Good afternoon and welcome to the latest edition of the What I’ve Been Reading digest. And a warm welcome to all the new subscribers who have joined in the past week - and apologies if you were expecting something focused on journalism, media and more and instead got my sharing the rather upsetting news about our dog(!). She is hobbling on.
It was a nice surprise to see this newsletter listed in Journalism.co.uk’s list of 40 essential newsletters every journalist should read alongside some very smart and well-followed people. This is very much a small corner of the internet where I share interesting bits which have come across my feed, so thanks for being here and joining nearly 300 others getting this edition each Wednesday.
So, back to the usual format and three interesting reads/things to share from the world of journalism, media, digital and more as well as my reflections on Indie News Week so far.
Google is building an Audience Loyalty ecosystem - Barry Adams - lots of focus is on the AI Overviews feature but subtly there’s been some other changes rolled out recently by what remains one of the largest shop windows for journalism in the world. Barry talks Preferred Sources (which is becoming more important for ranking in Discover, especially as stories about the same topic have started being ‘bundled’ in Discover).
Plus there’s ‘Follow on Google’ and subscription linking too, a way to directly drive subscription (and potentially membership) revenue direct from Google.
Now, Next, New - University of Lancashire JLeaders programme - a thought-provoking hour or two put together by the 2026 cohort of the JLeaders programme (who I briefly got to spend a bit of time with last week). It was great to see them pull together some top topics for discussion with some great panel guests joining them. The three sessions were What’s Left When We Let AI Do The Rest, News For Views? Journalism In The Creator Economy and Making News That Doesn’t Suck. All the sessions are available to watch back on the link above, and my fellow Alma director and Preston-based journo Luke Beardsworth is a panel member on the creator economy session. Enjoy!
Eight people who will help decide where government cash to help stimulate local news goes - DCMS - The Local News Fund Steering Board has been announced by the government here in the UK, and features eight names from across the media and some pretty extensive experience in local and regional media itself. It’s particularly heartening to see John Baron, from West Leeds Dispatch and various hyperlocal and local journalism initiatives on there. He is the only frontline local journalist to serve on the board and will bring a huge amount to that panel with his insight. Earlier this week he shared the impact his publication makes within the community - and it’s not always about catching politicians out, it’s about those small, regular, moments which local news publications help make happen and are, as I heard this week at an event, ‘the glue that helps keep the community together’. It will be fascinating to see what they decide to fund when the bids eventually open and the criteria is published for the Local News Fund.
And I must finish by mentioning Indie News Week. All this week is a celebration of independent news titles, like Blog Preston and The Lead that I’m involved in. Events are being held, campaigns run and more. We’re not able to do our Blog Preston event this week due to reasons but we’re hosting something next Friday instead. It is refreshing as we often spend a lot of time focused on what’s not right, as opposed to what’s going well and being encouraged by some of the things happening within local media.
And we’ll also reflect in a special newsletter this week on some of the stories we’ve covered. We kicked off Indie News Week by covering a 30 year cold case appeal on the banks of the River Ribble and also attending to launch of the government’s Inspiring The Future scheme in the North West of England where local journalists and editors spend time in schools speaking to pupils about what we do (it was a lot of fun!).
We were not the only media at either, and that’s a positive thing, especially for the Janet Murgatroyd press conference (a murder from 1996 which continues to shock the city and remains unsolved), we are fortunate to live and operate within a competitive (in a friendly sense!) local media environment. That makes everyone, and society, the better for it.
Plus this week we’ve seen a good step taken in our ongoing campaign to help get Preston a major venue again. Which is exactly the kind of campaigning local media is best placed to do.
Now, I imagine most people are wondering what time the next World Cup game is on, so I’ll sign off and say I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest edition and if you have anything you think I should be featuring drop me a line on ed@almaonline.co.uk
Have a great rest of the week.
Keep going.
Ed
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