Latest Exclusive Tech Reporting from E&P
Guy Tasaka has a blunt question for media executives: You’re still using free ChatGPT for everything, aren’t you? He sees it all the time — leaders treating AI like a novelty instead of the business transformation tool it is. “They’ll spend $500 on a dinner,” he says, “but won’t invest $20 a month in technology that could revolutionize their content creation, proposal building and marketing operations.” For Tasaka, that reluctance isn’t just short-sighted — it’s money left on the table every single day.
Media SaaS
In his new E&P column, Todd Handy — a proven growth architect behind major transformations in digital media, AdTech and SaaS — brings Silicon Valley strategy to Main Street media. Each month, Handy will show local media leaders how to think (and grow) like a SaaS company, breaking down essential metrics like CAC, LTV, MRR and NRR — and translating them into real-world, revenue-driving strategies for publishers. If you’ve ever felt lost in the alphabet soup of growth metrics, this column will be your decoder ring — built for media insiders, not tech bros.
Tech Talk
Big tech has overpromised and underdelivered for local media. Now, E&P’s tech expert Guy Tasaka argues the real future lies in micro-SaaS, no-code tools, and affordable “good enough” solutions. After decades of enterprise complexity, small, scrappy platforms are finally solving the problems big vendors ignored — and doing it faster and cheaper. If you’re still waiting for the perfect system, you may already be falling behind.
While you may be unfamiliar with the term OSINT (open source intelligence), you’re likely already aware of how it’s used. It’s collecting and analyzing data gathered from open source, publicly available information to produce actionable intelligence. Local newsrooms and publishers are discovering how OSINT improves journalism and business intelligence.
The tech industry drives the U.S. economy, shaping every sector. Veteran journalists Todd Bishop (GeekWire) and Casey Newton (Platformer) share insights on covering Big Tech, AI and startups — highlighting innovation, policy impacts and evolving media strategies that engage audiences through newsletters, podcasts and investigative reporting on the future of technology.
Public-facing AI innovation has largely remained in the domain of Silicon Valley. But more than 2,000 miles away in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a family-owned network of news outlets seems determined to prove that it isn’t too late for local journalism to take charge of its digital destiny.
Although there is no magic formula to alleviate all the pressures newsrooms face, utilizing a content management system (CMS) is the one digital tool essential for publishing and media success. Whether for-profit or nonprofit, media and news outlets of any size must achieve higher levels of efficiency, convenience and time- and cost-savings as these industries continue to evolve and become more competitive.
As we barrel towards the midpoint of the 2020s, the local media landscape is poised for seismic changes that will redefine the industry as we know it. From the shedding of unprofitable properties to the rise of AI-powered autonomous media companies, here are five interrelated trends that E&P columnist Guy Tasaka believes will shape the future of local publishing in 2025 and beyond.
Remember when we said FAST channels would disrupt local TV? The same revolution is happening in audio, and publishers can’t afford to ignore it. With 83% of adults tuning into AM/FM radio (Nielsen) but over half of spoken-word listening now on digital devices (NPR), local media can leverage this shift to disrupt audio markets using their brand strength, audience trust, and advertiser relationships—no FCC license required.
There is evidence that the news industry and all local legacy media are reinventing themselves to be better positioned to battle for their share of digital ad dollars. E&P recently spoke with three industry executives who talked about the need for local media to catch up to make a digital transformation and help their advertisers do the same, as well as the importance of changing the sales culture at local media companies.
X, a platform once beloved by journalists, has become borderline unusable for a group that had been among its most devoted addicts. Since no one platform seems ready to replace X for journalists, E&P columnist Rob Tornoe offers a handful of suggestions that might improve your experience.
Though technological innovation moves at lightning speed, Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains in a fledgling phase. News organizations are understandably grappling with what AI means to both operations and long-term sustainability. Nicholas Diakopoulos, Ph.D., is dedicated to discovering those answers. He’s a communication studies and computer science professor at Northwestern University and the director of the Computational Journalism Lab (CJL). E&P asked Dr. Diakopoulos about his work in AI, automation and algorithms for news production, and some of the most often-asked AI questions we hear from readers.
AI is a moving target. It’s overwhelming. It’s moving faster than any technology we’ve ever had in the modern era. Many people don’t even know what they don’t know, but more importantly, they don’t know where to start. Here are five things publishers need to do TODAY!
Tasaka's Tech Talk
In today’s media landscape, video consumption is exploding. The Paris Olympics, the most-streamed in history at 82% higher than the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, proves that digital video is the present, not the future. This shift presents a unique opportunity for local newspaper publishers: FAST channels.
