The past year has not been as eventful for news media as the previous one. Many of the stories that defined 2023 – everything from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to the launch of ChatGPT – emerged in 2022 but are still unfolding with unclear end results.

That said, a lot has happened in the past twelve months. So, here’s a subjective list of ten 2023 events that defined European and global news media. It’s just a snapshot, not a comprehensive story of the past year; follow The Fix for more end-of-year coverage and analysis of longer-term trends.

1. Publishers have been trying to adapt to the AI age by making deals with tech companies and launching their own LLMs

Generative AI hasn’t reshaped the news media market yet, but it looks set to bring about major changes. One likely impact – undermining search traffic as Google builds generative AI into its search.

Major publishers have been grappling with adapting to the coming shift. Some have reached deals with AI companies, most notably Axel Springer and AP partnering with OpenAI. Others have sought to leverage their archives by building their own AI tools, such as BloombergGPT for financial news. More announcements will surely follow in 2024.

2. BuzzFeed News shut down, digital news startups have struggled to keep afloat

Ad-funded digital news startups in the United States and elsewhere have been struggling for the past several years as the bet on traffic hasn’t materialised. 2023 was the most consequential year so far, most notably with BuzzFeed shutting down its eponymous news publication in May.

Vice Media declared bankruptcy around the same time. Vox Media is one of the healthiest advertising-supported digital news businesses, but it too did several rounds of layoffs in the past year.

3. The New York Times reached ten million paid subscribers

On the other end of the spectrum, The New York Times is doing really well thanks to the success of its paid subscribers model and a masterful bet on non-news products. In a remarkable milestone, the publisher reached ten million subscribers this year.

While NYT is based in the United States, over the years it has emerged as one of the biggest news publishers in Europe, with reach and staffing level on par with some of the biggest European outlets.

4. European public broadcasters have struggled with funding

Europe is remarkable for having robust public broadcasters, a category of media organisations that aren’t driven by short-term commercial incentives but are independent from governments or wealthy owners. Yet the funding model for public broadcasters looks precarious across several different countries as the taxes that fund them become easy targets amidst cost-of-living concerns.

Notably, the BBC is receiving a below-inflation licence fee increase that’s likely to force the corporation to make further cuts; its longer-term financial future is uncertain. In Italy, the government announced plans to cut the annual licence fee that funds public broadcaster RAI.

5. Major publishers have launched subscriber-only podcasts and developed their audio platforms

In a break with the free, ad-supported model that defined early podcasting, “news publishers are looking to have more control over the distribution of their podcasts – and explore ways to charge listeners for audio journalism”, The Fix wrote in September.

Most notably, The New York Times launched its audio app that includes exclusives for paid subscribers, while The Economist moved much of its podcasts under the paywall. More publishers will likely follow suit.

6. News organisations have been leaving Twitter and experimenting with new platforms as social traffic declined

As social platforms have deprioritised news partnerships, publishers’ social traffic has dropped. “Traffic referrals to the top global news sites from Meta’s Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, has collapsed over the past year, according to data from Similarweb”, Axios reported in October.

Twitter-turned-X deserves a special page in 2023 history books. It isn’t exactly dead and remains an important place for news conversations, but it has been deteriorating under Elon Musk’s leadership. Some major publishers have left, whether in protest to Musk’s conduct or just because their audiences are no longer there.

News organisations have been experimenting with other platforms like Threads and WhatsApp, but they are far from taking up the role Twitter once had.

7. The longest strike in French journalism in decades launched a conversation about the influence of the far right in media

In the summer, journalists of the storied French weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche embarked on a 40-day strike to protest the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, a controversial figure with ties to the far-right, as their new editor-in-chief.

The strike wasn’t successful, but it sparked a larger conversation about media freedom and editorial independence. The action “could finally lead to a change in the French law to protect the editorial staff and grant them a veto right in the selection of the new editor-in-chief”, experts hoped at the time, as The Fix reported.

8. A record number of journalists have been killed in Gaza

The Israel-Gaza war that started in October after Hamas launched its terrorist attack on Israel has been unusually deadly for journalists who live in Gaza.

64 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), most of them Palestinian. 16 more journalists have been reported injured or missing.

9. Russia’s war against Ukraine continued; Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has been going on for the past year, further damaging the Ukrainian society and its news publishers, even though the country’s media proved surprisingly resilient. Several Ukrainian journalists died while covering the war, and many more were killed while serving as soldiers independent of their reporting work.

Over in Russia, the authorities detained American reporter Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal on bogus charges of espionage, forcing a further exodus of Western journalists from the country. Gershkovich remains in a Russian prison, though the US government is working to secure its release, likely through a prisoner exchange.

10. The European Union is nearing a press freedom act

In December, European Union negotiators reached an agreement on the European Media Freedom Act, a proposed regulation aiming to protect media independence and pluralism in the European Union.

“The new law will introduce requirements for media to provide transparency over ownership and funding and it will force national governments to set up an oversight system that guarantees editorial freedom, including for public media”, Politico highlights. The deal has yet to be formally approved early next year, but it could represent a significant positive step towards protecting media freedom in the EU.

Source of the cover photo: https://unsplash.com/

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