’ dependency on social media companies for traffic.

Meredith additionally revealed the NMA’s priorities for working with the new Labour government, including on improving fair competition with Big Tech in the digital ecosystem.

“News publishers have never directly reached into the minds or the hands of readers," he said. "They’ve always been intermediaries. That’s something we’re used to deal with. We’re just not used to dealing with intermediaries on take-it-or-leave-it terms and who can make a tweak to an algorithm and suddenly see your traffic switch off overnight.”

Highlights:

4:26: Working with the new Labour government to promote better online competition.

11:14: News publishers need to adapt their business models.

13:12: Is the BBC creating competition issues?

15:08: Reactions to Observer, Telegraph, and Spectator sales.

16:37: Is local news sustainable as we know it?

20:48: Addressing issues of trust and ownership transparency.

25:36: What keeps Meredith up at night? AI, Google monopoly, and co-dependency on social media.

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