Bot Beat

Bots come to the newsroom:

Tani reported: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis is introducing the paper’s new “Build It” plan today. In a meeting with staff, he noted that the paper lost $77 million over the past year, and saw a 50% drop off in audience since 2020: “To be direct, we are in a hole, and we have been for some time.” Lewis says the says the three pillars of the new strategy are: great journalism, happy customers, and making money: “If we’re doing things that don’t meet all three…we should stop doing that.” He adds that the company will also be looking for ways to use A.I. in its journalism. A.I. is a major component of the Post’s internal strategy announcement today. WaPo’s chief tech officer told staff that going forward, the paper has to have “A.I. everywhere in our newsroom.” Lewis says the company is focused on growing subscriptions organically but is open to growing them through an acquisition if it makes sense. Recently, the outlet’s owner, Jeff Bezos, indicated that he would no longer subsidize the company’s losses.

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