Finding value in the archives
Mining ‘the morgue’
The premium subscription service for policy professionals, Politico Pro, last week unveiled its Policy Intelligence Assistant, which uses AI to generate insights and reports from the publication’s deep database of reporting and analysis, Adweek’s Mark Stenberg writes.
Politico Pro is a specialized (and high-priced) product catering to lobbyists, consultants and others with a stake in policy developments. But, asks Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton, couldn’t other news organizations use that same archives-based approach to create new content?
“A good metro newspaper or a business journal has a tremendous set of information,” he writes. “And all of these could get more powerful through training on bespoke datasets.”
Taking advantage of archives can help news organizations win audience attention, the tech and media journalist Simon Owens wrote in a recent newsletter. He says every media business “should not only invest in the creation of evergreen content, but also focus on consistently driving its audience back into its archives.”
“If you focus ONLY on ephemeral content, then its shelf life is too short to properly monetize it,” he says.
- Related: Photos are disappearing, one archive at a time (The Washington Post)
News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.
Civic Discourse & Democracy
>> Covering immigration in 2025: reporting tips and data resources (Journalist’s Resource)
Three experts on immigration policy, including a reporter for The Atlantic, shared their insights and story ideas in a webinar on how journalists can effectively cover this complex issue. Their tips included ways to avoid loaded language, tap into (and interrogate) government data, and make clear to audiences the hurdles immigrants face in migrating to the United States, writes Carmen Nobel.
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Culture & Inclusion
>> A message to grumpy veteran journalists: The kids are working hard and deserve your support (Poynter)
Grumpy veteran journalists ask questions like, “Why are there so many ads and other interruptions in between paragraphs of the stories?” writes Roy Peter Clark. Another is “Whatever happened to news judgment?” But veteran retired journalists know that they were actually “lucky to be working for newspapers at a time of prosperity.” He says that these vets need to “tell the kids how much you admire them.”
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Community Engagement & Trust
>> From news desert to newsroom: How the Belmont Voice rebuilt community journalism (Editor & Publisher)
The year-old Belmont Voice serves a Massachusetts town whose news outlets dried up due to corporate news consolidation, writes Gretchen A. Peck. It came about when a group of concerned local residents, including some longtime media professionals, put together a vision for a free local weekly newspaper. The paper and website now have a staff of four, with help from freelancers as needed, Peck writes.
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Revenue & Resilience
>> Join us: Diversifying Revenue Q&A: Demystifying sales for better collaboration
Table Stakes alumni (including employees of companies that have participated in the program) are invited to join us Thursday, March 27 at 1 p.m. EDT for a conversation with Kenny Katzgrau — the publisher of Red Bank Green and creator of Broadstreet — about how to reframe advertising to better align with organizational missions and break down silos. Learn more and register here.
>> The Houston Landing has lost a major funder (CJR)
Two years after its launch, the Houston Landing is “a ship battered by storms,” writes Jack Herrera. Arnold Ventures is not renewing its funding for the project, and support from other contributors is unclear, Herrera writes. While the story is not yet a “cautionary tale,” he says, the experience “has been illustrative of the challenges facing upstart nonprofit publications.”
- Related: Deep South Today receives $3 million grant from Ford Foundation (Deep South Today)
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What else you need to know
👀 Florida judge denies Pulitzer Board’s bid to stay defamation lawsuit from Trump (CNN)
🛠️ Washington Post to overhaul newsroom structure (Axios)
🌪️ ‘Anchors, under your desks!’: Tornado hits Orlando TV station (The New York Times)
📊 Chartbeat acquires ad software company FatTail (Axios)
🖥️ A political reporter takes her scoops to YouTube (The New York Times)
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