Media Insider: Twitter Partners With AP/Reuters, WaPo Targets Younger Readers, Newspapers Fight Postal Increase

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of media news stories from the week.

TECHCRUNCH | SARAH PEREZ
Twitter Partners With AP and Reuters to Address Misinformation on Its Platform

Twitter is partnering with The AP and Reuters to expand its efforts focused on highlighting reliable news and information on its platform. Through the new agreements, Twitter’s curation team will be able to leverage the expertise of the partnered organizations to add more context to the news and trends that circulate across Twitter, help with misinformation labels and more. The team operates separately from Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, which determines when tweets violate Twitter’s guidelines and punitive action, like removal or bans, must be taken. Twitter confirmed that neither the AP nor Reuters will be involved in those sorts of enforcement decisions. 

Read next: YouTube suspended Australia’s Sky News for one week because of misinformation related to the pandemic.

DIGIDAY | SARA GUAGLIONE
The Washington Post Hopes to Bring in Young, Diverse Readers With a Cross-Company Task Force

The Washington Post is creating a task force to figure out how to attract more young and diverse readers. The group, called “Next Generation,” is composed of a “handful” of Post employees and will be tasked with overseeing new products, partnerships and initiatives to bring in these readers. This can include new formats, beats or services for the Post’s journalism, like social media and audio platforms or news distributors popular among its target audience. The exact strategy for this team seems to still be in the works.

Related: Why Facebook’s limits on teen targeting are all part of its algorithmic ad playbook.

AXIOS | SARA FISCHER
New York Times Subscriptions Continue to Trend Toward Non-News Products

The New York Times added 142,000 paid digital-only subscriptions last quarter, 65,000 of which were for its non-core news products like cooking, games and audio. It’s the highest percentage of non-core news subscriptions the Times has added in its history. The Gray Lady has leaned more heavily into non-news products in recent years to offset news cycle turbulence. Overall, The Times says it now has more than 8 million paid subscriptions across its digital and print products. 

Also from Axios: Politico staffers are mounting an effort to unionize. It’s one of the largest newsrooms to have resisted organizing efforts in the past.

ENID NEWS & EAGLE | VY LUONG
Newspapers Face Challenge With Postal Rate Increase

A planned postal rate increase by the U.S. Postal Service to offset projected losses has stoked opposition from publishers, mailers and members of Congress. “We believe that the PRC, Postal Regulatory Commission, did not have the authority to approve a rate increase above the rate of inflation, which is what they did,” said Brett Wesner, National Newspaper Association chair and owner of 10 newspapers in western Oklahoma. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) joined 11 other House Republicans and nine House Democrats in writing a letter asking the postal service to postpone the increase until January 2022. The letter said the increase is “premature and counterproductive.”

In other news, subscription podcast company Quake raises $3.5 million in new funding round.

ASSOCIATED PRESS | STAFF
Daisy Veerasingham named president and CEO of The Associated Press

Daisy Veerasingham, AP’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will become the 14th leader of the AP. She will succeed Gary Pruitt as the new president and CEO on Jan. 1, 2022. “I am thrilled to take the helm of this deeply respected news organization and work with colleagues who do extraordinary work every day in support of our mission,” Veerasingham said. She will be the first woman, first person of color, and first international citizen to lead The Associated Press.

ICYMI: A new NPR policy states that journalists may participate in activities advocating for “the freedom and dignity of human beings” on social media and in real life.

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Maria Perez is the director of web operations at Cision. In her spare time, she enjoys kickboxing, baking, and cuddling with her dog Toody.