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   AJ Sadauskas (ajsadauskas@aus.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Aug-2023 18:54:09 JST AJ Sadauskas

   So just imagine we let one man, and his company, buy most of the papers in our regional cities and small towns.

   And that man was named Rupert Murdoch.

   And that man decided to shut down the print editions, and instead put those papers behind the paywalls of his big right-wing metropolitan tabloids.

   Want to read the local newspaper in Lismore? It's now behind the Daily Telegraph paywall.

   And then that man gutted the editorial team for each online newspaper to just one person.

   And then used generative AI to centrally churn out 3000 local news articles per week across all his local publications, overseen by four human journalists.

   https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/aug/01/news-corp-ai-chat-gpt-stories

   #auspol #NewsCorp #murdoch #vicpol #nswpol #qldpol #sapol #wapol @australia

   • Embed this notice
     Jon Sullivan (joncounts@mastodon.nz)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Aug-2023 19:02:24 JST Jon Sullivan

     in reply to

     @ajsadauskas @australia Yes, let's not imagine that. It would be a very stupid thing to do. (Oh, wait!)

   • Embed this notice
     Lats (314 ppm) (lats@aus.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Aug-2023 21:01:22 JST Lats (314 ppm)

     in reply to

     @ajsadauskas @australia why read #murdock press? It doesn’t report the news, only what they think will attract attention and further their political agenda. Effectively worthless and our politicians let them in. Says a lot about them too.
     #auspol

   • Embed this notice
     AJ Sadauskas (ajsadauskas@aus.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Aug-2023 22:26:09 JST AJ Sadauskas

     in reply to

     • Lats (314 ppm)

     @Lats @australia According to the article, something like 55% of subscriptions to Murdoch's big metro tabloids come from people who want to read the local paper.

     So Murdoch's running all these local paper country papers into the ground (just one reporter, with 3000 articles per week churned out by four nationwide reporters using AI) to prop up the likes of Andrew Bolt.

     Those local papers used to be an important part of the community. What the mayor and the local shire council up to. Local issues the national media won't touch. How the local footy and netball teams win on the weekend. Who was at the local Magistrate's Court this week. The obituary for Anne, who was a pillar of the local community and ran the local CWA branch for 30 years. Praise for young Hannah who raised over $1000 for Make-A-Wish.

     They were also an important training ground for young journalists.

     And, rather than being returned to community ownership, they instead got bought out by Murdoch, who gutted them to line his pockets.

     simsa03 likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Andy (andystopdancing@aus.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Aug-2023 10:30:55 JST Andy

     in reply to

     @ajsadauskas @australia
     The front office.

   • Embed this notice
     Ynte (whylamb@aus.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Aug-2023 20:17:07 JST Ynte

     in reply to

     @ajsadauskas @australia bastards. How do we fight this? How do we bring back local news, by locals and for locals?

     AJ Sadauskas repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Colin Fry (colinfry666@aus.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Aug-2023 21:39:23 JST Colin Fry

     • Tingo

     @fixatedpersonsunit @ajsadauskas @australia My local Murdoch rag has sacked most of their photographers so many local stories are ‘illustrated’ with whatever Google Street View provides given whatever location info they have for the story

   • Embed this notice
     jed (jedsetter@aus.social)'s status on Friday, 04-Aug-2023 06:39:24 JST jed

     in reply to

     • Ynte

     @whylamb unsurprisingly I think it takes a grassroots movement of a few people who want to take on the issue full time and a few thousand who are happy to chip in to make it work, ie subscribers, distrubitors and those all important advertisers.

     There are a couple of examples where there's a local paper competing against the murdoch press to provide actual local news. Check out:

     https://www.naracoortenews.com/

     https://thenorthernriverstimes.com.au/

     https://www.orangenewsexaminer.com.au/ (online only)

     AJ Sadauskas repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Ynte (whylamb@aus.social)'s status on Friday, 04-Aug-2023 06:39:34 JST Ynte

     in reply to

     • jed

     @jedsetter wanted to boost your post, I think the efforts these people are making are fantastic. @ajsadauskas I think this is the answer to my question!